Sunday, October 24, 2010

a vintage lite brite light moves from esther's sun porch to my downstairs bathroom


a vintage lite brite light
Originally uploaded by lakbdesign/fergusandme

for weeks and weeks, our downstairs bathroom has been making me crazy every time i'm in it -- besides the fact that it always seems in need of a good scrub, or at least a lick and a promise, -- i had come to hate the chandelier (plain drippy crystal, you get the drift) quite passionately. and, bored, bored, bored, i had also removed all art in a fit of bored annoyance.. . . . result: even more boredom and annoyance.
SO . . . . -- what to do? -- well . . . today, i decided to go with the jeu de paume, seriously silly approach. my darling husband rewired this pendant for me -- i adore it, and i think it may even be unique; i call it the lite brite (you know, "lite brite, makin' things with li--ii--ii-ght") light. caroline and i found it a few weeks ago at an estate sale, and it's been sitting around ever since, waiting for a new home. have you ever been to an estate sale where you really get a sense of the person, even maybe relate to her? that's what happened here. esther fishel was a charlotte artist and department store art director who died last year at age 92. she's not well known, but her work is lovely -- c. and i scooped up piles of her fashion advertising drawings (so Mad Men!) and a few of her oils . . . she was obviously making and creating well into her eighties. i love that she made this pendant from a plastic plant pot and those little translucent beads that little ones make necklaces from . . . at any rate, i'm glad that this piece has moved from esther's sun porch to my family's downstairs bath. i like to think that esther would approve, especially as when teddy saw it (and he'd completely ignored it for weeks when it was sitting cold and dark and quiet on the work room floor) he pronounced it "MAGIC" -- thank you esther, and thank you all for reading :)

x lynn-anne

oh, and ps -- those pretty yellow birds and flower pieces are naturalcuriosities.com's spectacular renditions of paule marot's work -- . . . more to come on her . . . she's amazing and suddenly, everywhere.

2 comments:

  1. what a great fun find. and i will also remove everything in a moment of bored annoyance. yeah, doesn't always help but....the open space allows for more good stuff to show up;)

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  2. thanks, deborah . . . i'm so glad other people don't think i'm mad for loving this, and for the fit of boredom thing: glad i'm not the only one!! i bought this for $5 at the estate sale -- my 12 year old daughter and i were chuckling with delight, and all the other people in line were looking at us with barely disguised incredulity . . . . spoilsports.

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