Stories Collected While Living in France
At the brocante one must dare to open-unroll-and untie things, and get dirty.
(Some how that above sentence insinuates something other than chinign (antiquing) at the brocante… or maybe the brocante is just plain sexy?)
The other day at the brocante I found a long narrow painting on canvas which was rolled up and tied with a string. Of course, I dared to untie it, unroll it, and much to my surprise found a painting a mile long.
What was your latest discovery?
Hello Mrs Mile-high,
Very nice find ! Was it part of a multi-parts painting ? Hope you are not too flooded , my friend who lives in the same village as you has all the lower part of her house in water !
Hi M
Mile high, lol.
The painting was most likely a panel in a room, so yes you are probably right about multi parts, season theme?
We have links in Chelsea’s room, the bathroom… utter downpour for nearly two days straight. Drenched. We were lucky compared to many.
C
Was there any kind of a name on it, any hint of year, etc. It is very interesting and appreciate the video to see it.
How interesting! Perhaps it was cut off from a large painting?
As for my recent discovery, it was of a different kind, but also to do with wrapped packages. A lot of my furniture and stuff is still in storage after the move from Canada to Poland in February. Recently, I painted my daughter’s room (after a grown up daughter of my partner’s moved out) and we brought some of her things home. One of the packages was signed “filing cabinet” (goes under the desk), but when we unwrapped it, it was a night stand. The movers mixed up the pieces as they were of similar size. They must have marked them once they were wrapped and marked the night stand as the filing cabinet and vice versa. Luckily, we have easy access to the warehouse so the exchange was relatively easy.
What a lovely painting, love the way you demonstrated the size! Must post a link to you on my Facebook page.
Jan
My discoveries tend to be Portuguese writings — whether in books or online — that inspire me to want to translate them into English. Just found an essay online last week about Peter Café Sport in Horta, Faial, and a poem this weekend about my great-grandfather’s native island of São Jorge!
Is the painting a water color? Lovely piece from a larger sectional painting, I imagine.
Good to hear you were spared from any water damage from the heavy rains in your area. I would think there are no gutters like we have here for the run-off of the water in the streets so it just builds and flows into homes and shops at street level.
Most recent discovery….a fabulous French sewing basket with lid. Love it!!
I find it strange that it was painted on both sides…. or did the paint soak through the canvas so that is can be seen on both sides?
I can only imagine a women stripping that particular piece of the wall canvas, to keep as a souvenir of a place she lived once…maybe a “lover’s nest,” or a reminder of happy times.
It is lovely.
It’s lovely!
Did you buy it?
What a fun find!
My most recent find was high quality oil pastels. I’d been playing around with a set the kids used and thought it was pretty lame and that good ones would be awesome. Threw on some clothes and drove across town to the art supply shop and purchased some of the “real deal”. OMG, they are like buttery crayons and the colors are so rich…….a really great discovery………..
Amazing! Now you need to find a frame that size…
I bought a new bathroom rug (white, black and grey swirls to go with the white-tiled floor), which means I had to re-accent my bathroom, which meant a lot of digging around in my closets. I found a pair of little lamps with milk glass bases and silver accents and little crystal dangles. The cords were ancient, so I cut them off and will stick candles in the light bulb holders.
Amazing what you can find, right at home, if you dig deep enough…
It is quite lovely!
I was thinking handpainted wallpaper or a piece of a canvas wall mural. You might be right about whatever it is being sectional and/or seasonal. If you bought it, are you going to hang it and frame it with molding?
Very nice no matter, what a fun surprise! I always say the fun of “brocanting” (“junking”, antiquing…) is never knowing WHAT you MIGHT find! Happy hunting!
incredible paper! my latest find is not a brocante,but it did please me greatly. a few months ago i purchased an ebook from craig’s list and paid $30 for a well equiped one. things just seemed to fall into place and it was mean’t to be. have used it quite a bit already and anytime i think of it, i tingle all over. Bestest,Denise
So, ol’ Mardog and Franca are wondering what Coco’s going to be doing around Dec 03 -06.
Wow Corey! I didn’t realize how large it was until you flipped it and your hand gave a clue as to the scale. Could it have been from a room screen so that both sides would be viewed? I hope things dry up quickly for you. My latest find was some frozen Charlottes and some lovely embroidered linens. Wishing you a beautiful (and dry) week.
what an utter beauty! I guess it was from a very tall room – friends of mine have a similar ‘scroll’ at their wall, also painted double-sided and they turn it around as per decoration at the time. very beautiful – and you’re SO much taller than I thought…. 🙂
ARE YOU COMING??? A gigantic brocante is on the 4th!!!
Hi Cheryl,
France has gutters. Good ones at that. Though with the rainfall we had (a year’s worth in a day.) the tiled roofs (ours in particular) leaked around the skylights. Are roof is in perfection condition, but we think it backed up and sipped in (???)
But gutters were not the issue.
C
That is so cool! A wonderful narrow room “divider” to hang in some tall space, especially since it’s two-sided. With some very cool, unexpected Corey-things to weigh it at the bottom.
PS. Love the strappy shoes: Chelsea’s?
Good. You’ll be around. I don’t know about the dog (Mar) but I’ll hang out at the nearest café tasting the local pastis while you undress paintings. Then you can play show and tell after. Whee!
Lovely painting you share. At an estate sales high on a hill overlooking the SF bay, I stumbled upon bolts of fabric and notions from about the 60’s or 70’s, including silk, taffets, velevet and a rainbow of ric-rac.
I am in! I’ll take a train possibly on Friday night from Avignon.
!!!!!!
As I opened a folder of paper to engrave last week, I found my daughter’s artwork inside. I dared not print on the back of her drawings.
The painting was most likely a panel in a room, so yes you are probably right about multi parts, season theme?
We have links in Chelsea’s room, the bathroom… utter downpour for nearly two days straight. Drenched. We were lucky compared to many.
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