Wednesday, May 29, 2019

three happy things


First thing:



This little postcard-size oil painting arrived from Scotland today.
The artist is a Canadian landscape painter, Roberta Murray.
My snap does not do it justice - it is a gem!

It was one of the donated postcards in the Twitter Art Exhibit 2019, which each year moves to a different location around the world, holds a gallery show followed by online sales, and each year donates the proceeds to a different charity. The postcards are all priced at 30 pounds, or 4 for 100 pounds, and this year I decided to treat myself to one by skimming the requisite $48.01 from the grocery budget.

Bonus: a week of innovative eating! I cleaned out the bottom shelf in the cupboard where many interesting things had been hiding, and also indulged a serious fondness for jello, which I had sort of forgotten about. So it was a big win, all the way around.

And I am giddy with delight at this painting!


Second thing:

If you've been following this blog for a while, you may remember one of the (supposedly) perennial plants I bought a few years ago - a rudbeckia with velvety almost-brown petals.



The plant did not survive the winter, unfortunately. I loved it so much I've tried to replace it each year since but have never seen it. Until today! One of the many nurseries that kindly emails hard-to-resist offers on what seems to be an hourly basis alerted me to a major sale on perennial plants today. For some reason, I decided to scroll through all the plants, pages and pages of them, even though many of them were already marked "Sold Out." And there, at the bottom of the last page, the very last plant in the perennial sale, was a plant that looks exactly like that marvelous brown velvet rudbeckia. It had originally been priced at $20, and the sale price was $6, so...I ordered four. I will plant them in different locations to see what conditions they will enjoy most, and I will try to keep at least one alive as a potted plant through the winter. I am so excited about this!

Funny note:
after placing the order I thought sternly, 
"I've got to get a hold of myself.
These self-indulgent weekends could become addictive!"
Then I realized it's Wednesday.


Third thing:



By some kind of miracle, I was able to buy another 30 bales of hay and put them in the roundtop today. It's first cut grass from 2018, and should see me through until first cut 2019 is available.

$245.
Makes the rudbeckia and the painting seem like quite a bargain, doesn't it?

~~~~~

10 comments:

  1. Original art is always a good buy! That's a lovely painting. I like that it came out of your food budget, never the goats' food budget!

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    1. Ha! I'm the only one here who *has* a food budget!

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  2. That's a great idea with the postcard sales, especially for postcard collectors. Great find on the brown rudbeckia. I hope these survive! The cost of hay, though, is getting ridiculous. Still, it gives a wonderful sense of security!

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    1. It's a lovely fundraiser, and people on twitter share photographs of what they've donated and what they've purchased, so the international camaraderie is part of the fun. I really enjoy the artist "community" on twitter. That's what got me sketching and painting with #DrawingAugust a few years(!) ago, and I am so grateful :)

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  3. I love your little painting. So pretty. And yay for finding that flower. Cool! Lots of hay makes for happy goats. :-)

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  4. Bargains for sure! Your soul needs the nourishment as much as the goats need hay.

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  5. Happy for you on all counts (even the innovative eating!). Can't imagine doing an oil painting in such a small format - I really thought it was a lot larger!

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    1. That's why I left my thumb in the picture :)

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  6. Wow, what a post! I'm so sorry about your plant dying but so glad that you found FOUR! You do need to get yourself under control on the weekend (ha ha ha ha!!!).

    Good job on the innovative eating. We had a shelf like that, and I couldn't bring myself to eat the stuff :( Bad me.

    That is a beautiful oil painting. What a find!

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  7. Your style is great,beautiful work!

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