A Gift of Old to Make New Again

I received such an amazing gift yesterday, you'd have thought my birthday came early this year!  My grandma is an amazing artist no matter the tools she using, brush and canvas, sewing machine and thread, yarn and hook, spinning wheel and wool.  Her talents are endless!  I'm just thankful that over the years I've been able to see her creations and pick up some of her passion.  She is also pretty excited that my sister and I are taking more of an interest in painting as of late.  I'm certain our passion for the art has come from her.  I just wish I also had her talent, but maybe with more experience I can hope to come close.

Recently my grandma passed on an array of old canvases, some used, some blank, archival paper, and picture holders.  Yesterday my sister came over to split the treasures with me, and I am so excited to get to work with my new gifts.

One of the canvases was this painting of an adorable little bunny.  Although my grandma's suggestion was to simply reuse them, there is absolutely no way I could paint over something so precious or something painted by her hands.  This one is a keeper!  There's another canvas that could use some work, so I'm going to research re-stretching and preserving canvas now as well.  

The sketchpad looks ancient and has some water damage, but it will still be excellent for the kids to practice with watercolors or something else while I am painting.  They love to join in on "craft time", whenever I get the paints out.  It is exciting to see the kids create as well even at such a young age. 

I have no idea yet what I'll do with the smaller cards and photo holders that were included with the other supplies.  Looking through them, I noticed some have dates stamped on the back.  This one from 1907 is from the year before my late great-grandfather was born!  My grandma has passed on a wonderful gift.  Now I have a thank you call to make!