Over the weekend, I began removing the wallpaper from my dining area.    I’ve never redecorated this particular area and it’s starting to look pretty shabby.

I was dreading pulling the paper off partly because it commits me to finishing the project sooner rather than later.

Did I ever get a big surprise!  Look what was hiding  underneath!

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I’m pretty sure this hand painted artwork has been on this wall since the late ’60s when my house was built.

It’s pretty atrocious and will be soon obliterated by some blue paint, but I’ve been studying it for the past couple of days.

I’m intrigued!

Who painted it?  It’s the first real clue about any of the previous owners of my house.   What do you suppose the rest of the house looked like?  How long do you suppose the painting was displayed before being papered over?  Was the painting some old world tradition or some “new age” expression of the hippy era?

I’ll never know the answers to these questions, but it was a fun revelation.  It was a bit (OK, a tiny bit) like finding a lost mosaic hidden under the plaster of some ancient cathedral.

Now that these photos have been committed to the interwebs, I can now get back to painting with a clear conscience.

Besides, this was my “winter project” and since Spring is less than a month away, I’d better get to it.