Vacation Art

I've always been the touristy type that likes to pick up a souvenir or two when travelling.  When I was younger it was keychains.  Boy, did I love keychains!  All of my friends and family would gift me keychains from their travels as well.  I think I was somewhere between 800 and 900 when I finally stopped collecting them.  I'm sure my parents loved the fact that they were all linked together and displayed on the ledge of our game room.  I still have the majority of those keychains somewhere in my parents house, most likely boxed away.

When Chris and I started to travel together, I would always want to pick something up to remember the destination.  From the miniature replicas of iconic pieces

to trinkets that originated in particular locations.

Steel pans originated in Trinidad and Tobago

As I moved towards decorating our apartment, I thought a perfect way to remember our travels would be to pick up pieces of art.  Of course the art always seemed to be so much cheaper than the framing (even with 60% off).  This piece, which we purchased in New Orleans, hangs near our kitchen with the title of "Bourbon and Water".

I won't lie, I originally was drawn to this because it was pre-matted with the maroon backing (Whoop!), but I think this could be really cute in a future bar area.

When we traveled to Mexico for our honeymoon, I was on the search for more local art to add to our collection.  We boarded a ferry to head over to Isla Mujeres for our souvenir shopping and wondered into various shops.  Nothing jumped out at me until store number 4.  They had beautiful painted pieces on natural canvases that were parchment like.  We found a couple that we really liked, but couldn't make a decision.  The shop owner told us a price, but from my previous trips to Mexico I knew there was always room for a deal. I distinctly remember that there was no air conditioning in this shop and I was sweating up a storm as we stood there trying to decide on a favorite and a reasonable price.  I sweetened the deal by offering to purchase two, if he gave me a better price.  Thankfully he took the deal because I think I would have melted if we stood in there one more minute!

Once we were back in the states, I headed over to my favorite craft store Michael's for some custom framing.  Chris was very helpful in selecting the mats and frame style that would go best with the art.  After 3.5 weeks, a "blackout issue" with the corporate office and a reprocess from our store I finally picked them up. 

I love the blue and green colors (as I'm sure you remember from our wedding) and can't wait to hang these up in our future house!

When you travel, do you bring anything back with you other than memories?