The life size Magnolias painted on this side table look real enough to inhale their delicate aroma! It looks as if you could just stroke the petals and feel the leathery character of the blossoms. This small pale pink table was my first time experimenting with a diffuse background to suggest a distant backdrop. The art is only about a foot square. The table was purchased new from an unpainted furniture store. This piece is one of my all time favorites.
This single peach colored rose is quite dramatic on its nearly black background. It is painted on an oval wooden plaque which is six inches tall. Look closely and you will see a honeybee hovering just below the flower.
This small side table is painted with a faux marble surface and trompe l’oeil jade beads that appear to have been casually dropped there. The necklace looks ready to scoop up and put on, doesn’t it? The key is in the shadows! The table has graceful legs with carved knees which I gilded gold. I included a photo here of the faux marble surface before I painted the beads. This now charming table was a rescue from a tag sale and it looked unsalvageable when I took it home. It had been painted with such thick black paint that the drips could almost be peeled off! I stripped it and sanded it. The broken trim on one side had been ridiculous attached with a hot glue gun! Needless to say I removed it, cleaned it up, molded a little missing length and reattached it so well that even I am not sure which side I fixed!
This little vintage table and chairs were painted in bright colors with a realist painting of one of the famous locomotives that met at the ‘golden spike’ when the Transcontinental Railroad was completed.
