©Oxford University Press

Here’s a snippet from a piece of art I’m working on. Gotta love drawing colorful bugs!

©Lesley Breen Withrow

Today I woke up to a ton of snow on the ground. What a surprise it was! Unfortunately, it turned over to rain and now it is a slushy mess. But, the snow has helped to put me in the holiday mood. Well, the snow and the Christmas tree we just put up! There are no gifts under it right now and I’m not sure if we’ll ever has as many gifts as those under the tree I illustrated. Ha! But that’s okay.

Yes! I finally managed to get up to Brimfield for the fall show. If you’re not from these parts, it’s a simply gigantic antique show that sets up 3 times a year. Sprawling. Hundreds and hundreds of dealers. If you’re into vintage, retro, etc. you WILL find something interesting here. I did not come home empty-handed!

I saw this cute guy on patrol in his owner’s booth at the beginning of the day. Sure enough, he was still there when we headed to our car at the end of the day!

First thing I found was this wooden/paper litho target game. LOVE it. Vintage games from this era are a big favorite of mine.

More litho- but this time on tin. What a great little snippet of the 50’s- the turkey in the oven, the Dutch girl on the shelf, the gingham curtains! June Cleaver should be showing up any time now.

I have a big collection of wooden shoes from the WWII era…souvenirs brought home by soldiers after the war. Even though they vary a lot in decoration, I don’t usually find any that are vastly different from ones I already have. But I found a pair at Brimfield:

Here are a few fabrics destined to be made into Recycle Rabbit stuff. Well, at least the 70’s prints will be. I was originally going to hack up the German tablecloth and use it for parts, too- but it’s TOO COOL as is. Guess I’ll use it as a tablecloth!

“I like you America”…haha! Must be from the Bicentennial!

This gingerbread guy is an exact duplicate of one I had as a wee child in the 70’s. He had a tragic “accident” when my friend and I tried to give him a bath in some collected rainwater outside. I remember my mom hanging him on the clothesline to dry, but then he “disappeared”. Well, HE’S BAAAACK!

(with the original tag, no less!)

One more: this painted tray is just the perfect shade of red, and has just the right sense of joie de vivre.

Inspiring? I think so. Mind-numbing quantities of things to look at? Totally.
The next Brimfield show is in the spring!

I’ve been busy creating greeting cards and so I thought I’d show a sampling of them. They are filled with my painterly textures and patterns. So much fun to make! (To see a close-up please visit Lesley’s blog)

©Lesley Breen Withrow