There is nothing that can compare with real, original art  in your home or office. Each piece holds memories as you look from one to the other.  When you buy a work of art, you are buying a piece of the artist’s  life in a very personal way.  In my own collection are works from artist friends as well as other pieces I have bought from artists I will never know personally. Each art work reminds me of the artist who made it and each holds a special place in my heart.

The lively abstract painting shown here  was painted by me. It is one of my all time favorite paintings that I did a long time ago.  I was an graduate student in painting at West Virginia University. I was passionately reading poetry by Robert Bly and William Carlos Williams. They are still my poetic mentors.  The images I recognized in their poetry cam through my brushes during those years as I painted in my stdio. There were wonderful images from nature, snow storms, rain, and the environment that we dwell in evry day.  This painting moves me every time I stop to have a deep look at it. I will never understand this painting and it still holds secrets that I find there.

There are other paintings and photographs on my walls and they were done by friends I know personally. Other works of art on my Library walls come from Africa. A young painter in Nigeria sent me this beautiful textural painting one day. It was a very big surprise. I had no idea it was coming to me through the mail, in a tight little roll, inside of a box. This is one of my treasures, among all treasures in my home. It was a gift.

The African Painting and sculpture  hang above a collection of books on a vintage primitive table. I am very fond of primitive things that I have found over the years at yard sales, basements, and unexpected places. They are often someone else’s trash and in my home they are my treasure. I have many such pieces in every room of the house. I keep them exactly as they are when I find them. I do not paint them or disturb them, but just clean them up and put them to use again.

The lamp shade was made by my husband Bob. He makes beautiful art  in Stained glass and steel.  The pottery plate was made by me,  I was inspired by a vintage advertisement plate made of clear pressed glass. African statues fill the nooks and crannies of this Library.  I am always surrounded by the spirits of the artisans who created them..

My resolution  for the New  Year is to  enjoy  making some  knitted items in the solitude of my cozy home; sweeping the wooden floor of my porch with a fiber broom to clear it of the new  snow that the western winds have blown there; watering and tending to my plants while they safely wait inside the house for their time to once again return back outside after winter has passed; pausing to admire  my little African Violet plat (I started from a leaf).  It is about a year old, and won’t be ready to bloom for quite awhile yet. There is time for that. No hurry.

I finally started writing in my journal today, too.  I wonder why I put it off, keep in on the back burner like I do. I write it on the computer, print it out, then put it in my binder that is labeled “Journal.”

The pottery bowl  was a welcome Christmas gift from our daughter Heidi.  I cherish  this piece of pottery. What I like about it is the natural color of the glaze, the kind of clay that the potter used, and the way she carved deep geometric and symmetrical patterns in the clay.  Another reminder of Heidi is on the wall. There is a set of three drawings that she made years ago. The three drawings are placed vertically in one frame. They look African, too.  Her drawings have a tribal feel to them.

I would not trade one small piece of hand made art from this room, for an entire room full of expensive commercial art made by the thousands and sold at slick department stores.  Here in my Library,  each piece is priceless to me.