Rock a bye baby . . .

Last summer I was driving through my neighborhood and saw a garage sale. Being the junk junkie that I am, I slowed to see if there anything caught my eye. And there it was. A perfect little children's wooden rocking chair. What is a girl like me to do? I pulled over and was prepared to walk away disappointed. Afterall, I never know if the joints will be strong, if the chair is in good shape, if the price is right. I looked it over, inspected it, and asked the price. It was my lucky day! I brought the chair home and waited for the right moment to transform it. This sweet little rocker was very patient with me, and tonight I put the finishing touch on it.

Here is side view - I love the black and white checkerboard on the rungs . . .

Here is a close up of the chair. It says "With imagination, anything is possible."

And finally, a front view of the chair.

This sweet little chair is just waiting for a little girl to rock her sweet baby to sleep.

I realize I have not been very diligent at posting . . .but that doesn't mean I haven't been working. I have been creating several new mirrors, stools, and black and whites. And in the last few weeks, I fell victim to one of the many colds going around. The universe's way of making me slow down, I guess.

Here are few black and whites to start off with . . .

I particularly like this one . . .it's similar to my usual back and whites, with some newer "doodles" added to it. I was really pleased with the final product.

Here is a new design for a wall mirror. We are trying a "house" design, with an emphasis an the love and blessings of home.

This mirror started with a few flowers and then took on a life of it's own. . .

This is a large mirror - about 2 1/2 feet by 3 feet. This is just a sneak peek of the top portion. I love painting suns - especially during the grey, dark days of winter in the Pacific Northwest.

I bought some stools at a garage sale last spring and they have been patiently waiting for some attention. These are not the typical round stools - rather they have a square seat, with a back. A close up image of the seat . . .

The basic design and colors are laid in; however, none of the details have been added yet. That will come in the next few days.

Thanks for stopping by. I will try to be more diligent in keeping you abreast of all the happenings in the studio!

Happy Birthday, Chrissy

(Chrissy - blowing rose petals . . .)

January 28, 1992 was a day to remember . . .it was the day the Christina was born. Chrissy was her own person from the first moment she entered this world. I have incredibly fond memories of her. Things like . . .the way she would make up her own songs whenever we went for car drives; she would also make up games - unfortunately I always lost. Maybe that was because she was the only one who understood the rules. For years, we referred to "CST" which meant "Chrissy Standard Time". This was the way she lived her life - she did everything on her own schedule. She had a well-developed imagination. Most days, Chrissy was "replaced" with her alter ego - Skipper Tiger. She has always loved music. The first time I remember her making music on the piano was when she was about 3 years old. She would play a few notes - and then repeat them over and over. Her favorite "toy" was her daddy's mixing board. I have fond memories of her wearing head phones and creating all types of sounds. Chrissy was always comfortable with a pencil or crayons in her hands. She would write stories and create art and still does. She has her own sense of style. You cannot listen to her laugh and not join in with her. She loves animals - and animals love her. She has a beautiful singing voice.

Chrissy - the world as I know it, would be a very dull place without you in it. You have brought our family much joy and happiness. I love you. Happy Birthday!!!

Just another Monday night . . .

Pam is a coworker who had an old chair that she had rescued. The seat had originally been woven, but had pretty much disintegrated over time. She had every intention of refinishing the chair, but time found that it was not happening. Just before the holidays, she asked me to take the job over for her. Well . . .you know me - I love to give an old chair new life.

We started by cutting out a new seat from mdf and repairing a crack or two in the rungs. That was followed by a good coat of primer. Then it was time for the fun to begin. This chair had some great lines and features. They really don't build chairs like they used to. Here is a picture of the seat . . .

Once the chair was fully painted, I added the last bit of embellishments including some copper tape, and tassels made of wire and beads hanging from the rungs on both sides.

The other project I have been working on is a painting. An acrylic on canvas, it is full of color and life - but it was missing something. I rifled through my storage area in my studio and found an old, beaten up frame that someone had given me a couple years ago. One of those things that I had no idea what I was going to do with it, but couldn't bring myself to get rid of it. Hmmmm - it looked like it might fit the painting. So I experimented with it, and sure enough, it was a perfect fit.

I covered the entire frame with black paint and then began to embelish it. The final result was just what I had hoped. The photo just doesn't do it justice.

Here's to color.