MetaTalktail Hour: What is on your walls? February 28, 2021 10:42 AM Subscribe
Prompted by a fun poster thread on MLTSHP, I want to know about a thing that is on your wall. Could be a poster, a painting, a picture, a wall-hanging, a shadow, a window, a post-it, something you like to look at that you think others might like to see. Feel free to describe it or link us to a picture of it.
We have a tapestry made by my sister. She does natural dyeing, then quilts together pieces and hand embroiders on top. It has pride of place in the living room.
We also have a print made in Holman Island by an artist called Mark Emerak. It’s a scene of caribou hunting.
I managed last year to buy an ink drawing of Marlys by Lynda Barry, who has been selling through her Etsy shop for food bank benefits and other covid relief. Over the holidays I got it framed and hung it in my office, and I smile every day at her freckly arms and legs.
I also have a couple of prisms in my office, so for a good part of the afternoon I am bathed in rainbows.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 11:00 AM on February 28, 2021 [3 favorites]
We also have a print made in Holman Island by an artist called Mark Emerak. It’s a scene of caribou hunting.
I managed last year to buy an ink drawing of Marlys by Lynda Barry, who has been selling through her Etsy shop for food bank benefits and other covid relief. Over the holidays I got it framed and hung it in my office, and I smile every day at her freckly arms and legs.
I also have a couple of prisms in my office, so for a good part of the afternoon I am bathed in rainbows.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 11:00 AM on February 28, 2021 [3 favorites]
I have wall calendars for the first time in years, one from the BraverMountain sled dog team and one from Subpar Parks. I'd gotten out of the habit of having physical calendars around, but after the last year it's sometimes nice to have the reminder that days are in fact going by.
posted by the primroses were over at 11:09 AM on February 28, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by the primroses were over at 11:09 AM on February 28, 2021 [1 favorite]
I was pretty proud of myself for making this basic wall collage. The pieces on the right are by me, friends/acquaintances, or uni art students. The print on the left is a hand me down from my mom that she apparently purchased at a department store or similar. I’ve absolutely loved it since I was little. It’s actually a little odd in that I am not even remotely maternal and never want children, but I just adore it so much.
posted by obfuscation at 11:13 AM on February 28, 2021 [9 favorites]
posted by obfuscation at 11:13 AM on February 28, 2021 [9 favorites]
When the kids were in online school, I often took Zoom calls while sitting on my bed. The background was an image of Optimus Prime, torn out from a colouring book. One of my kids finished it and stuck it on the wall when he was around 4, and my husband and I forgot it was there. When I'm able to work from the dining room we have some gorgeous still life oil paintings and a sculpture of Sisyphus. But I have great affection for the colouring book art.
posted by biggreenplant at 11:21 AM on February 28, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by biggreenplant at 11:21 AM on February 28, 2021 [4 favorites]
Over my TV, I have a collage of pictures of my cats. I edited them using various free editors. Next to my dresser, I have a picture of Gidgette that a MeFite drew for me along with a plaque that saying Cats leave pawprints on your heart. Behind my door I have some family photos. Over my bed hangs my MA. And on the wall beside my bed is two collage frames with various pictures.
posted by kathrynm at 11:24 AM on February 28, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by kathrynm at 11:24 AM on February 28, 2021 [2 favorites]
I painted my largest living room wall mostly off-orange (actual color is, I think, Sherwin Williams "torchlight") with a whitish-cream circle right in the center, slightly above the middle, about 5' in diameter. Deciding what to put inside the circle can be interesting. For a while we centered our Christmas wreath in there.
posted by amtho at 11:29 AM on February 28, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by amtho at 11:29 AM on February 28, 2021 [5 favorites]
Above the sofa, I have a large painting of a map, a piece of pink silk, a box of pastries tumbling sideways, a colander, and some other miscellanea on top of a green sideboard, which was given to me by the painter Scott Noel. J'adore.
posted by erattacorrige at 11:43 AM on February 28, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by erattacorrige at 11:43 AM on February 28, 2021 [3 favorites]
I'm sitting in my offices right now looking at the Victorian grave rubbings of Medieval brasses. I LOVE a good grave or brass rubbing - especially these.
posted by Tchad at 11:47 AM on February 28, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by Tchad at 11:47 AM on February 28, 2021 [5 favorites]
I think the Luddites get a bad rap based on a generally poor understanding of what they were about, so I hung this in the bathroom, above the most important piece of tech.
posted by busted_crayons at 11:48 AM on February 28, 2021 [12 favorites]
posted by busted_crayons at 11:48 AM on February 28, 2021 [12 favorites]
Here's a few things I have on my walls .. #1 - in my kitchen, a shelf with copper jars gotten at an estate sale, plus a few llamas. It has hooks that currently hold some beads plus a basket of my kitchen towels. Underneath it is a chalkboard thing , with a ledge that I store pins on, and I currently have some Mefi art setting on top of. I keep wanting to get a corkboard to put the pins on, because the cat will knock them off.
#2 - in my entryway/living room, I have this print of a dog that I got from a thrift store ages ago. It's silly, but I love it so much. It's been in every apartment and house I've lived in my adult life.
link to pictures
posted by Sparky Buttons at 12:12 PM on February 28, 2021 [14 favorites]
#2 - in my entryway/living room, I have this print of a dog that I got from a thrift store ages ago. It's silly, but I love it so much. It's been in every apartment and house I've lived in my adult life.
link to pictures
posted by Sparky Buttons at 12:12 PM on February 28, 2021 [14 favorites]
Among other things I have a small print of Laurie Lipton's drawing Madonna of the Sacred Bones.
posted by misteraitch at 1:12 PM on February 28, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by misteraitch at 1:12 PM on February 28, 2021 [3 favorites]
I have an ancient Central Park Conservancy poster of unknown provenance. One of my earlier jobs had been in the same office for 25+ years, and the walls of our section, unlike the others, were hung with old art exhibit posters and the like. No one even remembered who did the hanging. When we moved, we weren't going to be able to hang them, and we couldn't give them away, so we auctioned them off. $5 for a poster of a quilt made by Parents of the Friends Seminary, presumably to support the Conservancy, with little quilted scenes of Central Park life. For something so humble/folksy/mass-produced, it's actually rather enigmatic. The Conservancy was founded in 1980, so it must be later than that, but I've been unable to date it any more precisely, or figure out in what connection it was made, much less who brought it into the office. Anyway, it's also nice blue and grey tones that harmonize with my living room, as does its "respect the textiles!" theme.
I also have a Motawi tile of a Charley Harper bird, but that's not mysterious at all, just pretty, but not sentimental. Deco-ish in its geometry.
posted by praemunire at 1:20 PM on February 28, 2021 [3 favorites]
I also have a Motawi tile of a Charley Harper bird, but that's not mysterious at all, just pretty, but not sentimental. Deco-ish in its geometry.
posted by praemunire at 1:20 PM on February 28, 2021 [3 favorites]
Got a vintage 2008 CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN placard in a nice white frame above the teevee.
My fave is probably this very large print of the Map of Humanity (background). You could pore over it for hours, and it's equal parts amusing, disturbing, and curiosity-piquing.
One of these days I'd like to get a print of this incredible Andromeda photo at a high enough resolution that you can make out the individual stars (without taking up a whole wall), but easier said than done.
posted by Rhaomi at 1:27 PM on February 28, 2021 [2 favorites]
My fave is probably this very large print of the Map of Humanity (background). You could pore over it for hours, and it's equal parts amusing, disturbing, and curiosity-piquing.
