Nippon Vase and Roses, Oil on Canvas, 1985

Well, its been a number of years since I painted this one--25 years ago.  I painted it for Dean and Pauline Jansen.  The antique Nippon vase has been in their family for a long time.  I was nervous handling the vase, and the first thing I did was to paint the vase and get it back to Dean and Pauline.  I have photographs of this canvas with only the Nippon vase completely painted and mysteriously floating in the center of the canvas.  

Dean and Pauline raised 11 children.  I painted a rose for each one, plus two more for Dean and Pauline.  But 13 didn't seem right, so I painted a few more. 

A NEW BEGINNING

I'm learning a painting technique--called The Carder Method.  It will be quite different from dry brush and glazing techiques I used to employ.  I am optimistic I can learn the Carder Method and bring my work to a higher level.  I plan to be sitting at the easel in my studio the first week of January.  Ah yes, a new beginning!

Getting the art studio ready is like crawling to the finish line.  There's shingling to finish, insulation, drywall, electrical, flooring, heating, lighting, and window treatments to sew to get it ready.  There's so much to do it is almost painful. 

We never get bored here at home.  Jon has at least five lists going at one time.  I prefer one list at a time.

Recycling a Couple Library Card File Crendenzas

My neighbor friend gave me these two identical card file credenzas.  Wow, what great storage for the art studio and sewing room.  120 drawers of storage space to hold everything from tubes of oil paints & brushes, to sewing notions.  Drawers will be easy to label. 

Above, you can see I've started to remove brass fixtures and will buff them up just a bit to feel clean to the touch.  I sanded some of the drawers this evening.  When the drawers are done-I'll remove them, then sand the frame, prime everything, and finish with two coats of satin black.

I think they'll look smashing, and the function is over-the-top perfect for me.

Above, check out the legs, ewwwww--they're going bye-bye.  Without the legs, the credenza is 29" tall, perfect table-top height to add laminate countertop in my sewing space. 

The 2 credenzas ares each 66" long.  I'll put one credenza in the sewing room (west dormer), and the other credenza DH Jon will built a box platform to raise it to 35 countertop height for the north end of the studio--lots of room for supplies, tubes of paint, brushes, etc.

I hope to have this project done before the end of the week.  I'll drop a few "finished" photos, so you can see.