Park Bench Art

It strikes me in the face - my senses are always on high alert - which can be both good and bad. I literally see everything and am a very visual person - it helped me tremendously in my real work and my art. But sometimes it can be very annoying because I notice every little think in my surroundings and can tell if an object was moved one inch from where it once was. My sense of smell and hearing are just as bad - or good - depending on what it is! Put them all together and it’s sensory overload. So this morning when we were walking through the park, the benches took on a whole different look. It’s been raining, damp, and miserable over the last few days. But the affect the change in the weather had on the wood of the benches in the park was so beautiful. As we are looking for some new art work to display on our living/tv room wall, these images would be a great grouping - but the colors aren’t right. The hues and tones would have matched our old color scheme, but now it’s all sea foam, greens and blues. I am thinking of painting something and have an idea in mind. There are just so many options to consider. What’s nice is that just about anything can be turned in to wall art these days. Just upload the photos or the digital images to a website and voila - a masterpiece. 

The Folger Park Bench Where It All Started

Today kept us in the neighborhood on our morning walk instead of the usual path along the concrete jungle and the National Mall. We went past the Library of Congress, Supreme Court, Senate Office Buildings, Union Station, toward H Street, up and down several side streets to Eighth Street, and back over to North Carolina Avenue. We tried to stay under as many shady trees as we could. When we reached Folger Park, we looked for the bench we sat on about thirteen years ago. We lived in the Midwest back then and were visiting our son, daughter in law, and grandson on a visit to Washington. We always stayed at the Capitol Hill Hotel on our numerous visits to DC. The Capitol Hill vibe was now calling out to us. It was a Sunday afternoon and we started looking at available housing in the Sunday paper (yes, a paper) in this neighborhood, thinking we may want to move here. That began the search for not only a place to live, but also a job search for me that ended in a ten year career at the Library of Congress. So whenever we pass through Folger Park we think about that bench. It changed our lives in so many ways. If you had asked me even fourteen years ago where we thought we would be? I couldn’t have guessed this outcome. 

House and Garden Ornaments on Capitol Hill

The window dressing was more than interesting. On a lazy summer evening walk in the neighborhood we came upon an unusual sight - mannequins tucked tightly inside a window. That gave me the idea to scrutinize what else could be found on the homes and in the gardens around us. We always put in the mediocre birdbath and some garden statuary. In Milwaukee, my husband loved his cowboy taking a bath in the gurgling birdbath on the patio and to this day is sad we left it behind. But here, statements are made with an interesting collection of front yard displays. The colorful lizards climb a brick wall; an Asian theme and home decorate a sloped garden; a huge bird totem pole of sorts takes up a lot of space filled with more stuff. Animals are well represented - the whimsical colorful cats sitting on a windowsill; the rabbit with the shovel looking for carrots? How about that cat sitting atop a man made platform way above us looking down from the second floor? Then there is a pig sitting in the window well. The vacancy sign is down on the delightful birdhouse that looks exactly like the owner's manor house. A gargoyle sits on the windowsill sending off emails on his laptop. Of course there are gnomes supporting the Washington Nationals. "On this site in 1897 - nothing happened" sign captured our attention on a bench sitting in front of another residence. Lastly, some sort of huge white dog sitting on a chair in a picture window caught two little kids attention. There are pink flamingos somewhere around here too. If you look hard enough you can alway find something interesting to see...but most of the time it's right in your face - you just need to take the time to notice. These folks put a lot of effort in it for you to do just that.