Anniversary Art and a few other bits and pieces

We are thankful for a great many things (including not working OR shopping on Thanksgiving Day).  One thing we love about our lives is Anniversary Art!  (Okay any art, but Anniversary Art is extra special).   Every year we have a tradition of buying "Anniversary Art" ...a tradition closely tied to the annual experience entitled: "What did we get last year????" So just so we keep remembering, here's our art in summary:

 

ENGAGED!

 

 

Before we got engaged this was a big blank wall. Now we have paintings by Connie DeLaVergne. Aaron's mom gave him the brown one (bottom left) and later I gave him the blue square one (upper right).  Once we got engaged, Connie was kind enough to make a series of them and then let us have first pick of the two big ones that we wanted.    

 

FIRST ANNIVERSARY

We found this at a garden arts fair.  The entire first year we had crows that delighted in hopping up and down on the edge until the whole bird bath flipped over and onto the ground.  Oh the fun...if you happen to be a crow. A little annoying if you're one of the humans constantly picking up and re-filling the birdbath. 

This is the birdbath five years later...after multiple tree limbs have fallen on it, crows have tossed it, the elements have gotten to it.  We could say it's a metaphor for marriage, but we're pretty sure our five years together have been a lot easier on us than the birdbath.

SECOND ANNIVERSARY

There is some debate over what was our second anniversary art - so lets say we got both of these.

In 2010 we went to Santa Fe, NM for a friend's wedding.  While we were there we stumbled into the Fabio Napoleoni gallery.  All his paintings have a little squishy heart in them in honor of his little baby girl who has a heart defect. This one says "Love me?  Yes. No. Always." 

That same summer we were walking through out neighborhood and some neighbors were holding an art sale.  How could we resist the giant jacks made of railroad spikes?  They line the way to our front door.  Kids love them and it's a great landmark, "we're the house with the jacks out front". 

THIRD ANNIVERSARY

These fellas are part of the Gnomes be Gone series by Fred Conlon.  The little guys are made from cut up cannon balls.  He also has tanks made out of old army helmets with these critters riding in them....Anner wants one of those BAD.

FOURTH ANNIVERSARY

Last year brought about a bit of patriotism.  This metal shield is not exactly the same as Captain America's shield, but we both loved it.  We had admired it on more than one occasion at various art fairs and Aaron was on a break at Salmon Days when he returned to the booth with a special anniversary gift.  We both were thrilled. 

FIFTH ANNIVERSARY

That brings us to present day.  We searched and searched for some anniversary art this year to no avail.  Awhile back, though, Aaron's mom gave him a little painting by Juli Adams.  (Notice the theme here: Debby gives us a cool little piece of art and then a couple of years later we go hog wild??)  Juli ended up having a booth just down the row from Aaron in the Bellevue Festival of the Arts show this year, but neither of us could commit.  Secretly I decided to get Aaron a painting for Chrismanukah, but when we couldn't find anniversary art I asked Aaron what he thought about a Juli Adam's painting.  The very next day, I arrived to work with an email saying, "we have an appointment with Juli tonight at 7:00...can you make it home in time?"  Well, yes I can! And these are the two sweet little pieces we picked after visiting her studio.  We love, love, love them and can't wait to hang them.  These are from her "Companions" series and the titles make them even better - the top one is "Lucien wants to tell us a story" and the lower is called "Socializing the fish".  So nice when an amazing artist is also clever with their namings!  We're still working on the best place to hang them up.

RANDOM THINGS

Christmas Came Early

Here's another kind of art.  The kind my family makes.  Mom gave me this quilt when I visited her last week.  At first glance it's just a cross-stitched blanket.  It was made by my Tante Mamie (my great aunt) and her sister, my grandma Obermeyer.  Yes, they cross-stitched all the flowers, but look at the amazing quilting.  The precise curves and the perfectly parallel straight lines.  Those were made by hand, my friends.  Not "on the machine by hand" but really and truly with a thread and needle by hand. Sit yourself down and try sewing a perfectly straight line, by hand...I know I can't do it! I have no idea how long it took, but I love it. 

 

For the record, all my cousins can sew.  One makes hundreds of crazy fun pillow cases for kids in the hospital with cancer -- loaded up in crates in the photo.  Another only quilts by hand, just like grandma. 

  

The Dessert Shirt

I call this Aaron's Dessert Shirt.  His mom made it for him.  It's filled with deliciousness: s'mores, framed by red raspberries, with a bit of chocolate chips and books for a base.  It's super cool looking and he's been wearing it a lot.

 

And finally...this is not so much about art as it is about always trying new things.  I did my first ever 5K on Thanksgiving morning.  Not sure I liked it, but now I can cross it off the to-do list.  Thanks to Hubs who did it pretty much because I wanted to.

Happy Thanksgiving/Hanukah everyone!