On our walls

Most of us love this look don’t we???

And you can do this with calendar pages like i did here with a Cavallini calendar! (or emily did above..i think she used new book pages?)

But wouldn’t it be amazing to have antique prints of birds, eggs or botanicals..whatever you love??

Well this weekend, Urban Market Houston will be hosting a multitude of great dealers with a variety of offerings.  My very favorite is Melisse Campbell and her amazing plethora of prints.  Campbell’s Melange began 30 years ago by Sheryl Campbell, Melisse’s mother. Melisse and I met a few years back at Round Top and have been friends since..She has taught me so much about prints and etchings and Audubon and on and on.. Her knowledge is amazing.  You can simply tell her what you love and your price range and she will find you something for your walls.  Something beautiful. With history.  She is also an artist as is her beautiful mother and they will a few original art pieces occasionally as well. 

Melisse sells a lot of high end collectible pieces that I cannot afford but her Design Division is a way she provides authentic pieces and individual works of art for great prices. When she has extra  prints or the last few pieces of a series,she movse them out of retail into the Design Division. This gives us the opportunity to buy a real piece of art, rather than a modern copy that you can sometimes pay the same amount or higher price.

{Snapshot from my kitchen window..i recently bought this egg print from Melisse and love it..havent even framed it properly yet!}

Most of her prints were illustrations in books. The oldest prints that she carries are hand-colored engravings. Chromolithographs are prints where the color went down with the printing plate. These are the pre-cursors to modern day printing.

For example, above is a Gould print. It is not a hand-colored original lithograph, but a great decorator piece. It is around $300- it’s a great alternative to get the look if you don’t want the original. Below is a handcolored Audubon- but notice the printed screen in the background. That signifies the 2nd edition of Audubon’s Birds of America, Octavo sized set…but no worries..she has all price ranges!

 

She also provide matting with different pieces. This helps the client visualize what it will look like on their wall. The only decision to make next is the frame.

{A set of prints a client of mine bought from Melisse}

Melisse and I  talk alot about how we wish more people would look for antique pieces to frame instead of buying things at Target or art.com  Not that anything is wrong with that kind of reproduction (hey i framed calendar pages for my guest room but is inthe attic practically and unstable temps so it works great would never put good prints in that humidity furnace up there)  Anyway, the point is, you can in some cases  have great ANTIQUE or VINTAGE prints for the same price or often less than something similar from Wisteria or Pottery Barn or ballard..Some may not care but i love the idea of having the real thing..something from an actual old book or hand colored piece of art over something mass produced or out of a printer..how about you???

Its worth going to Urban Market just to meet her charming Daddy and hear him talk..he is a true “card!” (Looks it was raining the year this was taken!) So be sure and visit Melisse’s booth..her prices at Urban Market are great…she even has a $10 table and tell her i sent you!

For more info on Urban Market’s location and hours check here. If you want to reach Melisse you can visit her on facebook or through her website.