It’s cold out there but the sun is shining. Huzzah!
My Skype sessions went well yesterday. I have two more this afternoon. The connection was great and it really was as if I was in the room with each of the actors. No complaints here.
Random art from around the house:
In the upstairs half bath. (There’s a lot more there, but the sun coming from the east made it impossible to take a picture. More later.)
I combined these framed pieces because their frames were so similar. The framed landscape with “Trust in the name of the Lord” was my grandmother’s. I cannot remember a time it wasn’t hanging in one of her spare bedrooms. I’m sure it’s much older than I. It’s a bit fragile nowadays, and priceless.
I found the other print just last year in an antique shop. I have a fondness for these circa 40s-50s flower prints. I have another in the downstairs bathroom. This one drew me in because of the brown background, the beautiful flowers, and the frame.
Our plan is to cover these walls with all sorts of framed pieces. We already have a contract that Don signed when one of his songs sold, an award that he received, a costume rendering for a costume I wore in grad school (designed by my friend, Richard,) the signed program from King Lear starring Ian McKellen, and two other pieces that I’ll show you soon.
And this, in our bedroom:
This is a large painting and it lives on the enclosed chimney that extends into the room. I knew as soon as I saw it that it should go there. It’s an oil painting that I found in San Diego at Vignettes. I was out there temporarily about 10 years ago, coaching the Shakespeare Summer Rep, and every time I visited Vignettes, I would stare at it. It was more than I wanted to spend, or at least, felt I could spend at the time. Lori, the owner, would chat with me about it, so she knew how much I loved it. After a couple of months, I took a picture of it and sent it to Don, wanting to get his input. Finally, with his support, I made the decision to buy it and I drove to Vignettes. It was on the wall behind the cash register. When I told Lori that I finally was going to buy it, she said she had been thinking about me because it had been purchased the day before and all Lori could think about while she was completing the sale was how sad I was going to be. But the person buying it was also interested in another piece and ended up going with that one and my cherubs stayed safely in the shop.
Whew!
I almost lost it. I took it back to the apartment, hung it over the fireplace, and when it was time to go back home, I had it packed and shipped. Another lesson in “If you really want it, don’t wait too long, it could disappear.”
I love, love, love it.
Happy Wednesday.
Hi Claudia, as soon as I saw your Grandmother’s picture, I thought that’s an English landscape and sure enough in the bottom right are the words The Sussex Ouse which is indeed a river in southeast England.
Happy Wednesday
Bottom left😀!
Thank you!
Thank you for your eagle eye, Dee Dee! I’d never noticed that! xo
Claudia, I would guess Grandmother’s painting is not only a lot older than you, it’s a lot older than your Grandmother! It looks Victorian to me and not a print as you can see where it’s been painted directly on to the canvas. Also, I might be wrong but is the biblical quote actually on the glass and not the painting?
Dee Dee x
It’s not a painting, Dee Dee. (Though I wish it was!) It’s a print. The quote is on the print. xo
More beautiful pieces! I’m still looking for just the right piece of artwork for one of my kitchen walls. I popped into Goodwill the other day (which I rarely do these days) – nothing. Keeping my eye out on FB Marketplace, too. I know it will come to me when it’s supposed to.
Sun? What’s that? It’s been gray and gloomy here for days on end. Looking at our extended weather forecast, no sun until Sunday. One day. And it will be 40 degrees. Woo-hoo! Oh, the little things we look forward to in the winter.
We’ve had a lot of gray days, too. This day was a surprise! Hang in there, Melanie!
Yes indeedy….if you see something you really want..,don’t wait…paraphrasing you. I had a similar experience recently involving art. Glad I didn’t wait, because I was parked next to the woman who would’ve bought my picture, had I not. We got to talking in the lot afterwards…I snagged the picture…she snagged a gorgeous lamp that I didn’t even see.
I love that your artwork is important to you, as it should be I feel. Your grandmother’s picture…is priceless! ;)
Those close calls! Glad you got that picture, Donna!
The cherubs are charming.
Sounds like more than one of us have had a similar experience of not snatching up something when we had the chance. I still remember seeing an oil painting on an easel at a Sunday Art Walk in the late 1970s; it was $250 which was a lot for me to pay then as a young singlet and it was also fairly large for my smallish apartment. Never saw anything like it again and I have thought of that painting a zillion times in the ensuing 40 years. Even though over such a long amount of time, my tastes in art have changed, I know my feelings wouldn’t have changed on this particular painting. Its subject was a mountain/valley/meadow landscape that reminded me of my OTO (at the time, recent) quickie visit to alpine areas of Central Europe (which was a completely diff/surreal landscape from my ocean-beachy, not-always-green surroundings, SoCalif life). I returned to that Art Walk repeatedly, weekend after weekend; never saw the artist again.
Oh, I know how that feels. I’ve had a few that got away and I still think of them. Thanks, Vicki!
I had fallen in love with an exquisite Limoges fish platter but it was quite costly. So, I would visit it whenever I was in the area. This went on for over a year, and then, one day it was no longer there. I said to the shopkeeper ” Thank goodness you finally sold that damn fish plate” ; she responded “No, I just moved it”. That cinched it and my husband bought it for me . To this day, it is referred to as that damn fish plate.
I just saw a picture of a Limoges fish platter the other day on IG. Love this story, Anne!
whew … glad you got that cherubs art after all!
and that you have some of your grandmother’s art. it’s lovely and a family treasure!
i’ve seen a lot of art in my life, but don’t recall ever seeing a brown background (on that lower piece) … it’s beautiful, too.
i, too, have a couple experiences about “the one that got away” … but have since learned if i love something and can afford it, i will get it.
glad the skype-ing went well!
happy wednesday.
kathy in iowa
I know – that brown background is unique. I really fell for it!
Thanks, Kathy!
It was meant for you. Some things are. Circumstances get wonky and we almost lose it, but if it is meant to be (I hate that expression!) it will be. And it is beautiful. I can see why you were so attracted!
Yes, I believe that, too. Some things ARE meant for us! Thanks, Jeanie.
Love that Cherubs. Glad the Skype went well..
Marilyn
Thank you, Marilyn!
We didn’t have that much art on the walls growing up, but in my own “decorating”, I love stuff on the walls. In the 80s, it was basket mania. I still love them but they are gnarly dust magnets and now I have a kitty who can’t resist destroying wicker. Last spring I went on an art buying spree with plans to frame every piece. Sad to say, after framing a few, as I probably bemoaned here, they were so heavy that I couldn’t hang them, and the ones that could be hung my husband still hasn’t gotten around to hanging. It’s very depressing. He’s aged and hanging art is not on the top of his list. The upstairs where I spend most of my time needs to be painted anyway, so I tell myself no use pushing it if it must be taken down when I get around to hiring a painter. I am really having such fun with your art tour, not only are the pieces unique and personal, but your stories are fascinating glimpses into the phases of your life and the places that you’ve been. Thanks for sharing so much!
Thank you, Nora. More is on the way!