Lady Violette

"The Lavender Fairy" in needlepoint

Yesterday, I was browsing through a really grungy thrift and junk shop on highway 99 in the middle of absolute nowhere when I came upon a prime example of the Feminine Arts ~ an exquisitely executed portrait of “The Lavender Fairy” hand done in extremely fine needlepoint on linen and accented with the  smallest glass seed beads, embroidery and tiny pearls.

The Lavender Fairy  is sitting delicately on a branch ~ as she might be in your garden ~ and holding a wand with glittering white fairy dust coming out of it. She is an elegant adult fairy of Victorian sensibilities.

Technically the piece is very well done. It couldn’t be better! It is also beautifully professionally matted and framed. And it is quite large – the image is about 2′ x 3′ before matting and framing. It is in a lovely antiqued silver painted wood frame. I cannot take the glass off the picture to photograph it without damaging the matting and framing job. Thus I have photographed it with the glass on and there is glare, alas!

The picture is not signed by the artist. That is too bad, as I would like to know who made it. Some woman spent many hours lovingly creating this picture. Not only in executing the needlework involved  in this particular piece, but also in learning how to do it! All in all it is very impressive! I just had to have it. Because I truly appreciate it and in order to take good care of it.  Fortunately for me it was very reasonably priced.

So, I brought “The Lavender Fairy” home with me and I am now in the process of cleaning it up and finding a nice place to hang it in my house. I will hang her in my Lady Violette Salon ~ the one very feminine room in the house. It is actually a little sitting room I have created upstairs and filled with all manor of little feminine objets d’art such as this that I am dedicated to preserving and caring for. I have decorated it like I think a tiny Paris apartment might have been in a novel in the 1920’s.

My Lady Violette Salon is a perfect little place to go when someone comes over to visit for a cup of tea and a delicious little pastry and an hour or so of knitting or embroidery. I have created it as a tiny escape nest from the modern world! A little retreat to a quieter and gentler time. It is also a perfect place to read.

As Lady Violette de Courcy I am truly dedicated to finding, restoring and preserving the finest examples of The Feminine Arts and to maintaining a touch of the civilized past in my life and those of my friends and family. I am delighted to now have The Lavender Fairy in my care!

A note about the Feminine Arts. In times past a well bred young woman would be expected to be able to paint a little, sing a little, play the piano and pen occasional bits of poetry. Often a little meant quite proficiently! But heaven forbid she wished to become an actual  professional artist! Mama and Papa would be horrified. For professional artists were considered  bohemian and risque!  Something to think about!