Blue and Yellow
Blue and Yellow
This time of the year is always about the first bursts of color, especially blooming things. I always have a stem or two or more of forsythia in my kitchen, and in those brief moments of sunshine the yellow is warm and brilliant before the classic Blue Willow dishes.
Morning Blue
Morning Blue
The sun shines in at an angle through the cobalt pitcher and across the enamel table with the red edge.
Green
Green Bottles
They were destined for the recycling bin, so I left them by the door in order to trip over them on my way out so I’d remember to take them to the bin. When I walked back into the room, the sun had risen full force and I couldn’t believe what I saw. Sometimes these scenes feel like a gift, and the certainly awaken my creative senses for a day of design at my computer.
Welcome Kitty, 2010
Greeting Cat.
This is the kitty who greets you at my front door.
I have a number of feline sculptures and outdoor items, some of which I’ve made, some gifts and some beckoned to me from yard sales and vintage shops.
This one came to me with Peaches and Cream; the person who brought me them also brought me several small feline-themed items as well. This was handmade by someone, cast in a lightweight concrete mix so it bears that grainy texture all over except on the eyes.
It’s not a 3-D sculpture, just a relief, and I have him posted just above the bottom crossbar of my homemade dark brown wooden shutter where he can peek over, around or through whatever vase of flowers I have on the table by the door.
Right now this is the dried flowers of the many-flowered aster, my favorite autumn aster, I rescued from a parking lot before it was sprayed with chemicals.
The leaves have fallen and the golden autumn sunlight angles onto my front porch, bathing the cat and the flowers in amber warmth for just a short while, and all else is in deep shadow.
A New Planet? 2010
A brave new planet.
No, just an old one seen in a “new light”. The leaves have fallen off the trees and this Jupiter-inspired glass bowl suspended over my landing caught the light at an astonishing angle causing me to stumble and nearly fall as I walked up the steps and didn’t recognize the glowing orb that hadn’t been there just a few moments ago.
It’s all about the light, and it’s not just where decorative glass objects are concerned. Perhaps it’s all an allegory of current events.
Little Colorful Thing
Little Colorful Thing
A simple household item becomes an item of complex visual interest with and interesting angle of bright sun. It’s a little votive holder, but it’s all in how you look at it.
Coffee With Cream
Coffee with cream.
Just half n half swirling around in hot coffee. For some reason it was totally mesmerizing, but I think I needed the cup of coffee at that point and anything would have been mesmerizing.
Pussy Willow
Pussy Willow
What I like most is the abstraction, the light and shadow playing on the objects and the walls, both the pussy willow and the cat turning from positive objects to negative space as the sun and shadow move across them.
It’s an older photo on film, and I’ve been scanning my prints up to now. For this one I’d like to get a good negative scanner.
I featured this on The Creative Cat tonight, and if you care to you can read a little more about this photo and how it encouraged me to consider taking my photography more seriously as an art in itself, and not just as reference photos for my art.
Blue and Yellow
Blue and Yellow
This time of the year is always about the first bursts of color, especially blooming things. I always have a stem or two or more of forsythia in my kitchen, and in those brief moments of sunshine the yellow is warm and brilliant before the classic Blue Willow dishes.
Worn Wood
Worn Wood.
Wooden items, painted, stained, natural; the white rocker, the oak split basket, bench, deck and steps, have all seen the effects of weather, settling into their natural patterns and types of wear, softened by late afternoon sun.
Lace and Shadows:2011
Lace and Shadows
The sun at this time of year is magical, long and angled, brilliant among the bare trees, alighting even the simplest of household items and creating abstract images or interesting patterns of light and shadow.
Green (2011)
Green Bottles
They were destined for the recycling bin, so I left them by the door in order to trip over them on my way out so I’d remember to take them to the bin. When I walked back into the room, the sun had risen full force and I couldn’t believe what I saw. Sometimes these scenes feel like a gift, and the certainly awaken my creative senses for a day of design at my computer.
Coffee With Cream
Coffee with cream.
Just half n half swirling around in hot coffee. For some reason it was totally mesmerizing, but I think I needed the cup of coffee at that point and anything would have been mesmerizing.
Two Little Deer Go Home
Two Little Deer
These two ceramic planters with deer figures have long been my favorites at Carnegie Antiques, and today they finally went home to live with two little girls.
A man was looking for birthday gifts for his granddaughters who are 9 and 10, and whose birthdays are close enough together that they celebrate at the same time. He has always found “two” of an item, not exactly alike, but enough that they feel equal. We had had other neat things girls that age would enjoy from what he described—a Victorian vanity set with a brush, comb and hand mirror, little decorative boxes, hats, dolls—but of these there was only one thing left. We looked at animal jewelry and ceramic figures, but even the owl necklaces were all too different to be paired together.
