COLLECTIONS: BIRDS!

A print found at Randolph Street Market in Paper Patty’s booth. (My photo)

Audubon book found in the NOV booth at Randolph Street Market open to two pages.  (My photo)

I don’t know about you but I am so ready for Spring, although it hasn’t been the worse Winter I have gone though. Yesterday I actually saw a “haze” on some trees which indicated, to me, a glimpse of the future, buds!  And Daylight Savings Time begins this weekend…another harbinger of Spring!!!  Living in an major urban environment I don’t see many bird varieties, mostly dear little sparrows, pigeons, of course, and, at the moment, four huge crows or are they blackbirds or ravens, sorry I’m not an ornithologist, whatever they are they are gorgeous but extrembly vocal!

A beautiful sleek American Robin, I do see them occasionally. Image from Pinterest credit unknown.A basket of Robin’s eggs photo found on Pinterest credit unknown.

A charming watercolor (one of two) of an English Robin given to me by a dear English friend who is no longer with us….I have it close to where I can constantly see it to remind me of her and our weekly Sunday chats!  I found the hand carved destressed white wood frame at RSM and feel it compliments it perfectly.  I love the difference between our Robins…ours sleek and their British cousins, short and stout!!!!  I love both.  (My photo)

More nests, 1870’s English prints, from Paper Patty’s extensive collection you can find her on the Balcony of Plumbers Hall at the next RSM on March 24 and 25  (Also my photos).

1860’s Italian lithographs from Paper Patty’s vast collections of birds and many, many other images  (My photos).

One of my vignettes, I try to group like items together, here you see several variations on the bird theme, a book of poems given to me by another dear friend, two already framed pictures…the larger a lithograph print with metal frame, the small round carved wooden Italian frame surrounding a delightful miniature watercolor of a bird’s nest.  The concrete bird is the lone element left from my Evanston garden (and Mom’s over two hundred English roses plus other cutting flowers!) part of the birdbath shell with a cherub (which now reside in a friend’s country estate).  I used one of my iPhone filters to distress the image, I think makes it a bit moody!

Speaking of pigeons, and these most certainly are not the ones on the streets of Chicago…….here are two amazing lithographs from a new friend I follow on Instagram who has kindly let me share these with you.  You can follow at cpgoodrich  on Instagram  I think what I like most about Social Media is how you can make new friends virtually.  Everyone I have contacted to share images and more with me for nenasnotes, has been so willing to do so.  It, to my minds eye, makes my posts a bit more personal, hope you agree. More from Cary, this time glorious hummingbirds.

Silver plated Woodcock mounted on a wooden disk.

A vintage needlepoint piece.

Charming wooden bird and it’s little house (I’ll do a post on birdhouses in the future.)

The above 4 images are of items at Council Oak Antiques in South Bend, Indiana. Pat is always so generous in accommodating my wacky requests. Again, we are Instagram ”friends” you can find her posts at patricia_mcmahan_smith and I am so excited to finally meet her in person this weekend.  I’ve been to the store and the selections are beyond fabulous. I’ll be like a kid in a candy store.  I can’t begin to imagine what material I will find for upcoming posts!

A couple of books….there are hundreds, that I found appealing…

Of course, I couldn’t do a post without a bit of fashion…how about a vintage 1960’s Yves Saint Laurent Haute Couture…what makes this even more special to me is when I visited the Lasage Atelier in Paris I held the sample for the embroidery, an incredible experience.