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Tuesday, December 20, 2016

A completely useless, feel-good-only post (wall art)

A friend of mine blogged recently about the art on the walls of her home, and it was inspiring.  I enjoyed learning about where and why she got the pieces.  I think you can learn a lot about a person from how they decorate their home.

Lately, I've spent all of my blogging time writing angsty things, and I need to just do blogging lite for a minute.

A big part of my wall decorating is travel art.  Some of it I have purchased, and some of it friends or family have purchased for me.

If I know a friend is going someplace cool that I likely won't go ever or for a very long time
, I say, "Hey, can I give you some money and will you buy a piece of wall art while you're there?"

The best thing about travel art is that I have constant reminders in my home of special places I've visited or special people who have traveled to some interesting places.

My neighbor's daughter has traveled to India and Jordan, and she was kind enough to bring me back some pieces, which I love.  I always think about her when I see them.  (She is currently in England getting her master's degree---how cool of a 20-something existence is that?)

From Jordan

From India

My parents visited Greece, Italy and Turkey a few years ago, and since D and I had already been to Greece and Italy, I asked mom to pick me up something from Turkey.


I do have a couple small shelves in my dining room, where most of the travel art is, although the more places we go, the more I've been having to find new locations.  This shelf has a wooden container from Hawaii (from my parents), a small pottery piece from England (my MIL), a vase from Williamsburg, VA (bought myself) and a vase from Mexico (my MIL).  I have other small things that are currently in my bedroom closet that usually reside in my living room.  They will return just as soon as I put Christmas decor away.  


I just added this to the shelf the other night---my next-door neighbor gave me a cigar from Cuba (he returned not too long ago from his 3rd mission trip).


These two pieces are from Iceland, where D and I went in 2003.



This is from Strasberg, Germany (from my mom and dad).


I've got the Canadian section, which has these two:

Niagara Falls

Toronto


I have an entire wall of US art, including....

 Charleston, SC



 The Grand Canyon


 Smokey Mountains National Park, TN

Savannah, GA

Sleeping Bear Dunes, MI


These are upstairs in our bedroom and bath.....because my US wall in the dining room is really full.


Sanibel Island, FL

 Edisto Island, SC

 Mackinaw Bridge, Michigan


This is one of my favorite pieces....a piece of lace I bought in Burano, Italy that I had matted and framed once we returned home.  It is in the center of my Mediterranean/Asian wall.  


This piece was given to me by my SIL and is from Mexico.  Right now, it stands alone...since when D and I visted the Caribbean prior to marriage we hadn't yet begun this travel wall art tradition.  If we had, this little guy would have some tropical friends.  


This piece hung in my home for years and years, but I changed things around and haven't found the right place for him again....because he is very long.  A friend traveled to Nepal and brought it back for me.  It stunk of gasoline because of the machines they made it on so I had to dry it with dryer sheets to make it tolerable to hang up.  I always think of RG and TL when I see it.


I think one of the things that makes our house reflective of us and what we value is our travel art.  I always look forward to going new places and finding new pieces to build my memory mosaic.  

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