This small vintage side table is a whole new direction for me. The request was for something subtle and sophisticated. I used the client’s fondness for giraffes as my inspiration and suggested an animal skin motif in a neutral grey to match her decor. The straw colored stripe is both an echo of the natural color of a giraffe and of the color on an adjacent focus wall in the home. Yes, there is a signature dragon fly on the back…
This is Avis. She is resting on a dining room chair, completely focused on her owner. I painted her portrait on a stone which is approximately 8″ X 5″ oval.
This box was handmade by a man in the 1920’s as a gift for his new step daughter. He wanted it to be for her doll clothes. In the summer of 2017 I was asked to restore and brighten the box before it was presented as a holiday gift to the grandniece of the original maker. Although I was given free reign I did not want to ruin the integrity of the piece. I could see Pine trees and Native American influences in his precise geometric patterns. As you can see in the two “before” pictures, the gold colored edging was blackened or totally gone, and many areas of paint were also worn away. I matched and freshened the colors and put fresh gold paint on all the edges. The inside cover was lined with glued-on bright pink foil paper (not shown), and so too was the removable tray . Most of the foil paper was in bad shape and I removed it, but I chose to keep it inside the tray in tribute to the box’s history. A serious crack in the structure of the lid needed strong glue. I learned the box had been created in Oregon and I searched for images that would evoke its origins. I found multiple photos of a landscape attributed to the Pacific Northwest and used them to create a scene which pulls in the colors from the outside of the box. Sunflowers and Lupines are native to the area as is the California Dog Face butterfly.
This charming side table began life as an Early American style nightstand. I painted it a cool grey and created a faux marble surface on both the top and lower shelf. On the upper surface I depicted a delicate trompe L’oeil china cake plate with a butter knife, as if crackers and cheese had just been consumed. I left the back corner of the top marble surface free for a lamp as the client asked. On the lower shelf I painted my favorite children’s book, a little battered with love just as my own copy is. (To my delight, my toddler granddaughter tried very hard to pick it up!!) Serendipitously I found a graceful vintage handle to replace the original clunky wooden one. I think it matches my plate perfectly, don’t you agree?
