The new year is often a time of cleaning, refreshing, & purging. We get rid of things- to make room for new gifts, to give to the less fortunate, to have a fresh start. But no matter how good it feels to clear things out, there will always be those pieces we just can't bear to get rid of. There's no way I'm giving up my nearly-destroyed favorite boots, unless perhaps their tragic beauty was first captured in a painting..

Mark Hall-Patch of Ephemera Friends paints poignant watercolor tributes to grandpa's elbow patch sweater, your outgrown letterman jacket, and your threadbare Rolling Stones t-shirt (I love that you can see the hanger through the shirt- that's t-shirt perfection). While all of his paintings are lovely, it's the custom option that's by far the most interesting to me. Lauren of Honestly...WTF would like to have her "grandmother's denim and floral patchwork shirt from the 70s", I would love to have a delicate rendering of the boots my mom gave me six years ago. She'd kept them in perfect condition for five years, but then passed them along to me, whereupon I promptly set to destroying them. One year in snowy Colorado and five years of hard walking on the dirty San Francisco streets have nearly dissolved them. They're now the ghosts of boots, or perhaps boots' angels, and I get compliments everytime I wear them. I know their days are numbered, so now is probably the perfect time to let Mark work his magic.

What items from your wardrobe would you like to have painted for posterity? Would you still hold onto the actual item? Have you preserved no-longer-wearable favorites in other ways?

Images: Ephemera Friends via Honestly...WTF