I have successfully marked off #24 on my list of the 25 things I hope to accomplish by my 25th birthday. After 8 years, and 5 moves, I have finally gotten the watercolor (actually kind of mixed media) paintings that I bought from a street painter in Paris matted and framed.





These paintings have been rolled up and carried around by me for years. They moved to Mobile with me when I left home for college, they moved around in Mobile for a while before heading back to Florence, and then they found their way here to the NC mountains. How they didn't get destroyed is beyond me.

Getting these matted and framed is something I've wanted to do since day one. However, getting paintings professionally matted and framed is not cheap. I paid more for the matting and framing than I did for the paintings, times about 3. Which makes me almost want to mark off #22) Support of local artist with the purchase of a large and fabulous piece, as I did get these done by a local frame shop. The guy at Ashe Custom Framing and Gallery did a fantastic job, but I'm going to hold off on marking off #22 with some other fabulous purchase.



These paintings are gorgeous. We saw this man at his post in the Tuilerie Gardens while in Paris the summer of '02. He had piles of paintings and was cranking them out one after another. He was working on one of Place de la Concorde when we walked by, and it was stunning. Several of us in our group purchased a painting from him. I got two.

The second one I purchased he actually signed especially for me. "Pour Emily" See.



I'm so glad I finally got these done. I am not one to be attached to material things. During this last move I thought my mother was going to have a heart attack over some of the things I threw out (and I'm sure she "salvaged" a lot of it) but these two paintings have been with me all this time because I'm insanely fond of them, and, dare I say, attached.

Now I just have to figure out where I want to put them. Living room, office, or bedroom? Decisions, decisions.