There is a joyful aspect of not selling all of the art at your exhibits. You get to hang the left-overs in your own house, at least those you care for deeply.  The Wrench Wench is such a piece, since the portrait I manipulated was part of a larger painting by Paula Becker Modersohn and PBM is so much my model for the persistence of women artists in the face of condescending scrutiny. I thought that would be fitting to mention on today’s International Women’s Day.

The landscape from my most recent refugee series now hangs above a landscape painted at exactly the village where I photographed the image in the montage – except some 100 years earlier. The artist did not sign anything other than his initials, my parents bought it in Bergen aan Zee, a little artist village at the dutch North Sea, where we spent our summers.

You also get to swap what’s still there after a show with artist friends –  in the featured photograph the horse-owl was such a trade. I adore that sculpture by Steve Tilden for its beauty but also its whimsey. That combination characterizes much of his work. And the sculpture is surrounded by an ever changing selection of owls brought to me by friends, near and far.  They all together cast interesting shadows at night, although not as notable as the ones in the link….

https://petapixel.com/2013/07/02/photos-of-diet-wiegmans-mind-blowing-shadow-art/

What brings me joy as well, is the water damaged surface of the little secretary that all this stuff stands on – it has been in use, truly in use, in several households, one of the few pieces I brought from Germany. I am a fan of furniture that shows wear and tear, since it is testimony to a life lived.