november

A golden November day, the sun poured through my windows like honey.

Found the prettiest vintage butterfly locket broach on ebay to house a mini print of one of my prints, but I don’t know if I can part with it…

With old Japanese faux pearls and a velvet ribbon around my finger to remind myself to sell it one of these days. Its golden, has a butterfly AND a locket for goodness sake!

A favorite crisp, clean part of my painting room (except the growing feather collection in the windowsill) I keep running out of places to keep my little finds!

And, new treasures! The little oval shaped framed portrait was given to me by my aunt, its so delicate I love it! Some acorns and pinecones from my forest walks, two new lockets to fill with mini prints for my etsy shop, a little ceramic wasp trinket box from anthro and other little things to admire..

A new painting I’ve been working on. I am loving this one and I am so anxious for the glazed layer in the background to dry so I can proceed. Hopefully by tomorrow afternoon. There’s another element to this piece but I’ll keep it a surprise for now…

On a more grim note (but appropriate for this time of year) I wanted to share some very old folksy headstones just a short walk from where I live. The cemetery is so old, with headstones dating from the early 1700’s! I went there today to admire the stones for the millionth time since I move here. These headstones fascinate me to pieces!

Mr. Aaron Burroughs. Born 1655, died 1755. I can’t believe he made it all the way to 100, back then. I love how they portrayed the wig!

Rebecca J. Bourroughs. She died in 1796. She has sort of a Martha Washington look, doesn’t she?

Poor Jonathan Darling. He only made it to 13.

A very bad attempt at cross bones from 1771. The lettering is pretty though.

This is my favorite. The folk art design, lettering and style is exquisite.

Yesterday was spent at my parents house Halloween Party. I was a kitchy little sailor girl (again). Today I worked on cutting watercolor papers for my new sketchbook (for my doodles and writings) went for three walks, painted, and sorted through my antique photos. Sundays are the best, as we usually don’t go anywhere and have the day to ourselves entirely!
Daylight savings. Hello dark late afternoons, endless grey and frosty windows. Hello November.

Tell me, what is your favorite part of November?

snowy day

Today is snowed and snowed. Despite the inclement weather (all the pretty fall leaves are now frostbitten!) I spent the afternoon painting a field of wildflowers amongst other things (painting update very soon!). Snow in October!

Anyway, I picked up an antique dresser set yesterday for a song! It’s beautiful and inspiring (I think its from the 30’s but not sure) and it came in an old tattered yellow box with the original fluffy pink cotton to keep it safe. I was thinking about pretty dressing tables and my mother’s stood out as the best I’ve seen. She is such a lovely decorator. Her vanity: (and me trying to move out of the way of the camera!)

Now I’m on the hunt for a vanity to display all my yummy vintage things. I am imaging something 20’s, 30’s or 40’s.

I have been collecting antique picture frames for my paintings. Managed to stockpile a bunch. They make some neat repros but I really want to stick to antique frames, from victorian to the 40’s. It’s a real treasure hunt and I feel that I’m recycling while finding unique frames. I have to admit I have some 60’s frames that are pretty neat though (I think they are the 60’s version of the victorian repro). In the past couple of weeks I found some Victorian frames all under 10 dollars but the plaster filagree adornments (covered in gold) were broken off in sections. Does anyone know if there is a remedy for this? It was sad to leave them at the store but I felt that fixing them was a hopeless cause.

Currently I am absolutely coveting frames such as these for my paintings: (sorry I can’t remember where I found them but it was an antique shop and the first and last one was around $100) These were found online, I didn’t actually buy them, but I am wishing…

Try to ignore the images in the last two. I’d pop them out and put little intricate paintings inside!

A heads up, there will be a giveaway very soon!

xoxo sarah