One of these days I'd like to get a print of this incredible Andromeda photo at a high enough resolution that you can make out the individual stars (without taking up a whole wall), but easier said than done.
posted by Rhaomi at 1:27 PM on February 28, 2021 [2 favorites]
I have this poster, though it is not yet on my wall: “Everybody Stayed Home”
posted by Going To Maine at 2:24 PM on February 28, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by Going To Maine at 2:24 PM on February 28, 2021 [3 favorites]
#2 - in my entryway/living room, I have this print of a dog that I got from a thrift store ages ago.
Good dog.
posted by Going To Maine at 2:26 PM on February 28, 2021 [2 favorites]
Good dog.
posted by Going To Maine at 2:26 PM on February 28, 2021 [2 favorites]
The oldest thing on my wall is a Charles Williams political caricature from 1805, "Johnny MacCree at Confession." (One of the things on my "covet" list is a real Gillray, but the prices are yikes-inducing.)
posted by thomas j wise at 2:41 PM on February 28, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by thomas j wise at 2:41 PM on February 28, 2021 [1 favorite]
I've got this print on the way down to my workshop and this little tribute to Mr. Swanson hanging in my shop, among other silly things I have down there.
posted by bondcliff at 2:44 PM on February 28, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by bondcliff at 2:44 PM on February 28, 2021 [2 favorites]
My kitchen wall. Most items purchased from various Etsy shops, except for the colorful chicken picture I picked up from a thrift shop for $10. The red picture with the glare is a very fat cat.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 2:48 PM on February 28, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 2:48 PM on February 28, 2021 [2 favorites]
When I moved into my current apartment it was only meant to be temporary - no more than 9 months - so I didn't bother to unpack and mount framed pictures (including some my own photography) and quite a few jazz-related posters, because it seemed pointless to do so just to turn around and have to re-pack them again in a few months. 5 years later my walls are still unembellished, with three exceptions: my kitchen knife rack, a little bauble a former girlfriend made for me that I hang on the bathroom mirror, and this picture that goes in the dining area of any dwelling I live in. What with rental prices ever rising, though, I honestly don't see me moving out any time soon. I guess I should do a bit of decorating one of these days - including a couple of prints of Achewood characters penciled and signed by Chris Onstad I've recently received as gifts from my sister that definitely need displaying.
In the meantime, I've discovered that kitchen cabinets make a very handy place to stick a few notes with handy reminders of basic recipes, various ingredient measurements/ratios I use often but never often enough to keep in my head from one time to the next, ingredients I need to use on a given week, ideas for meals, etc. They're remarkably handy.
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:50 PM on February 28, 2021 [2 favorites]
In the meantime, I've discovered that kitchen cabinets make a very handy place to stick a few notes with handy reminders of basic recipes, various ingredient measurements/ratios I use often but never often enough to keep in my head from one time to the next, ingredients I need to use on a given week, ideas for meals, etc. They're remarkably handy.
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:50 PM on February 28, 2021 [2 favorites]
I LOVE this thread!!! So much weird stuff on my walls. My wonderful mother gets me a new calendar each year and this year I got a cat and bicycle theme.
I have this box I thrifted (with gag gift inside) up on my bedroom wall. Also this amazing original sheet music (found at a local used bookstore's bag sale). And this print.
My bathroom sports a 1966 Erie County Park rules and regulations sign and a Puff's Fragrant Weeds mirror on one wall. Above the toilet is this masterpiece I ripped out of an issue of the Baffler.
I would trade every piece of art I own for this poster I had on my childhood bedroom wall.
posted by RobinofFrocksley at 2:52 PM on February 28, 2021 [7 favorites]
I have this box I thrifted (with gag gift inside) up on my bedroom wall. Also this amazing original sheet music (found at a local used bookstore's bag sale). And this print.
My bathroom sports a 1966 Erie County Park rules and regulations sign and a Puff's Fragrant Weeds mirror on one wall. Above the toilet is this masterpiece I ripped out of an issue of the Baffler.
I would trade every piece of art I own for this poster I had on my childhood bedroom wall.
posted by RobinofFrocksley at 2:52 PM on February 28, 2021 [7 favorites]
I own a painting, that I bought at a charity shop for all of €15. Money well spent, I'd say. I did paint the frame, because when I bought it, it looked like this. The frame is now black with a silver line.
I love the colours of the painting, and it fits the mood of the room.
posted by Too-Ticky at 2:56 PM on February 28, 2021 [7 favorites]
I love the colours of the painting, and it fits the mood of the room.
posted by Too-Ticky at 2:56 PM on February 28, 2021 [7 favorites]
We have this wonderful but NSFW image on our bathroom wall above the toilet.
posted by cheapskatebay at 4:07 PM on February 28, 2021 [9 favorites]
posted by cheapskatebay at 4:07 PM on February 28, 2021 [9 favorites]
Okay, background: I've had several Shelties, and one of my little conceits is that foxes look like Shelties. And when my current dog was a puppy, he was a relentless, indefatigable maniac. I mean, I move in Sheltie circles, my friends collectively have known hundreds of Shelties, and no one had ever seen anything like this. It was awe-inspiring. So for my birthday that year, my funny mom had an image of the cover of the Little Golden Book "I'm Not Sleepy" enlarged and matted and framed. It was such a hilarious gift to open. I love it.
posted by HotToddy at 4:38 PM on February 28, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by HotToddy at 4:38 PM on February 28, 2021 [3 favorites]
I'm not very good at remembering I should put things on the walls, but two weeks ago I bought this gorgeous painting my friend made of all the creatures who have visited her during the pandemic, which I had coveted since she first put up a photo of it but hadn't thought to ask if she was going to sell it. It's so beautiful in person, and we live in the same area so I too have been visited by all these creatures during the pandemic.
Except the goddamn raccoons ate all my outdoor fish, not an ice cream cone.
For Valentine's day I got us a calendar from SaveAFox, which I need to find a nice spot for.
posted by Lyn Never at 4:56 PM on February 28, 2021 [5 favorites]
Except the goddamn raccoons ate all my outdoor fish, not an ice cream cone.
For Valentine's day I got us a calendar from SaveAFox, which I need to find a nice spot for.
posted by Lyn Never at 4:56 PM on February 28, 2021 [5 favorites]
I have a painting my sister gave me, and this poster which exhorts you to visit historical and gay Montreal in honor of the novel I wrote which is historical and gay and set in Montreal, and a whiteboard because I always think it's going to help me get organized (but it doesn't).
posted by Jeanne at 5:18 PM on February 28, 2021 [6 favorites]
posted by Jeanne at 5:18 PM on February 28, 2021 [6 favorites]
On one of my bedrooms walls is the front page of the newspaper (Atlanta Constitution) from the day I was born. Articles on that days front page include include integration, the draft, and “3 From Hippie Colony Named in Tate Killings”
posted by lyssabee at 5:51 PM on February 28, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by lyssabee at 5:51 PM on February 28, 2021 [2 favorites]
This pretty lady hangs in the hallway outside my bathroom. I found it in a thrift store a few years ago. If anyone wants to take a stab at what time period she might have been living in, please feel free.
