A Little Tease, Works-in-Progress

Turned on its side outside, drying in the sun this afternoon, is a four-drawer chest I'm working on for a friend. I completely stripped it and primed it inside and out with a nice bright white to give myself a clean slate. I'm going with all the flaws in this old wooden piece, highlighting each and every repair someone made to it through the years. The main color is a grayish green, inside and out for a beachy look. This side is rather Harlequin-like, with the diamond-shape segments of the checkerboard a new motif for me. I was analyzing an antique afghan my grandmother made and then decided to use those diamond "pieces" in my next piece of art. More to come as I finish it!

My newest painting is on industrial-grade grooved plywood. I found a bunch of pieces of it at a construction site, cut in various sizes and thrown out next to a dumpster. I walked home with all I could carry under my arms! This is a first layer of painting. I'll sand this down and then do as many as 12-15 more layers of paint and glazes. The right edge will get some gold-leaf paint, evocative of a frame as none of my pieces are ever framed.

Randomness This Morning of the Eve

My friend Mary stopped by the other day with this gorgeous stem of orchids. This variety, 'though I can't remember the name, is my favorite. I love the pale chartreuse and deep maroon color combination, and the stems and flowers are so large and hearty looking!

I loved the choice of wrapping and ribbon, too.

This palm plant is really doing well since I brought it in for the winter. It's actually doing better than it did this summer outside. I think I might leave it in next year. It seems to be trying to play my piano, which is the wooden structure hidden at the bottom, lol. You can just make out a book of Mozart sitting on it and the red and gold silk runner on top of it under the flag. Other vintage items include children's games, top left, and of course, the hand painted GULF GAS sign from the 1950s.

Three dishes of an appetizer I made up the other day wait for the oven to preheat. I mixed equal parts ground chicken and ground unsalted sunflower seeds. I added a few herbs, spices as well as a bit of soy sauce and sesame oil, a little cheese and an egg to hold the mixture all together. I formed them into these mini meatballs, and baked them in a 375° oven. After turning them halfway through the baking process, and rolling them around a bit, they were left in the shape of a small meatball and were very light and tasty. I served them with a very simple peanut sate dipping sauce—basically unsalted peanut butter, soy sauce, sesame oil, 5-spice powder, rice vinegar and water cooked until smooth and of a "dip" consistency.

This is part of a "lawn" I created this week for the 2-year old daughter of a friend or mine's Calico Critters dollhouse. I started with a new Ikea occasional table, and added felt, paper and polyurethane to create this garden path and flower borders. This photo just proves that I can't take a photo anywhere inside and not have a scale model car, or an unfinished piece of art in it. At the top you can see one of my new pieces, one of what I call cardboard "quilts." I've made 35 new cardboard quilted bases, in several sizes, and am working on them with bits and pieces of preprinted paper meant for craftbooking. All of the patterned paper reminds me of those huge books of wallpaper the local paintstore had when I was a child, books I spent hours perusing with my aunt Hoohoo, for just the right color and pattern for whatever room "we" were redecorating at the time. On the right is a 1:18 version of the 2005 Mustang prototype in silver with a red interior and black glass roof. You can also see three painted rocks behind it. I painted those when I was about 8 years old. They're white river rocks I picked up on a family vacation in Vermont. I've also painted other furniture and toys for children, or grandchildren, of friends.

• Vintage, floral child's rocker for my little friend, Deja. 
• Patchwork Hobby Horse for a little boy named Thomas.
• Dinosaur-themed vintage chest of drawers for Nicholas, age 8.

Deja View

My little friend, Deja, stopped by on Monday afternoon with her grandmother, my close friend. We walked around the yard and I snipped some Zinnias and Ageratum for her, and you can see the colors were an exact match for her festive Madras sundress. Deja is my youngest collector, being the proud owner of the Princess Rocking Chair I posted two weeks ago, and also one of my paintings, posted in May. You'll notice Deja somehow matched her outfit to the gift that day, too. It was not planned! 

I love this photo, the absolute epitome of childhood innocence and happiness. It reminds me of this piece of mine, a photo of my mother as a child. Her eyes are closed in the same expression of childhood giddiness and that feeling of complete safety and happiness. Approximately ninety years separate these two children's photos, but children are children are children. As the Talking Heads sang in Once in a Lifetime, "Same as it ever was, Same as it ever was, Same as it ever was..." (Note: This video is from a live performance in Germany in 1980. Where did those thirty years go? This is not my beautiful life!!!)

Nita's Little Hood Ornament, 27 x 32 inches on layered cardboard. Childhood innocence personified ca 1920-21.

Repost: Fifty Year Old Child's Rocker Rejuvenated for the Next Little Princess

Vintage children's rocker dates back to the early fifties and had seen it's share of wear and tear through three generations of child's play. Click image to see all of its details better.

M Y  A R T — This post first ran February 27, just about a week after I started this blog, when no one was actually reading it, lol. I thought I'd repost it now since it shows another piece for a child I've done. This "rehab" was created for my friend Vicki's granddaughter, Deja, and was once Vicki's childhood rocking chair. It came with lots of memories, and I felt the burden of not screwing it up! The chair had seen better days though, with several coats of paint and much wear and tear, but I think I made it fit for the little princess. Deja is also my youngest collector, owning one of my paintings you can see here. My writing has definitely improved since I first started, but you'll get the story anyway.

