Remember a few months ago, when I asked for your help to Save This Art?
Well, I got out my wallet to do it…
and then realized there was nothing in there,
so I got out my paintbrush instead.
It’s not perfect. There is still a lot to do, especially over there on the right, but I’m happy so far.
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What did you do this week?
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Many of you asked me about the artist’s signature on the painting I posted yesterday.
Thought I had included that pic, but I guess I didn’t.
Here it is now.
All I am sure of is the first name of Cyril.
The last name appears to start with CA or maybe CO.
It ends with WAY. I think. Callaway, Callway, Conway, Comway, Camway?
I have already searched online quite a bit, but have not found anything definitive.
Let me know if you have better luck!
By the way, this is the second less-than-perfect painting I have purchased on impulse.
Do you remember this one?
It’s hanging by clips in my coat closet, still damaged, still unstretched, and still unframed.
I need to do something with both of these paintings.
I can’t just be a collector of damaged art.
Can you imagine my epitaph?
“Here lies Becky. She liked Mexican food and ripped paintings.”
Ha!
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P.S. What are you up to this week? I mean, other than helping me save my art?
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A few weeks ago, I bought a painting at one of my local thrift stores. Or rather, I bought the remains of a painting at one of my local thrift stores. It’s pretty beat up. 😦
It was leaning against the wall of the store, outside, near the donation bin. It looked like trash. Or at least, it looked like what someone else had decided was trash.
To me, it was a charming treasure and I wanted it. I decided I would go inside and ask. If I could get it for $3 or less, I would take it home.
The cashier came outside with me to survey the scene. It wasn’t pretty.
The painting is separated from its wooden stretcher in several places. The canvas has holes where the nails have ripped through.
There are bare spots where the paint is completely gone and several more areas where it is flaking away.
The decorative outer frame was sitting ten or twelve yards down the sidewalk. It’s in pretty poor shape too – structurally sound, but badly scuffed and really chipped.
Ignore our dusty piano in this picture.
The cashier stared at all this for a minute before looking at me quizzically, but then she just scooped it all up and carried it into the store.
I followed as she wound down the aisle and into the back room where another woman was pricing merchandise. The two of them spoke quietly for a moment, then the first woman turned back to me and said “$2.99?”
Five minutes later, I was in my car with a severely damaged painting and a head full of “what am I doing?”
So, now I ask you. What am I doing?
I love the scene. The cows charm me and the colors are serene and comforting.
But this painting is coming apart. Really coming apart.
Can I save it somehow?
And can you make out the artist’s name any better than I can? Cyril something.
What would you do with this? Please don’t say “use it to wipe my boots, then chuck it.” I’m serious.
I considered taking it to a restoration specialist, but I flat out don’t have the money for that, and honestly, it may be too far gone for them to mess with it anyway.
I also thought about adding a coat of polycrylic to preserve what is left, but I am not a fan of that shiny finish.
I saw a DIY project online for recycling damaged paintings. It suggested cutting out the good parts and tossing the rest. But re-stretching the newly cropped pieces or mounting them onto wood or plates or whatever doesn’t really appeal to me. The parts I like best are the most damaged sections. I don’t want to just cut them out and throw them away.
I also wondered about the simplicity of just flattening the painting behind glass in hope it doesn’t flake any more, but the flakes might stick to the glass and it would be in worse shape than before. And really, I don’t love this kind of art behind glass anyway. I think part of the experience of appreciating it is in seeing the texture as much as the entirety of the scene.
All that said, I did only spend three bucks, so whatever happens won’t be a tragedy if it’s not successful.
Any ideas?
What would you do?
Leave me a comment and tell me. Please.
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The little boy and I made some of those glass “marble” ornaments last night. I’ve made them every few years or so, but never been pleased with them enough to post photos or really even to keep them. This year’s batch is making it to the tree!
Here they are:
It’s hard to get a picture of them actually hanging on a branch. I think my camera is dying. 😦
To make then, you need some clear glass ornaments and a bunch of acrylic paints.
You just put some paint inside the ornament and swirl until it looks right and everything is covered.
On a few of them, I swirled in one color, let it set for a few seconds, then used a straw to scrape stripes in the first color before I poured in the second color.
You will waste some paint. It takes more than a tablespoon to get the insides really coated. I dump out most of the excess then put the ornaments upside-down on an empty egg carton to drain/dry completely. We waited overnight before replacing the caps and hanging them on the tree.
I think they look like giant Italian marbles. 🙂
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There are a few other decorations new to our house this year too.
– a huge glass strawberry that I picked up in one of my favorite Poway thrift stores:
– a fun felt garland from Michael’s:
– a paper garland, carefully handcrafted by the little boy:
– the usual menagerie of sticker-covered wrapping paper trees in the stairwell:
I’ve had that wire birdcage house on the shelf for a few years. It came from one of my all-time favorite stores – The Vintage House in downtown Brentwood, California. This year I filled the cage with a bag of those fragrant cinnamon pinecones from the grocery store floral department. They smell so good when you walk by them to climb the stairs. Ahh.
And last, but not least, I finally found a frame at Goodwill that was interesting and big enough to fit the little Mexican tapestry I bought a few months ago. I did a really bad job of spray painting the frame – my Facebook friends already read my note to self about avoiding windy days and swarms of gnats next time. 😦 Ha! But it will do. I just wanted to get the cloth protected a.s.a.p. and onto the wall while I put more thought into the bigger picture redo of my bedroom.
So there you have it. Christmas stuff.
How are you decorating this year?
