A few weeks ago during the Blair Citywide Garage Sale (one of my favorite days of the year!), my mom came over to play with the kids while I went out treasure hunting. And what a treasure I found! One of my favorite bloggers - Jenny of The Little Green Notebook - always has fabulous gallery walls filled with thrift store paintings and fun frames. I took a leaf out of her book (wink, wink) and scored this beautiful oil landscape for a mere $15. !!! I knew the frame alone was worth at least $75 (I bought two of the same from Hobby Lobby a number of years ago) and decided to bring it home and paint it for the playroom. The orange/black wood is pretty, but not working for me. Too dark and rustic for my house!
All the way home I lamented not having asked who the painter was and if it had a story, and then lo and behold! I cut it open to find the information preserved for me. I haven't been able to dig up much on Mr. Lawrence Faudel other than that he was a local artist and has passed away, so if anyone knows something about him, please share!
ta-da!
a fresh coat of white (or 3) brightens up everything
But then I realized all the other random frames probably needed a paint job to bring the collection together a bit better. I also wanted to spruce a couple up for some more interest and a change.
With washi tape and photo corners I added a couple of postcards from Netherland artist, Lieke Van Der Vorst, over the top of some of Alice's art work for a pop of color and whimsy.
before
after
before
after
I did take down the painting I finished a while back to save for later and paint over for another room. That's just the way of canvases in the house of a painter :) This was the right spot for this painting and I love how enchanted and colorful it is. It picks up the blues from the walls perfectly and will provide a fun gateway for the many books we have that center around magical forests. And I love that the frames are now white so the artwork is the showcase! The work itself competed with the bold lines of the frames before and it was difficult to find cohesion. Now I can pretty much buy any spare cheap frame and paint it white to mix with the rest of the collection.
Our new landscape has a home in our playroom to inspire little imaginations into big ones :)
Happy treasure hunting!
Can you tell me if you still have the Faudel painting or was it painted over?
ReplyDeleteI grew up in Oakland and knew Lawrence personally. My family has several of his paintings I have one in my home.
Him and his wife had no children and painting was his passion. Him and his wife did all of their own framing and worked out of their home.