Wanting to Know you Wens: art gallery date!

last week i asked everyone to send me a piece of art you own and love and tell us why you love it so.

if you came over to casa di M (and if you're ever in el paso, please do!) you would easily see that i have art covering nearly every inch of wall space while other pieces are propped up against the book shelves or against our window nook. But my most prized possessions are ones my pappa painted.

Above is the latest one he's given me and probably my favorite, because it's also one of his oldest (i remember staring at it when i was little, wondering who this dark mystery woman was). The wood frame he made to go with it just adds to the piece.

i think the kind of art we have in our house also tells about us. here's your beautiful pieces:

^Erin : "here's a painting Alan (her husband) gave me for our first Christmas together. He said I made him feel like that rabbit..."

^April's walls: she was so cute to include one i had sent her (the naked blond on the polar bear) from burntfeather and the second one by charmaineolivia is the first piece of art she ever bought herself.

"The second photo is actually greeting cards made by my mom. She sends her handmade cards all the time and some of them get a lucky spot on the wall. These are my two favorites. There's another card I have above my desk that looks like a world map and says 'Don't postpone joy' that she gave me before I went to Italy. I feel like the little sayings are things she can't say herself, approval for all the things I do to find my joy, even when it takes me far away from her. 


The third photo is of two photos from my old roommate. She gave me the first one for my birthday-- it's her dressed up as a boy for a photography class project & I actually took the photo. They just remind me of how much I unconditionally love her and it makes me happy."

^Lenore : "This art was created by my young nephews & nieces! they shared the brushes, tubes of paint and presented me with this LOVELINESS for my birthday. I will treasure it forever!"

^my darling twinkie Marianne : "Anyone who knows me knows how much i absolutely love London. When I got married, my sweet and very talented Pappa painted this for me. It hangs proudly in our living room and every time I look at it, I think of my dad and how much love he's given me my whole life. Naturally i of course think of London and the amazing time I had there."  {i may be biased, but isn't our pappa talented?!}

^Danielle's walls :  "the one with the shapes in the cream frame is by jeremy taylor (the shop he & his wife share is allysonmellberg.etsy.com) the two on my mantle are by juliana swaney (victorian woman with moths coming out of her hair, and another one from jeremy taylor (deer with gold heart between the antlers).  the bird print is from mai autumn and was a christmas present to myself!"

^Carrie Marie : "it's been a part of my life since i was a baby, possibly before i was born. It first hung in my Grandparents' bedroom. Grandpa used to tell me (and all his granddaughters, I later found out) that the little girl on the horse was me, and he was leading it. I love it!" 

^Kim : "my absolute favorite piece of art that we own, and probably ever will own. the artist? an elephant! one of our elephants to be specific. this brilliant artist is one that we rode to the river twice a day, fed, scrubbed, and played with on our honeymoon in thailand. i love having a piece of that amazing experience forever hanging in our home. {and if you want to see photos of our elephants from our honeymoon, i put way too many photos on my blog here}" 

^Marisa's walls : "My renoir... that was my grandmothers. My angel painting reminds me in every way of my sweet sister. The one from you {the last one by artist olivia jeffries} the textures and colors move me." 

^Krista : "My husband and I created these paintings in St. Remy, France which was once home to Vincent Van Gogh so we thought it was only fitting to remember out time there in this way. We spent the afternoon lounging in the warm sun, eating pastries we picked up at the morning market, while dabbing away at our paintings. It was by far one of my favorite memories of the trip." {krista posted more about these paintings on her blog here. isn't that a sweet story?}

^Claire K : "The fist through bars is a b&w photograph that my parents gave me as a graduation gift when I finished my MFA. It's an original photo of a prisoner sticking his (her?) fist through the cell bars, which symbolizes justice and freedom to me and is particularly meaningful given the work I do in prisons.

The second is a b&w photo of a Gypsy wedding. My best friend, Tiffany, found this old photograph in an antique shop and gave it to me for Christmas years ago. It's been hanging above my bed ever since, as a tribute to love as well as my interest in Gypsy culture." 

^Claire : "This is a drawing of The Bungalow in Martindale near Ulswater, The Lake District. This is a holiday cottage, which my husband and I have spent many a fantastic week there with various groups of friends. We stayed there with 10 friends when we got married in 1999. It is extremely remote, has no electricity, the water source is the stream that runs down the hill outside, and the heating is a huge open fire. 

I had the drawing done from a photo and gave it as a present to my hubbie one year a long time ago for a birthday! It hangs in our lounge and we love it!" 

^Maddy : "It's a screen print from the 1970's of the front entrance to mine and Matt's college. My mom and I found it at an antique store in south Florida last year. It's kind of tacky and subtle at the same time, and I love that it displays our love for Florida State without that "college-y" feel (hate that!)."

^Nicola : "This was given to me and my husband by my Father In Law. He loves to paint and this is one of his creations. What makes it even more special is that the chapel is where hubby and I got married nearly 4 years ago. It is a treasured gift!"  

^Kary : "This piece of art means the world to me, it represents something from my Beautiful Mexico City and one of it's most famous legends. It is one of the first paintings I purchased by a freelance artist in 2001. It represents the Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl legend, a romantic and tragic story, perfect for the romantic in me." 

^Sara : "

The picture is from our trip to Capri-- my husband (not hubby at time-- in fact, we were not together at that point) bought it from a street vendor. We had it framed when we got married-- I surprised him with it for his birthday the very first year we were married."

^Faiza : 

"This piece of art was painted by my bestie Shafik in 2003. I had just bought my first home and it happened to be down the road from his place at the time. I had it framed, hung it up and haven't taken it down since then. We've been trhough a lot and it hasn't always been beautiful but it has coloured a most gorgeous kinship that I so value and hope to always have in my heart."

^Lauren's walls: "this is an original painting by my friend lauren. I loved it originally because of simplicity and pretty pastels. in the 2nd photo you can see the detail of the dandelion, the raised paint spots, which i love. i also included a silly little webcam shot where I'm on the computer most of the time, on my couch. On the wall behind it is the other painting by lauren that i have. it's really pretty and simple, a watercolor rose."



i know this was photo heavy, but how can it not be when it's our art gallery soiree?! i truly loved seeing everyone's art pieces and loved even more the stories you shared behind them. 


thank-you so very much lovies for playing along in this week's virtual date!!! xoxo