I recently purchased a lovely and inspiring painting from a friend and had been wondering where I should display it so it could get the most eye-time . . .

I finally decided to install it in my kitchen – since that’s really where I spend most of my time. The little darling seems very happy hanging there, and I feel very happy seeing it. The painting reminds me that one’s work does not have to be huge to be great – as it is both tiny (5×7) and heroic at the same time. And, of course, it’s pink. Which is awesome.

I love my kitchen art collection – so I thought I’d show it off. You probably have a kitchen art collection, too. I’d love to see it. Here’s mine:

This is the first part – my wall of random artwork. Mostly by the kids. There are two pieces on this wall which deserve special attention. First, there is the original piece in my kitchen artwork collection, which also happens to be my favorite piece of all time. If my house was burning, I would likely run back in to save this:

My daughter made this watercolor when she was in elementary school. I love the way the lemons are roaming the range, like buffalo in an Old-West painting – a majestic herd of lemons.

This is my other absolute favorite piece of kitchen artwork. My son made it elementary school. The assignment was to create a piece describing his family, and to incorporate simile into the description. I feel that if my son could describe his family as “as nice as a puppy who wants to taste you’re [sic] cooking,” it means that my husband and I may have done something right somewhere, somehow . . . on the occasional tough day, this is helpful for me to keep in mind.

Moving on to the some professional pieces . . .

This painting is by the artist Alyne Harris, of Gainesville, Florida. It was given to me by my lovely sister and co-blogger. She gave it to me for Christmas pretty soon after I first started keeping chickens. Over the years visiting my sister in Gainesville, I have amassed a pretty big collection of paintings by this artist. But this was my first kitchen-worthy painting.

Here is my second Alyne Harris kitchen painting. I love the colors (pink again!) and the fact that it fits really well into the narrow space between my window and my back door. Maybe that is a superficial reason to love a painting, but it’s true!

This is my most recent acquisition, a block print by the Berkeley artist Rigel Stuhmiller that I bought from her at the Artisanal LA show last year. This print combines two of my greatest loves: chickens and lemons (and more roaming lemons!) I had to have it. I also love the kooky expressions on the chickens’ faces. Makes me happy to see it.

And finally, our tour ends with another kid work – this one much more recent. We had friends over for dinner and were playing Pictionary with giant post-it notes stuck to the dining room wall. My son drew this, which was a winning drawing that got him the answer right away. I thought the economy of line particularly successful – and so I cut it out and taped it to my wall, where I see it every day and smile. Can you guess what it is?

Of course it’s the Bride of Frankenstein. Duh!

I hope you enjoyed my silly kitchen art tour.  What’s your favorite kitchen art?