What a great post! Everything from sheer beauty to the funniest of photos. I love Jeri's calm and peaceful cemetery. Joe's photos are exceptional. I can get lost in the fourth one of water reflections. Florence, your water colours are charming. How lucky you are to have such a talent. I particularly love the one of the vase of tulips on a windowsill. Ingrid, what beautiful images. I love the back lit garden scene in the fourth photo. Hoovb, I love it when you are being naughty! Sherry, One thing I have seen occasionally here in Crete that looks good in people's porches or covered terraces. They put up a few shelves on the wall, and then put a frame all round them. On the shelves they place small pots of succulents and other small plants. It becomes a picture of real plants, they look very charming. Failing that, you could use your picture of Sean in an orange nappy and hoovb's gnomes. Daisy

What do I think of the actual horse photo? Since the quality of the work cannot be assessed from an online photo, that will not enter into it. Perhaps it does for others but for me it won't. The content of the actual photo is disturbing to me as it is a photo of feral horses who live out their days as wild animals and I cannot romanticize that. Anyone who has owned horses, as I have, will know that horses often require care and intervention for problems. These wild horses do not have that so it's survival of the fittest. Of course this is the same for any wild animals but should not be forgotten. I looked at the photographer's website and saw pics of wild stallions fighting. The results of this are bite or hoof wounds to both animals. Wild mares will foal without assistance and if there are problems there will be suffering and perhaps death for both the mare and the unfortunate foal. These horses are not treated for parasites and while that may not be a large problem in a wild horse population it may cause problems. I know many people do not want to think about such problems as they do not want anything to get in the way of their appreciation of 'art' but I prefer the art on my walls to not depict something I dislike even thinking about as I cannot do anything about it. I have a collection (more than a dozen) of original landscape oil paintings some of which we bought in Europe decades ago and paid less than $1000. for the most expensive. Other paintings I've bought in yard sales for next to nothing. Some of these paintings are amateurish but still have a quality I like. Others are IMO quite well done and likely cost the original purchaser much more than the few dollars I paid. Neither the price nor the artistic 'quality' enters into my appreciation of the art. The fact that someone spent hours or days painting a picture of a scene they enjoyed is more important and I enjoy the fruits of their labor. Art is very personal and I don't think has to cost $12,000. to be valuable. There are many photographers who take pics of horses, if you search and compare prices you will perhaps find something less expensive you will like as much. I like your idea of taking pics of images to spell your last name. That's a very meaningful type of art IMO.

Purplepansies Blue Louise--I love the combination of the copper brown and the blue. Florantha Starry Night--Good job finding swirly tile. I tried this exercise, but was stumped searching for swirly tile. I love the dark blue drapes. Purplepansies Approaching Thunder Storm--Oooh, I love the artwork! You did a great job of capturing the colors and the mood of the painting. I love the magma supreme granite. Honorbiltkit Vuillard--Also a beautiful painting, full of interesting details and patterns. You captured the color of the rug in the painting, and the painting you chose for your design does a great job of mimicking the painting in the painting. If that makes any sense. Palimpsest Vuillard--You also did a great job of capturing the colors of the painting, playing up the neutrals a bit compared to Honorbiltkit. The floor--is it Marmoleum?--mimics the colors of the rug. Style-wise, the table is unexpected, but I really like it in the design. Pricklypearcactus Lanadscape with Butterflies--I like the interplay of colors in your kitchen just as much as in the original painting. I just want to say how very much I've enjoyed this thread. I liked the artwork, I liked the kitchens, and I liked all the creative thinking that went into putting them together.

Well, this artist and published author thinks it's crazy NOT to be creative. Being creative is simply one of the pieces of a well-rounded life. There is such joy in creating beauty with our hands -- which, after all, is why we're all on this board, is it not? Are we all crazy? I don't think so. It's crazy to just work, watch TV in drab surroundings, sleep and do it over again. I learned very young the joy of doing a good drawing, or painting, or sewing something pretty to wear. I feel sorry for those who have no confidence in themselves to create, who were not encouraged as children to express themselves through art of some sort. The part of the article that resonated with me is the part that said you can't create if you're truly crazy. Well duh. When I see someone who can rescue an old kitchen table and turn it into a beautiful new kitchen island; or grab an old shabby mid-century dresser out of the thrift store and turn it into a glamorous mirrored beauty; or walk up to a blank wall and create a breath-taking mural; or is willing to put in the work to pick out the perfect sofa or drapes, I'm very impressed! I wish you lived next door because we would have such fun. I suspect those who call us crazy are just jealous. Ya think?