Rock On

The good folks at Bargain Shop at 1910 West Beverley Street in Staunton sold me two antique rockers, gave me a great deal.  I'm working on this for the Roberta Web Child Care Center fund raiser Rock-a-thon scheduled for mid December.
 

This is the "before" photo:

I got it to the gallery and spent some time with the steel wool roughing up the surface so that the paint would stick.

I started the first coat, and let me tell ya... the guests in the gallery were not rooting for me at this stage.  There were some comments about ruining that old rocker and a little hostility from the purist crowd.  I understand, and on some level agree.  But the finish on this rocker was so bad and the bones so good... I really hoped that my work was not going to be entirely destructive.  But at that stage you just have to trust the process.  (And really, that is the part to do without an audience!)

I had chosen some commercial batiks for the fabric for the cushion and the inspiration for my color scheme came from the fabric.  Plus, I wanted to end up with something that would be the kind of thing I'd enjoy having in my home.  So I started into getting a variety of colors on the rocker. 

There is so much detail work on this rocker that it takes a really really long time to get one coat on it, much less two. 

Finally the second coat was finished:

Ready for a little detail work to bring out the features of the piece.  I blended lots of colors looking to achieve that batik fabric look. 

The gallery closed and I was ready to call it a night, so I had to stop there.  I'll be back soon to finish up the details on this one.  I made a template for the seat, so I don't know when I'll make the cushion but I believe it will bring together the whole project.  Or at least I trust that it will, we shall see.

Rock On,

Carmen Rose 

This Again? (Re)painting Kitchen Cabinet Doors

I had a coat of paint and a coat of primer on these kitchen cabinet doors, and some weird discoloration was bleeding through. So after a trip back to the paint store for another gallon of special stain blocking primer, I'm back at it again.

These doors are wood with the original finish, cleaned with that alphabet soup stuff (TSP? STP? TPS?) sanded, primed, painted... and then primed and painted again. Yeah, complete overkill. Here's hoping that nothing bleeds through this time! That's the doors from the first section of uppers. Lots more to go!

Still waiting very impatiently on the hinges to arrive. Soon I hope?

A friend of mine was here today to have her hair colored so I painted her hair and wrapped the bits up in foil. It had not occurred to me how similar that is to some of the other things I do, like dying fabric or any kind of repetitive pattern making or even the act of painting with a paint brush. But most of my artistic projects don't talk while I'm working on them! (At least not to an extent that I'm willing to admit to.) =)

I was thinking today about how unusual this January has been. Usually it's my one chance during the year to really dig in and work on an art project that I wouldn't ordinarily get to do. One that isn't about making a product to sell but more about meeting the need to create. Usually it's a time when I get to be really focused and shut out the world for a while. My dogs and the wood stove keep me company and I love snow and seeing the mountains in the distance, these things are good for the soul. This January has been busy and I've been into a variety of interesting things and still no significant time in my quilt studio. I would like to make some time for some very "outside the box" projects that are percolating, we'll see how far I get on that but some of the ideas really have my juices flowing! And I have a one person art show coming up sometime this Spring, more on that later. And there is an opening this Friday evening for a group show that includes my work, and an artist friend is going to come spend the day with me in my studios Friday as well. Heaven only knows what we'll get into! It's no ordinary January, but that's ok. Nothing is ever really ordinary around here anyway.

So from an uncommon artist to my uncommon readers: Happy Creating!
-Carmen Rose

The Bathroom Gallery at Studio B.

This bathroom got a face lift back in July... I still can't believe the transformation! And I've been dressing it with artwork, little by little, ever since. I finally added a few details to it today and decided I was ready to share photos. So here's the grand tour of one vintage 1975 bathroom with an updated look and some cool art & accessories.

Welcome, come on in! As you turn into the bath from the hallway, this is what you'll see:
I made this quilt. Here are some of the stages that this quilt went through: Mid & Finished. It's all hand dyed cotton except for the unbleached muslin.
Turn a little to the left and check out the floating shelves we made. We bought a sheet of MDF and made them, they are available at Ikea as well but they don't ship them and the closest Ikea is too far away for casual visits. So instead of planing a pilgrimage, we made our own.
There is no window in this room, so the track lighting and the lights above the vanity are it. See the transformation post for photos of the new lighting.
It amazes me now beautifully this small painting works with the quilt. This is a piece by Melody Johnson and it's one of my favorite things in the whole wide world! (Her post about this painting is in her archives here, a ways down the page.) A friend of mine saw it and exclaimed that she wondered how Melody put a piece of my soul on her canvas.
These candle holders came out of my wood pile. After a quick visit with the chop saw downstairs, I had three. And I love it that one has a little branch sticking out. FYI, if you'd like to try this, make sure you use really well cured wood with no sap or bugs. Sap molds, and spiders spin webs and the combined result is rather unpleasant! =)
I collect fleur de lis, so when I saw this clock with the fleur de lis on the hour hand, I knew it needed to live at my house plus it is shaped like a clock I remember my father winding every night before bed. The poppy photograph is one I took ages ago by the side of the road when I took the scenic way home one day. I saw a cool old barn with all these poppys and slammed on my breaks. It was beautiful!
The little paintings are a series I did ages ago using fleur de lis as the focal point and working in all kinds of layered visual textures. And the rubber ducky is there because rooms shouldn't be too serious!
And of course there will be a piece of my hand painted art glass in the room - somewhere!
Turn more to the left and you'll find more work. The flash played tricks with the mirror reflections which is kind of cool because that way you can actually see the light fixtures! I just picked them out, I didn't create them.
These tiny little quilt has found a home here in the bathroom, I only very recently finished and framed it. Details here and here.
On the thermostat is this lovely little cardinal created using the limoges style of enamel work by my friend Judy Ligon. This little birdy is really something special in person, that's for sure!
And here is Vincent keeping my earrings and ring ready for me, what a doll! More of my hand painted art glass and a bar of soap I made.
That spot between the closet and the tub just needed something. And in keeping with my fleur de lis addiction, I pulled out this silver and copper piece I created some time ago. It's a bit big and bulky to wear, even for me. So I think it's new home will be on the wall rather than on my skin.
I'm very pleased with how it all the artwork works together and how the room turned out. Both bathrooms look good now, see photos of the facelift in the other bathroom.

Now for the rest of the house. =) Time to get crackin!

All in a Day's Work.

Day one of the facelift of my bathroom is underway. I decided against any serious renovations, the tub and vanity stays, I’m not going to install tile or replace the floor. This is just a facelift for the bathroom that will update our vintage 1975 house without costing much. One of these days we’ll do a real renovation but not now. I painted the walls and primed the trim, we painted the inside of the closet as well. Hubby took the doors off the hinges and primed them. We took the doors off of the vanity and I'll do my best to clean them up. He installed new GFI outlets and put on new switch plates. I hung the new shower curtain and we went shopping for new lighting, faucet and wood to frame out the mirror. And when we got home we installed the new TP holder. So far I love it.

Mom is coming tomorrow and we will paint trim and the vanity. We’ll start putting together some of the details and see if we can have it beautiful by evening. I want three towel racks but instead of just buying towel racks I have a few ideas, so we will see how that goes.

Photos coming, I'm trying to remember to document each step of the way. I love before and after photos!