Wednesday, July 16, 2008

case of the missing art

Brooklyn Limestone posted this empty frame - part of her "trash to treasure" collection.She found them while on her hunt for her sofa.  They were literally in the trash.  What a steal. 
She posted them on her blog looking to readers for help, the frames were missing something. Help being in the form of ideas left as comments.
Funny, when someone asks for ideas I can pull them out of a hat.  I happened to find these great photos in a European Magazine at the Paris Apartment from the 1990's - which I was delighted and thought they would be just the thing for Madame Limestone.  Borrowed ideas, not stolen.
A perfect solution for the case of the frame missing the art.  What thinks thee?

image of heirloom family photos, from a vintage French decor magazine

These items of a personal collection suddenly become transformed into one private place of honor. Perhaps a scrap of wallpaper serves as the perfect back drop to off set a collection.  Don't you just love the mix of frames within frames.  I could see some of those fabulous old keys displayed in frames that Madame Limestone found during the renovation.
These remind me of my teenage "shadow box phase" as I made them for gifts.  
My Mother still has one 
that I made and I look at it in awe of the patience that it must have taken. (all done pre-children of course)

image from a vintage French decor magazine

Elegance is in bringing a collection to one particular spot.  Mixing minimal with baroque or family heirlooms all provide for a unique private collection.  What would your private collection be?  Do tell.  This gives me impetus to hang my illustrations in one giant frame.  I know my framer, Elegant Poster will love this idea too.  "Cha-ching" as my daughter likes to say, unless of course, I can find some frames in the trash.

19 comments:

Tara said...

Patricia

What a great idea--alone they have not impact, together in that frame--HUGE!

CC said...

I've got several family pictures that I now want in a collection like this. Thanks Patricia...this is lovely.

London Calling said...

Great idea. Especially liking the bottom picture composition.

ArchitectDesign™ said...

I like the idea of using wallpaper as a backdrop to ground them within the frame. I love 'found' treasures like this! Lucky her! I have many memories in childhood with my parents taking walks through neighborhoods on 'trash' day and being mortified by my dad pulling out 'treasures'. Now....I gladly do it myself!

littlebyrd said...

I love that last picture - such a fabulous idea!

C+SK said...

I think this is a fabulous idea Patricia! Large beautiful frames are a work of art in themselves but having them other smaller pieces is fantastic!

Mrs. Limestone said...

I absolutely love this idea. Thanks so much for thinking of me.
But they definitely need some beautiful small frames like the ones you have pictured. Any idea where I could find such beauties?

Living the life in The Little City said...

That's brilliant. I even liked the frame empty. Either way is very interesting.

pve design said...

mrs. limestone-
knew you would like them!
for small frames - what about the trash or 2nd hand shopping for frames-
vintage and on-line.
pve

Kwana said...

Wonderful idea. I love the mix o vintage frames. Just beautiful.

annechovie said...

Hanging all your work in one frame would be a very stylish statement, Patricia!

N said...

I am definitely stealing the "framed frames" idea! I love it!

Janet said...

Great idea. So much more appealing/creative than the standard department store collage frames.

Mrs.French said...

Oh wow! I am loving this idea so much, thank you!

Mrs. Limestone said...

I rarely see nice frames like this in antique stores - I think they go really fast and don't tend to stick around til worker bees like me make it on the weekend.

Maybe ebay will have some but if you know of any sources, let me know.

thanks again for the inspiration!

Elizabeth said...

Oh, that is SUCH a clever idea!

Mary-Laure said...

These are all so fun, I need to do the same thing at home.

Robin said...

Sucha a clever idea. I have an old framed poster in the closet. The poster faded, I bought it at a tag sale for a song, purely for the frame but never put anything in it. Now I know what to do with it!

simply seleta said...

Oh this is good. I've been stockpiling all of my old gold frames, hoping to paint them a funky color or just off white and do a series across a big wall. I must first produce a large wall (hmm).

Fabulous post!