(There might be info on the back of the photo but it looks glued in and I don’t want to damage it. So I just live with the mystery).
posted by janepanic at 6:31 PM on February 28, 2021 [5 favorites]
(There might be info on the back of the photo but it looks glued in and I don’t want to damage it. So I just live with the mystery).
posted by janepanic at 6:31 PM on February 28, 2021 [5 favorites]
This chalk drawing has inspired my decor for many years. It has lived in a dozen rooms and currently hangs on the entry wall (whose color it inspired).
posted by mefireader at 8:25 PM on February 28, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by mefireader at 8:25 PM on February 28, 2021 [2 favorites]
My walls are bare. But perched atop my bedroom closet is the original photographic “meet the goats” sign for Portland’s own The Belmont Goats, complete with the initial sociability ratings for each goat, on a scale of one to five goat heads.
posted by bixfrankonis at 8:55 PM on February 28, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by bixfrankonis at 8:55 PM on February 28, 2021 [4 favorites]
a mishmash including some masks, some pics of little lurk, a couple pieces of little lurk painting, a bulky dreamcatcheresque piece made by self while grappling with issues related to question of acquiring a more-authentic (?) and graceful dreamcatcher to go over little lurk's crib (later obtained through no direct appropriation on my part), a prajnaparamita sutra in chinese calligraphy, this honoré daumier lawyer print (caption: "allow me to disparage you mildly for soon i shall castigate the entire family of your adversary"), a favorite of my father*, and this 9/11 commemorative our lady of sorrow icon (artist unknown) that was a gift from a friend.
*incidentally, pop has dementia to the point that, sometimes, he will work on a coloring book, although usually the activity, and the flowers and butterflies and rainbows featured in such collections, might present an unacceptable affront to the dignity he still understands himself to retain. i have looked for, and failed to find, an honoré daumier coloring book, which i imagine would engage his fondness for that artist (particularly if involving his satire of lawyers -- pop's not particularly sensitized to daumier's satirical illustrations of other professions) in a way that standard adult coloring books, so far, have not. i doubt such a thing exists, but any pointers to such, known to this collective, would be welcome -- i have not asked ask as i expect to have more pressing questions anon.
posted by 20 year lurk at 9:35 PM on February 28, 2021 [4 favorites]
*incidentally, pop has dementia to the point that, sometimes, he will work on a coloring book, although usually the activity, and the flowers and butterflies and rainbows featured in such collections, might present an unacceptable affront to the dignity he still understands himself to retain. i have looked for, and failed to find, an honoré daumier coloring book, which i imagine would engage his fondness for that artist (particularly if involving his satire of lawyers -- pop's not particularly sensitized to daumier's satirical illustrations of other professions) in a way that standard adult coloring books, so far, have not. i doubt such a thing exists, but any pointers to such, known to this collective, would be welcome -- i have not asked ask as i expect to have more pressing questions anon.
posted by 20 year lurk at 9:35 PM on February 28, 2021 [4 favorites]
oh i forgot: the original "CONFORM AND OBEY" banner from 1991 (made with a friend who also objected to fraternal organizations) all text, sharpie on sheet, that has adorned my home since that time. anecdote: once, a tutor in inch'on (we traded: she tutored me in korean; i, her, in english) asked me what it said and interrupted my explanation to exclaim in wonder that it voiced her prayer to the buddha every day; i, having failed previously to consider it absent irony, was floored. and a later edition made in scrabble tiles.
posted by 20 year lurk at 9:50 PM on February 28, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by 20 year lurk at 9:50 PM on February 28, 2021 [4 favorites]
Two skateboards (well, one skateboard and one deck). The skateboard, a Hosoi Hammerhead, belonged to a friend of mine (S) who passed away in 2016. He has it since at least the early 90s, and was part of his identity, as far as I was concerned. I was helping his widow sort through his household of stuff, and she said "Please, take anything that you want". I didn't really want or need anything. But at the end of day 2 of cleaning I came across it, was overcome, and she said "it's yours".
The deck was painted by a friend (D) for an art show. She had been working on it around the same time my friend was dying, and told me about it, but I'd never seen it. D's art was not about S, just contemporaneous for me. They lived in adjacent cities, and whenever I visited S, I'd also spend time with D, who helped me process my grief. D finally posted it to Fb when it was finished, some time after S finally passed, announcing that it was going to be unveiled in the art show the next day. I wrote to the gallery owner and bought it.
It was only after I hung them side by side that I understood them as a pair of talismans, symbolizing both the love and the loss that I felt at the time.
posted by Gorgik at 10:17 PM on February 28, 2021 [7 favorites]
The deck was painted by a friend (D) for an art show. She had been working on it around the same time my friend was dying, and told me about it, but I'd never seen it. D's art was not about S, just contemporaneous for me. They lived in adjacent cities, and whenever I visited S, I'd also spend time with D, who helped me process my grief. D finally posted it to Fb when it was finished, some time after S finally passed, announcing that it was going to be unveiled in the art show the next day. I wrote to the gallery owner and bought it.
It was only after I hung them side by side that I understood them as a pair of talismans, symbolizing both the love and the loss that I felt at the time.
posted by Gorgik at 10:17 PM on February 28, 2021 [7 favorites]
116 or the top twenty.
I frame pictures but have only a list but my favorites are this and this and this and this
posted by clavdivs at 10:26 PM on February 28, 2021 [3 favorites]
I frame pictures but have only a list but my favorites are this and this and this and this
posted by clavdivs at 10:26 PM on February 28, 2021 [3 favorites]
I have a black and white pop art painting of Yuri Gagarin that a friend painted it for me many years ago. Love it so much it came from the UK to France with me on my lap on the Eurostar!
posted by ellieBOA at 12:24 AM on March 1, 2021 [6 favorites]
posted by ellieBOA at 12:24 AM on March 1, 2021 [6 favorites]
Last summer I noticed these two 'vendors' at the local flea market were selling paintings that most likely came from estates that couldn't sell them or didn't know to sell them. There would be boxes and boxes and boxes of paintings, they'd hang the big ones on the fence, or just makes stacks with them. For someone with a thing for paintings generally, this was a real gold mine. I'd go through the piles and roughly every week find a painting or two worth the 15-20Euro they were asking. (The haggling was hands-down the absolute worst part of the whole process - I hate haggling, and these guys would have been as happy selling pots or bricks or shoes. All of it ran the same routine, price, counter-price, sound of derision, short counter-claim followed by dismissal of entire deal, reconsideration followed by counter-offer leading to deal. For, again, around 20euro max. sigh.)
I got some real gems. A couple I have no idea who painted them - no signature, no definitive characteristics that tell me it's by X or Y known painter - but they're good - well executed, interesting, lively.
One of my favorites is a very small painting by ...it's not in front of me and I don't remember his name precisely... X who grew up and worked in and around Berlin. He was born at the turn of the last century so, 1895-1905 somewhere. The painting I picked up was in a pile of poorly-framed prints and etchings of un-remarkable streets or plants or maps - half of them sun-faded or otherwise damaged. And this small painting glowed. It's not especially much (kinda) it's a picture of two trees at the edge of a pond out in the middle of some field. The painting is signed and dated, 1918. From Google I know the painter spent his life between Berlin and the Baltic and the light of this painting is the coast, the clouds look coastal. Most significantly, on the pond is a patch of 'cats-paw' a gust of wind, often a good strong puff - also a coastal thing. The water of the pond is ruffled in such a recognizeable way, as is the way the trees are bent. You can smell the scene.
He was about 19 when he painted it. The WW 1 was over, Prussia was still a thing, an identity, Germany was still an identity, the Bolsheviks had just kicked off their revolution and, you know, the meat-grinder that was the next thirty years was just starting to get into motion. And he was out in a field, somewhere up on the coast, and came upon these two trees and the way the wind blasted the surface of the pond and decided to get it down. And he did.
posted by From Bklyn at 1:22 AM on March 1, 2021 [12 favorites]
I got some real gems. A couple I have no idea who painted them - no signature, no definitive characteristics that tell me it's by X or Y known painter - but they're good - well executed, interesting, lively.
