Two [of the many…] gifts that passed me over when I was born were, 1) the ability to sing well, and 2) the talent to draw well.
Granted, like any savage, I can do both on an extremely simplistic level, but am pretty confident that you would not particularly enjoy nor appreciate either!
I love music, although I am not at all musical. I love the written word, even though I am not literary. I love to dance, regardless of my two left feet. I can’t act, in spite of my natural propensity for histrionics and dramatics.
Cemented underneath this lack of talent is, however, a deep appreciation for all of the arts: the love is there, alas the talent is not.
Despite my own lack of ability, I nevertheless remain a creative type of person. My house reflects this creativity, as does my attire, to a certain extent. For the most part, though, my creativity is expressed in the way I design my homes. In curating our belongings. Or flower arranging. And to a lesser extent, photography.
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The only camera I own these days is the one on my phone. Before that, I had a very basic old Canon digital camera which did me well for many years. I have dozens of photo albums lovingly filled with priceless snapshots of my daughter taken throughout her childhood, or snatches of memories taken on my travels.
Not by any measure do I consider myself to be a talented amateur photographer, but every once in a while, I manage to capture an image that I can turn into something vaguely artistic.
Nowadays, I am astounded at what the camera on my iPhone can do. I find it so satisfying to play around with the various features.
My favourite setting is probably the portrait feature. The filter I use most — after the natural filter — is silvertone. I’m lowkey obsessed. On my Mac, I can fiddle around with the images, but find I tend to use the cameo feature the most.
For the most part, though, I leave the images alone.
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When we lived at Four Gables, I was forced to be creative because we didn’t have a lot of money to spend on frivolities. I mean, I enjoyed the forced creativity, and have even kept a lot of the artwork I produced during this time. (Most of it is stored away because it’s not my aesthetic any more — I can’t quite bring myself to bung it in the garbage!)
However, I do still have a lot of my daughter’s artwork on display throughout our house, because her stuff is actually pretty good, whereas mine was only ever mediocre at best. I will always be super-duper proud of the Top Banana for winning writing awards and art prizes from her school district!
To this day, I have all of her pinch-pots and ceramics on display, as well as a few of my favourites of her artwork. I particularly love the two self-portraits she did at school, inspired by Modigliani.
The pig cup is also one of her pieces, which I use for one of my feather arrangements.
The black and white portrait is something I quickly knocked out to fill a space on the wall of our old farmhouse — I ended up liking it, and have kept it ever since!
The Taurus charger is by Christian Lacroix for the Portuguese ceramic company, Vista Allegre
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The rest of the artwork you see hanging on the walls of my house is stuff I have purchased, not made: it is predominantly non-professional original art, although there are a few decent pieces smattered around. I don’t have any conventional prints hanging on the wall, preferring to stick with unique pieces, instead.
When traveling, I always buy the pictorial city guides and travel guidebooks about the region, along with handbooks and collection catalogues for whichever museum/s we are visiting on any given day.
And of course, I am constantly on the lookout for locally sourced souvenirs to decorate my home. Preferably handmade or handpainted items, and preferably in black!
whilst driving through Washington State with Mr M.
It hangs with drawings and paintings from, respectively:
Paris, Amsterdam, El Salvador, Florence, Mexico.
The bison figurine is from a reservation in South Dakota; vase is Tiffany & Co.
I seldom spend more than €10 on original pieces of artwork, although usually end up spending more on getting them matted and framed, when I get home!
I find that my eye is drawn to either black and white or neutral pieces, but then again, I am often drawn to things which are bursting with colour, as well! There seems to be no in between!
One thing is certain: I find so much of it to be supremely charming, and I absolutely appreciate it all.
Next week, I shall be publishing an article about how I like to curate my displays showcasing my collections, as well as how I create my gallery walls.
Today’s blog highlights some of the monochromatic pieces I have collected; next week, I will be sharing some of the more colourful pieces I have on display at my house.
Art, in all of its forms — including my own juvenile attempts! — is loved and welcome in my home.
Lots of love,
M xo
The vintage silhouette is of my father-in-law; the silhouettes at top are ones I did of my step-daughters, as a gift to my husband one year.
The black ceramic sardine is from a trip we took to Portugal, a few years ago.
The English Maximalista 
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