Instant Relatives

These photos could have been so much better with natural light, but I took them in the afternoon when things get (agh!) dark early on.  I obviously need to bone up on how to take good photos using a flash.  Oh well, baby steps.

It's my preference to have original artwork around the house, rather than reproductions.  Most of the paintings we have are original, most of them are old,  and most of them (actually all) are by little-known, or unknown artists.  (And most of them were a real bargoon).

 

I do like modern art as well, but this old place tells you what it likes and wants.  No, really, it's true.  I once tried to paint the front hallway a pale yellow, and you should have seen it!  It looked all confused and unhappy.  It cringed.  After I painted it a non-descript greyish-putty colour, it took a deep breath and smiled.  It's all about keeping the house content.

So anyway, meet my instant relatives!  Instant relatives are people whose portraits were painted once upon a time, then one hundred years or so later, these same paintings ended up hanging in some out of the way antique store, or leaning against the floor in a corner of the flea market.  When you purchase one of these portraits and drag it home,  you get the dubious honour of pretending that these are your relatives, and you also get to name them.  Really. This is Georgie.  He lives in the dining room.  He seems a little  vain and self-centred.   I don't think I would have liked Georgie too much, had I met him in person.  The (somewhat) formal dining room seems like the perfect place for him.

This next painting is of my fake uncle Nestor.  He's actually my favourite.  He seems like he was a nice and jolly person, and he has kind eyes.  He gets to live in the hallway, where we can see him every day.

Isn't there something kind of gentle about him?

This last fake relative hasn't been named yet.  I'm not so sure what to think of her.

This painting is actually signed, and the artist was Irish (I looked it up).  I wonder what her story was (someone's wife? A widow? A spinster? )  What do you think?  How about a name?  I keep thinking something starting with 'A'...Arabella?  Aurelia?

Help me out here, folks, it's just not right to leave one's fake, instant relatives unnamed!