The Cozy Chicks | Cozy Up To Some Killer Books

Refill the Well

Well, I’m back at my laptop writing away on my current mystery-in-progress, after spending a wonderful long weekend with daughter Serena who was visiting from Texas. Serena bought her first house last spring and has been out of town a lot (she’s a NASA flight surgeon), so the decorating has been going slowly. When I visited her in early January, we had a blast going around the Clear Lake and Houston and Galveston areas looking for items she wanted.

This trip, however, was a special treat, because she came back “home” to Fort Collins to shop in the Old Town section of our lovely city. We’re very fortunate here in that we have a very diverse and lively Arts community and picturesque Old Town is filled with art galleries. So, I got to indulge myself in one of my favorite pastimes and one of the best ways I know to “refill” my creative well—by disappearing into all the different galleries. Just immersing myself in the visual world of color and texture of other artists makes me happy. I can be tired or stressed or whatever, and it all melts away when I enter a gallery.

Maybe it’s because I can’t even draw a smiley face without it being crooked. Whatever. . .I just love seeing what other people can create. And it makes me happy. I guess that’s why the walls of my house are covered in original art–whether oil painting of landscapes, water colors, carved stone Mayan faces, or carved mahogany, or pen and ink Parisian street scens or quilts. I have hung my (now late) Aunt Ann’s handmade quilts every time she created one for me. Handmade quilts are American Fok Art, in my opinion, and every bit as beautiful as museaum exhibits. Color and texture is gorgeous. She lived in the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia and was part of a Quilting club where they all joined around a quilt frame to handquilt the finished piece. I even have a “Yo-Yo” or “Popcorn” quilt hanging on a quilt rack in the foyer by my front door. Color and more color.

And then there’s contrast—I have a fascinating charcoal original of an imposing man, mostly shaded in black and gray, while the light highlights his features. The Indiana artist called it “Sea Captain” and told me years ago (gee—-probably 30 years now) that the man appeared to her in a dream several years earlier. The dream was so compelling, she got up and spent several days capturing the ”Sea Captain” on paper. She kept it in her studio, unwilling to sell it. After a year, her mother visited and was astonished when she saw the large piece. Her mother told her that the “Sea Captain” was her grandfather who had died before she was born. And, yes…..he was always as sea.

Art tells stories just as our novels do. Maybe that’s why I love having it around me. Have to have it around, just like my green plants. Plants and art. That’s it.

Serena chose a gorgeous oil painting of a Colorado winter scene—a snow-covered meadow with sunshine bathing part and shadows the rest. Beautiful. She also found an old print of the Cache La Poudre River that meanders through Fort Collins. The original oil was done in the late 1800’s. And then she found some stunning color photographs of various Colorado landscapes—aspens in winter, fall colors, mountains, lakes. She misses Colorado greatly and wanted to have reminders of home. All in all—a very successful weekend shopping trip.

What are the things you have to have around you in your home? What makes you happy whenever you look at it?

12 Responses to “Refill the Well”

It’s interesting that you mention the boost you get from color. I feel the same way–just walking into a fabric store or a stained glass supplier makes me happy, for no particular reason. A quick and easy mood-enhancer, no?

But what I’ve collected and surround myself with are etchings and family photographs, almost all black and white. The etchings were affordable when I started collecting, but I also have great admiration for an artist who can capture a scene with such a limited palette. It’s like reducing an image to its barest essentials.

by Sheila Connolly on April 1st, 2008 at 8:44 am
I love color but welcome texture just as much. A soft couch or pillow or blanket can make a cold day cozy. Something made of silk seems luxurious and exotic. My favorite visual items come from my travels. I have a black cat statue from Egypt and a Greek horse from Athens. I love history and those objects remind me of the skill of ancient craftsmen and how we all delight in the beauty of art - no matter what century we were born in. Great post, Maggie!

by JB on April 1st, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Great Information.I found your site very interesting With the right information The real estate market has many home owners asking themselves should I sell my house now or wait. Other home owners are asking themselves, now that I need to sell my house.Thanks.

