There is something about Darling! If you enter the little town and see the quite drab main road running through, you will realise that all Darling's treasures will have to be hunted down. It will be worth it! In many of the restored Victorian cottages with their olde English gardens a guest house, restaurant or business can be found, and I am going to paint you many little vignettes
Nr 12 Long Street houses an art gallery where my paintings are sold. It is cheekily named The Darling Art Supermarket, although it consists of one large room (and no trolleys). This is part of the spunk I enjoy about Darling. So when a friend said to me:"Meet me at the Mantis Mall", I was surprised for a few seconds, and then of course, I knew what she referred to and played along. So let me introduce you:
The Mantis Trading Store was established in a cottage a few years ago. It sold quilts, pottery and antiques. Then a veranda and a part of the garden was hired out to a nursery with a happy selection of indigenous plants. Last year another tenant found space to run a coffee house, and woe and behold, the town's bookshop also moved over. So, who says it is not a mall? This painting takes the viewer into a roomful of antique furniture, porcelain and mirrored old books in the smallest 'mall' in the country!
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OOOOOOOOOOO Fritzie gaan sooo trots wees!Baie van Lelieblom se messegoed en dingetjies kom uit die Mantis Mall. Well done Marie another gorgeous work of art.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely painting - warm and inviting. Enjoyed the history and discription of the Mantis Mall...delightful!
ReplyDeleteOh, it is "Darling" - I want to snoop around in that store, then go to the bookstore, get a book and then off to that coffee shop!
ReplyDeleteThank you for another lovely peek at the West Coast treasures. : ) I think that you are the biggest West Coast treasure! xxx Your American daughter
Just when I thought small town stores were completely extinct... I find it poignant, because of the almost inevitability of its ultimate demise in the face of seeming unstoppable commercialisation. It reminds me to appreciate what we have now, so thanks for sharing it. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteThank you Lelieblom, MacTeddy, rianreyneke and Rodney.I am happy with the response I got from my two interiors so far. (The other was the little blue farm kitchen) Yes, lovely, leisurely browsing at Mantis Mall, without someone asking every five minutes whether you need help! Mmm, I wonder if anybody has bought the cute dressing table? Go in, Helen and order coffee and a chocolate cupcake.
ReplyDeleteOh, I want to be there as well - not for the cupcake but the coffee and company and ambience...
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