My unstyled life isnt messy or clean or ugly or stunning. Instead, my goal is to create a home that reflects back the spirit and personality of our family. Its a work in progress. Sometimes the beauty in my life is by accident, other times its intentional. Its there, either way, because when I remember to fill my home with what I loveperson, place, or thingodds are it will be beautiful. Maybe not always appreciated, but always beautiful. If you feel the same, you are welcome to share a link to your own unstyled life in the comments.
My gallery wall is progressing slowly, hampered as I am by a small budget, a large wall, and a fixed streak of indecisiveness. Part of the problem lies in the scads of design blogs I read, each one better than the next. I read Trina of A Country Farmhouse, and I want white and sparse. Then I’ll see an interesting collection of art and I am back to square one.
I may be all over the place, but I know I am framing Nico’s painting and adding it to the maybe temporary gallery wall. I exclaimed my love for it the second he pulled it, roughly, out of his cubby. Right then, I promised to frame it and hang it up with the rest of my special art. The mom next to me looked at me and said, “Wow. You are a nice mom, aren’t you?”
Maybe. Or maybe this first school painting will hang on our walls and serve as a reminder of an attitude I hope to adopt. Creativity reigns. Feelings matter. And the passion and courage of youth shouldn’t fade.
p.s. You’ll have to excuse my poor corn plant. Two of the three are dead thanks to last spring’s vacation to Florida. It normally sits between the picture windows and I think the sun cooked it. The tallest one is doing fine, and actually has new growth. I need to re-pot it, but I don’t know if I should (or can) buy two smaller, individual stalks to keep him company. I know they like to be a bit root bound, so some friends might cheer him up.
Wow! It’s so…um…red! Did he say what it was?
It’s a picture of two (?!) red mountains and a yellow street. It’s Lake Tahoe meets Wizard of Oz meets Salvador Dal�.
Any Mom can see the beauty in Nico’s art work. Fostering creativity and a love of learning is as important as all the basic things we do for our kids. An unstyled life always has room for childrens art.
I have the same problem making decisions. I am sooo easily swayed and nudged by all the amazing mixed media artwork out in blogland that it often paralyzes me to inaction. When this happens I take a break from reading them and focus on what I really want to do. Sometimes for a week, other times over a month, I unplug, relax and trust my own instincts. It really works.
You have a beautiful family and home.
Enjoy,
Donna in frozen Northeast
I have pictures of my kids holding their paintings framed. Its fun to not only see their artistic progression but also the size of the paper relative to their size. Love the legs sticking out from the giant artwork.
That wasn’t very nice of HER, its awesome art! And in 20 years, probably more valuable to you than a print you could buy somewhere.
Anyway, I’ve seen modern art that is far less “artistic” to the mundane eye than his painting.
With a nice white mat, this will look so great, yes! That mom doesn’t know what she’s talking about.
good for you! my mom still puts out a nativity scene that i made when i was in the 4th grade (and trust me when i say that i wasn’t the artist nico is!). it’s so important to encourage and not dampen creativity, and what better way than by treating nico’s painting as what it is: a beautiful, quirky treasure.
My favorite pieces of art are the ones the kids made. Somehow the frame elevates it a little, and it fits right in with the other art (mostly cheap prints). My son’s kindergarten still life with flowers is more joyful to me than the Picasso it was inspired by.
This right here is one of the reasons I cannot wait to have children! I want to fill my house full of their art. I LOVE little kids art and I can only imagine that I will love it a 1000 times more when it’s my little spawn doing the creating. His picture will be beautiful on your art wall.
BTW, what is that picture on the left? It looks like a picture from an artist that I bought a few prints from and then lost her information. I was in love with her work and was heartbroken when I lost her information.
It’s a limited edition giclee print by Jen Corace. It’s one of my favorites, but I know what you mean. I bought it so many years ago that I forgot her name. {blush} I kept wanting to say Jamie Zollars, but that’s another one I have.
I love his painting! It doesn’t hurt that the colors would definitely work in my house. ;)
I do love a splash of color!
I’ve taken to framing my nephew’s artwork and hanging it on the wall. They’re one of a kind pieces … and they make me smile. What more could you possibly ask for? Yeah, I don’t know either … :)
Actually, one of the first things I thought when I saw this picture was, “I love the painting next to the tree! The colors work so well together, and there’s something about the way the leaves hang that echoes the lines in the painting.” Probably I didn’t think it quite so coherently, but that’s what I came up with when I paused to analyze my initial “ooh, like.”
The picture is great. I love red and yellow. I’ve been wondering about what to do with the hallway wall upstairs. I think I’ll frame my children’s art work. Thank you for the idea.
Oh, what a brilliant idea! I’ll have to copy you on that one. Another great idea is what Darby did with a 4×8 cork board (I’m thinking I might do this).
No need to apologize for sad plants. My plants are on a strict “fend for yourself” plan. Only the strong survive.
I love collecting art and you bet that includes my daughter’s. I have pieces of her’s that I really love framed and hanging in her and my rooms. I also have pieces made by my friends and myself hanging up. While these aren’t necessarily as “nice” as some of the art I’ve paid for I am more attached to them because they hold a piece of the person who created them just for me.
I love his painting! It doesn’t hurt that the colors would definitely work in my house. ;)