New from Old

 In my regular thrift shops jaunts I am always hoping I might find a lovely piece of artwork and it is not often that anything on the walls catches my eye. Recently however I spotted this little watercolour painting in a new thrift shop I had found. Being of a cottage was what caught my eye and even better it had written on the back where the cottage was - in a little town in NZ.

It was poorly framed in a tired and damaged frame and was the princely sum of $5.00 so I snapped it up. The mount it had around it looked suspiciously like masking tape but I was delighted when I pulled it apart and found it was just a thin piece of textured paper that fell away from the painting.

I wanted to spruce this picture up for not much money so I bought another tatty framed piece for $3.00 and pulled it apart. I sanded and varnished the new wooden frame so that it looked like new again - not a big job but one that made a big difference.

Next I went to a local framer and had a new mount and backing board cut in acid free materials for $17.00. I elected to put this all together at home as I have a roll of the tape for the back of pictures. It was satisfying putting this little picture in its new home and seeing how it looked.

So for the sum total of $25.00 I have a newly framed original and signed piece of artwork of a cute little cottage from a small town in NZ. I am quite delighted with it and I hope I have done justice to the woman who painted it. The question is now where shall I hang it? I have an idea but this has yet to come to fruition...