28 Comments

Hammer, tiara, Chagall, midnight blue. Thank you for another beautiful post.

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Thank you for reading and for a wonderful line.... Chagall and a midnight sky.... nice!

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Hammer, Tiara, and grey! 🤗

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Wonderful, Kelley! I am glad for tiara!

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Tiara, only because I have paintings, photographs, and quilts. Hammer from a finger painting my oldest granddaughter did before she was one. A collectible for sure!

Your post reminded me a teal moving dolly in the garage. It’s horribly banged up and chipped, but the color is pure magic. My husband is forbidden from painting it.

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No art from the kids through the years that stayed? I would think you should have a wall, at least, of family and pet portraits you’ve drawn! That finger painting sounds very special, and I laughed at the teal moving dolly. That’s pretty funny, but that feeling in response to a certain color.... yes! I hope you occasionally see it and smile!

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I forgot about the kids, art! I’ve got a few prized pieces, mainly 3d. I drew all the kids as babies for my parents. I have them all now, but they need to be reframed. No doggo drawings, just photos.

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Hammer for sure. I have a stylized cat drawing my mom did hanging up all the time and I love it. She has a kind of wary, at-arms-length relationship with cats and I feel her drawing embodies that mystique. She thinks it was a throwaway and I simply love it. Maybe beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

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What a wonderful example and story, Lauren..... I love that you love a throwaway! Sounds like you need to hang some of your work up though!

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Imogen Cunningham wants to hammer my dotty, sky blue tiara! Oh no!

When I was in graduate school, we frequently traded art with each other. I enjoy seeing those pieces on the walls. They remind me of a time that was exhilarating, inspiring, and also traumatizing.

One of them, a painting of hello kitty in her alien form, always makes me smile. Tar and mobile home paint were involved in its creation, and the surface is starting to flake off. If anything, this adds to the painting. Instead of being a static work, it is slowly evolving over time.

I have a box of art and and frames under my desk, waiting to be sorted out, and decisions made about what to hang.

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I love this, and it sounds like you have history and memory on the walls AND waiting to be pondered, sorted, and hung. A box of paintings is a pretty special thing in so many ways. I love your line and am happy to find “dot” show up. Perfect! Thanks for always playing along with the lines, too. Hello Kitty in alien form.... intriguing... but appreciating the evolution of the piece.... I love that.

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Hammer, tiara (3 rooms have my murals, so the art is the wall), O’Keefe, Monet, Wm. Harnett, azure field under tufts of fluffy white flowers.

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Lee -- three rooms have murals you’ve created..... that’s fantastic! Great list, and I love your sky description.... beautiful!

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Hammer and tiara. I love both of your son’s paintings! The Victorian especially! I used to paint old buildings.

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Thanks so much for reading and commenting, Marva! Hammer and tiara for the win!

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Hammer, tiara, Benjamin Knox (local artist I’ve talked with in his gallery a couple years ago and have a piece of his displayed), dot, and black---it’s 9pm! 😂

This Substack made me think a lot about how much of my art is still hanging in my parents’ house. Stuff that’s not really very good imo. I should paint something nice for them now, I guess! Mom put up a beautiful teal/turquoise in their living room, and made one wall darker, as was the trend a while back. But it’s a great backdrop for family photos.

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Yes for dot, and yes for a night sky, too! Our parents are good for this, right? It’s funny, I don’t look at the things I have hanging in the same way as the things my own mom has hanging.... but I do know a lot of my art hangs at my mom’s (from my adult years), including one of my first ever attempts at a watercolor portrait, and it makes me cringe even thinking about it. Lol. I bet your parents love every piece they have hanging - but would always love something new, too! Thanks for reading!

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This was a wonderful, wonderful post. It reminded me of when both my daughters left home. I felt empty and sad for so long.

Your son’s art is amazing. I love both of those paintings.

Hammer, tiara, my sister, Peggy is a favorite artist whose art is on my walls. I have my grandkids art and my daughter’s as well. I do move them around but then I used to move a lot. Midnight blue sky here too.

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Gail - how beautiful that your sister is your favorite artist on the wall. That’s a wonderful statement. But I love that you have work from all of the family -- and your work! Thank you for reading -- I hope the new day brought a beautiful sky.

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Placed on shelves rather than on the walls - still not ready to commit to permanent mounts :) hammer, tiara (reluctantly), light grey-white skies this morning.

I can very much relate to your thininf about what palette “belongs” to you and how the fit might feel different for creating the current season of art pieces versus lifestyle design choices.

I also contend with bouts of decluttering or reorganization... and what to keep (art and objects) versus get rid of if it isn’t serving our needs this season... sometimes wondering if there will be regret for throwing it out/recycling it. This includes creations and more functional objects like accent furniture or lesser played musical instruments.

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No to the reluctance! I am glad for the tiara. Claim your work! I do think the worry about regretting things we clean out is a part of the process (for many of us). I have a house full of “someday” and “what if.” (And I am now at an age to wish maybe that wasn’t the case.) I didn’t get rid of any kid things for many, many years. But I have now found I do it in waves. After so many years, some things are easy to get rid of, and others I tuck back away for now. I can definitely see instruments and furniture both coming back around in time -- if you have space to store things! (Shelves are good.) Thanks for commenting!

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Hammer, tiara, Maurice Sendak, and beautiful light blue with wispy clouds. Thank you for sharing this post. Your voice and words are always very nice company each week.

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Thanks so much for reading. I love that Maurice Sendak was your pick!

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Hammer Kinkade blue!!

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Happy to be on your walls.

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Hammer, Tiara. 💕❤️

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This post makes me glad my art is tied up in writing and quilting. Words, ideas and essays pile up, but they are all folded onto my hard drive. When I pass on, all of it will die with me.

Mostly I have quilt blocks on my walls, but I’m going to replace them soon with smaller quilts.

Bed-size quilts are becoming problematical. The family can only absorb so many. I’m going to start making smaller, way smaller ones to give away. When I have time to quilt again.

I haven’t been following you through the years, so I’m confused whether the paintings in your son’s room are yours or his. Sorry to have to ask.

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I do hope there is longevity in the words, at least among family, Fran. I, too, have quilts out and in sight, though not on the walls. Smaller pieces will be wonderful as well. Placemats are always a good idea (an idea borrowed from a friend). All the paintings mentioned (and two shown in one of the photos) are my son’s…. And everything he took and hung was his, too.

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