Ikebana Vases

Years ago, I thought I had it in me do start doing Ikebana, Japanese flower arrangement. I found these beautiful vases to start with. Well, the most these vases did was serve as a place to keep spare change. I kept them because they are simply beautiful. I decided to let them go to someone who really understood their value.

Enter Kenneth. He collects these kind of vases! I'm glad someone could really appreciate them the way they should be appreciated.
I must say that this is the best part of doing this. When someone really digs a piece, when I can really see it in their eyes, well, that's beyond rewarding. That's just womderful!

Latest Find

I found myself gazing into this piece for a loooooog time.

Thanks, Chuck!

This is Chuck. He's holding a Modiliani inspired painting that I'd saved from a thrifstore. I put a frame on it and wired the back so it can hang. In addition to buying that piece, he later came back and secured several other pieces, including the ones below.

What I enjoyed most about his visits was his joy of art. He loved looking at the work, and I knew the art would hang on a worthy wall.

Featured Art: Dark Colors

I've always been a bright colors kind of guy. But every once awhile someting with dark colors will appeal to me. Perhaps a charcoal drawing or a gray still-life. What I might catch is the sense of isolation or loneliness that these art evokes. I am a writer. I know about Alone.

Ren

This is a co-worker named Ren. He purchased this French number. I think it's rather becoming next to him, yes?

Art Rescuing in Haiti

Unless you'd been in a cave, you'd probably heard about the devastation in Haiti. Well, part of that devastation is damaged art. I came across an interesting article in Art News magazine about the restoration of that art. Wonderful. Click here.

Philip with Haunted Lady

This is Philip, my friend. He was over and he took a liking to this painting. It was his birthday, and guess what his present was.

Holly!

I knew this painting--Pink Lady as I affectionately call it--would go to just the right person. That's exactly what happened. This is Holly, a fellow writer. Though we spend a lot of time immersed in words, we also have a visual appetite. Writers and art go hand in hand, I think.

Cityscape

I started painting. Read more here.

Thoughts on Radiance

I went to see Jean Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child. It was awesome and sad. I got to see a glimpse of the mind of an artist, his joys and struggles. He was a famous and wealthy man who died at 27, leaving behind thousands of pieces of art. It was thrilling seeing a vibrant, articulate artist in this footage. It was compelling to see how elite art circles shut him out. It was sad to see that he couldn't overcome his demons (grief over Warhol's death, his relationship with his father, his struggle with drugs).

I know many creative types who think fame and money will make things better. This doc showed that all of that success can't fix low self-esteem, loneliness, old family baggage or any other fucked up noises that go on in your head.

Go see this, especially if you're a creative type. As Lao Tse once said, "He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still."

Driving Down Beveryly Blvd.

I was heading home on a Sunday afternoon when I caught these paintings in the corner of my eye. I had to stop and look. They were part of garage sale taking place on Beverly Blvd. They were sitting on grass out under the bright sun. My first thought was the grass might stain the canvas! Then my second thought was that the sun would dull the colors of the paintings. I had to rescue them. Aren't those colors just mesmerizing!

Coy

I usually rescue paintings. Every once and awhile, I'll find a piece that just grabs my attention and I have to snatch it up. Such was the case with the vase above with the coy design. My friend Steve took a liking to it and secured it for his porch.

Recent Rescues: Flower Power

A Good Home

This is Valerie. She saw my listing for this beautiful watercolor of tropical fish. She said she wanted to give this painting a good home. I'm glad. That's exactly what these fish need.

Portrait

I found this portrait on a floor at a thrifstore. I put a frame on it and now I'm all gaga over it.

Off the floor!

I found these paintings on the floor of a Goodwill. I bought them and put new frames on them. It'll be hard parting with them. I noticed that when I work on them, like attaching the right frame or tightening the canvas (which I did with the top painting), I feel closer to them.

Heap!

This was the scene at a local thriftstore. It was the end of the day and customers rummage through stuff. I've worked retail and know how hard it is to keep a store clean sometimes. The staff is simply overwhelmed. Unfortunately, art gets easily destroyed.

In that same store, I saw this interesting portrait of Rimbaud. It was still intact and handsomely framed. I snatched it up. I knew it would be only a matter of days before it would end up in the heap above.

Terrie

This is Terrie. She heard about what I was doing through my sister Joy. Her father is dealing with cancer. She wanted some art to get through this this time in her life. She came over and secured two pieces. It really made me happy seeing her happy.

Peter's Office

This is Peter. We work together. He decided to decorate his office. He secured two pieces from me. The abstract behind him is one of them. His working space is a lot more lively, I think.

Fallin' inlove

In this journey in rescuring art, I've come across pieces that I've personally fallen in love with and don't see myself parting with...atleast not any time soon. Here are just a few of those pieces.

Found Homes

I found homes for the following pieces. They went to a coworker, a sibling and a woman who responded through Craigslist. I found the streetscene and the watercolor in thriftstores and the flying duck painting at a yardsale.

Rescuing Art

There is so much art out there. It amazes me what the human heart can achieve. I don't think artists ever ever expect their work to be abandoned. The goal of this blog is to document rescuing art out there, usually left in thriftstores or yardsales. The art is usually mishandled, something that drives me crazy.

I began to rescue art when I was in a Goodwill, hoping to find some awesome vintage shirt. I saw a beautiful painting--an orage butterfly, left over from the 1970's. There was a kitsch value to the work, but also something quite inspiring . It cost $50. I was there for a $5 shirt, not a painting. I decided to think about it. I returned the next day only to find that the store staff had stacked a bunch of paintings on it, badly denting the canvas. It was ruined. I kicked myself.

Since then, I've tried to save art whenever I can. I've driven to thriftstores, checked on craigslist--sometimes the last stop before a thriftstore--and bought it up.

I've managed to place over 20 paintings in good homes so far. By the way, I'm hoping to place the lovely painting above in a good home.