Sometimes I want quiet, and this sun-warmed little waterway delivers -- a shallow turquoise channel threading between weathered hillside houses with the bare mountains hazing off in the distance. It has the soft grain of a half-remembered holiday photograph, and I hung it where the morning light hits so the water seems to ripple.
This piece charms me every single time -- a white crested bird perched in a metal bowl brimming with berries, framed by big glossy leaves and a spray of clockwork cogs. It's a still life that refuses to sit still, and I adore that tension between the ripe fruit and the cold gears.
Now THIS is how you do cheerful -- a fluffy rabbit airbrushed in rainbow pastels, perched in a nest of jewel-toned painted eggs with that soft bokeh glow behind it. I acquired it for the sheer softness of the rendering; you can practically feel the down on its chest. It's the piece I bring out every spring to remind the collection that not everything has to be ominous.
A companion to my brass harvest piece, and arguably the cleverer of the two -- an ornate gear-rimmed bowl whose half is sliced open to reveal clockwork machinery cradling apples and blueberries, with two plain green apples sitting outside as if waiting their turn. The marriage of orchard and engine just delights me. The detailing on that engraved metal rewards a long, slow look.
I saved a showstopper for last -- a stag whose antlers spread into a vast branching network of fiery red-gold roots against a deep electric-blue glow, the whole thing fanning out like a tree of veins and embers. The fire-versus-ice color story is breathtaking, and it anchors my mythic-creatures wall like nothing else. Every guest stops here, every single time.
This one anchors my botanical wall — a green-eyed muse haloed in living leaves, roses, and marigolds, her copper hair pouring down like autumn itself. The light pooling on her brow gives her the serenity of a forest goddess, and I never tire of looking up into that calm, level gaze.
Framed like a glowing window, this one stops me cold -- a stone path winds through emerald rice fields toward a mountain crowned with a fan of brilliant prismatic light. Those golden filigree lotus-bursts blooming across the foreground earth are the detail that made it an absolute must-have.
A still life that refuses to sit still -- a golden footed bowl heaped with blueberries while ribbons of teal smoke and scarlet flame swirl up behind it. I love a piece that takes something so quiet and makes it operatic. The crimson tendrils against that deep green hush get me every time.
A long-whiskered cat whose mane and tail spiral away into a glowing nautilus shell -- I mean, come on, how could I resist? The golden rim-light tracing every feathered curl turns a simple profile into something sacred, and it earns its place beside my finest creature studies.
I could fall right into this -- a deep fractal spiral of feathery clouds curling toward a single luminous pearl of white-violet light at its eye. It's the most meditative piece I own; the swirling teal and purple plumes feel like weather from a dream. Mesmerizing every single time I pass it.
Not every piece in my collection is sunshine, and this one haunts me in the best way -- a wide-eyed girl with hair streaming upward into a roiling crimson cloud, like she's falling through deep water. It's raw and stormy and I couldn't look away, so naturally it came home with me.
There's real theater in this one -- a noble horse clad in filigreed bronze barding, rearing against a vast full moon and twilight clouds. The riveted, scrollwork armor caught me first, all that ornamental metal flowing over living muscle. It's regal and a touch mythic, exactly the kind of drama I love on my walls.
This one stops everyone in their tracks, folks. A rabbit cradling an ornate, gem-encrusted egg against a bronze Art Deco backdrop, ringed by glossy painted eggs in primary colors, it's pure symmetrical opulence and I cannot get enough of the craftsmanship in those tiny inlaid jewels.
After all the gears and ghouls, sometimes a collector just wants pure sweetness, and this big-eyed bunny is exactly that. Splashed in candy neons with two glistening eyes and a cluster of painted eggs at its paws, it practically glows off the wall. It's the piece that makes guests go soft, and I won't apologize for adoring it.
My crown jewel of the mechanical-beast pieces -- a rearing silver horse plated in armor, fitted with a glowing blue gauge on its flank, posed before a great Roman-numeral clock ring. The chrome sheen and that regal stance give it real presence. Every collection deserves one show-stopper, and this is mine.
I keep this one where I can see it from my reading chair. A dreamlike ravine of pink-blossomed trees framing a glowing sunset gorge, with rivers of light flowing like molten silk down the valley floor. It's got the hush of a fairytale just before something wonderful happens, and that warm light pulling your eye toward the distant peak gets me every time.
An entire field of impossibly lush purple irises swaying under a sky that's positively churning with motion -- I could stand in front of this for an hour. The electric violets against that acid-green foliage make my whole gallery wall feel alive. Bold, a little wild, exactly my kind of bloom.
There's a quiet ferocity here that I couldn't walk away from -- the way black feathers and flecks of gold fracture across her face while those pale eyes stay utterly calm. The fractured golden halo behind her seals it; she's part myth, part portrait, all presence.
Pure delight for a collector who games. A modern gamepad reimagined as a baroque treasure, sculpted in warm bronze with ornate flourishes, a cathedral glimpsed on its little screen, and crest-stamped buttons fit for royalty. Form and play fused into one gleaming object. I adore it.
A bespectacled head mid-howl mounted atop a fat brass clockwork mechanism crusted with dials -- I cackled and bought it on the spot. It's absurd and a little unsettling and completely irresistible, the truest portrait of a deadline I've ever owned.