Toad in a Boat

I know I said I’d be showing a watercolor for this week’s Paint Party Friday and I did do one, but it’s a boring one so I’m showing this work in progress instead. Sorry for the glare. It’s oils and still wet. This still has a long way to go but I’ll have to set it aside for a few days to dry before I can do more. The trumpet and the shirt are just roughed in. I think some of those wrinkles in the shirt are taking attention away from the center of interest, so I’ll probably lose some of them. This little canvas is only 8″x10″ so I’m trying to keep the background simple.

Happy Monday! I spent the weekend with my parents and Grandma and brought this little ceramic figurine home with me. It is Felix the Cat. He’s lived in Grandma’s kitchen window for as long as I can remember. He’s faded and worn and a lot of his paint has rubbed off, but I think he is utterly charming. We found some old Felix cartoons on video when my son was young and he loved them. He used to draw pictures of Felix for me. Felix has always been welcome at our house.

This week I’ve been doing an entirely different kind of painting. I painted my armoire! The knotty pine has been getting on my nerves for years but we couldn’t afford to replace it. This armoire holds our TV, Wii, dvd recorder, and lots of other junk. I used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Aubusson Blue and antiqued it with the dark wax. I love the blue against this caramel colored wall. The walls were this color when we moved in. This room has 12′ ceilings so Hubby said painting the room was not an option. I’ve grown to like the color, though.

I replaced the wooden knobs for bronze ones. The hinges were brass but Lowes didn’t have ones that worked like these so I spray painted the hinges and the screws with Rustoleum Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint for metal. The hardware has 46 screws! I didn’t think I’d ever get them all back in.

And while painting, I noticed that this same color is in my Furtive Dryad painting. The other colors in the painting look good in there, too. I think I will get it framed and hang it in the room. I hope the Paint Party Friday ladies won’t mind this little detour into home dec painting this week. Next week will be a watercolor.

If you want to see more home dec projects, check out Transformation Thursday at the shabby Creek Cottage and the Shades of Amber link party.