(Note: This posting somehow got lost in some sort of shuffle, so I'm re-posting it for another week.)
A few years back, I was on a whirl, hand-painting new pieces of unpainted furniture. I'd sand them down, apply stain or paint (depending), sand again, then put on two or three coats of sealer. These included a dish cupboard, chair, night stand, CD holder, bathroom bureau, kitchen stool, two benches, two bookcases, and a tall, narrow food cupboard on which I incorporated a distressed, Italian look.
The two pieces below, with their splotchy paint technique, were supposed to exemplify "the Santa Fe look." (Or, my interpretation of it, color choice and all.)
Particularly successful were the two benches and nightstand (below) for which I meticulously reproduced copies of artwork that I found especially appealing. A Persian mosaic, a Navajo blanket, and a Chinese lacquer dish.
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| A Persian mosaic pattern |
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| I used a black walnut stain on the rest of the bench. |
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| Chief White Antelope Blanket pattern |
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| A country-pine stain |
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| A Ming Dynasty lobed dish with peony design |
Working on one piece in particular (the bathroom bureau below), I thoroughly enjoyed the freedom of using the wood-grain to dictate the design ... turning the three drawers into seascapes. One drawer each for a morning, afternoon, and evening scene.
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| Seascape bureau: top is a morning sea; middle is mid-day sand and surf; bottom is soft evening light on the water. |
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In all of these, I only used water-based paint and/or wood stain. Plus a variety of colors in hobby-size bottles of water-based acrylic paint.
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