Second Helpings

Apr 14 2014

Second Helpings: Painted Chairs

By melissasasichambers My Artist Home, Second Helpings

I don’t know what makes people think matched sets of things are so special. Personally, I prefer the intentionally mismatched. The sets where everything is the same, but different, like in SET, the game.

GOOD……………………………BETTER……………………..BEST:

So when I set up our new cosy dining room and we needed two more chairs to round up our seating capability to four I looked for a couple of “Windsors” to go with the two we already had. I found two which were similar — same rounded back, but smaller — giving me the kind of mismatched set I like the best.

Then I decided to paint them in entirely different ways.

The first, I painted black. You may have noticed by now, I love black as a background.

I painted glazed donuts with sprinkles as the motif. Better I should sit on them than the reverse, if you know what I mean!

I used acrylic paint and sealed with Minwax Polycrylic Sealer.

For the second chair I looked to my traffic box painting “Good Luck Sweet Cookie” for inspiration and cobbled together a variety of Chinese mofifs.

I used three shades of blue, and metallic copper acrylic paint and sealed it the same as the first chair.

I’m pretty sure the characters translate to “Do not sit on the Donuts.”

Second Helpings? Yes! The same but different? Yes!
Intentionally Mismatched? Yes!

SET!

Apr 03 2014

Second Helpings: Crab-Walker

By melissasasichambers Second Helpings

Every once in a while my art actually gets to serve a purpose beyond just looking good. I do decoratively paint things I use — boxes, spoons, chairs, doors, floors even — but this item has turned out to be useful in a way I didn’t anticipate when I painted it a couple of years ago.

Ladies and Germs, the Crab-Walker…

Yep. That’s a walker. A pretty cool one actually. It has wheels and brakes, and a cushy seat which hides a removable wire basket for carrying your picnic or art supplies.

Marilyn Cosho gave it to me on the off chance I might want to paint it for a show we both participated in called “Helpers” which was sponsored by IPUL as the opening exhibit at the CAAC.

Evidently it’s not the sort of thing art collectors collect however, so after the show, and a stint hanging around IPUL, it came back to my house where it provided alternative patio seating for the most adventurous of my guests.

Now it turns out this unintended Second Helping is really, truly “helpful” and even more serendipitously, “zodiacalogically appropriately” helpful because it now belongs to a Cancer!

So if you see the Crab-Walker and its new owner while you’re out and about in Boise give them a shout out, but don’t distract the walker. Service Second Helpings need to stay focused!

And to its new owner let me just add — Swift Recovery! I hope this makes it easier for you to “Walk-n-Roll” until your broken wing has mended!

Feb 24 2014

Second Helpings: Tourist Tapestry Pillows

By melissasasichambers Second Helpings

I think of these “Tourist Travesties”…er, “Tapestries” as being the equivalent of paintings on black velvet for your floor. Not that anybody actually ever uses them as rugs. Come to think of it, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen them truly “used” at all. At least not the kinds that depict scenes of nature or far off exotic places.

When I was in college I had several mini “oriental rugs” in my dorm room, and I did use those on my floor. I wish I could find some of them now, they would make great pillows.

Anyway, what makes these “tapestries” Second Helpings is that I cut them into sections and paint and sequin designs onto those sections, and then turn them into pillows. Uno, dos, tres chic!

This is a set of four I made from a lovely sky, mountain, forest and water vista. Mother Nature would be so proud.

I first painted (using acrylic paint mixed with textile medium so the paint would remain flexible and not crack), and then sequined, the symbols for Earth:

Air:

Water:

and Yin/Yang, which represents the whole catastrophe:

I have also made a set from a technicolor Indian tapestry including a Taj Mahal-esque edifice and a peacock:

You can get quite a few pillows out of one “tapestry.” I buy inserts at a fabric store like JoAnn’s and personally prefer square, but you can buy your inserts first and tailor your tapestry’s image to fit your sensibility.

Now that I know what to do with these “Tourist Tapestries” do you think I can find even one with dogs playing poker? Or a sword wielding bullfighter? Or swooning Mayan virgin?

I know, the hunt is half the fun, but if you’ve got ’em and don’t want ’em, now you know who does!

Feb 10 2014

Second Helpings: Sewing Birds

By melissasasichambers Second Helpings

Sewing birds have got to be my favorite Second Helpings objects to paint. I had no idea they even existed until a couple of years ago when my friend Marilyn brought me one she had for me to fancy up.

This is that first bird:

Your scissors make the beak and topknot, there are padded wings to use as pin cushions, places to put your spools of thread, and a little drawer for your thimbles or the odd button.

They’re so sweet they make your teeth hurt just to look at them!

I don’t find sewing birds very often but now I always buy them when I stumble upon one. I found these two at my favorite secondhand store soon after finishing Marilyn’s bird. Makes me wonder how many I missed before I knew to look for them.

Dagnabit.

You may remember my finding this tweetheart a few months ago when you see this BEFORE picture:

And here are the AFTER photos in sequence as I painted the entire bird with acrylic paint — including the felt wings which were painted with acrylic paint mixed with Textile Medium so the paint won’t crack.

When I was finished with all the colors and detail I wanted to add I sealed it with a coat of Minwax Polycrylic Sealer.

I even got a brand new pair of pink sewing scissors to complete the look! Who’s a fancy bird now!

So keep your eyes peeled for the odd objects, the misfit toys, the ugly ducklings — they make for the most spectacular transformations. And if you honestly don’t know what to do with them, just pass them on to me. I paint everything!

Feb 02 2014

Second Helpings: Painted Lady, Woodstock, IL

By melissasasichambers Holidaze, Second Helpings

Today for Second Helpings, it’s Deja vu all over again!

I mentioned a few posts back that we lived in Woodstock, IL and that I had had the pleasure of transforming a humdrum Victorian into a standout Painted Lady. That house is today’s secondhand transformation.

This is what the house looked like from the side before we made the dramatic changes to the color scheme:

And here’s a view of the same side after I boldly chose to go where no one had gone for one hundred years!

So you’re thinking OK, you’ll allow as how an old house can be considered secondhand (I think we were actually it’s third owners) and since I do “paint everything” it qualifies as one of my art projects. But even taking into account my love of word play and visual puns — February second, secondhand, second hand on the clock…. What the heck does my Painted Lady have to do with Groundhog Day?

Well here’s the thing. The movie starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell, which actually happened to be one of Mike’s and my favorites long before we ever moved there, was made in Woodstock, IL. True story.

And even cooler than that, the street that the “Bed & Breakfast” that Bill Murray stays in was three houses down from our house:

The movie filmed in 1993 and we didn’t move there until 10 years later, but there were still annual tours on February 2nd through town and once I looked out my window to see Stephen Tobolowsky (“Needle-nose Ned”) leading a small group past our house to the “B & B” at the end of the block.

Here’s a picture taken probably sometime in February. See icicles, and the snow on the hedge?

I think the groundhog must have seen his shadow every February 2nd because winter always lasted a very long time in Woodstock, IL.

In spite of the cold, Woodstock was a wonderful village to live in. Our house was only four blocks from the town square and I made many friends in the too short time we called it home. They’ve probably forgiven me by now for shaking up tradition with my more colorful approach!

So for February 2nd, my Second Helpings how-to advice is Shake it Up, and Make it Colorful, and do it TODAY. Because as Bill Murray says in the the movie: “Well what if there is no tomorrow? There wasn’t one today.”