Thrifty Acres: Thrift Store Scores

Hello! Hadn't been to a thrift store in awhile; I tend to hibernate when the weather turns cold and snowy. But conditions have improved over the past couple of days (we actually have sun today!), so I visited one of my favorite thrift stores yesterday. 

And I'm glad I did, for I scored some good stuff. Magazines and books are always fun to scoop up at thrift stores, and I was happy with a book about Tasha Tudor's gardens and some recent issues of Country Living magazine. But what really made me happy was this:

An 18"x24" oil painting of a Ye Olde Dutch scene. I live in a town settled by Dutch immigrants and so have begun to collect old-fashioned images typical of that country.

A close-up:

I love the vivid oranges and greens in the painting. 

This work had been signed and dated by the artist - W R Hudgins, 1978. I looked online for more information but didn't find anything in particular. Thus, like most oil paintings I see at thrift stores, this was likely done by a hobbyist. I think this windmill scene is a cut above the usual secondhand oils though.

When I spied the painting at the thrift store, it was lying on its side near the back room where the pricing is done. It was near that part of the store because it hadn't been priced yet. A staffer stopped by and asked if I needed help, so I pointed at the painting and asked if it would be priced soon. He asked me what I would be willing to pay for it. I volunteered five dollars but figured he would want more. 

The man picked up the painting to examine it more closely. "Hmm, it looks homemade", he announced, and further determined that the framing needed to be repaired. That was true, but I didn't tell him I didn't care about the frame, thanks to what I'd learned in this post. I just agreed with him about the framing, and was rewarded when he offered to price the painting at $4.00. Sold! I have a feeling that left up to other staffers, it would have been marked up higher than that. 

On a much smaller scale, and with a much smaller price, was this find:

Vintage guest book. The "Our Guests" title barely shows up on the cover, even when seen in person. But I liked the illustrated page inside:

Very sweet! I don't know how old this guest book is, but judging from the graphics, perhaps no newer than the early-mid 1950's. 


All in all, some good thrift store scores - just the thing to get me out of wintertime hibernation!