One of my favorites is a very small painting by ...it's not in front of me and I don't remember his name precisely... X who grew up and worked in and around Berlin. He was born at the turn of the last century so, 1895-1905 somewhere. The painting I picked up was in a pile of poorly-framed prints and etchings of un-remarkable streets or plants or maps - half of them sun-faded or otherwise damaged. And this small painting glowed. It's not especially much (kinda) it's a picture of two trees at the edge of a pond out in the middle of some field. The painting is signed and dated, 1918. From Google I know the painter spent his life between Berlin and the Baltic and the light of this painting is the coast, the clouds look coastal. Most significantly, on the pond is a patch of 'cats-paw' a gust of wind, often a good strong puff - also a coastal thing. The water of the pond is ruffled in such a recognizeable way, as is the way the trees are bent. You can smell the scene.
He was about 19 when he painted it. The WW 1 was over, Prussia was still a thing, an identity, Germany was still an identity, the Bolsheviks had just kicked off their revolution and, you know, the meat-grinder that was the next thirty years was just starting to get into motion. And he was out in a field, somewhere up on the coast, and came upon these two trees and the way the wind blasted the surface of the pond and decided to get it down. And he did.
posted by From Bklyn at 1:22 AM on March 1, 2021 [12 favorites]
I made this mermaid some years ago. She hangs above my writing desk, looking down at me right now. She was based on a character from one of my short stories. I'm quite proud of her. I think I should start making things like this again.
Here and here are some detailed views.
posted by Zumbador at 1:34 AM on March 1, 2021 [13 favorites]
Here and here are some detailed views.
posted by Zumbador at 1:34 AM on March 1, 2021 [13 favorites]
Over the last three months I've come around to finally putting up some of the art I've collected over the years. That tapestry is now up with the assistance of drywall anchors and two metal-pipe gardening rods in loops of scrap fabric - holding up so far, though the cats have made their best attempt.
And I've switched the approach from being scared to hang up art because it might not look good to finding the best ways to make things that bring me joy also look good. This means anything from show posters and stills (thank you Japan for selling headshots and play shots) to prints of my absolute favourite artworks. Yeah, prints of major artists can be trite - that doesn't mean I can't have a da Vinci cartoon or a Turner on my walls.
Next step is raiding the family stash of my great-grandmother's paintings. She took up impressionistic oils in her retirement and she had a real gift for flowers and colours.
posted by I claim sanctuary at 2:02 AM on March 1, 2021 [3 favorites]
And I've switched the approach from being scared to hang up art because it might not look good to finding the best ways to make things that bring me joy also look good. This means anything from show posters and stills (thank you Japan for selling headshots and play shots) to prints of my absolute favourite artworks. Yeah, prints of major artists can be trite - that doesn't mean I can't have a da Vinci cartoon or a Turner on my walls.
Next step is raiding the family stash of my great-grandmother's paintings. She took up impressionistic oils in her retirement and she had a real gift for flowers and colours.
posted by I claim sanctuary at 2:02 AM on March 1, 2021 [3 favorites]
A print of Julius Caesar Ibbetson’s painting of George Biggin (inventor of the coffee Biggin, a kind of early percolator) going up in his friend Lunardi’s balloon. This was around the time Letitia Sage asked to go up, making her the first Englishwoman to fly (she wrote an amusing account of the whole thing). Lunardi may have chosen the Union Jack (notice no Irish component) to defuse any hostility to him as an Italian; but a few years later when someone was killed, he became unpopular and the balloon craze was over.
posted by Phanx at 2:21 AM on March 1, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by Phanx at 2:21 AM on March 1, 2021 [3 favorites]
I had a photocopy of this painting on my wall for several years. I treated it as an image of the Goddess in her aspect as a maiden in meditation. For which it functioned very, very well; so well I took it down because the Goddess Energy got just too intense.
The Spanish on it means: "I see my song expand itself [or unroll] in a thousand directions like a necklace of precious stones."
The triangular elements identify it as belonging to the graphics tradition of Mayan calendars.
posted by bertran at 2:23 AM on March 1, 2021 [4 favorites]
The Spanish on it means: "I see my song expand itself [or unroll] in a thousand directions like a necklace of precious stones."
The triangular elements identify it as belonging to the graphics tradition of Mayan calendars.
posted by bertran at 2:23 AM on March 1, 2021 [4 favorites]
Probably the most interesting thing on our walls is a matted and framed poster from the concert where Mr. eirias and I met. It was a local artist and we were able to hire him/them for our wedding also; and when our first anniversary (“paper”) rolled around, I reached out to the band’s manager and said, any chance you still have concert posters from that gig in 2002?
I have a modest amount of bird art, nothing fancy, just prints. This Christmas my best friend gave me a crazy pen and ink piece of art that is sort of like one of those 1980s studio portraits with someone’s face in different aspects, overlapping, except it’s birds and they are judging you. An amazing estate sale find. The birds are now in my kitchen, judging my cooking.
posted by eirias at 2:59 AM on March 1, 2021 [3 favorites]
I have a modest amount of bird art, nothing fancy, just prints. This Christmas my best friend gave me a crazy pen and ink piece of art that is sort of like one of those 1980s studio portraits with someone’s face in different aspects, overlapping, except it’s birds and they are judging you. An amazing estate sale find. The birds are now in my kitchen, judging my cooking.
posted by eirias at 2:59 AM on March 1, 2021 [3 favorites]
A long time ago I subscribed to a kickstarter type project to create an illustrated 25th anniversary edition of John Crowley's Little, Big. For various reasons that project hit a lot of problems so at the moment all I have is this poster of a passage from the book with sample artwork by Peter Milton. I live in hope that maybe one day the book will come out!
posted by crocomancer at 3:09 AM on March 1, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by crocomancer at 3:09 AM on March 1, 2021 [2 favorites]
Not a whole lot on the walls yet, other than some framed cat photos, but we do have this hanging on the wall in the bathroom. Usually gets a chuckle from visitors.
posted by cozenedindigo at 3:40 AM on March 1, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by cozenedindigo at 3:40 AM on March 1, 2021 [4 favorites]
You've prompted me to wander around my home and look anew at the things I have on my walls. After so many years I've kind of stopped seeing them. It was lovely to sit with them and enjoy the memories. Thanks for this. Some favorites...
- the life-sized mural of knights and dragons that the kids painted, covering three basement walls, that year we had the medieval-themed birthday party
- My dad's Stetson.
- the hallway "gallery" of little prints and paintings from places we visited during our early years of marriage
- a shadow box with things from my grandma's north woods cabin
- a print given to my parents when we moved into the home they built. It was true for them, and it's true for me: "With this my prayers I used to charge / a bit of land, not very large / wherein there should a garden be / a clear spring flowing ceaselessly / and where to crown the whole there should / be found a patch of growing wood / all this and more the gods have sent / and I am happily content."
posted by evilmomlady at 5:03 AM on March 1, 2021 [6 favorites]
- the life-sized mural of knights and dragons that the kids painted, covering three basement walls, that year we had the medieval-themed birthday party
- My dad's Stetson.
- the hallway "gallery" of little prints and paintings from places we visited during our early years of marriage
- a shadow box with things from my grandma's north woods cabin
- a print given to my parents when we moved into the home they built. It was true for them, and it's true for me: "With this my prayers I used to charge / a bit of land, not very large / wherein there should a garden be / a clear spring flowing ceaselessly / and where to crown the whole there should / be found a patch of growing wood / all this and more the gods have sent / and I am happily content."
posted by evilmomlady at 5:03 AM on March 1, 2021 [6 favorites]
Really great idea for a thread - all these months of Zoom have been really interesting to see inside people's homes.
Four photos to share:
1) A webcomic I really like (especially because my name is Brian) that I keep above my work computer.
2) A shot from the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, CA - taken during breakfast while there for a Sun Magazine writer's workshop. Maybe my favorite photo I've ever taken - I see it every time I leave my office.
3) A shot my girlfriend took during our road trip to South Dakota a few years back.
