Fun Little Painting Projects

These are just a few more "smaller" items that we created for the Syracuse Arts & Crafts Festival, then I promise, I will shut my mouth and close the book on this show.  

That is....until next year!

First up, this cute little toy chest (tire not included)!  

This was actually purchased from Micheal's Craft Store.  Not sure if they are even in stock anymore, but when I saw it, I knew it would be a wonderful addition to our craft show merchandise.

It was sort of plain on the front so we added the plaque for some visual interest.  Then I decided to do owls and birds across the front, because lets face it, who can resist little woodland creatures, right?  

Plus, owls are BIG this year people!  I sold out of all my "owl things" the first day at the show!  

So, paint an owl on something and it's sure to be very lucrative!

Next up, was this adorable school chair!  

Last month my friends and I went down to the Everson Museum's annual Flea Market.  We had a lot of fun!  I was really stoked when we found this pair of chairs salvaged from The Syracuse City Schools. 

The one on the left was in mint condition-the one on the right-we're still nursing back to health.  

I painted it as if I were painting a seat for my own little girl (who is older now, and probably wouldn't even fit in it or paint it purple with flowers for that matter). But I pulled out the purples and pinks anyway! 

As always I used Benjamin Moore paints; 

Seduction 1399 Snugglepuss 1405 Crocus 1404 Island Sunset 1346 and Pink Cherub 2079

I free handed the flower design on the top and coordinated with matching patterns.  The end result...

And the next piece was this remake.  

I didn't take BEFORE pictures! I really wanna punch myself in the face when I do that, but I still wanted to share with you the end result.  So, close your eyes and imagine with me...

It was a cold dreary night as Maggie and I headed down an old dirt road...no, not really, but I was just trying to create a little bit of drama while you had your eyes closed.  

No, we actually found this piece at a good old fashion garage sale. It had a large, unsightly veneer piece around the table top, just underneath the lip, which was split and chipped.  We immediately pulled that off.  Then the feet were broken, with only one large claw foot making it very unstable.  So, we sawed off the one remaining foot , which made it balance correctly.  

I then added a finial in the middle to secure the legs in place.  There had obviously been a piece there but it was now missing-so voila-an instant center piece from my basket of finials!

Okay, so that's it-for the 2013 Festival!  But, don't be too sad because we have more items on deck (or on my dinning room table I should say).  We have a couple antique rockers, a few LARGE mirrors, a desk, a dresser (although that's not ON my dinning room table, just beside it) and so much more (and yes just in case you're wondering my dinning room is a part time storage unit).

Comic Inspired Coffee Tables

As most of you know, I have a certain way of doing things, a certain style, as all artists do.  But sometimes you get in a rut . Doing the same things, over and over.  During the past 4 months I must say, I have hit that wall.  I love my Etsy store, I do, and it is a great source of income for my family BUT I tend to do, the same things over and over.  And with wedding season in full swing people are ordering these jewelry boxes constantly.  

And although miniature pieces of art in their own right, they tend to be more design driven by the customer.

Again, I am not complaining, okay maybe....just...whining a bit...BUT only because I miss doing fun and funky pieces.  Larger pieces, pieces where there are no restrictions, where I can just let the piece of furniture speak to me and come alive with color!!!!  YES, I just went there.  

When Maggie first brought these tables home (a big score from the side of the road)  I knew immediately what I wanted to do with them.  

I am a huge fan of pop art, especially the art of Roy Lichtenstein.  I've always wanted to do one of his pieces on my furniture and I thought these matching end tables would be the perfect canvas!

So, I Googled a variety of pictures, posters, items he had had done, and came up with these two images.

Now, although I can draw, it is not my strongest creative quality, plus, don't tell anyone, but I can be a bit impatient and take the easy way, I mean quickest way, out sometimes.  

So, I printed these images out onto paper,

Then used a projector to trace them onto the newly primed surface (another great "cheat" tool for us lazy impatient people).

created a big coloring page, almost like when we were little, but instead of Crayola Crayons, I used  Benjamin Moore Paints 

(Red 2000-10, Admiral Blue 2065-10 and Bold Yellow 336).

