One piece is over the buffet for now, but I think long-term it will go in our (future) master bedroom. I think when we install the fireplace and mantle I want something bigger and more substantial over it.
This piece has a fun story. In college I took two art classes (they were of the how-to-teach-art variety). And in one of them we had to paint a painting based off of a picture. I decided to meld together two pictures I took in New Zealand, one of the beach and one of a beautiful sunset. I am so happy with how the sunset looks because I really focused on it and my teacher helped me so much to get it to look just right. Now looking at it I wish I had also focused more on the sand and water because I rushed those and in comparison they're not as good (the sand is way too orange and doesn't have enough texture). Having this up on the wall really makes me want to start painting again because it is so much fun. Though without a teacher's guidance it'll be much harder.
The other piece we hung above the doorway in the living room:
This is a handmade wooden carving from Malaysia. When I was on vacation in North Carolina a few years ago I saw a beautiful wooden carving hanging in a store and I really wanted to buy it. I looked for some detail on it and saw it was from Malaysia. Then I remembered that my dad was going to be taking a work trip there soon. I knew if I could I'd prefer to get it directly from the source so the artist could make more money on the sale. So I took a few pictures of it and gave my Dad a mission. He ended up finding a beautiful carving very similar to the one I had seen in North Carolina.
I love having this piece up now and I think of my Dad every time I look at it (it wasn't the easiest souvenir to bring home!). And my by some miracle it matches the house's trim stain color so well and it looks very at home up there.
Hopefully we'll be hanging up more stuff this week! I am on a major roll with getting stuff up on the walls. The bare walls around this place are really getting to me.
That is cool to have art with special meaning to you. The carved wood from Malaysia, wow, that is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThere are painting classes outside the college curriculum. The only one I ever took was part of local adult education offerings. I wanted to paint in oils, and learned I could not abide the fumes, that was disappointing. But I did not try other media, probably a mistake.