Chalk Paint, easy project or not?

A friend of mine has been working on a wonderful project lately, painting her bedroom furniture with chalk paint. I had been curious about this magical paint for some time, so it was with great delight that I took her up on her offer to try the paint for a project of my own. 

I thought that an old white shelf with a set of hooks, which had been a thrift-shop find and had been languishing in a cupboard for a few years, would be a perfect small project for my first foray into chalk paint.

The marvelous thing about chalk paint is that you do not have to prepare the surface of whatever you are painting in any way. So after a coat of duck egg blue paint it was time to let the piece dry, which takes less than half an hour. 

 Once the paint is dry, you brush on a coating of clear wax, then buff it lightly with a clean rag or some paper towels. If you want a nice clean finish then there is no need to go further, your piece is done. If, however, you want to age the piece a little, you brush on some dark brown wax, then wipe it off a little until you achieve the desired result.

Once you have added the brown wax to all the places you want it, you finish with another coat of clear wax.  Then you buff the entire surface until the finish has a nice sheen. For this step I placed a shoe polish brush into an old sock to use for the buffing. It was fast and efficient.

  

And that is all there is to it.  There are other techniques to create a distressed look, and you can find loads of helpful instructions online.All that was left was to choose some photos to pop in and hang it up.  A very easy way to obtain very satisfactory  and quick results.

Tree Art

I was whizzing along the bicycle path on my way to work when I spotted what looked like artwork. As I cycled home that afternoon, I stopped to investigate and took these photos.

Sure enough, a landscape (signed and dated: J.L. 11/07/11) had been painted on the surface of a tree where a large limb had been cut. We have lost a lot of trees lately to high winds and I guess the artist saw an opportunity to display their art. Located at a fork in the path, there is a lot of "foot and pedal" traffic so the spot is good for reaching a lot of viewers.

What I didn't realise at first, but have since confimed, was that the artist had painted the scene they saw from that vantage point, looking out over the water as the sun was setting on the Ottawa River one evening.

A Different Perspective

I first noticed this painting in the window of the local thrift shop on one of my lunch hour jaunts. I was immediately drawn to it, feeling as though I was there underneath the snow-laden boughs, peeking out at the landscape that lay beyond. The snowy canopy reminded me of one from a particular afternoon walk along a trail when I had emerged from under a group of pine trees laden with clumps of snow, blue-shadowed in just the same way. I was so taken with the scene that I felt compelled to go into the shop (which doesn't take much prodding, truth be told, when it's a thrift shop) and fished it out of the window, to check the artist. As I suspected, it was Lawren Harris, one of Canada's Group of Seven. It is a partial view of his 1915 "Snow II".

What I didn't expect though, was the discovery that the painting had been placed upside down in the display. And right-side up, the scene was not nearly as interesting to me, just a group of snowy trees. What I took to be the trunks of the two trees at the centre are actually the tips. What I thought was snowy ground was actually the sky. Disappointed, I replaced the painting, careful to put it back in the window right-side up.

A few days later I was passing by the window and noticed that someone had shifted the whole display. The painting had been moved over a little and again was upside down. How peculiar. What is it about this painting that makes people see it so differently than they way it was painted?

Taking this as an omen, I decided to buy it (not really a major purchase at $1.99). The painting is a reminder to keep an open mind, to try and see things in different ways. Maybe we should all turn the artwork in our homes upside down now and then, just to see things from a different perspective.