This and That: A Blog

  Green is this week's Color of Spring for Thursday Postcard Hunt .  Absinthe Robette ,  Henri Privat-Livemont,   a postcard version of the French poster advertising the Belgian absinthe brand. Oh, Garfield, don't we all?    The Japanese Garden in Portland, Oregon  Gauguin's Chair , Vincent van Gogh Next week's color is Purple .

  N ativity  is my name for this diptych (an artwork in two connected parts), a term from Greek meaning " pair of writing tablets ."  I found it in the Goodwill Outlet bins, and it's one of my favorite pieces.  The artist is  Marlinde von Ruhs , which is rather incredible to find!  The two parts are hinged, trimmed in gold braid and a tassel, with the backs covered in turquoise felt with beading.  It's the most amazing nativity I've ever seen! Marlinde often mounted her smaller works in felt or velvet, brocade, and gold braiding.  According to some sources she didn't want them to be just paintings in a frame.  She liked the idea of a tactile, handmade presence.  I had assumed the framing and edging was added after the paintings left the artist's possession, and to find they were done by the artist herself was actually moving!  An N poem form, Nonce, can be found here . 

  M agpie Goose (artist's title) is a limited edition (154/500) print by Australian artist  Doris Gingingara  (1946-1999).  I bought it as Goodwill for $2.06 with the signed and dated (9/99) Certificate of Authenticity on the back. I've written a Mondo poetry form for this one  here .

 I won't say Spring is in full bloom, but it's really starting to show.   Last year a friend gave me some daylily divisions.  I put some in the ground, others in pots until now.   Chorus Line in a line of two. That's a California poppy in the middle, against the house.  This bed used to have the Tuscan Blue rosemary and Munstead lavender, but they grew much too big, and dead underneath.  The rosemary stump still needs to be removed.  The daylilies here are Longfield Pink, Fragrant Returns, and Gentle Shepherd.  See all those poppies all along the path?  I'm taking most out. Take note of the violas, I'm going to mention them soon! The plant lowest in the middle is Cupid's Dart, moved from the space above the flat rock, which is now Country Fair Winds daylily.  It's a tall one, so I wanted it towards the back.  That bright green on the left is Little Lemon goldenrod's new growth.  I moved Rose Marvel salvia from the bac...

L is The Lighthouse, a lithograph copyright Henry B. Sandler Co. Inc. New York City published around 1962-1964.  The artist of the original painting is shown as Alfieri, most likely a publisher house artist or contract artist.  The name Alfieri is found on multiple Sandler Co. prints from the 1960s.  I found this in its original frame (Sandler lithographs were sold in frames, ready to hang) in the Goodwill Outlet bins.  10¢ a pound glass price!  An L for Lanturne poem can be found here . 

 I had the best thrifting day in a long time a few Saturdays ago!  First a stop at St. Vincent de Paul gained me a few interesting, but not fabulous, things I'll share in another post.  This post is for the fabulous finds! I hesitated on this, as it was $8 and that's a bit higher than I usually go.  However, I do love religious art for it's beauty.  This was on wood, with a label from Venice, and old.  They had it marked "vintage," which was an understatement!  It's actually at a minimum 150 years old, likely older, perhaps as old as 1780.  It's a panel icon painted in the Byzantine style with raised relief work, and gold leaf.  It would have been produced in a Catholic workshop in the area of Venice, Dalmatia, Istria, or Northern Italy, in the Byzantine iconographic form.   The photo does not do it justice, it's much more golden, it really shines in the sun.  Although I don't let it sit in the sun, I don't want to damage it! The sa...

K brings us two works of art.  K analen I and K analen II, monotype mixed medias by Helle (Melchoir) Hamilton 1989. K analen means " canal ."  A monotype is a one of a kind artwork, which is why these are numbered 1/1.  Ms. Hamilton was born in Denmark and moved to the U.S. in 1965 at the invitation of her grandfather, Lauritz Melchior , a world-famous tenor who also performed in musical films. Two years later she married David Hamilton, the brother of actor George Hamilton, who was the best man at the wedding.   I rescued these, literally, as one was fallen out of the frame, from the Goodwill Outlet bins.  They still had the gallery artist's information on the backs.  I paid $1 each.  This goes to show us, you can find professional original art in not only thrift stores, but the salvage bins!   I wrote a K poetry form for these, found here .