Restored By Nature

I stumbled across a "You Tube" video a few years back of a gal "Painting" a table with stain. I was amazed at the process and the fact that her art was functional. I found a table for $10 at a garage sale and set out to make my own art. I have been hooked ever since.

My first table was a "Rose", which my husband and I did together. We didn't really know how to put the image on the table, so we created a huge puzzle on our wall with parts of the flower on pieces of paper and then drew it on the table little by little...it took forever it seemed like! Learning how to shade, what looked like a petal, what line was what! Then finding a place to put the final coat on in our tiny house, which was also filled with dogs and dog hair...ugh. That was a nightmare process. Then I was done...now what? I have this table in my basement how do I sell it? And I had to make chairs to match, a process I do not enjoy as much because they do take a long time. Some months later it sold much to my delight.

Fast forward a couple of years, 5 or 6 tables sold and we move! No art studio or place to do finishing work. The art has just been collecting (for nearly a year) until we finally found a space for me to do the finishing work, dog hair free..mostly. I did discover that during the process of painting small fibers from the rags I use to distribute portions of the stain often come off onto the canvas, seems unavoidable (so if you buy a piece, I have to consider it part of the art process), I do however do my best to keep the dog hair off!!!!

In the meantime, family and friends had many photos that I was blessed to be able to use as subject matter and we happened to move to an area teeming with wildlife and photo opportunities.

It really is a joy for me to paint and see nature come to life. More so, I do like the idea of getting some use out of old furniture and wood that is either being thrown out or greatly reduced because of scratches, wobbles or generally out of style. It is amazing what a little paint can do for these pieces.

They do take a long time to create, but that is the relaxing part of creating them. I especially like flowers, Dahlia's and most recently Peonies. Animal subjects are my new task; deer, cows, horses, birds and I will try my hand at a fox here soon.

Thank you for stopping in and checking out my site and art. Not sure I can keep up with the blog thing, but I will take it one day at a time and see what happens. Enjoy your day and nature and maybe a little art!

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