by sellhouse on April 1st, 2008 at 4:45 pm
Hummm, didn’t notice the blog covered selling your house. LOL

Anyway, things I have in my house I love? I have three pictures up next to my desk. One is my dad holding me as a baby, an ariel view of the farm we lived on before he died and my Girls’ State picture (1978) with Governor Evans of Idaho. Your eye the travels to a cheap coca-cola tiffany shade lamp on top of my CPU and from there my Budda from Tibet and a teddy bear Jim got me during Chemo. I also have my Employee of the Year 1996 award on the corner wall.

My desk is my own little office and makes me happy even though we are in a rented converted house and unable to really decorate or remodel.

I got a chinese silk print from a yard sale one year for $15 and framed it for $115. I don’t have it up as the walls here won’t hold it and we have a heavy footed upstairs neighbor. My son has already told Jim that he gets the goose picture when I die. (Glad they are settling these things now, what, they think I’m kicking the bucket tomorrow?)

When I was married I collected charcol drawings mainly of wolves and Indians, but the ex took those in the divorce.

So as soon as I get settled in my own place, it’s time for some Art investments.

by Lynn on April 1st, 2008 at 6:55 pm
Etchings are stunning, aren’t they? I agre, Sheila, it takes a whole lot of talent to capture mood and atmosphere and emotion in black and white on paper. And etchings are “paring it down to the bone.”

You know, that’s probably why lots of us enjoy these “fiber-filled” pastimes. The total immersion into that world of color and texture in the yarn shop is what hooked me years ago.

by Maggie on April 2nd, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Oh, yeah, JB—bring on the texture. As I just said to Shiela, the sensuality of all the colors and textures is what hooked me when I fell down the rabbit hole at the yarn shop five years ago.

Sinfully soft alpaca and luscious, luscious silk. And have you seen (or touched) that new Bamboo yarn? Marvelous. I think we’re all “tactilely deprived.”

by Maggie on April 2nd, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Yeah, Lynn, the real estate comment threw me. I think they cut and pasted the wrong website.

It’s great that you have family photos and memories surrounding you. That is so nurturing and healing. And that framed silk print sounds gorgeous. Yeah, framing adds a lot, doesn’t it. Serena found that out last weekend.

Ohhhhhh, yeah——- “Dividing up the Art” during divorce. Definitely hard. We’d been collecting since we were first married and didn’t have any money. Thirty years worth. But I’m delighted with what I have and it’s displayed all over my walls.

by Maggie on April 2nd, 2008 at 12:46 pm
The blanket my aunt knitted up years ago.

And the dog

by Marissa on April 2nd, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Some of my favorite items are the things my kids made. I have lopsided pinch pots, artfully crafted fish, penguins, and spoon rests. Our school system hasn’t changed curriculums in forever and all the kids have made the same things!

I *love* my kids’ artwork. I have a lot of it framed around the house. I have a Nippon vase my grandmother gave me that I adore too.

by heather on April 2nd, 2008 at 4:36 pm
Oh, yeah—curl up with the blanket and the dog.

by Maggie on April 4th, 2008 at 2:05 am
You know, I still have some of my kids art stuff on my shelves and sitting out. And they are “all growed up” now.

by Maggie on April 4th, 2008 at 2:10 am
I’m a quilter and a knitter, so my home is filled with handmade quilts, fabrics, yarns-and I gain pleasure from each tactile object. I have collected “old stuff” all my life, and living in Texas, well, that encompasses many things! I have some of my granny’s quilts and trunks, and I have an old handmade farm table…none are valuable except to me. I love the connection to the past that I feel each time I pass one of these treasures in my home!
By the way, Maggie, I live in the area of Texas you described and spend a great deal of time in and around the Clear Lake and Galveston areas! I’m in Baytown, just a hop, skip and jump away! :^)

by Cindy on April 8th, 2008 at 3:25 pm

Refill the Well

12 Responses to “Refill the Well”

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