A Little Hooker in My Home

This past weekend my mom and I hit up Goodwill. Yup, it's time for my weekly sift through all the goodies (some trash, some treasures, few worthy of my recession-stressed buck). I love thrift shopping with my mom cause #1 she is just as cheap as me #2 she remembers the discounted sale prices of normal store items to ensure that I get the best possible deal and #3 I learn something new each time - how to tell good glass from bad, how to see the rainbow in crystal, how to tell silver from silver plated from tin. The know-how from this woman is unreal.

So naturally I was glad that she got a sparkle in her eye when I picked up this:

Hooker's Finest Fruits

This book was illustrated by this really fruity dude. Fruity and British. It was 1779, Big Willy (aka William Hooker) was good with plants - he was a botanist. And apparently, he was pretty good with his hands (what Hooker isn't?!) so art was his way of documenting the ins and outs of fruits and nuts. Typically, I don't like traditional still art because I am trapped somewhere between traditional, contemporary and modern...but anytime that a person can capture the likeness of a subject in a simple way - I am a fan. and this book was no exception.

Just check out some of my favorites and I am sure you will be quick to say that you would love a little Hooker in your home too.

Already I have tagged several of the pages and am ready to de-personalize the photo frames in our living room. It is a weird sense of relief knowing that if someone breaks into our house, that they won't know what I look like when I kiss Jeremy. Or who was in our wedding party. Or what I looked like in all my diapered cuteness....so now the yucky pedophile thieves will get fruit instead. haha - a million points go to Big Willy.

And just to share a little project that I already started with my fruity book, I snagged a small, lattice-inspired frame and found the perfect illustration to 'pear' with it.

Isn't it so cute? I think I am in love. And it is one piece of cheap art that is botanically correct while still having a bit of a modern, fresh look even though it is from two centuries ago!

Have you guys done some clippage of books to create art? What book was it? What did you do? Decoupage? Framing? Greeting card? Please do share!