Friday, January 27, 2012

Friendly Friday



I am typing to you from my newly restored computer. Hooray! I will, however, miss the simplicity of the handwritten thought. Perhaps I will post a handwritten note or two just for fun in the future. 


I cannot wait to post the projects I completed during the lull, but I first I want to introduce a new series I am starting: Friendly Fridays. This series was born out of a desire to participate in the online art community and to allow you, the reader, to join me. On Fridays, I will do a guest post by a non-blogging artist. I would like to give those who read blogs, but do not necessarily want to commit to a blog of their own, an opportunity to showcase their art and to venture into the online community. 


I have been mulling this idea over for a month or two, and I had even approached a few individuals to get the project started, so naturally I was thrilled when Sara emailed me the pictures of the dresser she restored. Sara and her whole family are amazing artists in every sense of the word. Their home is like stepping into a vanilla latte: warm, inviting, and very personal. It seems as though every item has a story about how they, or someone they love, intentionally created the object or space. I think my favorite such example is how they let their young sons go to town on the space behind the refrigerator when they updated their kitchen. 


It was no surprise to me that Sarah has been busy creating and restoring furniture. This dresser is beautiful, and I am particularly in awe the bird stencils. Here is what Sara has to say about the project:


What was your inspiration? Red things seem to be sneaking into my house in the last few years. It started with some dining room chairs, then some picture frames, and a little shelf in the front hall. I'm always going to default to green (the walls in the room are green) but I'm liking touches of red. It was easy to paint the dresser because it fell in the category it-couldn't-look-any-worse-than-it-does.



  
What tools did you use? You know, paint and brushes. The only tool of interest was the stencil I used for the ends of the dresser. I almost hit paralysis by options when I started look for a stencil online. I even got pulled into a design-you-own site for a few minutes. My need for instant gratification won out. I went to Hobby Lobby hoping to find a bird stencil. There was only one the right size. Yay! I also like the finish Briwax gives furniture. I used Briwax with a light brown stain that caught in the crevices and grooves. 





What was your favorite part? I listen to books on CD while I paint. For this weekend project, I listened to Lost in Shangri-la. A true story about a plane crash in Dutch New Guinea during WWII. Mysterious Valley! Headhunters! Beautiful WACs! Dashing heroes! Ridiculous cultural misunderstandings! That kind of stuff makes sanding easier. 




I also love the touches with the maps as drawer liners and the wall maps behind the dresser. 


Thanks for getting Friendly Friday off to a great start, Sara! 


If you want to participate, email my personal email or sitwithmeawhile(at)gmail.com. I define art loosely, so anything cooked, drawn, baked, built, sewn, or home-made counts, it just needs to be created by you. Although I may make a few exceptions, I would prefer to just post entries from non-bloggers at this point. Artists may submit as many projects as they would like!

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