Feed Your Soul: the free art project

I enjoy beauty. Beautiful sunrises, beautiful flowers, beautiful smiles, beautiful feelings, beautiful things. Certainly, as much as I appreciate "form," I am married a "function" person.

Hmmm, I don't know if I can really say that any more. Truly, Mark used to be a pure function sort of man. But working as a project manager over the last several years - where finishing touches are a big deal - he has metamorphosed into a form-and-function connoisseur. When someone else is financing it, I mean. It has been hard for me to come to terms with the cost of loveliness, particularly because it usually comes with a premium price tag (read: not in my budget).

My mother is a connoisseur of form and function, emphasis on the form. I think the only secular magazine subscription she had in her life was Victoria Magazine, which she perused thoroughly, scouring each issue for ideas she could duplicate to beautify her own home. She certainly has The Knack. I certainly do not.

I think that growing up in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sort of skewed me, even spoiled me. Everything the Church does is lovely. Each meeting house, every visitors center, and of course, the temples are beautiful. They are landscaped and cared for and adorned with form AND function. Until much later in life, I simply enjoyed it (and noticed it when it was missing), having no concept of the cost or upkeep.

Now, I know. And I notice. A lot. Again, I can thank Mark for my expanded perspective. I've learned a great deal from our everyday conversations. It's amazing what a little knowledge will do for you on a given topic. Crown molding, for instance: the cost per board feet for the various styles, how many pieces are necessary to achieve a given look, the names of the tools that make the cuts so the pieces fit together so flawlessly, the hourly wage of the carpenters who do it for hire and do a good job.

The pursuit of beauty with which to adorn my home that is

• a) virtuous
• b) lovely
• c) of good report
• e) praiseworthy and
• g) in my budget
  

is a consuming challenge. Contrary to the opinions of the tasteful folks at Pottery Barn, I will not mortgage my children to decorate and furnish their rooms. Suffice it to say that my house is bedecked in Early American Yard Sale, Neo-Classical After Season Clearance and Post-Modern Hand-Me-Down.

To that end, I am truly indebted to Sarah Beth taking a minute out of the whimsical amazingness that is her quilt shop, The Missouri Star Quilt Company, and posting this:


All of these lovely pieces of art are from Feed Your Soul, which is the free art brain child of Jen Wallace, who's blog, Indie Fixx is a veritable smorgasbord of independent artisans and their lovely creations. I adore it. I can't afford it. So I am most grateful for her project which is, in her words, "to help art lovers feed their souls with art in these recessionary times." Go to Feed Your Soul, find what, uhm, feeds your soul. Download it (pdf format). Love it. Beautify your home.

Thank you, Jen Wallace. Thank you.