As we walked around and talked I saw the yellow deer standing on the burgundy planter and asked if they might like this. I knew there was another just like it around somewhere, though it was a different color combination. They could use it as a pencil cup or just toss stuff into it, or actually put a plant in it.
Yes, they would, he said. So off I went through six rooms, looked in the first spot I remembered having seen it, and the second spot, remembering a friend of mine had purchased a deer planter and began to lose hope, looked in the third spot and also began considering other figures, but there it was, the yellow deer with the green planter.
These animal-themed planters, along with other themes, were very popular gifts for hospital patients beginning just after WWII when people actually began to visit the hospital on a regular basis. This included plenty of women who gave birth in a hospital instead of at home, as had always been the standard practice. They were intended to brighten a person’s spirits as they recovered, and give them something happy to take home. I believe the plants were usually those hardy heart-leaf philodendrons; I also remember every home with older relatives had at least one philodendron and I presume this was the reason why.
I wrapped them imagining two little girls with their colorful deer pencil cups, which decades ago had brightened the day for someone, and possibly more than one someone through the years, and they are still capable of bringing happiness to another generation.
Handkerchief
Handkerchief for Memory
The last time I was at Carnegie Antiques I flipped through the pile of handkerchiefs, all different, handmade, store-bought, flowered, embroidered, lace trims, a typical pile of hankies from years past.
I found this one in the pile and recognized the letter “H”, my mother’s first initial. My mother could be difficult to fit with gifts and was often awkward at accepting, but whenever I found a small thing with her initial, mugs, small handbags, shirts, tablets, whatever, I just bought it and gave it to her. She was always pleased with these things and kept them, and it was a quietly happy part of our relationship. They are all long gone now from regular use and from selling her house and its contents.
Even though she died last month I still had the urge to buy this. I initially decided not to—what would I do with it? I have no one to give it to. I am a habitual collector of small things that I then never give up and years ago I cleaned it all out and donated it and can now enjoy looking at something I would formerly have purchased, then let it go, finding I don’t really need it after all.
But I thought about this little handkerchief, such a nicely done pattern of flowers in some of my mother’s favorite colors, and an unusually-shaped letter. I decided that I could continue this little tradition, even if I only keep the handkerchief and other things myself. Perhaps if I collect a number of things, someday I’ll find another daughter who can use a collection of things with her mother’s initial. For now, I have space for this. When I look at it, I think of my mother. That’s enough purpose for me.
Lace and Shadows
Lace and Shadows
The sun at this time of year is magical, long and angled, brilliant among the bare trees, alighting even the simplest of household items and creating abstract images or interesting patterns of light and shadow.
Onions
Onions
Something magic happens when unexpected sunshine angles into a window and illuminates something that otherwise would be pretty unexciting. I see these onions every day, if not these exactly then two or three others, and I do like them but don’t find them nearly as inspiring as when the sun warms and deepens their colors and casts a chance shadow from the asparagus fern like Chinese characters with a message, perhaps of a happy new year.
Green
Green Bottles
They were destined for the recycling bin, so I left them by the door in order to trip over them on my way out so I’d remember to take them to the bin. When I walked back into the room, the sun had risen full force and I couldn’t believe what I saw. Sometimes these scenes feel like a gift, and the certainly awaken my creative senses for a day of design at my computer.
The Little Tree
The Little Tree
Happy Holidays, and thanks for looking at my photos this year!
It’s a very little tree—one I made, in fact! I crocheted the shape and stuffed it with (clean) old socks all snipped up, and it’s decorated with all my single earrings, charms I don’t like, pins, cufflinks and other assorted unwanted jewelry, festooned with a gold chain and a strand of tiny clear plastic beads and topped with a crystal earring. An ankle bracelet holds it on the tree.
I had intended to make several of these for friends, but only made one so far and decided to photograph it so I’d remember what it looked like, and so that I could write down the pattern for the crochet. We had had a nice snow, so I used the warm morning light to photograph it in its “natural state”, and it looked quite cute!
Maybe I’ll get a start on these for next year while I’m on a roll. In the meantime, enjoy your holiday weekend! I’ll have some…interesting holiday lights to post later.
Welcome Kitty
Greeting Cat.
This is the kitty who greets you at my front door.
I have a number of feline sculptures and outdoor items, some of which I’ve made, some gifts and some beckoned to me from yard sales and vintage shops.