4) A nice little reminder I keep in the hallway.
posted by Twicketface at 6:24 AM on March 1, 2021 [9 favorites]
Four photos to share:
1) A webcomic I really like (especially because my name is Brian) that I keep above my work computer.
2) A shot from the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, CA - taken during breakfast while there for a Sun Magazine writer's workshop. Maybe my favorite photo I've ever taken - I see it every time I leave my office.
3) A shot my girlfriend took during our road trip to South Dakota a few years back.
4) A nice little reminder I keep in the hallway.
posted by Twicketface at 6:24 AM on March 1, 2021 [9 favorites]
This reminds me- I have a print of a drawing of my state in a Christopher Tolkien style. I haven't opened it yet because it apparently needs very special treatment and is not a poster! So will let experienced framers have a go.
Hanging in my daughter's room is a large quilt that I commissioned a long time ago- I designed a penguin block and picked out the fabric.
posted by freethefeet at 7:58 AM on March 1, 2021 [3 favorites]
Hanging in my daughter's room is a large quilt that I commissioned a long time ago- I designed a penguin block and picked out the fabric.
posted by freethefeet at 7:58 AM on March 1, 2021 [3 favorites]
I have a lot of things on my wall that I love and am proud of, but the one I'm happiest to share is on my bulletin board over my desk - I didn't save the article, but I kept the best headline I've ever seen in the New York Times and its accompanying photo: Prairie Dogs Holding Own in Face-Off With Pope
posted by Mchelly at 9:12 AM on March 1, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by Mchelly at 9:12 AM on March 1, 2021 [3 favorites]
Masking tape and primer.
We're getting the house re-painted.
posted by signal at 9:25 AM on March 1, 2021 [6 favorites]
We're getting the house re-painted.
posted by signal at 9:25 AM on March 1, 2021 [6 favorites]
These 3 Haitian steel drum art pieces have been in my family for 50 years or so, they were hanging in my childhood home growing up, and now they are in my living room.
Here's the thing though, and maybe MeFi can help! These are essentially a triptych, however the "proper" sequential order of them is a bit of a mystery, if there ever was an official sequence, it's been lost to time.
As a kid I would stare at these, struggling to create some narrative structure around them, but maybe there simply isn't one. The photo above is what I settled on (A, B & C), but what about you, dear Mefites? What order would you put them in on your wall, from left to right?
posted by jeremias at 9:53 AM on March 1, 2021 [2 favorites]
Here's the thing though, and maybe MeFi can help! These are essentially a triptych, however the "proper" sequential order of them is a bit of a mystery, if there ever was an official sequence, it's been lost to time.
As a kid I would stare at these, struggling to create some narrative structure around them, but maybe there simply isn't one. The photo above is what I settled on (A, B & C), but what about you, dear Mefites? What order would you put them in on your wall, from left to right?
posted by jeremias at 9:53 AM on March 1, 2021 [2 favorites]
Oh fun!
* My living room has three "faux vintage" maps of New York City, a framed coffee sack (using a frame I salvaged from the neighbor's trash) and a couple of reproduction WPA posters.
* In the kitchen there's a vintage French ad for chocolate I salvaged from a calendar, a print of Provencal foodstuffs, and a faux antique tin plaque encouraging everyone to "Eat A Pig Sandwich" because that's never a bad idea.
* Sprucing up the bathroom was an early Covid project, and part of the glow-up involved hanging a couple of WPA posters there as well. (This one gets hidden by the door when you open it, because....let's face it, it's a little creepy.)
* In my bedroom there's a ton of stuff - 4 things salvaged from a calendar about "vintage Paris maps and travel posters", a collection of Ireland-themed stuff (a map, a vintage ad, my bodhran which I don't know how to play yet), a cluster of family photos, and over my bed is a poster-size print of one of my friend's photos.
My roommate and I also both take photos and we've been discussing turning a hallway into a joint house gallery.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:55 AM on March 1, 2021 [2 favorites]
* My living room has three "faux vintage" maps of New York City, a framed coffee sack (using a frame I salvaged from the neighbor's trash) and a couple of reproduction WPA posters.
* In the kitchen there's a vintage French ad for chocolate I salvaged from a calendar, a print of Provencal foodstuffs, and a faux antique tin plaque encouraging everyone to "Eat A Pig Sandwich" because that's never a bad idea.
* Sprucing up the bathroom was an early Covid project, and part of the glow-up involved hanging a couple of WPA posters there as well. (This one gets hidden by the door when you open it, because....let's face it, it's a little creepy.)
* In my bedroom there's a ton of stuff - 4 things salvaged from a calendar about "vintage Paris maps and travel posters", a collection of Ireland-themed stuff (a map, a vintage ad, my bodhran which I don't know how to play yet), a cluster of family photos, and over my bed is a poster-size print of one of my friend's photos.
My roommate and I also both take photos and we've been discussing turning a hallway into a joint house gallery.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:55 AM on March 1, 2021 [2 favorites]
Oh, crap, forgot probably one of my favorite items -
Over by my favorite chair is a framed certificate which was presented to my great-grandmother in the 1950s, when she took one of the very early Trans-Atlantic commercial flights. Nana was an avid traveler and I basically wanted to be her when I grew up; so that certificate is now on my wall, surrounded by some of the best photos I've taken from my own travels.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:03 AM on March 1, 2021 [6 favorites]
Over by my favorite chair is a framed certificate which was presented to my great-grandmother in the 1950s, when she took one of the very early Trans-Atlantic commercial flights. Nana was an avid traveler and I basically wanted to be her when I grew up; so that certificate is now on my wall, surrounded by some of the best photos I've taken from my own travels.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:03 AM on March 1, 2021 [6 favorites]
Oh I also am very happy to have this matted and framed and hanging in our guest bathroom, even though we no longer have a record player to fully enjoy it (the B side, "'The Biggest Bowel Movement, Bar None" is also exemplary.
posted by Mchelly at 10:08 AM on March 1, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by Mchelly at 10:08 AM on March 1, 2021 [4 favorites]
This is a painting of my mother made when she and her parents were living in Rome after the war. My grandfather, a USN naval architect and engineer, had been put in command of the Italian shipyards. Partly because of the times and partly because my grandfather was an officer, they attended a lot of formal occasions for which dresses like this would be worn. Dementia took my mother around five years and biology caught up around a year ago. It's nice sometimes to have her younger self looking over my shoulder as I work at the dining room table.
posted by slkinsey at 10:12 AM on March 1, 2021 [12 favorites]
posted by slkinsey at 10:12 AM on March 1, 2021 [12 favorites]
Nothing, but I was thinking yesterday that it would be neat to label a window OVERTON and the shut position "car culture" and the open position "fresh air".
posted by aniola at 10:39 AM on March 1, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by aniola at 10:39 AM on March 1, 2021 [3 favorites]
I have a framed print of an owl wearing a top hat and a monocle.
posted by Splunge at 11:10 AM on March 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Splunge at 11:10 AM on March 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
Back before stuff happened and we became poor, we purchased a matched pair of original Goldsworthy's. They are photos of a set of bee-hive shaped rock cairns in France. I find them calming.
My kid and I are currently working on making a European style mount of the head of an aoudad he shot on New Years day this year. He wants to hang it on his wall which means it will be visible in his middle school class zoom calls, which will make him stand out even more as a weirdo.
posted by Seamus at 11:15 AM on March 1, 2021 [3 favorites]
My kid and I are currently working on making a European style mount of the head of an aoudad he shot on New Years day this year. He wants to hang it on his wall which means it will be visible in his middle school class zoom calls, which will make him stand out even more as a weirdo.
posted by Seamus at 11:15 AM on March 1, 2021 [3 favorites]
We inherited an original print of one of the very few (or the only; I don't recall) known illustrations of Silbermann's Cembalo d'Amore (or cimbal d'amour or whatever.
