Sustenance and Countenance

Having a home filled with original pieces of art has been a lifelong dream of mine.  Not because I feel a need to live in a "look at me" sort of house, rather because I believe in the atmosphere they help create.  Frank Lloyd Wright said, "

"Whether people are fully conscious of this or not, they actually derive countenance and sustenance from the 'atmosphere' of things they live in and with."  

I have posted this before and likely will again.  I first read it when we were visiting the Phoenix Art Museum where they had an exhibit on Wright's work.  It said in a few words what I had been trying to express all of my life.  I can feel it in my own space and in places I visit that contain thoughtfully selected things.  It is a palpable energy. 

Oliver Parsons painted this watercolor.  I love the washy sky and his palette and I love the place it was painted in; Nauvoo, Illinois.  

Besides the woodwork of my husband, there are pieces made by myself in our house.  Along with these, though, are treasured works of other artists.  They have personal meaning to us, reminding us of memories or emitting a peaceful spirit to our rooms and lives.  These things are part of what makes 'house' into 'home.'  In a world of mass-production, particle board and plastic, home is where we can close the door and escape from the stress we people-types create.

This little painting makes doing the dishes less boring.  Genevieve Cardon Klingler, farm wife in Idaho, painted this little piece.  I love it.  

In his book, "The Forgotten Arts and Crafts," John Seymour says, 

"When we think of civilization we tend to think of people like Michelangelo, Shakespeare, Beethoven and Einstein. Well, all praise to such people, their works have enriched our homes, but what use would their endeavors have been without the basis of a civilized home; of what comfort would their works be to us if our homes were brutish and boring, if we lived, like Nebuchadnezzar, like the beasts but without the beasts' natural grace and dignity? Everything that people do outside the home-  on the farm, in the forest, in the factory and counting-house, down the mine or out at sea- is done to provide the essentials of a seemly and comely human existence: to sustain and embellish the home. If the home itself is allowed to go to pot then what is the use of it all? Whatever an honest man [or woman] is doing, always somewhere in the back of his mind is the thought of his home."   

I love home.  I love walking into a space filled with beloved books.  I love sitting in a comfortable chair next to a table made for me with care, reading or just listening to good music while I let an idea grow and develop.  I need this, need it to give me substance beneath me when I go out from this place. Chances are, you do, too.

I wasn't the model for this, but I could have been.  The keeper of the home, the last one to bed, this woman has likely checked the doors, tucked in little ones and had a few minutes of peace and quiet before she goes to bed.  Painted by Oliver Parsons, this speaks to my heart.  

Have a sweet and peaceful day and thanks for stopping in.  Alice