I've Been Inspired.

A few weeks ago I wrote a post on "Pleeeze Inspire Me".  I finally have painted a few items....looks like I have been inspired.

I shared a couple of my finished projects with you in the past week or so and now here's another.

I found this kerosene can in one of my favorite vintage stores.  I've had it for a couple of years and for one reason or another kept passing it by when I would riffle through all of my paint-able goodies looking for something to work on. I finally pulled it off the shelf, looked through my stash of patterns and put the two together.  I think they made a great duo. As always it was a fun project to paint.   This is a design by Terrye French.

I think there is a process to selecting something to paint on, at least for me. Most times it goes like this:

I go to my favorite vintage/antique or thrift store to take a look around.  I don't really have anything in mind, I'm simply looking for something that will strike my fancy.  I take my time looking high and low since experience has proven that some of my best "finds" are hiding and not in plain sight.  I pick items up look them over (honestly, I am scrutinizing them), put them back on the shelf and continue my search. I generally keep those items in mind as I continue to browse.  Some days I walk out with  tons (well, that's a little exaggeration) of stuff and some days, I leave empty handed.  And sometimes, I can't get an item out of my mind so I make a mad dash back to the store the next day to purchase it, hoping and praying the whole way that it's not already sold.  That's the first step.

 Next, once I get home I lay out my treasures so I can see everything and I usually will leave them out for a few days while I think about the goodies and what they "might" become.  When I've decided on a couple of things I put everything else into my little storage area where they will patiently wait for their turn. Often while I am in the process of painting I will be thinking about those items and will often go take another one or two of them off the shelf and sit them on my studio table where I can study them more.

Lastly, I fit a design with a project.  That usually happens while I have the item sitting on my studio table.  After it has sat there for a while...sometimes even months, I finally see the finished product...well, not in reality but in my minds eye. I will fit the design to the project by tweaking the design, sometimes by removing part of the original design or by adding something different.

Regardless of how it all happens, the part I enjoy most is....painting it...of course.

Till Next Time

~willa~