Ruxi's painting

Living in the Netherlands has introduced us to so many incredible people. One of my friends, Ruxi, is a very talented artist and I have admired her work for some time now. I discussed having her paint something for us and Keith and I were able to pick out what we were looking for. In downtown Eindhoven there is an old Philips lighting warehouse called the White Dame (Witte Dam) that now has a restaurant in the bottom of it (Usine, which happens to be one of my favorite places to eat in Eindhoven). Keith has always loved that building, so it seemed natural to choose that location -- it is Philips that brought us here, and we "lived" downtown (in a hotel) when we first moved here, passing that building every day. Ruxi chose a view of the building that also captures the more modern part of the city -- a huge store called the Blob that sits across the street from the White Dame. It is the quintessential mix of old and new, blending the history of Eindhoven in one scene. She also painted the street that passes between them, all in her rich, gorgeous colors that match perfectly with our style and decor. In the painting the White Dame isn't actually white (though it is in person) . . . it's the big red building on the right, with the Blob in white and orange on the left. Below the White Dame are the umbrellas that sit out in front of Usine, and the street that curves around the corner. We couldn't have been more happy with our first work of real art -- HUGE thanks to Ruxi for capturing perfectly the feel we were looking for. I absolutely love it!

(PS--you can ignore the blue corner protectors and plastic wrap -- I don't want to undo it until after we move! And to get a better feel for it, the painting is about the size of our 50" TV)

What's even better is that Ruxi recycles her paint, which I had never heard of before. Basically she takes the wax that holds her paints while she's painting a piece, and when she is done and the paint has dried on the wax, she peels it up and uses it for other little fun pieces. So cool! So she took the leftover paints from our painting and created a little piece especially for Liam!

A perfect little ducky for my little boy! She knows how much he loves ducks and he has been obsessed with this painting ever since I brought it home. He kisses it every chance he gets. :)

I am so glad to be bringing home this special work of art when we move back to the States. It will bring back such sweet memories of our time here and I am especially happy to say that it was painted by a good friend!

~Jessi