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I went to a new thrift store two days ago. It’s on National City Boulevard, just a few blocks north of the Mile of Cars, and right across the street from the #2 location of Aunt Emma’s Pancakes.
I was driving 60 miles per hour on I-5 when I spotted the word “thrift” in big white letters on the front of a blue building. Makes me laugh to confess that. I sense thrift stores – not a particularly useful gift to anyone else, but I am thankful for it. My dad would have been pleased too.
I walked in and spotted this right away:
It’s totally me…
vintage needlework…
cats, deer, and birds…
bright colors…
Mexican or maybe Guatemalan (??)…
folk-artsy textile.
It has a few little spots around the edges, but I love it anyway. It is remarkable that the threads are not noticeably broken or pulled.
It wasn’t marked anywhere, so I braced myself for a lofty price, but the cashier let me have it for $2.00!
She made my day. I will definitely go back to that store!
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Maybe next time, I will get a couple of pancakes across the street first. I love Aunt Emma’s.
Honestly though, I do prefer Aunt Emma’s E Street location in Chula Vista. For the National City Boulevard spot, I think the owners took over another old restaurant and got the furnishings along with it.
Some of the tables are a little rickety-stickety there. The place just needs a little upgrade, but maybe that has happened since I was last inside.
The pancakes are heavenly at either location! 🙂
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Happy Friday!
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P.S. The boy tried on my Chinese garden hat this week.
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I got this at Goodwill a few days ago.
I paid $2.99.
Do you love it as much as I do?
Actually, that’s probably not possible. 🙂
Look at the little lady with the cane.
She’s so cute with her teeny orange lips and that big giant purse.
And the weather! Simple gray stitches and it really is raining.
The whole scene is so clever.
I can’t wait to find the perfect spot for it on my very full walls.
Hmmm…
Something else might have to go!
I did get rid of ten picnic baskets yesterday.
I posted them in the “free stuff” section on craigslist and someone claimed them within five minutes. Five minutes!
I loved these baskets, but I’ve had them forever, they were really dusty, and I just didn’t want them anymore.
Gotta love craigslist when you really want to get rid of stuff without leaving your house!
Happy Sunday!
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When Mary Engelbreit’s Home Companion magazine called it quits a few years ago, it broke my heart.
Those lovely pages were such a sweet delight in my humble little life.
I guess the decision broke a few other hearts too, because now Mary and the gang have decided to try again! Yippee!!
I hope they don’t mind that I am sharing the graphic from their e-mail blast today.
Click on this link to find out more! 😀
Happy Friday!
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P.S. Just one more day of the little boy’s Fall break from school and then I will start mending my wounded routine. Look for more posts soon! 😀
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A few weeks ago, I bought a plastic burro at a thrift store. 😐
If you’re a regular reader, then you may remember that I have a weakness for little plastic farm animals.
I wasn’t going to buy this one, but he was perched on a ledge about six feet off the ground and he caught my eye.
I held him for a moment, then I put him back and tried to chuckle off my impulse to purchase. He had lived a rough life and it showed. I didn’t need him, so I left him on the ledge and walked away.
I wandered through the rest of the store, trying in futility to look for other treasures. I was distracted all the while and almost certain that I heard him braying my name.
Finally, I couldn’t stand it. I had to go and get him. I rushed back, overcome with anxiety, and was relieved to see that no one else had scooped him up in my moment of parental neglect. He was meant to be my baby and I had left him alone. 😳 I wouldn’t do it again.
I paid twenty-five cents and brought him home. Twenty-five cents!
And this week?
This week, I named him Donkey Xote.
And I painted him a house – a colorful, cheery house with a night sky, so he can rest and dream…
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Before:
After:
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Happy Friday!
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Light at the end of the tunnel
Just two more days with the painters here. It has been very claustrophobic inside the house. The windows have been closed and covered with plastic, the air off, and the temperature rising every afternoon. I’m done, you know?
Today, thankfully, they peeled the plastic off of my sliding door in back, so at least there’s that to open.
I feel motivated to make changes in my home right now, so it has been killing me to have my schedule dictated by someone else. I have stuff to paint and sand, but I can’t open the garage door to do it until these guys are gone. I hear the sewing machine whistling for me too, so I need to get the house in order.
It has been great organizing the kitchen a bit, now that we have the new storage there. I just need to channel that energy into other rooms and keep my momentum up once the painters are gone and another weekend passes by.
Wish me luck!
Eye Candy
Today I was surfing the net for inspiration and I came across a fascinating website. It belongs to a Seattle photographer named Bradford Bohonus. You can read about him here.
I am in love with his “high resolution interactive panoramic VR photography.” He peeks into the studios of other artists and he brings us along for the ride.
His photography is amazing and makes it possible for you and me to see how these artists work – the colors, the textures, the views out their windows, what they have on their walls. It’s all so interesting to me.
I am amazed how much these people look like their art and their environments. Maybe it’s just my imagination, but it seems like where there are clean lines in the work, there are clean lines in the studio and clean lines in the artist – neat hair & neat clothes. Where there is chaos in the art, there is chaos in the studio, and a sense of freedom about the person – wild hair & funkier clothes.
See if you think the same thing. And see if you don’t share my awe-struck respect for the photographer too.
Enjoy!
Happy Wednesday!
http://www.bohonus.com/galleries/personal-projects/artists-studios/
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The husband and I took the little boy for a walk at
Otay Valley Regional Park this morning.
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It was sweaty.
It was loud.
It was colorful.
It was beautiful.
You should try it!
Happy Sunday!
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P.S. Do any of you know if those are blueberries in
the pictures 3rd and 4th from the end?
I’ve never seen them growing before…is that them?
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bockychoy 