Looking Back on Other Types of Creativity

Well, I'm still kickin' (but the cough is ready to either expel a lung or cause me to herniate a disc in my back!!)

Today I was doing the base work for some faux painting at a friends house. A couple of years ago, I decided that I needed a break from Physical Therapy and thought that I would enjoy going into the Faux Painting/mural business. Yeah...well, here is reality. I like to paint. I like to faux paint and paint murals. But I DON'T like having to do it for a living (snort). Painting is a LOT of work. Up TALL ladders. Reaching/balancing where one should not try to reach and/or balance (at least not ONE who has developed a thing about heights in her old age...) Anyway!! I digress.

Now, I love the look of a very subtle faux finish on a wall. It covers a lot of construction sins and even painting sins (or as the case may be at my house, lots of little boy handprints along EVERY wall that they pass). But there is one problem with trying to photograph such a subtle look with a point and shoot digital camera. Doesn't work. Or I should say, I can't get a photograph to show the slight details that make the paint job a "wow" when you enter the room. So, today I thought I would share a project that I did during this exploration of being a painter. This is a Trompe L'Oeil project for a little girl's secret room. The mother wanted it to be like her own little secret "house". Now the goal was to make this something that she would continue to enjoy even as she got older~a "retreat". So, I tried not to make it too "cutesy".

You enter into the "house" by going into the closet (the room was just a storage room over the attic~~ ONE little light bulb....no other source of light). The first picture shows the "front door"(painted to look like it has panels) and the "brick" of the house and the planter by the door

(this was a slider closet...not much room to try and take a good picture!) The next picture shows the inside of the "front" door

The little girl wanted her house colors to be purple and yellow. So the "wall paper" was a very light lavendar with yellow roses on it (also a request) The next picture shows the "bedroom area. The chest was painted to look like a ruffle of a bed (the mom was going to have a cushion made for the top)

The next photo shows the "back door (just a door that goes over the garage).

Close up of the potted flowers that are on the "back porch"

And the fireplace that is next to the door. Now, there is a couple of cool details about this fireplace. One: the "logs" are truely dimensional. I painted some paper and then rolled the logs and glazed the goop out of them to make them stick in the fireplace. Two: That is a REAL little shelf/mantle over the fireplace. At Christmas time, the girl hung garland over the mantle! Too cute!

(Again, I apologize for the glare. I had to use my work light to try and get this picture. )

The favorite part of this whole room for me was the "breakfast nook". I just loved how this window turned out.

(since the fireplace was going full blast, I had to have this be "early spring" with some snow on those hills!)

A close up shot of the hills (horses were also a request) ETA: I think that you can click on any of the pictures to get a better idea of some of the Trompe L'Oeil details)

Thanks for stopping by!

Hope you didn't mind this little detour from stamping. Like I said, this blog is exploring different mediums of creativity and painting is one of those creative worlds that I do enjoy.

I will return with a card on the next post!!