Ok, so you’ve bought the plate, or the bowl or the fish….or whatever, so now what do you do with it?? How do you display it and with… what else? Putting together collections is the best part of collecting. Of course, the “hunting and gathering” is ideal but once you get your treasure back to the house how are you going to display it? My collections tend to evolve and revolve. It can take years and years for a theme to emerge. It almost brings to mind the Phoenix rising from the ashes. You have a dozen pieces (or more) with no theme and suddenly one day there it is – the vision emerges and your theme is sitting right in front of you. The kitchen window’s maritime theme began with the Boulogne-sur-Mer seagull planter that I found at an antique show in Santa Monica , CA many, many years ago. I loved the form and the painting and brought the bird home. Several years passed and a fish joined the seagull, and then another fish, and then another…. One day I looked at the kitchen window and decided that I needed all maritime pieces there. So, the hunt began in earnest. This collection in the kitchen brightens my day every day. I can’t look at the display without feeling happy, and that’s what it is all about. I love the art. I love the form, the painting, and the folk art but mostly I love getting to see it everyday. It brightens my world.