Job Perks....

If you don't know, Dale owns a hauling and recycling company. Ever since he started his company, over 13 years ago, he has brought home many interesting things from different jobs. His role as owner keeps him away from job sites, and so the number of interesting items that he brings home has decreased substantially. A few years ago, he was wandering around TurboHaul's garage area, and stumbled across what looked to be a water damaged map and some other, very damaged, framed picture that caught his eye. He brought them home and put them in our living room. I have to admit, at first I was a little upset about it..they were very dirty and gross looking, and I didn't know where they had been and I definately didn't want them in the living room! They stayed there for a while before a friend of mine saw them and went nuts! She couldn't believe I didn't do something with these items! She took me to some sort of craft place at Walter Reed, where I watched all of our children in an art/craft area. We had full use of the entire art studio AND full use of any materials we wanted, for FREE! While I played with kids and made art, she, with the help of the artist working there, carefully restored both of my dirty, old, items. She cleaned them, and replaced the matting and backing and whatever else you have to do to restore items. My friend worked for hours, being very meticulous...She was very intrigued, and very careful with the items that I had thought were so yucky. At the end of the day, I paid 45 dollars for materials, and that was it. I was completely jealous that she was in the military and got such great perks, she was completely jealous that we were in the hauling business and got such great perks!

The two "dirty, gross" pictures are now numbered amoung my favorite possessions...

Today, I was on the phone with Dale as he was looking around the TurboHaul garage, it was fun to hear excitement in his voice as he noticed a painting...When he brought it home this afternoon, I could see why it caught his eye! like the other two items this will need a little TLC, but I know it will soon become one of my favorites as well.....



I have never brought the two "dirty, gross" items to a professional to look at, I know very little about them...this map is by map maker P. Schenk II...His father was a map maker from Amsterdam and he worked with his father for many years. He mainly mapped out Europe around the 1700's...I do not know if this map is an original or a reproduction..click on it for more detail...notice how California is depicted as an island....

The second item of the two that Dale had in the living room is what looks to be an original engraving from around 1855. It is titled 'United States Senate AD 1850'. It Depicts William Clay presenting "the great compromise". It is unclear to me how many of these engravings were originally printed, but of those printed a few were hand colored. A fully hand colored one is on display in the Old U.S. Senate Chamber room in the U.S. Capitol building. I know one or two senators have non colored ones in their offices. Ours is partially colored. Robert Whitechurch is the engraver. This engraving was based on a painting by Peter Rothermel. The paper is very brittle from acid and has to be handled very delicately. The frame and the glass are very old, possibly original. we replaced the backing and matting to acid free...but there is already a great deal of damage that will need professional treatment someday... you can click on this one for more detail also (sorry for the flash)

Here is today's gem...I know absolutely nothing about this painting...and after searching for an hour ,I couldn't find the artist...It does appear to be an acrylic on canvas...it does have a few damaged areas that I will need to fix and clean up, and then frame, but I absolutely love this painting....