The Art Barn

When I'm driving out and about, I like observing things off the beaten path.  I love Americana or things that have Southern charm, unique architecture, or country style.  A lot of country folk are confident in who they are, regardless of the fact that most of the coastal elites look way down their noses at us.  We may be a little different, but we've learned to lean in to it and embrace it.

I see lots of patriotism.  American flags are displayed all over the countryside.  People love the red, white and blue.  On Louisiana Highway 26, heading north between Hathaway and Elton, something changed, and it caught my eye.  I did a double take and pulled to the side of the road.  There is a barn just west of the road that I had blogged about back in 2018.  This barn had a big rooster painted on the western side of it.  Well, now the painting has been updated.

If you are thinking that it now has "See Rock City" painted on it, well, that is a really good guess, but that isn't on the barn.  The rooster that was previously on the barn is out and has been replaced with a huge painting of Old Glory!  The painter did a remarkable job on the mural.

You have to admire the artistic flair and craftsmanship.  That took thought and follow-through to get out there and get that done.  I have a hard enough time painting my barn red.  It either needs to be pressure washed or another coat of paint, but that isn't even on my radar.  This gentleman here loves his country.  He loves freedom and what our country stands for.

May God bless the USA and Americans that value freedom, justice, and Godly principles on which she was founded.

The Valuable Shoe Shine Box

This post really has nothing to do with our little homestead farm, but I'll share it anyway.  I don't know about you, but every so often when I look down at my "church" shoes, I am not greeting with a nice  shining reflection.  Instead I see a dull, sad reminder that I'd better get out the old shoe shine box and get busy.  Shoes that are polished are a refection of a gentleman's attention to detail and civility, I have been told.

So I got out the shoe shine box and did a quick number on them, using an old tee shirt as my shoe shine rag.  Keep in mind, I am nowhere near a professional shoe shiner.  My polishing work leaves a lot to be desired, but it did at least resurrect the leather from dull, lifeless, and lackluster, to at least some degree of brilliance.  Hopefully I moved the needle closer to "civilized."

My shoe shine box is very old as shoe shine boxes go.  I would guess it is about 30 years old.  It is actually an old shoe box.  It is filled with an assortment of Kiwi shoe polish in varying colors, brushes, toothbrushes, and a rat's nest of various shoe strings I'll never use.  Not a fancy box, to be sure, but one that has performed its duty admirably in keeping a lot of junk together in somewhat of a semi-organized fashion.  When I need to shine my shoes or Tricia's cowboy boots, I know where everything is.

Now, one might think that it would be a fruitful endeavor to peruse various websites to procure a real shoeshine box.  This one is just tacky.  Perhaps, if I was ambitious, I could make a shoeshine box.  Or, I may have to repair it by getting some duct tape to 'firm up' edges of the box and the box top.  Age brings on wear and raggedy appearance in both boxes and people alike.  Should I just throw it away?  Nah, my old shoe box that serves as a shoe shine box will continue to perform its duty until I no longer need to shine shoes.  The reason it is important to me is not due to what's in it.  The treasure is on the outside of it.  Some 25 years ago, my daughter, Laura Lee, my aspiring artist, drew a self-portrait on my shoe shine box.  It is a happy drawing of Laura Lee and her brother.

The most expensive shoe shine box I could ever purchase couldn't come close to the value that I ascribe to the one I currently have!

Priceless Art

In This Wall Street Journal Article, I read with great interest about a priceless piece of art that had been lost for decades.

Leonardo da Vinci's painting of Christ, Salvatore Mundi, "Savior of the World," was auctioned last year for a record-setting $450.3 million dollars!  Wow.  That is a lot of money.  The amazing part of the story, though, is where it had been.  The quotes below are excerpted from the WSJ Article:

Susan Hendry Tureau, a 70-year-old retired library technician in Baton Rouge, La., only last week learned that a painting her father, Basil Clovis Hendry Sr., had owned was reauthenticated as a da Vinci. She said he acquired the painting after she and her siblings were adults and no longer living with him. Her brother and her niece remember seeing it hanging in the plantation-style Baton Rouge home of her father, who owned a local sheet-metal company, she said. Ms. Hendry Tureau remembers a number of religious-themed paintings at her father’s house, though not specifically the da Vinci. 

“We can’t believe it, that such an incredible piece could have been in our family and we didn’t even know it all this time,” Ms. Hendry Tureau said. “It just sort of brings me alive.”

Ms. Hendry Tureau said her father, who died in June 2004, inherited artworks after the 1987 death of his aunt, Minnie Stanfill Kuntz. The aunt’s husband, Warren E. Kuntz, ran a furniture business in New Orleans and died in 1968. Ms. Hendry Tureau said her great aunt and great uncle often traveled to Europe, and purchased art and antiques for their collection while abroad.

While in Europe, the Kuntz' purchased Salvatore Mundi for $120!  After Kuntz' death, the piece of art was valued at $750 and sold it.  It was then restored by the purchasers and authenticated to be a da Vinci painting and sold to the Saudi Crown Prince for $450.3 million dollars!  To think that this thing hung on the walls of a family home an hour and a half away from here is amazing.

Image Credit

Now, I certainly don't want to come across as being pretentious, but as I walked around our house, I discovered that we have some priceless art hanging on our walls too.  I'll share a peek of our gallery with you:

If Christie's or Sotheby's auction house comes calling, I've already authenticated the valuable paintings to be masterpieces that our kids painted when they were younger and... they ain't for sale!