The Tea Room

Decor-a-Tea: Still Life

Most subjects in paintings are categorized as portrait, landscape, interior, or still life.  Imagine again selecting a tea themed painting to enhance a specific space in your home.  This time that space is a corner of your home that is just for you.  Solitude, whether stolen or planned, restores the spirit.  You want to create a mood that is perfect for relaxing.  What time of day would you mostly likely be in this special place?  What would you do there?  Is the seating in this corner wooden or upholstered?  Is it bathed in natural sunlight or aglow courtesy of a favorite lamp?   

Below are four still life paintings depicting tea for one.  Each conjures a feeling of refined charm.  While the first two are very similar (blue and white china, Battenburg lace, and floral arrangement), consider the differences in the wallpaper patterns, the hues of blue, and the color of the wood tones.  The painting on the left appears to be more casual, perhaps for a cottage setting, while the painting on the right has a more formal, traditional feel.  Even the lighting suggests different times of the day.  Similarly, the second set of two paintings suggest several differences: old world versus modern, Victorian versus cottage. 

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If I were to pick one, I would choose either of the paintings with lace.  Blue is my favorite color and, coupled with yellow, it makes for a very cheerful setting.  While I like the harlequin pattern on the wallpaper in the first painting, all furniture in my home is dark, so the formality in the second painting is probably a more suitable match.  Which one of these four prints would you choose for your very own space and why?

I'll have at least two more posts on tea-themed paintings.  Then, later this week, I will post a few photographs of teapots used as decor in my home. 

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Credits: "Tea and Lace I" and "Tea and Lace II" by Anne Brown.  "Afternoon Tea" by Van Martin.  "Teapot and Iris" by T. Chiu.  All images are from art.com.    

Decor-a-Tea

It's Week #3 of LaTeaDah's Gracious Hospital-i-Tea Blog-a-Thon.  The theme this week is called Decor-a-Tea and we are invited to "share ideas and pictures that incorporate tea and/or tea themes into home decor."  This topic is especially fun because I love interior decorating! 

March 30 - April 5
Decor-a-Tea

During my second year in college, I considered Art History as a major.  I loved studying the works of the great masters, and especially enjoyed following the evolution of painting.  I decided then that Impressionism is my favorite genre and that Claude Monet (1840 - 1926) is my favorite painter. 

I own two framed Monet prints; one is in my home and one is in my office.  Both are the Japanese foot-bridge at Giverny (1899), complete with weeping willows and signature water lilies.  It wasn't until after I chose Monet as my favorite that I learned he and I share the same birthday, November 14th.  The image to the left is "The Tea Set" painted by Monet in 1872.

Often times it is a piece of art that is the focal point for interior decorating for it can inspire and direct the colors, textures, and accessories that are subsequently chosen to include in the room.  In considering a tea theme in home decorating, I have found several paintings which I will share throughout the week.  Consider how each might set the mood in a room in your home. 

We'll begin with two selections that might be considered for a child's room.  The similarity between the two paintings is that the figures in each scene are sharing tea.  In addition, they are equal in charm and whimsy.  However, the difference in how each piece would dictate design choices in the room, i.e., colors, textures, accessories, and even era, are significant.  Which one would you choose?!    

Credits: "Teddy Bear Tea Party" by Stewart Sherwood.  "Fairy Tea Party" by Linda Wingerter.  Images are from art.com.

 

Teacup-a-Story

Catching up on Week #1 (March 16 - March 22) for Gracious Hospital-i-Tea's Blog-a-Thon, LaTeaDah has invited us to "share a picture of [our] favorite teacup and saucer; describe it and tell its history." I have two teacups and a story with each. 

The photograph on the left is one of my favorite teacups.  I love the floral design as well as the colors in this particular pattern made by Aynsley.  I have several pieces in this pattern; what distinguishes this set from others is that, in addition to the traditional teapot, creamer, and sugar bowl, I also have the matching sandwich tray.  For several years, I had a few pieces of this bone china arranged in a little vignette: a charming invitation to partake in tea-for-two.