>This is the very print (but ours has been watercolored). It's part of a whole sheet of paper cut from an 18th-century book; we had a professional frame it and now it hangs above one of my clavichords being quite adorable (and looking far less enormously praying-mantis-y than some modern reconstructions apparently do look.
posted by Namlit at 11:20 AM on March 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
>This is the very print (but ours has been watercolored). It's part of a whole sheet of paper cut from an 18th-century book; we had a professional frame it and now it hangs above one of my clavichords being quite adorable (and looking far less enormously praying-mantis-y than some modern reconstructions apparently do look.
posted by Namlit at 11:20 AM on March 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
Also in our downstairs bathroom we have this Far Side cartoon, which I think was in the "rejected cartoons" section of one of his books, this lovely print that almost nobody gets, and this magazine cover and original (though late career) Snoopy. There is also a Lego Mickey Mouse steamboat and this Zoom book, which was a gift from the creator of this thread.
posted by bondcliff at 2:36 PM on March 1, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by bondcliff at 2:36 PM on March 1, 2021 [5 favorites]
this lovely print that almost nobody gets
Took me a minute, but I got there!
posted by slkinsey at 2:43 PM on March 1, 2021 [5 favorites]
Took me a minute, but I got there!
posted by slkinsey at 2:43 PM on March 1, 2021 [5 favorites]
We have some fun art in the house, including this skulk of foxes print in the living room. We also have a Minalima Quidditch print in the bedroom which makes me sad, so it's going to have to go.
For Valentine's Day this year my husband presented me with a wall of photos in our office/craft room. They were all taken on our trip to Paris, including a shot from Notre Dame just a few days before the fire.
Our kitchen calendar this year is Cat Wars.
posted by Biblio at 2:45 PM on March 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
For Valentine's Day this year my husband presented me with a wall of photos in our office/craft room. They were all taken on our trip to Paris, including a shot from Notre Dame just a few days before the fire.
Our kitchen calendar this year is Cat Wars.
posted by Biblio at 2:45 PM on March 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
Putting art on the walls is my latest pandemic house project. Also framing said art prior to hanging. I have a bunch of bird photos, taken by a variety of people, that are now hanging in the hallway, along with a pair of bird watercolors (a hawk and an owl) that I don't remember where they came from. I have 30 years' worth of concert posters from the Fillmore and finally selected 4 to put in frames and hang up. I took some more valuable art pieces to an actual framer and paid the large but appropriate price for their framing - including a gorgeous wood cut print a friend made from a photo of the day the sky turned orange here last year. I also have several art pieces that people gave rtha before she died, or gave me afterwards, along with some photos, and I need to hang them up over the altar for her, but that's a task with a heavy emotional load and so I've been putting it off.
Hanging art's been a rewarding project. I've lived in this house over 20 years and left most of the walls empty and art accumulating in cardboard tubes and boxes. It's been really good to dig through stuff and put it on display, even though I'm the only one who gets to see it these days.
posted by gingerbeer at 3:50 PM on March 1, 2021 [7 favorites]
Hanging art's been a rewarding project. I've lived in this house over 20 years and left most of the walls empty and art accumulating in cardboard tubes and boxes. It's been really good to dig through stuff and put it on display, even though I'm the only one who gets to see it these days.
posted by gingerbeer at 3:50 PM on March 1, 2021 [7 favorites]
in my room: souvenir art; maps; and several gems from usefulcharts.com.
posted by fingersandtoes at 4:19 PM on March 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by fingersandtoes at 4:19 PM on March 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
This rebel painting by Paco Pomet.
This painting speaks on many levels. It stokes my rebel spirit. It reminds me to not take myself too seriously and to have fun even in dark times. And it grounds me, recalling when I was poor as hell but doing everything I could, regardless.
When I first saw this painting, I was a grad student, living in a garage, and could barely afford food. I reached out to Paco to see if he would send me a high resolution image so I could print a copy. He was super kind, and shared it with me. Almost ten years later I finally had the money and the wall, and I made it into a tapestry.
Now I look at it every day and feel both a call to rebellion, and a reminder to be kind.
posted by fake at 4:41 PM on March 1, 2021 [3 favorites]
This painting speaks on many levels. It stokes my rebel spirit. It reminds me to not take myself too seriously and to have fun even in dark times. And it grounds me, recalling when I was poor as hell but doing everything I could, regardless.
When I first saw this painting, I was a grad student, living in a garage, and could barely afford food. I reached out to Paco to see if he would send me a high resolution image so I could print a copy. He was super kind, and shared it with me. Almost ten years later I finally had the money and the wall, and I made it into a tapestry.
Now I look at it every day and feel both a call to rebellion, and a reminder to be kind.
posted by fake at 4:41 PM on March 1, 2021 [3 favorites]
due to being in transition, I currently have nothing affixed to the walls of my room/office, though there are a few audio cables hanging from little hooks. And atop a shelf in one corner, almost against the wall is work of art that somebody else left there -- a stencil, that says STOP THINKING.
I have found it helpful.
posted by philip-random at 6:03 PM on March 1, 2021 [6 favorites]
I have found it helpful.
posted by philip-random at 6:03 PM on March 1, 2021 [6 favorites]
I own a bunch of paintings by Dana Boettger. These two are my favorites.
posted by dobbs at 7:30 PM on March 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by dobbs at 7:30 PM on March 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
philip-random, I covet your stencil!
posted by eirias at 7:31 PM on March 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by eirias at 7:31 PM on March 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
Quite a lot of my living room wall space is taken up by windows and much of the rest is blocked by bookshelves, etc, but the piece of art occupying the most visible display space is a sketch done by my friend and neighbor, received as a gift years ago.
It depicts Lisa del Giocondo, but instead of the traditional presentation she is depicted holding a large fish and a gaff hook and clad in Helly Hansen overalls, as the sketch was an incidental product of the process of creating an at-the-time topical T-shirt design.
posted by Nerd of the North at 7:45 PM on March 1, 2021 [2 favorites]
It depicts Lisa del Giocondo, but instead of the traditional presentation she is depicted holding a large fish and a gaff hook and clad in Helly Hansen overalls, as the sketch was an incidental product of the process of creating an at-the-time topical T-shirt design.
posted by Nerd of the North at 7:45 PM on March 1, 2021 [2 favorites]
Okay now, you're not going to get away without sharing a picture of that amazing-sounding piece!!
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:14 PM on March 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:14 PM on March 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
Won myself a Fat Batman and Fat Wolverine as drawn by a podcaster who presumably wasn't comfortable w/continuing to sell them. A sombrero my sister brought me back from Spain 20+ years ago. A framed postcard pic of an octopus-type creature off Etsy which gave me proper Dungeon Crawl/Dinosaur Comics vibes. A cheap stylised picture of a woman from behind, wearing a large hat and stood by her bicycle. Multiple random Dutch and/or Depp stuff from a previous housemate. A Live Laugh Love courtesy of Mum. An ambiguous picture of two polar bears on separate blocks of ice under an Arctic sun. A small map of Middle Earth. A Star Wars promo pic which it turned out all my mates had too. A bunch of gaps where the good stuff used to be. A picture of Nelson dying re-contextualised as some sort of embodiment of inevitable Football Victory. A mirror, A family crest, despite my being the last of the family living here
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 10:07 PM on March 1, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 10:07 PM on March 1, 2021 [2 favorites]
This print of an owl on top of another owl is a recent edition to our walls, and it makes me laugh every time I see it. Great question!
