Lucky Number 3

You should try to learn something new every day. 

Today I learned how to spell "triptych."  I knew what it meant (three pictures side-by-side that form one piece of art), but my spelling was nowhere close.  I'm sure it will be one of those words I have to remind myself to spell correctly.  I also have to remind myself to say "e-cat" for ikat instead of "i-kat".  Like, every damn time.  (What's the saying about old dog and new tricks?)

When I think of triptych, my mind instantly goes to two places.  First, my apartment in New Orleans where I lived after college.  It was the first bedroom I had all to myself (thanks to being the second of three girls, followed by lots of dorm living).  Trading Spaces was all the rage and I totally whipped up my own abstract "art" using three canvases.  I still have them, even though I haven't hung them up in a single home I've had since then.  So maybe I don't think they're that awful, or maybe its just sentiment.  Hard to judge.

Anyway, the other place my mind goes is to the famous Octopus triptych that has made its way around blogland.



Via Sublime Home

Oh, yeah, and the horse one - I think it was in one of the HGTV Dream Houses where I first saw it. 

Via House to Your Home

The octopus one I like, but the horse one reminds me of the severed horse head in The Godfather.

Yesterday, Erin at Design Crisis (a much cooler Austin-based blog than the one you're currently reading, BTW) posted this gorgeous picture.

Since the boyfriend hasn't come around to the idea of a giant trapeze lady hanging above the sofa, I'm still on the lookout for big art inspiration.  I adore how the frames extend below the back of the sofa.  I adore how the frames fade into the wall color (something that won't be happening in our beige renter's box).  I also love how the art takes up that section of the wall almost to the inch - which would not be the case if I put a similar piece above our sofa since it is currently situation on the biggest, blankest stretch of wall imaginable.

The image was still in my mind when I stumbled across The Library of Congress's Photostream on Flickr.  How f-ing cool is it that the Library of Congress is on Flickr?  Some days I just love technology.

They have a collection titled Photochrom Travel Views which instantly appealed to me as a great budget-friendly way to create a similar triptych.  According to the site, photochroms are "ink-based photolithographs."  They basically look like photos which have been colorized (similar to how they used to do old movies - although the processes are probably two completely different things).  Their collection features 6,500 prints from around the world around 1890-1910.  Originally, they were sold as souvenirs.

Here's a few landscape ones I like:


Pass of Brander, Scotland





The Seven Sisters, Nordland, Norway



Troldfjord, Raftsund, Lofoten, Norway

Grand Canal by moonlight, Venice, Italy

Although they have plenty of cities and even people.  I just love this picture of Dutch children (check out the wooden shoes!):


Native children, Marken Island, Holland

The great thing about them is that they are not copyright protected.  So, if you fancied one, you could easily split it into three pictures and have enlarged prints made fairly cheaply.  Finding the huge frames - well, that's another matter I haven't quite figured out yet.