Every Day Beauty: Art (Part 1)

I just read The Hidden Art of Homemaking by Edith Schaeffer. Awesome book! Reb flipped through it this morn and said, "I highly approve of this book." Kal thinks it is more-than-slightly scary.

This book is not specifically only on homemaking, though that is (obviously) the main thrust of the book. Rather, it is, as the subtitle says, about creative ideas for enriching everyday life.

God is the first artist, and even though his work has been vandalised it is still incredibly beautiful. You only have to look at a sunset to see this. Humans are created in the image of God, and we too like to make things beautiful.

And so, I'm starting a new category for my blog - Everyday Beauty. And the first section is on art.

What decorates your walls? What sits on your bookshelves? Would any of it be termed 'art'?

Now, most of us cannot afford original art by the masters, but we can still have art in our homes and places of work. Here are some generalised ideas and ways that I have implemented them in the past.

1. Reproductions
You can buy reproductions of the great masters for a very small amount of money. In some cases you can get for free buy going to the National Gallery and asking them if they have any promo posters for current or past exhibitions that they are giving away. I've done this once, and came away with two massive posters - one of The Scream, on of a lady from the Impressionists exhibition. I was there for a free talk on something, and they mentioned that you can do this. So I did. I also have a small (about the size of two postcards) poster of Starry Night by Van Gough. My big posters are not up at the moment (The Scream is not really a bedroom poster, and the living room has more than enough posters of cats etc in it) but my little copy of Starry Night adorns the inside door of my locker at work.



2. Kid Art.
Some of the best pieces of art I've ever seen are by kids. Picasso said that all of his work was trying to draw like a child. Some of the kids at work are AMAZING (big Ella, Gleda and Priscilla immediately spring to mind, big Ella and Gleda for their painting, and Priscilla for her "Priscilla moments" which are sponaneous still life sculptures using the toys in our room). I have a few pieces of kid art in my home.

Mikey's drawing:


Daniella's painting:


3. Your own art.
Sure, most of us can't draw or paint, at least not at a level we are satisfied with. But you would be surprised. My drawing, quite frankly, sucks. The only people who think I can draw are very small children. And that's because I draw things like fairies and mermaids and pirates, and they like any drawing of fairies and mermaids and pirates. But you can make your own art. Tennesse has several of his paintings up on the walls of his house. Some of them are not particularly good, and are more there because that's the easiest way to store them, but there are one or two that are beautiful. Try wire sculptures or pottery.

My ballerina:


Reb's plate and goblet:


There really is a lot that can be done to make the places we spend a lot of time in more beautiful!

If anyone else wants to post any pictures etc of their houses and the art in them, send me a email and I'll post them.