Treasure Hunting

I am in the midst of *thinking* about how to redecorate some of the rooms in my house. Note the asterisks around thinking and not actually doing. That is because I have so many ideas swirling around my head that I don't know how I'm going to settle on one thing. And I know that a lot of my ideas will be long term. But paint and furniture are easy to find and purchase. The part that I always seem to have a hard time with is art.

I love art - I love paintings and sculptures - I love seeing what crafters can do with their talents....and if there's something that catches my eye, I usually like to make a purchase. This is how I feel about art. I would LOVE for an interior decorator to come in and help me redecorate my rooms - but the one part that I wouldn't feel comfortable with is having them choose my art. I feel like art should touch me in some way - there should be a story behind it.

For instance, when Amanda and I went to London over Thanksgiving, we were taking in the sites and happened to stop at the Covent Garden Market....where we found a stand that was selling wooden flowers. The crafter's son was manning the booth, showing us all the different "flower arrangements" you could do with the flowers. We immediately loved what we saw and we proceeded to purchase as many as we thought we needed, which (of course) was not enough. I managed to buy three arrangements (one for me, others for Xmas gifts) and after coming back to the States, Amanda and I were both thinking we should have purchased more. I have my tulip arrangement in my dressing room and I look at it every day...it's so simple yet puts a smile on my face. The picture on the right shows you some of the tulips that Martin Jones (that is the master crafter) creates. He also has daffodils that you can peek in the bottom corner. I was not only in love with the flowers itself but I was also in love with this picture - so much so that I blew it up and FINALLY found a great frame for it and now have to find a place for it in my home. I also managed to write to Martin Jones to let him know just how much I appreciate his product and how I can't wait to go back.

There is a painting that I have had my eye on. It is a Thomas Kincaid. In case that name sounds familiar but you can't quite place it, he is the artist that sets up stores in the mall. Some of his paintings are fantastical....there is just that something that he puts in his paintings that warms your heart and brings it to life. He can really take a house on a street and paint it into this magical portrait of serene and beauty. He recently released a painting of the Biltmore Estate, down in North Carolina. The estate itself is beautiful but to see it the way Thomas Kincaid painted it really transports me back (personally) into another time.



(the real Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC)






I'm hoping to add the painting to my home one day *soon* because this is one that moves me. You can tell a really great story behind the painting and I think that is what art is meant to do.

(the Thomas Kincaid rendition of Biltmore)

So instead of going to Prints Plus or wherever in the mall, I've decided to make a conscious effort to look for art to fill my home when I go on travel now...not only will it be a good reminder of the trip I took but it will also, hopefully, have a good story behind it.