posted by rawrberry at 2:30 AM on March 2, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by rawrberry at 2:30 AM on March 2, 2021 [5 favorites]
Nerd of the North, you're friends with Ray Troll? I had that t-shirt until I wore it to bits! I still have three of his - "The Baitful Dead", "Careful What You Fish For", and "There Is No Free Lunch".
posted by Daily Alice at 4:36 AM on March 2, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Daily Alice at 4:36 AM on March 2, 2021 [1 favorite]
My walls are still pretty bare, because I've only lived here for ten months now. ;-) But one thing I did hang up was this beautiful mixed media piece I received as part of the MetaFilter Holiday Card Exchange. The talented kaelynski made this lovely picture of our local Episcopal church, which is a historical landmark built in 1900 and lovingly restored many years later. She couldn't have known at the time that it's a very special place for me, with many happy memories of musical performances and other special events. I was so tickled to receive it, and I knew it had to be displayed year-round.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 9:58 AM on March 2, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by The Underpants Monster at 9:58 AM on March 2, 2021 [2 favorites]
Old stained glass work in my kitchen window. Tribute to Frank Stella, candle boxes.
posted by Oyéah at 12:18 PM on March 2, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by Oyéah at 12:18 PM on March 2, 2021 [2 favorites]
Other than my paintings, I have this little fella. It's a production cel from the title sequence, just as George goes to prop his legs up on his desk.
posted by Thorzdad at 12:33 PM on March 2, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by Thorzdad at 12:33 PM on March 2, 2021 [2 favorites]
My upstairs area is my studio/temporary WFH office and anything goes up here. A selection:
-various drawings of cats and "fancy ladies" by my daughter
-various Fashion Plates drawings, done in goth style, also by kid
-a pic of my folks on their wedding day in 1968
-a pic of my dad when in the army in Japan, printed onto a piece of cloth
-a thread spool holder that my SO made out of wood branches, in the shape of a pentagram
- a mural I painted from a Polish folk art book of two goats and various flowers
-a pic of me and my first cat
-a pic I drew of a bat magician that I called "Mr. Magic"
-pencil drawings directly on the wall (anything goes!) of fairies, cats, and girls, again by the kid
- a valentine I gave to my SO many years ago with a picture of the band Obituary on it
posted by medeine at 1:24 PM on March 2, 2021 [2 favorites]
-various drawings of cats and "fancy ladies" by my daughter
-various Fashion Plates drawings, done in goth style, also by kid
-a pic of my folks on their wedding day in 1968
-a pic of my dad when in the army in Japan, printed onto a piece of cloth
-a thread spool holder that my SO made out of wood branches, in the shape of a pentagram
- a mural I painted from a Polish folk art book of two goats and various flowers
-a pic of me and my first cat
-a pic I drew of a bat magician that I called "Mr. Magic"
-pencil drawings directly on the wall (anything goes!) of fairies, cats, and girls, again by the kid
- a valentine I gave to my SO many years ago with a picture of the band Obituary on it
posted by medeine at 1:24 PM on March 2, 2021 [2 favorites]
I've got several great prints that I still need to mat and frame. One thing I do have on my wall is this delightful triptych of witches (click "view all" to see all three).
posted by ourobouros at 2:04 PM on March 2, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by ourobouros at 2:04 PM on March 2, 2021 [1 favorite]
-various drawings of cats and "fancy ladies" by my daughter
Oh, the childhood hours I whiled away drawing fancy ladies!
posted by The Underpants Monster at 3:49 PM on March 2, 2021 [1 favorite]
Oh, the childhood hours I whiled away drawing fancy ladies!
posted by The Underpants Monster at 3:49 PM on March 2, 2021 [1 favorite]
My "office" is an old sleeping porch, all windows, no insulation (so, space heater, fan in the summer, but blinding sun at various angles). I put up easy-cling-removable contact paper-type stuff on certain areas, but in one problem spot, right in front of my computer, I put a stick-on dry erase board. In my real office (which I haven't seen in 51 weeks), I LIVED by my dry erase board to remember what my team was working on. And I just put this stuff up this week...
posted by Pax at 5:32 PM on March 2, 2021
posted by Pax at 5:32 PM on March 2, 2021
In various rooms: a paper mosaic collage I made and framed, this fruit and vegetable taxonomy poster, a cool piece an artist neighbor made by spray painting a spiderweb and printing it onto a canvas, a laser-cut wood underwater topography map of the mouth of the Columbia River, a framed photo of a window inside an abandoned asylum in New York, a magnet strip with my kiddo’s hair clips attached, this pickle propaganda, a string of cardboard flowers, Nikki McClure’s 2021 calendar, a photo I took of a giant black swallowtail drinking from a butterfly bush in front of a rusty fire escape, a piece of driftwood with all my necklaces hanging from it on S hooks, an encaustic piece made by a friend, a big mirror, a screen print of mountains with the moon behind them that I traded for a piece of my pottery, a hanging terrarium containing mosses and lichens that fell out of the tree in my backyard, a big whiteboard. There’s more, but these are indicative. Oh and my shower curtain isn’t technically on the wall, but has a humongous octopus painting on it.
posted by centrifugal at 7:14 PM on March 2, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by centrifugal at 7:14 PM on March 2, 2021 [2 favorites]
A friend of mine gave me this Kitty with a Pearl Earring paint-by-number kit for Christmas and I recently finished it. I was going to hang it in my office in the garage, but when my kids saw it, they insisted that we hang it prominently in the house.
posted by Stanczyk at 4:16 AM on March 3, 2021 [7 favorites]
posted by Stanczyk at 4:16 AM on March 3, 2021 [7 favorites]
I CAN'T BELIEVE I forgot something else -
Another thing in my kitchen is a menu from a sci-fi-themed crepe shop I stumbled upon in Paris. The decor was inspired by the Death Star, the Muzak was a collection of John Williams soundtracks, and they had a supercut of all the lightsaber battles from the first 6 Star Wars movies playing on a continuous loop on a video screen. The menu saluted other sci-fi franchises; each of the different menu items was named after a different fictional planet (I had the "Gallifrey" for lunch, and was considering the "Remulak" for dessert). The menu also professed to a refusal to serve Gungans, Ewoks, and the creature from ALIEN.
I loved the place so much that I asked if they had a spare menu I could buy off them; the owner was bemused by that, and quoted me 20 Euros which was probably a hideous markup. But I didn't care. Sadly that place seems to have been a victim of Covid Closure, but I have the menu hanging in my kitchen, so when I teach myself how to make crepes I can refer to it for filling ideas.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:25 AM on March 3, 2021 [1 favorite]
Another thing in my kitchen is a menu from a sci-fi-themed crepe shop I stumbled upon in Paris. The decor was inspired by the Death Star, the Muzak was a collection of John Williams soundtracks, and they had a supercut of all the lightsaber battles from the first 6 Star Wars movies playing on a continuous loop on a video screen. The menu saluted other sci-fi franchises; each of the different menu items was named after a different fictional planet (I had the "Gallifrey" for lunch, and was considering the "Remulak" for dessert). The menu also professed to a refusal to serve Gungans, Ewoks, and the creature from ALIEN.
I loved the place so much that I asked if they had a spare menu I could buy off them; the owner was bemused by that, and quoted me 20 Euros which was probably a hideous markup. But I didn't care. Sadly that place seems to have been a victim of Covid Closure, but I have the menu hanging in my kitchen, so when I teach myself how to make crepes I can refer to it for filling ideas.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:25 AM on March 3, 2021 [1 favorite]
I have two nicely framed and matted prints (not original) by Charles Rennie Macintosh. One is a frittillaria. They were each only $13, and I really love them.
posted by dbmcd at 8:34 PM on March 3, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by dbmcd at 8:34 PM on March 3, 2021 [1 favorite]
It was 1979 and I was 16 or 17, kicked out of home, on the dole (@ $32pw) and living with a much older boyfriend and some junkies in a St Kilda flat. One day, looking for work in the grocery shops and cafes, I passed a small gallery on a side-street corner and I was hooked by a flash of yellow and red. I had to stop.
