today's inspiration...

My inspiration today comes from one of my favorite old black and white photos

I found one day while digging through my grandma's things.

Are you looking for inspriation today?

Because if you are, looking through old pictures might just give you your fix!

The identity of the two boys on the horse (or is it a pony?) is unknown,

but I can't get over how much I love this picture anyways. 

I love the chaps, the bandana, and the crooked cowboy hat! 

And I bet that horse feels fancy with that studded bridle and breastplate!

I also found some amazing photos of riders on buggies carted by horses.

I'll post those soon...and trust me, you'll love 'em!

But in the mean time, here's a few of the best

"horse and buggy photos" from the web...

I'm heading to the studio this evening and am pondering my upcoming

giveaway for the month of June.  Perhaps you will see a painting of a

horse and buggy!  (or maybe a giraffe pulling a buggy?

what about a boy horse trainer?) 

I'm so excited!

So come back soon and see me and maybe this time YOU will be the winner!

(Who doesn't love freebies??)

Riding bikes...

Here's some more of these old pictures I mentioned a little while back.  I love them!

And ooohhhh how I love these old bikes!

 

 My grandma!  What a stylin lady...

The writing on the back of this picture says "Nancy Porter, neighbor & playmate of Anita Carol Bicknell" (who I believe was my grandma's little sister).

I love this tricycle with the huge front wheel.  How adorable. 

That bike would make such a cute drawing.

Riding sidesaddle...how does that work?

Black and white stories...

After my grandma passed away last year, my mom and I were faced with the (somewhat daunting) task of cleaning out her apartment.  You never know what you'll run across when your going through my grandma's stuff.  Some of my favorite finds (besides her extravagant jewelry collection and old coins and spoons) were her collection of old photos. 

Hundreds of them.  Boxes and boxes of them. 

  So I took some of my favorites and keep them in my studio for inspiration.  I absolutely love them.  Some of them have her handwriting on the cracking yellowy backside.  Whether or not they have any writing is mostly irrelevant because they're so old that neither my mom or I could even identify the people in them.

Before my grandma died (while she was still in the nursing home), I took a small collection of my favorites into her room one evening and asked her if she recognized them.  Some people she was able to identify (she still had a pretty sharp mind), but some were just simply too old.  

When she passed it was heart breaking for me.  She was the last one in our family who knew anything about the stories in these photos.  With her died an an entire generation of stories and memories. 

Nowadays we snap pictures left and right with our high tech digital cameras and hardly give it any thought.  Pictures today don't hold as much meaning, and they certainly don't tell as powerful of stories as these old ones do. 

And that is what I love most about them. 

No pretention.  No make-up.  No cheesy smiles.

Just honesty and truth.

Reality.

And stories.