Art Imitating Life

Back before Matt and I had kids we took a trip down to Portland to explore around and to savor some of the Oregon wine country. It was around Memorial Day weekend when many wineries that are rarely open were hosting special tasting events.

At one of the wineries there was a display from local artists, and one in particular caught our attention and we took a signed print home with us. We decided it would be perfect someday for a kid's room.

We didn't design our nursery around this print and have struggled to find a good home for it until Colin gets older and has a "big boy" bedroom (he's still in his crib in the beach-themed room with the palm tree.)

About a week ago we had a heavy rain which came through the open window in our guest bedroom, and we had to rescue the print, which was leaning against the wall near the rain. As I was about to return the print to the guest room yesterday, I noticed that the main animals in the scene are the same animals which Colin loves to play with (plastic animals about a foot tall.) The hippo, tiger, giraffe, lion, and elephant are as much fun for our 2 year old as they apparently were for the artist to paint. Art imitating life, or life imitating art?

The plastic safari animals are Colin's new favorite and are each almost a foot long.

Close-up of the print, purchased pre-kids.

Colin and his animals along with the print. Who knew that animals really would be our child's favorite play item?