Tag Archives: Original Surface

Stones and Feathers on a Bench

This charcoal-black single-seater bench is painted in Trompe L’oeil style with a collection of stones, slate, mica and natural crystal scattered on top.   The bowl and the turtle are carved from stone as well.  For a little something organic I painted two feathers and an autumn leaf.  Of course there is a little lady bug, can you find it?  If you are interested in having me paint something similar to this piece please send me an email or leave a comment.

Caribbean Octopus

Another fun request from a client!! Who knew Octopi could be so colorful, changing colors like a chameleon. This Caribbean Octopus is painted on the slats on the top level of a three shelf shoe rack.  I eased the color down the sides of the slats so that even viewed from an angle the picture is continuous.  Final destination of the piece is a summer home in the Caribbean, how perfect!

Woodland Vintage Icebox

This vintage icebox was covered with thick red paint when it was brought to me.  After much discussion the owner chose to have it professionally stripped.  When it was paint free we found this gorgeous wood underneath so we scrapped the original plans to paint it an all-over color, opting just to embellish it.  We chose a woodland theme with critters, wild flowers and other flora.  Where I could, I used the wood grain as part of my design, see how the there are rings of ‘water’ near the Loon?  The Pine cone and Maple seeds are painted in Trompe L’oeil  style but the latch and hinges are real. I painted one of my favorite wild flowers, Blue Chickory,  climbing up the sides.

After Walking the Dog table

This little table is about 12″ square and 3 feet tall. It is painted in Trompe L’oeil style to look like someone has left behind evidence of walking the dog.   Looking down on the top of the table you see the leash that was ‘dropped’ there along with a few pretty stones which the walker collected. The leash was painted to resemble the actual leash owned by the client.  One of the stones on the table top is a piece of soapstone, another is river polished marble.   On the lower shelf is the old tennis ball the dog was playing with, along with a maple leaf.   I used the original red surface and only embellished it with objects.  Just a little surprise; ants crawling up the side! Have you noticed I try to have some sort of critter somewhere in everything I paint?   Sometimes you will find a lady bug or dragon fly beside my signature, which in this case is inside the drawer.