If you asked me to describe it then I would have said it was a screen print of a sleeping figure in yellow, watched over by a small goat with curly horns, while someone very like them is flying above clutching a person in red who is appearing from the leaves and branches of a red tree. In the distance is another horned creature on four legs, some deep blue sky and clouds, and a windmill. The sleeping person is lying atop grassy tussocks. The print is numbered 28/100 and there’s a scrawled signature.
I had to have it. I physically ached for it. It symbolised so much of what I didn’t know, it contained the unknowing. I needed this picture in my life but it was $400 and I was flat broke. Yet in an instant it was only $300 as the gallery owner showed me the sale price sticker. I can still remember the rush I felt in my body. I asked if I could lay-buy it, pay it off. We agreed on $10 per fortnight but I was a bit irregular.
It wasn’t until I’d made the final payment round 18 months later and collected the work that I took any notice of the artist’s name, Arthur Boyd and his scrawl on the backing paper said ‘Jacob’s Dream’. The original artwork is 1.07cm x 1.27cm, half as big again as mine, and hangs in a stunning gallery while my limited edition colour lithograph cohabits with a cat. It’s not worth anymore than I paid for it ($300 then equals @$1450 now), and it’s cost me more in new frames and glass, but I’ll never part with my sleeping dreaming person looked after by a goat.
posted by Thella at 1:58 AM on March 4, 2021 [3 favorites]
If you asked me to describe it then I would have said it was a screen print of a sleeping figure in yellow, watched over by a small goat with curly horns, while someone very like them is flying above clutching a person in red who is appearing from the leaves and branches of a red tree. In the distance is another horned creature on four legs, some deep blue sky and clouds, and a windmill. The sleeping person is lying atop grassy tussocks. The print is numbered 28/100 and there’s a scrawled signature.
I had to have it. I physically ached for it. It symbolised so much of what I didn’t know, it contained the unknowing. I needed this picture in my life but it was $400 and I was flat broke. Yet in an instant it was only $300 as the gallery owner showed me the sale price sticker. I can still remember the rush I felt in my body. I asked if I could lay-buy it, pay it off. We agreed on $10 per fortnight but I was a bit irregular.
It wasn’t until I’d made the final payment round 18 months later and collected the work that I took any notice of the artist’s name, Arthur Boyd and his scrawl on the backing paper said ‘Jacob’s Dream’. The original artwork is 1.07cm x 1.27cm, half as big again as mine, and hangs in a stunning gallery while my limited edition colour lithograph cohabits with a cat. It’s not worth anymore than I paid for it ($300 then equals @$1450 now), and it’s cost me more in new frames and glass, but I’ll never part with my sleeping dreaming person looked after by a goat.
posted by Thella at 1:58 AM on March 4, 2021 [3 favorites]
Greg_Ace:
However, Daily Alice has correctly deduced his identity as well as the design in question; also the sketch is 15 years old and as far as I can tell the shirt based on the design is no longer a part of Ray's merch line-up (though you can still find it in various places if you are really curious.)
posted by Nerd of the North at 2:39 AM on March 5, 2021 [2 favorites]
Okay now, you're not going to get away without sharing a picture of that amazing-sounding piece!!The artist and his wife, both friends of mine, earn a large share of their livelihood selling T-shirts and other products based on his designs and I avoided linking because I didn't want to run afoul of etiquette and/or rules about links benefiting me or someone close to me.
However, Daily Alice has correctly deduced his identity as well as the design in question; also the sketch is 15 years old and as far as I can tell the shirt based on the design is no longer a part of Ray's merch line-up (though you can still find it in various places if you are really curious.)
posted by Nerd of the North at 2:39 AM on March 5, 2021 [2 favorites]
A few of the things on my walls:
1. A 1914 fireroom telegraph faceplate which I’ve made into a clock
2. A Clark Bar thermometer (“It’s Clark Bar O’Clock”) from my grandfather’s newsstand which was inside a bank in downtown Pittsburgh
3. A wood-and-metal-peg Rambler pinball machine from the 1920s
4. A porthole from a liberty ship
5. A genuine wood and brass ship’s wheel
6. A bayonet allegedly from George Washington’s “Hessian horde”
7. A large steam pressure gauge
8. A set of pinback buttons showing the faces of lovely ladies, collected from cigarette packs in the 1920s
9. Watercolor paintings of the North Carolina Outer Banks from the 1950s and 60s
10. Two mast hoops from tall ships
11. A few nice brass taffrail logs
12. A half-model of the ship he served on in WWII which my father built from scratch
13. A spectacular grating from a sailing ship
...you can just imagine what I’ve got that isn’t hanging on walls. Time to dust now.
posted by kinnakeet at 4:57 AM on March 5, 2021 [2 favorites]
1. A 1914 fireroom telegraph faceplate which I’ve made into a clock
2. A Clark Bar thermometer (“It’s Clark Bar O’Clock”) from my grandfather’s newsstand which was inside a bank in downtown Pittsburgh
3. A wood-and-metal-peg Rambler pinball machine from the 1920s
4. A porthole from a liberty ship
5. A genuine wood and brass ship’s wheel
6. A bayonet allegedly from George Washington’s “Hessian horde”
7. A large steam pressure gauge
8. A set of pinback buttons showing the faces of lovely ladies, collected from cigarette packs in the 1920s
9. Watercolor paintings of the North Carolina Outer Banks from the 1950s and 60s
10. Two mast hoops from tall ships
11. A few nice brass taffrail logs
12. A half-model of the ship he served on in WWII which my father built from scratch
13. A spectacular grating from a sailing ship
...you can just imagine what I’ve got that isn’t hanging on walls. Time to dust now.
posted by kinnakeet at 4:57 AM on March 5, 2021 [2 favorites]
I have an Insta where I share weird things in our house and there are quite a few pictures in there of some of our eclectic collections.
Here are some of our paintings and other works of art:
Red Skelton-ish
Wall of Paint-by-number
Susan
Examples of Auroras
Orangutang Anatomy
In Memory of a Fallen Pet
Clock
N'awlins
Bologna Sandwiches
Flintstones TV tray
Here's the whole thing if you like old crap.
posted by Stanczyk at 3:37 PM on March 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
Here are some of our paintings and other works of art:
Red Skelton-ish
Wall of Paint-by-number
Susan
Examples of Auroras
Orangutang Anatomy
In Memory of a Fallen Pet
Clock
N'awlins
Bologna Sandwiches
Flintstones TV tray
Here's the whole thing if you like old crap.
posted by Stanczyk at 3:37 PM on March 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
I work in the special collections department of a library, and my cubicle is filled with a lot of random photographs, prints and ephemera I've come across while going through uncatalogued material (it's all stuff that wasn't suitable for the collection for one reason or another). It's basically the same way I decorated my high school locker and bedrooms in university, just with older things.
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:00 AM on March 6, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:00 AM on March 6, 2021 [3 favorites]
This is currently my favorite shot of mine. I took a boat tour of lighthouses in the Delaware River with my mom and one of my favorite aunts. It was a drizzly, overcast day but still fun (we came across a pod of at least 100 dolphins!) I took this photo, and tried it out in black and white.... I now have a large version of this in metal hanging on my wall. I'm still very proud of this one.
posted by annieb at 5:33 PM on March 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by annieb at 5:33 PM on March 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
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posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:46 AM on February 28, 2021 [10 favorites]