I mentioned on Friday that I had some butterflies in my house. I picked these up at the Alameda Flea Market a few months ago:
I haven’t quite found the right spot for them (this is true of so many of my flea market finds), but I really like them. And at the flea market they were a fraction of the cost I’ve seen them for in trendy home stores.
Another bird art related post – this time about a print I found recently at the Alameda Flea Market:
It’s a small print – maybe 5″ x 7″, including the frame. I love how the birds are in color, while the background is sketched in black and white. I also like the black mat – I wouldn’t have chosen that myself, but it makes for a dramatic little print.
The latest in our series of flea market finds is something I found while visiting my parents in Oklahoma City. They have this fantastic antique market housed in a very cool, if somewhat dilapidated, building:
The ground floor of this building is filled with different antique vendors. Of course, there was a lot of junk to sift through, but there were some great finds. And this being Oklahoma City, the prices were a bit lower than what I’m used to living in the San Francisco bay area. My find for the day? These charming fellows:
They’re painted metal, and much heavier than they look. One holds two taper candles, the other is holding a small bowl.
There’s a great store in Oakland called the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse. It’s a place where people donate old things they have no use for (think paper, art supplies, old maps, those beakers you used in chemistry class) that someone else might be able to use. It’s very popular with teachers and artists looking for supplies. Anyways, on a recent visit, I was surprised to find this old French print:
The frame is worn, the mat is yellowed and stained, but I think that just adds to its charm.
There’s some writing on the bottom that I can’t quite translate – my French is a bit rusty not having been used for the past ten years. I haven’t found a place to hang it yet, but you know it’s a good flea market find when someone stops you on the street and asks you where you found that.
A friend of mine, who is also an interior designer, has this amazing bust on her fireplace. I’m not sure who it is – Heracles, Paris, someone like that. The last time I was at her house, the bust was sporting a pink tie. I decided then and there I needed one of my own. But nice-looking busts aren’t exactly everywhere you look. Anything that was actually made of stone cost a fortune, and anything resin looked kind of cheap. So I was excited to find this guy at the Alameda Flea Market a few weeks ago:
So he’s plaster, not stone, but he’s got that well-worn look about him. Also, it’s Chopin, who happens to be my favorite composer. He’s currently making an appearance on my newly freshened-up home page. I haven’t tried accessorizing him yet. He’s already sporting a cravat, but maybe a jaunty hat?
Summer is upon us, and that means that garage sales are cropping up almost everywhere I go. I love garage sales, flea markets, and pretty much any place where you get to dig through piles of junk in hopes of finding something great. Last weekend I stumbled across a garage sale full of the usual – old paperbacks, ugly furniture, scary old clothes – but this little bowl caught my eye:
Why yes, those are deer heads on the sides:
You know how I feel about animal heads, and at $2 I couldn’t resist.