The photograph on the right is another one of my favorite teacups.  This one has a lot of sentimentality attached to it.  I am over half Irish, my mother's parents were born in Ireland.  When I was a teenager, my mother made a few trips to "the old country" with my grandparents and, on my birthdays and Christmases that followed, gifts included one or two special pieces from Ireland chosen just for me.  This teacup is part of a tea set: Royal Tara, made in Galway.  I love the airy shamrock pattern and I love the scallops along the edges.  A very delicate pattern from the Emerald Isle.

More Litera-Tea

It's so much fun to find these treasures!  Here are a few more quotes from literature:

"Under certain circumstances there are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea." ~Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady

"It has never occurred to Mr. Winterbourne to offer me any tea," she said, with her little tormenting manner." "I have offered you advice," Winterbourne rejoined. "I prefer weak tea!" ~ Henry James, Daisy Miller

"Come, let us have some tea and continue to talk about happy things." ~ Chaim Potok, The Chosen

"Polly put the kettle on, we'll all have tea." ~ Charles Dickens, Barnaby Rudge

Tea Time Calendar

Each year I order a couple calendars designed by Ling Chang.  A new and colorful hand-painted arrangement of flowers celebrates each month.  The calendars are available in two different sizes and Ms. Chang offers on her website other equally delightful items such as clocks and cards.  Her work is both stunning and cheerful.

Even though it's nearly the end of March, I couldn't resist ordering just now another calendar through Tea Time.  The theme for this calendar is, of course, tea!  Is it ever too late to get a new calendar, especially one that is as beautiful and cheerful as this one?   

More Litera-Tea

What a wonderful network of talent this tea blogathon is drawing.  I have so enjoyed reading what others have included in their blogs.  Here's another contribution.

"Then Mrs. Tiggy-winkle made tea—a cup for herself and a cup for Lucie. They sat before the fire on a bench and looked sideways at one another. Mrs. Tiggy-winkle's hand, holding the tea-cup, was very very brown, and very very wrinkly with the soap-suds; and all through her gown and her cap, there were hair-pins sticking wrong end out; so that Lucie didn't like to sit too near her." ~Beatrix Potter, The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle

Lovely Victoria, Another Journey with Bliss

The March / April edition of Victoria arrived yesterday and I can't wait to pour over its pages.  It was my favorite magazine for nearly a decade and I kept all volumes I ever received.  I was so disappointed when publication stopped a few years ago.  When I moved in 2006, I hesitantly tossed my entire collection knowing I might regret it some day.   

I was delighted to receive last year a postcard from the publishers announcing its return and inviting me to subscribe again.  Happily, thank you! 

Lovely Victoria.  Another wonderful way to greet the new season.

A Tea Blog-a-Thon

How fun.  I just found a blog-a-thon about tea hosted by LaTeaDah at Gracious Hospitality.  It's Week #2 of the blogathon.  I'll plan to catch up with Week #1 in the next couple of days.

March 23 - March 29
Litera-Tea

“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me”  ~ C.S. Lewis (British Scholar and Novelist. 1898 - 1963).

Thank you, Miss Potter

As my sister and I were running errands Saturday afternoon, it suddenly began to hail causing us to dash from shelter to shelter with great giddiness.  Inspired to snuggle on the couch the rest of the evening with a good movie and a warm fire, I rented "Miss Potter."  Renee Zellweger stars in the title role as author and illustrator Beatrix Potter; Ewan McGregor plays her love interest.  Although the hail storm was short-lived, I was so enchanted with this movie that I watched it again today. 

What luck to have been drawn to this charming true story right before Easter.  From now on, Miss Potter and her friends will be included in all my spring holiday traditions.

Tiny Pink Petals

The delicate flowers on cherry blossom trees have nearly all fallen from their branches.  Last week, tiny pink petals were everywhere on the street where I live.  They were clustered for what seemed to be miles all along the sidewalks and gutters, and sprinkled across the walkway to my front door.  Spring's snow.  The petals are slowly disappearing from the ground now as tree branches sprout dark leaves that will lighten to hues of green as the season unfolds.

I am so attuned to the seasons.  I love watching how each begins, peaks, and ends.  And I love realizing once again that each has a special meaning.  Spring brings such hope.  It's a time for new beginnings.  How lovely.  How lucky.