I keep meaning to post about the his and her hand towels I won from Madaspen|Home. I never win anything. Ever. So winning something from them, when we know how much I am enamored with them, was really special. The towels are exactly the color combination I love – white and flax.
I cannot, however, for the life of me take a good picture of them in my bathroom. I’m bedeviled by the light. There was a brief moment this morning when the natural light was coming in through the small window in the bathroom but it was fleeting and I could only snap a picture or two before it flitted away.
The picture above the towels, in the shadows, is an old favorite of mine. Spirit of the Night by John Atkinson Grimshaw. I bought an 8×11" print and then went over it with some gloppy stuff (I think I used decoupage goop with a heavy hand) to give the surface some texture. It turned out a little glossier than I wanted but better than the flat print it was before.
Here’s another trick I do with prints – remove the glass from the frame. Makes the print much easier to see (by getting rid of any glare) and I think it just looks nicer. So until I can afford the real deal I’ll buy prints and put them in a fabulous frame. It works for me.
There is a print that I am dying to get my hands on. I don’t know who the artist is but I’ve seen prints in antique shops – The name of piece is "Dreaming of Love" or "Dreams of Love" and it could be that the artist is French (since I’ve seen the name of the print in French). The first time I saw the print it was hanging in a booth at a local Antique mall. It has a gorgeously shaped frame but the frame was painted blue – not a color I decorate with much. I passed it up and then a week later after thinking about it non-stop I went back and there was just a blank spot on the wall where it had hung.
The subject is a woman sleeping in a very elaborate looking bed with a bear rug on the floor beside her. You can see her dreams in the forms of cherubs flying around the room. There is an incredible amount of detail in the painting.
I saw it at another shop but it was in a very cheap looking frame and about three times what I was willing to pay.
Well, I thought, I’ll just order a print online and frame it myself. Not so easy – I searched for weeks, not quite having the name right and finally I stumbled across a small e-tailer that had the print. They didn’t even have the name of the piece or the artist’s name but there it was. Eureka! Now let me say up front that I have always had fabulous luck ordering online. Never once have I had a problem with someone taking my money and me never seeing the item. Except this time. I ordered it and they instantly took the money out of my PayPal account. I got a confirmation email saying it would ship in 10 days. After about three weeks I sent an inquiring email and nothing. No response. After another week I sent another email and the next day I sent another to a different email address on the website and still nothing. So finally I had to dispute it through PayPal and after a week and half I got a refund and FINALLY an email saying they thought they had it in stock but turned out they didn’t. Well fine – why didn’t you tell me that in the first place. I’m a nice person – I would have understood. Just don’t take my money and then ignore all my emails.
Anyway still looking for that print. I think it would make a great guest room print.
I really like the photo with its shadows. They add depth to the room.