Repost:

This small child's rocking chair from the early '50s had seen a few generations of my friend's family's children come and go. It had also been 'redone' several times, lending a soft, thick, chunky look to the paint, scratches revealing 'interesting' paint choices through the years, lol. I was remaking this chair for a 4-5 year old granddaughter of a great friend, so I definitely went girly girly here. Well, in my own way—I'm more of a peach or apricot than a Barbie Pink type o'guy  : )

The chair was stripped down to the wood for an even 'canvas' and then after priming, I started by painting flowers. The chair was then painted in several layers; flowers, squares of colors, striping, stipling, some of which I eventually sanded off to reveal the underlayering.  I bought premade wooden letters in the little girl's name, D-E-J-A, afixed them to the back top slat, and gave them their own paint treatment.

The seat was just a piece of wood, but looked like it might have had a padding once. Again, I went the premade route, and bought a beautifully feminine silk-covered, goose-down-filled pillow for the seat. It was fit for a princess, but one a princess could grow older with and still appreciate. I carefully undid the fabric seams on the back and after removing the wooden seat from the chair, upholstered it with this down and silk concoction. The results were pretty spectacular if I do say so myself, lol. Clearcoated with 6 coats of polyurethane, this is one family heirloom that just might not need redoing for quite a while.

Click on each image to enlarge.

Ready for the Next Generation

Patches, an IKEA hobby horse all painted and primped and ready for a new generation of tots. Images clickable to make larger as usual!

M Y   A R T — One day a couple of years ago, I was sitting in the publisher's offices. I had probably just delivered a book, or was there to pick up a manuscript for a new one. I've been associated with this company for years, working full time for a while, and freelance the rest of the time, and  I have quite good friends there, so I usually hang out for a while if I, and they, have the time. This day, my good friend, fellow freelancer, Nancy, brought in her son's hobby horse for another friend of ours that works there, Joanna. Nancy's sons were in their teens, one ready for college, and Joanna's son was about to be three. Nancy was giving the hobby horse to Joanna so Thomas, Joanna's young son, would have as much fun on it as Nancy's two sons had 10-15 years earlier. I piped up and offered to give it a new paint finish, to update it a bit. I believe this was in May or June. They both agreed it would be a great idea, so instead of Joanna bringing it home that day, I did. Thomas was a bit young for it anyway, and Joanna was going to save it for Christmas. I had plenty of time!

While the actual painting and finishing only took about 40 hours, I must have stared at the damn thing for almost 5 months, lol. By the time I decided what to do, and how I was going to paint it, the Christmas deadline was looming! I finally finished it around the 22nd of December if I remember correctly, having worked all night the last 2 nights. Christmas was saved, and Thomas loved it. The entire family loves it. Phew!

I named the little horse, Patches, after a calico cat I had when I was a kid. First I did an all-over striped treatment, with white and alternating pastel stripes. Then I did an all-over copper glaze to tone the stripes down a bit, to go with the natural wood face which I left that way. Then I painted 'patches' all over it, detailing them with various patterns such as a checkerboards, stripes and a woven look, and further detailed them with simulated thread as if they had been sewn on. I mixed a bit of glitter in with the polyurethane to give it a slight fantasy-like look, and to give the finish a 'grip' for the young guy to hold onto so he wouldn't slip off. I also re-created the mane, which had been all one color beige wool to start with.  I wove in various novelty wools in lots of colors and textures, including silver, gold and copper look yarns. I was really pleased with the way it turned out. I ALMOST didn't give it back, lol. But I'm no Grinch, so Thomas had a nice hand-painted present waiting for him that Christmas morning.

For Deja—or Deja Vu? Children's Rocking Chair Updated for the Next LIttle Princess

Vintage children's rocker dates back to the early fifties and had seen it's share of wear and tear through three generations of child's play. Click image to see all of its details better.

O N   W O O D — Another of my furniture revamps. This small child's rocking chair from the early '50s had seen a few generations of my friend's family's children come and go. It had also been 'redone' several times, lending a soft, thick, chunky look to the paint, scratches revealing 'interesting' paint choices through the years, lol. I was remaking this chair for a 4-5 year old granddaughter of a great friend, so I definitely went girly girly here. Well, in my own way—I'm more of a peach or apricot than a Barbie Pink type o'guy  : )

The chair was stripped down to the wood for an even 'canvas' and then after priming, I started by painting flowers. The chair was then painted in several layers; flowers, squares of colors, striping, stipling, some of which I eventually sanded off to reveal the underlayering.  I bought premade wooden letters in the little girl's name, D-E-J-A, afixed them to the back top slat, and gave them their own paint treatment.

The seat was just a piece of wood, but looked like it might have had a padding once. Again, I went the premade route, and bought a beautifully feminine silk-covered, goose-down-filled pillow for the seat. It was fit for a princess, but one a princess could grow older with and still appreciate. I carefully undid the fabric seams on the back and after removing the wooden seat from the chair, upholstered it with this down and silk concoction. The results were pretty spectacular if I do say so myself, lol. Clearcoated with 6 coats of polyurethane, this is one family heirloom that just might not need redoing for quite a while.

Click on each image to enlarge.

Dino Dresser an Eyeful; Jurassic Drawers

Dino-Mite! for fellow viewers of TV Land. . . 

O N  W O O D — Creating visual pieces as I do on flat wooden boards, it wasn't a stretch to go 3D. I like to create unique looks on furniture also. Created for a friend's young son, this is a distinctly dinosaur themed 6 drawer dresser. This is a photo of the piece very close to being finished. You'll notice I worked in my patchwork painting style, along with scanned printouts of various dinosaur renderings I found. I'm especially happy with the way the 'skin' turned out. I found a very closeup photograph of some reptile skin, and enlarged it to wrap around the drawer surrounds and add a great look to the piece. Gold leaf paint was used on the drawer pulls and the entire piece received several clearcoats of polyurethane for durability and strength.