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Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Art Makes a Home*

I moved my art in yesterday. It's amazing what a difference that makes in elevating WholeHearted House from feeling like a "camp" to feeling like my home.
I have several pieces of cherished original art, all painted by friends.

I feel very lucky to have such wonderful paintings and I am glad I invested in them. I also have just about the right amount of original art for this house. I could maybe squeeze in a couple more pieces... Little ones. Tiny Art.

My largest painting is a skyscape entitled Fire by Lynn Misner of the PowerHouse Gallery in Lunenburg. I've put it in the only place in the house where it will fit! (The space I've left next to it is for a set of antique shelves that are coming from my folks' house in a couple of weeks):


Lynn Misner's skyscape, Fire as hung on the wall of my Tiny Home (and yes, those are my winter tires at the back – NOT their permanent storage spot, I trust)

My smallest painting is an abstract, Ocean Girl (named for me <3) by Tanya Philipovich. It can fit in all sorts of places and will probably move around periodically. Right now, it is across from my armchair where I spend a lot of my time:

And my two (I must admit) favourite paintings are at the head and foot of my bed.

At the foot, The Caretaker, again by Lynn Misner. This is the painting I licensed to use on the cover of my third album, Blackbirds. And then I bought the original, even though I couldn't really afford it at the time:



At the head, "Prometheus" by A. Shay Hahn. This is the very first original painting I ever purchased. I fell in love with it at first sight:



As a side note, I once had a conversation with my mom about these two paintings. "It's interesting," I noted, "that they both have red flowers in the grass."

She replied that it was a much more striking similarity that they are both paintings of people walking away from the viewer.

I hadn't noticed that similarity. I suppose we are often unconscious of our organizing principles, and I think my passion for these paintings has a great deal to do with my organizing principles. With these two paintings at the head and foot of my bed, they are now walking away from each other forever. I find that satisfies a place in me that is all about loss and longing.

Note: I think the art is hung a little high on the walls. I'm used to 9ft+ ceilings in my last couple of apartments. I like art to be at eye level, and the ceilings in the Tiny House are low... What do you think?

*And my cat. Art and my cat make a home, but this is a blog post about art, not about my cat. I just had to mention him though, however briefly.

2 comments:

  1. I think they are all beautiful and eye level is good . . . even though you have low ceilings. :)

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  2. Art and a cat - perfect way to make a house a home. Good on ya, Alex. ps. Eye level for sure ;-)

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