Open for business, I'm ready to go inside to visit Hardy Hudson and see what new treasures he's gathered at his antiques shop on Park Ave. in Winter Park.
Certainly one of the finest antique shops I've ever been in is Antiques on the Avenue. The proprietor, Hardy Hudson ,has an incredible eye and voracious appetite for acquiring the most amazing objects- pottery, glass, paintings, sculpture, you name it, he's got it. I'm personally prejudiced in favor of him since he loves my paintings. Almost exactly a year ago he was driving by my studio as I was having a big sale. Big sale indeed! Hardy bought five paintings on the spot and said if I touched another one up, he'd buy it too. He sold that one as I brought it in to show him a couple of days later. He's sold them all except two. One he kept for himself, the other , a big study of Constable's "The Haywain" is still at the shop.
This is the painting I had displayed in front of my studio during my big sale that caught Hardy's attention as he was driving by. It was great seeing Hardy completely swamped by catalogs and boxes. He could hardly move, he said the extra clutter was a result of buys made at the big pottery show in Zanesville Ohio. He is the coolest kind of antiquarian. He really loves beauty and he and I share a particular affection for Florida landscape paintings. He inspires me to do more. It seems appropriate that Hardy's shop is right next door to the world class treasure that is the Morse Museum. His store ranks equally high in its category.
Beautifully decorative pottery pieces bought in Zanesville, Ohio.
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