Ketchup...Catsup...Catch-up!!

I just realized it has been over a year since I last posted an entry. What can I say, I am notorious for starting something and not keeping up with it. Well, 2011 is going to be different! (not like how I said 2010 would be different)  Some of my next few posts will be to play a little bit of catch-up from 2010's events. I am also going to join the Thrift-Share Monday party beginning with this post. I'll try to keep it short and sweet.

After what has seemed to be an uneventful thrifting year (sure we are only a month in), these are a few of the goodies I couldn't pass up. My first time at this newfound thrift I found a vintage JC Higgins train make-up case along with that cute white mod owl on top. The owl is from the Royal Dux Bohemia line and was 75% off!!
Yesterday I found several Heath pieces of which I came home with the ones above. I left behind some dinner plates and bowls. The prices were just a bit too steep so that I could only justify coming home with some of them. I also thought I came home with sets of four but when I unpacked them I realized one of the cups didn't match the others. Silly me!
I also caved in and bought the little enamel flower pin. I already have way too many pins for my future wedding bouquet like the ones featured here. Speaking of wedding, I found a nifty wedding planner to help me get the ball rolling.
Last but not least, I bought a design book. For those that don't know me, I am obsessed with design books. I am an architect by trade so I buy anything with pretty pictures. My bookcases are full, I have stacks of them on every imaginable flat surface and worst of all, I want to keep them ALL.
The items I did pass up on this week: a David Stewart bowl, a set of Ben Seibel dishes for Iroquois in the Harvest Time pattern, a Glidden Bowl, and some Stetson China in the Hiawatha pattern. (Since I haven't started reselling, I can't justify bringing home copious amounts of China to the boy, but I can't help but bring some home.)

Just some watercolors...

As a christmas gift to myself I bought a watercolor painting set complete with an easel, this led me to produce a few watercolors. The first time I ever painted with watercolors was in gradeschool and I remember not liking it then because I couldn't control it very well. I was re-introduced to it during a summer drawing seminar in Rome where we had a one-day watercolor session with a master watercolorist. It is there that I was able to appreciate this medium once again. We also visited the studio of artist Wendy Artin at the American Academy. Her work on the female figure was absolutely breathtaking and it inspired me to continue to explore the medium. While my watercolors are not of the human form, they were my attempt at reacquainting myself with the technique.

This watercolor evolved from a sketch that I made of a wombat. A creature that I find to be adorable. Due to my attempts at creating variations in tone for his body he resulted being termed the "mean wombat" by my boyfriend.  

A dear friend of mine recently gave birth to a precious baby girl. I wanted to create a little something for her to put in her room and thought a cute teddy bear would be nice. Unfortunately, I tried to create a textured effect for the body and am now unhappy with it. I will be attempting another painting soon and if it fails I might just end up buying something. :/

This one started off as a wash test and I was very pleased with the colors. Once it dried, I wanted to do something with the wash and decided to add a skyline. The one problem that I have with it is that the colors for a sunrise or sunset are inverted, minor detail.

Last but not least, I was practicing my washes again and wanted to use colors that you would normally see in a rusting piece of metal. Once the colors blended together and dried, I splattered some brown paint on it. I have yet to decide what else to do with it. Any suggestions?

Mid-Century Table

I purchased this side table from its original owner and restored it to make it look like it does above. Originally, it was much darker and the finished looked muddy. I enjoyed restoring it because I love working with my hands and this was a temporary outlet. Someday I will have my own studio/ workshop... someday

Putting Pen to Paper

After several months of contemplating the idea of blogging I am finally putting "pen to paper", or shall we say "fingers to keyboard". This has been an overwhelming idea for me because there is just so much I want to do in this blog. I want to share the products of my collecting obsession, share some personal work and share my wish list and love of vintage items.

I should have known that finding vintage items would be a hobby for me. Ever since I can remember I have been fascinated by items with a history. The earliest memories that I have of this passion are from yearly family trips to Guatemala, Quetzaltenango to be exact. My mother's aunts, who cared for her as a child, lived in a Spanish Colonial Mansion that had been partitioned by the time that I came into existence(more about the family history at a later time). I remember this mansion as being cold, damp, and quite frankly I did not appreciate it at the time save for this one room. This one magical room, which was kept under lock and key, contained many whimsical treasures. In retrospect, it must have been a sitting parlor back in the home's heyday. There was a round table in the back with a strange, but interesting nonetheless, hanging lamp. My memory may be faulting me, but I think there was a piano as well. The room was dark, and had wall-paper that had long been deteriorating. For some reason I remember thinking of it as the Blue Room.

This Blue Room contained one last thing, a glass cabinet filled with a generous collection of miniatures. This was the object of my affection for years. As a child I would stay in this room for long periods of time, just looking in amazement at all of the little wonders. Every visit to this home required a visit to this room, it became my ritual. My great aunts' must have known how much I loved these little treasures because when they passed, I inherited them.

Now I guess I have always been a bit of a strange cat. As a pre-teen, I searched the weekly newspaper ads for a curio and I organized this collection. In essence, I curated my own little museum. I cannot think of a pre-teen today that would find joy in this. Nowadays if it does not involve some kind of hand-held electronic device then it just is not worth the trouble, but I digress...

Along with my visits to Guatemala, thrift store shopping also furthered my love of items with a history. The idea of finding a discarded quality item was thrilling. However, I did not buy every item that I thought was a good find. I would only buy those things that I thought were really special, or that I could see myself using in the future. This blog will be a catalogue of my collections.

I can assure you that future posts will not be nearly as long as I am not fond of writing, but every so often I do feel inspired to do so. I also want to openly thank my boyfriend for being incredibly patient and loving, it is because of him that I have been afforded the time to reflect and rediscover my passions during these tough times.