Found Objects, a Blog series.
A Poem. A Picture. A List.
From whence comes my love of things.

“Spend all you have for loveliness,
Buy it and never count the cost;”
(from Barter, by Sara Teasdale)

La vérité est verte (The truth is green*)
I think that I shall never see
a hue quite like this verdigris.
Used by all the very best
van Eyck, and famous architects!
In the Pantone palette’s broad array
look for verdant green, a bit of gray.
From this patina made subtle 
shades - on rooftop tiles among leafy glades.
Scrape residue from copper pots,
add vinegar to what you’ve got.
Beyond the matte of haricots verts,
see elusive pigments layered there.
Poems are made by fools like me
But only time makes verdigris.

Summer Decor, 2019
Going with art deco theme for my sitting room.
These are found objects in the verdigris palette.

Gifts, antique and decorative items gathered from:
Brown Elephant shops Chicago, Secret Treasures Evanston
Penn Dutchman, late of Chicago, Pink Elephant Antiques, (off I 55)
Wild Pansy Gift Shop Andersonville, Farmer’s Market Edgewater,
Antique shop in Galena, IL, Brownstone Antiques Andersonville

On the wall:
Wedgewood blue Jasperware, 19th C, family heirloom
Rosemaling folk-art mirror
“A Garden”, Albert Moore, 1869, print Tate Britain
“Alcatraces,” Roseta Ballester, etching, Mexico
Vine-edged rectangular mirror, contemporary
“Five Angels”, framed print, contemporary

Green matte bureau, est 1940s
On bureau:
Three green vases: 2 pottery, and (middle) tulip-shaped metal
Art deco condiment caddy, Newport Pottery, UK,
yellow, geometric, fruit design
Art deco relish tray, Bohemia China, Donatello Czecho-Slowakia
Silvertone patina candlestick, est 1920s-30s
Charlie Harper plate, contemporary
Art Deco The Golden Age of Graphic Art, coffee table book

At the sides
Telephone table, 1930s/40s
Bohemian style-flower print, vintage cloisonne frame
Vintage child’s oak school chair, Amish
In mirror reflection:
“Leaf” Michael Saul Greenberg, cibachrome print
German dancers, Folk-art watercolor, est 1940s

On Verdigris. A note from Jamie. *With apologies to Joyce Kilmer.
My Mom told me Kilmer’s Trees was the first poem she memorized as a schoolgirl. My take-off on the classic poem aims at describing the depth and antiquity of this first color theme I am featuring in my FOUND OBJECTS blog series. Difficult to pin down, but formidable in its history, verdigris is a palette, rather than a color. I am drawn to it in the aging patina of copper roof tiles, the oils of Toulouse Lautrec, and the elegance in vases. Sculptor Leonard Brooks fashioned many metal pieces: jewelry, vases, stunning theatrical props (brooches, swords, shields) in this hue, and they remain treasures in my family.