* Chimenea and Bano

Some of yesterday was spent on the highway, the open road, a little teeny road trip.  Windows open, Spanish music on the radio, wind in my hair.  The countryside is lush and green from the rains.  Cactus are in bloom, sheep, burrows, horses and cows graze - there heads invisible in the tall juicy grass.  We headed to Delores Hidalgo on a hunting and gathering trip.  Old rustic wood for my fireplace mantel in the studio and tiles to decorate the fireplace face and bano.

Delores Hidalgo's talavera, the sheer amount of it, the sheer mass of rich colour everywhere you look can boggle my mind in a big hurry.  It's difficult to stay focused. Somehow I managed.

The wood first.  I could literally spend days in this place.  Old wood, old doors, old furniture, old iron, piles of old locks and latches, hinges and door hardward lie in rusted heaps begging me to dig.  I trotted by all of that.  Head held high in the air so I couldn't get too many good glimpses.  I arrived at the old wood.  What to choose, what to choose.  What colour do I like, what shape do I like, what thickness do I like, what width do I like.  Questions and more questions.  After some digging two old beams caught my eye.  Honey brown with a little rust.  Holes where the worms have feasted.  The two together would make an artistic mantel and they could come home with me together.  I'm sure they have been together for hundreds of years.  Like dear old friends, they will form another support of sorts and carry on their lives being appreciated and useful.  We loaded them in the truck.  I patted them and smiled.

Off to the tile shops.  This gets a little more mind boggling.  Colour and pattern abound, everywhere.  All laid out next to each other forming some sort of chaotic collage my brain which I am sometimes unable to untangle.  To look at them one by one is almost impossible.  I left the show table and walked to the boxes.  There the tiles are glued to the outside of the box and piled in stacks.  Sorting things out is a little easier.

Only three tile shops later and I had made a decision.  I chose the same tiles for the fireplace and the bathroom trim.  In a small space, I think mixing things up too much would be a decorating disaster.  Cobalt blue is the order of the day for the studio.  The patterned tile has turquoise, honey yellow and ochre in it.  All earthy colours which can be picked up in the surrounding space.  I'm happy.  The main body of tiles on both the chimenea and the bano will be blanco - a creamy blanco though.   The old beam mantel will give the fireplace an earthy look and ground it nicely (I hope).

Here are the tiles.  Which way do you like the pattern laid? 

 

I'm leaning toward the right one.  Your opinion would be valued.

                                                Is not the colour of the wood absolutely delicious with the cobalt blue?

This piece has a face in it.  I'm hoping to be able to save it for another project.  What do you think?

"There is the happiness which comes from creative effort.  The joy of dreaming, creating, building, whether in painting a picture, writing an epic, singing a song, composing a symphony, devising a new intention, or creating a beautiful fireplace and mantle."  ~ Henry Miller
OK, so I put the fireplace thing in there myself!