This one came to me with Peaches and Cream; the person who brought me them also brought me several small feline-themed items as well. This was handmade by someone, cast in a lightweight concrete mix so it bears that grainy texture all over except on the eyes.
It’s not a 3-D sculpture, just a relief, and I have him posted just above the bottom crossbar of my homemade dark brown wooden shutter where he can peek over, around or through whatever vase of flowers I have on the table by the door.
Right now this is the dried flowers of the many-flowered aster, my favorite autumn aster, I rescued from a parking lot before it was sprayed with chemicals.
The leaves have fallen and the golden autumn sunlight angles onto my front porch, bathing the cat and the flowers in amber warmth for just a short while, and all else is in deep shadow.
A New Planet?
A brave new planet.
No, just an old one seen in a “new light”. The leaves have fallen off the trees and this Jupiter-inspired glass bowl suspended over my landing caught the light at an astonishing angle causing me to stumble and nearly fall as I walked up the steps and didn’t recognize the glowing orb that hadn’t been there just a few moments ago.
It’s all about the light, and it’s not just where decorative glass objects are concerned. Perhaps it’s all an allegory of current events.
Kitchen Closed
This Chick's Kitchen
I visited Gingerbread Junction Country Store on a dark rainy day, and the press of things and the way the proprietor has it decorated, along with the ideas I get while I’m there, will brighten any day.
There’s a mix of authentic old stuff, like the stove and coffee grinder, and newer craft items, plus candles and napkins and funny signs and dolls of all sorts.
The sign reads, “Kitchen Closed: this chick’s had it!”
I have a selection of my greeting cards here, and also added a few framed prints of my feline artwork, including small linoleum block prints. Soon enough I’ll add my printed cloths to the mix. It’s one of many places I have the merchandise made from my paintings, and I don’t sell huge amounts but it’s steady at each place. People go to this shop and others intending to find something unique, and it’s always a pleasure when they choose my stuff.
Looks Like a Toy to Me
Giueseppe at the table with one grape
I put some grapes in a bowl for myself, then walked away but turned around to notice the single perfect grape sitting silently on the table. That in itself was a nice photo.
Then Giuseppe jumped up and saw the grape and was equally inspired, not to art but to recreation. I could see the little drama building in his imagination and the paw lifted to give the grape a swat. I wasn’t in the mood to rescue the grape from under the stove.
This is a photo of Giueseppe not playing with the grape. No, he’s not happy, but he’s not dangerous.
We have now discovered that grapes are not good for cats. Giuseppe wants to know why I think he’d eat a grape, because it looks like a toy to him, and toys and food are equally important and not to be confused.
I live with a whole bunch of cats and write about them and paint and sketch them. Visit my blog, The Creative Cat, for more cat photos, stories and information on feline fun, health and wellness.
Piano Baby
Piano Baby
The sun doesn’t often reach this corner, but in the late afternoon the clouds parted briefly and I felt someone was watching me from across the room. I guess I’ve never seen the Piano Baby illuminated in quite this way. If I had kept looking at her I would have begun formulating an arcane fictional story about how the Piano Baby came to life and probably began killing people or something, they never do nice things in these stories.
This is an artifact from my parent’s house, and it’s one of those items that was a permanent part of my visual memory of the house while we were growing up. I took it for granted, just seeing it as another one of the white or light-colored figurines my mother kept on a shadow box room divider. It always looked to me as if the baby had once been sitting in or on something, and perhaps holding something, in either case, that something was missing.
Then I discovered that it was an “item”, a “Piano Baby”. I’m not particularly attached to it, but I wouldn’t like to have seen it go into a stranger’s hands so I brought it to my house when I sold my mother’s house. I’m not a collector though I enjoy learning about things that are collected and why, so I never knew this was something other than a simple figurine until a friend who organizes estate sales and has a consignment and vintage store and has been a collector for years noticed it.
Apparently these were designed to hold the shawl on a piano in Victorian homes. I’m not so sure because these bisque figurines aren’t that big and they’re pretty lightweight, lighter than most piano shawls I’ve handled. They depict toddlers and were designed in many different styles and positions, lying down or standing, sometimes with animals or other babies. This one is fairly modest, but some seem a little suggestive with garments draped off the shoulder and somewhat provocative postures, I mean, for a toddler girl.
I’ve never seen this one in particular in any collector information and it has no maker’s mark on the bottom so it’s probably not a collector item. We did have a baby grand piano that had been my father’s growing up, but I never saw the baby on it. She’s still here, and I tried to clean the dirt from her, but in a test I also cleaned some of the paint that decorated her, so I left her as is.
