Gift Haul: Art and Aliens in the House

Exquisite painting titled "Area 51" by artist Jean Vengua, via Etsy

This past gift-giving season was pretty intense for me and my husband. We celebrated our 10-year wedding anniversary in late November and, almost automatically, the celebration converged with the holidays. Thanks to his generosity, I made out like a bandit (although he didn't do so bad himself!). He bought part of my beautiful green Fluevog Elizabeth mary janes. And if you know me, you know I consider many Fluevogs works of art. Those shoes were more than enough. But he didn't stop there. Here are some of the other gifts he gave me, stocking stuffers and bigger. You might notice a theme or two. Maybe. :-)

My very own Doctor Who TARDIS! Well, printed on a beach towel, anyway. I don't know if I should use it or just hang it up in the craft/sewing/guest room. Hmm, decisions, decisions. :-)

Fluevog playing cards!

A book of Doctor Who sticky notes

What the notes look like -- fun!

Fluevog Angel key ring

There was also an owl purse hanger from Etsy. It's one of those hooks that you can attach to a tabletop at a restaurant or bar so you can hang your purse if there isn't a convenient method otherwise.

For my part, I gave him a pair of gorgeous black Fluevog CBCs (still on layaway), various drill bits and other electronic gizmos for his fabrication projects, and also -- my favorite -- some art prints.

I got him the art print below for our anniversary. It's called "Aloha" by Nidhi Chanani and it was just absolutely perfect for us, especially given that we had just come back from a vacation in Honolulu the month prior. I love that they actually look like him and me, well, coloring-wise. What a lucky find, for which I must thank Joanne who referred Chanani's work. The print is in a cheap frame of a standard size which is why it looks a little weird and off-center, but we wanted to put it up right away.

Print of "Aloha" by Nidhi Chanani

This one below was more for the "house" but really it's about us and what we love as a family. It's a mashup of two things we love from two different media -- Maurice Sendak's famous children's book Where the Wild Things Are and some unforgettable characters from film animator Hayao Miyazaki's oeuvre. Joanne also referred Justin Hillgrove's work to me, but our friend BJ Reyes was the one who gave me a heads-up on this particular print. Only thing is, we need to have it custom-framed as we can't find anything close to the dimensions of the print.

Print of tribute art "Studio Ghibli (Hayao Miyazaki) / Where The Wild Things Are tribute (Maurice Sendak)" by Justin Hillgrove

By the way, the alien doll painting at the head of this post was purchased by me for ... well, me, but it was done in the same spirit as the gifts my husband and I gave each other. I also can't tell you how thrilled I am to own such a gorgeous ORIGINAL work of art. I've done that only one other time in my life, and both times I felt like I got the better end of the bargain. The rest of my art purchases have been of prints. Anyway, Jean Vengua is incredibly talented in many arenas (she's a friend of mine as well), and if you like any of her work from her Etsy site, you're able to purchase prints of her paintings via Bluecanvas instead/in addition.

xo, Gladys