Something Old Something New

No, it's not a wedding but December 2007 brought some things into my home-- one very new and one very old. In a way when we add something to our home, we are wedding it to what already is there.

Buying a new stove has been on the agenda off and on for over a year-- from when the oven took forever to cook a turkey last Thanksgiving. The first time I went into a store to look, I was in amazement how much things had changed in the nearly 30 years since I'd bought the last one. There were too many options, and for awhile I put off dealing with it. I felt like Rip van Winkle returned from a long sleep.

When I went back in December, I knew I could have kept its purchase simple and gotten a stove that more or less exactly duplicated the one I had, but what fun would that have been? Those new elements had some features I began to want and finally I made a decision with which I am very happy.

The recent dinner affirmed how nicely this stove does everything and then some. I like the warming drawer which is not so necessary for simple dinners but when putting together a lot of dishes, it was wonderful. I had been warned about glass-top stoves requiring careful wiping up to avoid stains and am being careful, but I like how it cooks more evenly than the old burners as does the oven with its hidden elements. I have also used the warming drawer to dry bread cubes for turkey dressing, and I think it'll be useful for rising yeast breads.

Then there is-- Bringing new art into a home is definitely wedding a new element to something that has already been working but where a change of energy is desired. When I do hang paintings or bronzes, they are not decorations to me, but energy for the room, the wall, and all who enter the home. Everything has to work together to create a harmonious flow. I don't want to plop down something that looks like a fish out of water and draws the eye to just it. One thing should lead to another. Hanging art is a pleasure to me, and I take my time getting it to feel right.

Slowly through the years, I have been collecting western themed art. For some reason Western art seems a little harder to mix with other themes.When I saw Judy Erickson's cowboy paintings in Sprague River, I knew I had found enough to make it work.

To accent these new themes, I decided to bring this old saddle in from the garage. I am not sure of its age. My husband bought it maybe 20 years ago as a cheap saddle for a horse we had on the place at the time. It has wooden stirrups, is smaller than many today, has that lovely worn patina that says it's been well-used for many years. The leather work is simple but nice. I took a lot of photographs of it and will find it handy to use when I need to paint a saddle. (It was incidentally very popular with all the children here on Sunday as they took turns 'riding' it on its old wooden stand.)

The cowboy paintings in this grouping are by Judy Erickson. They include the giclee I wrote about awhile back, The Wild Ones, showing men driving a herd of wild horses; another giclee, Hackamore Horse, which means a horse trained to not require a bit to do the rider's bidding; and an original oil, The Last Gate, which has the symbolism of a man closing a gate as the sun is setting. Judy said she had seen a cowboy doing this on one of the drives, on which she had worked, and waited for a time to paint it. The Plains Indian head came from a gallery on the Coast a few years ago and worked well with the others to form a truly Western wall .

Something new and something old (well, me too).