The final product....

I was so excited when they sold at The Syracuse Arts & Crafts Festival!  The customer who purchased them was so excited himself which made me even more excited, which...well you get the gist.  He said he just had to have them. YEAH!  I love when someone is excited to get one of my pieces-as weird as it sounds I'm happy knowing it's going to a good home! Hahaha!

Lots more projects coming down the pipe, so stay tuned!  In the mean time catch us on FaceBook, or Pinterest!  Tootles!

Sharing with my friends at...

BeColorful

2013 Syracuse Arts & Crafts Festival

This was our second year doing the arts and crafts festival in (downtown) Syracuse, NY. It's all part of Syracuse's ARTsweek sponsored by the Downtown Committee. If you live in, by, or have even been to downtown during this event, you know how vast and wonderful it can be.  Just to give you an overview; There were close to 200 artists this year, a huge variety of food vendors and live daily performances.  

Here's a look at last years show just to give you an idea.

   This year (as always) Syracuse University had a  used book store,

photo from Syracuse.com

there were various classes that you could take, where local artists taught the public their craft,  

Photo: Syracuse.com/Post Standard

and there was even a sidewalk chalk contest/event.  

photo: Syrscuase.com/Posts Standard

Even the littlest characters participated!  

photo: Syracuse.com/Post Standard

                        I took more photos after the event.  How talented are these individuals, right! 

                                                               Can I get an Amen!

And if things just couldn't get any better, The North East Jazz & Wine Festival is during this time as well, so you can imagine the hoopla that goes on downtown-IT'S FABULOUS! Our local news did a couple different broadcast about it, one of which is here.  

In our little corner of the world there was a lot of activity too!  When we arrived to set up that morning, it was a bit chaotic to say the least.  Maggie and I always have a small disagreement about how the tent goes up (seriously, Maggie and I do a lot of things great together, but this my friends, is not one of them), we were only aloud to pull our van onto the street and unload everything within 10 minutes and then we forgot our screwdriver!  

Sigh...but as always we got it worked out.  

We got the tent up, with the flaps backwards of course (but that would be another project, left for the evening pack-up) we borrowed a screwdriver from a friend and then managed to sort through our goods (which had been dropped off in a hurry).  We were finally ready to present ourselves to the world.

 ON TIME! Yeah us!

The second day the weather was just beautiful!  St Paul's Cathedral offered a free continental breakfast to all the vendors, which I thought was pretty darn cool of them, because we were starving!

We had done pretty well our first day and even better on Saturday!  

These were big sellers, believe it or not.

We sold a couple of our larger items that day as well.  Those you'll see in some upcoming posts.  I'll show you the "before they were stars "photos next week.

Me trying to get his darn table together!  Okay, I'll admit it, I threw out the original hardware and we spent the next 3 days (after the show) looking for the correct screws to put it together! Maggie finally found the correct ones, so the piece was ready for sale by Sunday.

BUT

on the 3rd and final day....it looked like this!

We moved the furniture and the set up, about 4 times to avoid the perpetual rain fall, but around 2 the rain stopped and traffic started moving again. 

Then just around 5, when we had packed up for the day, it started to pour AGAIN! LOL!  That's Syracuse my friends and the chances you take doing out door shows.  

I'm excited to say though, I made two sales after the event and have a couple large, commissioned pieces that I have agreed to do, all because people saw me here.  So, I guess the networking part of this whole thing pays off rain or shine.  

Check out my friends who were also at the show!

Art by Nyland and Sweet Lemonade Boutique

Now, onto the wedding!  Which, as y'all know, is August 9th-Hahahaha! Oh my God, this summer has been crazy!

Oh, by the way...this is our new logo for The Decorative Paintbrush!  What do you think?  Remember, we do take "Everyday things and turn them into art!"  

Take a minute to check us out on FaceBook, Pinterest or LinkedIn for all the updates and goings on, and we always have something going on people :D

Happy Painting!

Mary