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3.13.2013

floribundance

 in my last post, i shared images of this painting made entirely from flowers.
which i think is a really fun idea... and then i realized that it reminded me of something...

long before i ever saw that, i created something a bit similar.
and it all happened because of a very ugly painting...
 i'm sorry, but that's ugly.

i realize that the woman who painted the orange poppies did so in the 1970's, 
when orange and avocado and harvest gold were all the rage.
not so much in 2009, when i was given the painting.
[it wasn't a gift, it was a 'it's going in the trash, or you can have it' thing]

i stared at the thing for a few days as it sat in the corner of my studio,
often wondering of there was ANY hope at all for it.
[if i faced the same dilemma today, i'd slather the thing with chalkboard paint, like i did here !]

as happened regularly in my studio, things got placed in piles and baskets
to be used in future projects...
and one day, i moved a basket filled with vintage flowers and sat it in front of the ugly painting.

i walked away, then turned back to grab something...
and it looked like the flowers were arching forward off of the canvas.

and a light bulb went on in my head!
 why not attach the flowers TO the painting,
like a 3-D sculpture?

so here's what i did, using what i already had on hand:
 no way that orange was workin' for me,
so i painted OVER the orange poppies with white acrylic paint.
i left the dark centers alone, though.

i also went over the 'tabletop' in the painting with a wash of white - 
just enough to change the color, but let a bit of the 'wood' effect show through.
 then i took some vintage sheet music and book pages, 
and cut them to fit OVER the shapes of the vase and pitcher in the original painting.
[i used regular white glue to attach them]
 
above that, i added some lovely flower seed packets and a snippet of a song.

then i glued on some paper lace trim and some vintage gold wallpaper scraps - 
a medallion on the vase and some torn strips at the top of the 'wall' behind the flowers.

and then, i used hot glue to start adding the floral elements: 
flowers made from vintage crepe paper, moss, tiny silk blossoms & leaves, and pearls

 berries, more moss, tiny blossoms & leaves, and vintage-look flower buttons

all of the elements were added in a placement that made it look like 
they were spilling out of and over the edges of the vase in the foreground
and rising out of the pitcher in the background.

 the floral details were all in a pale green & white and 'gold' palette,
so that the background and leaves of the original painting coordinated.

 this side-view shows how the flowers pop out of the canvas.

and the finished painting looked like this:
 

 just because we ALL love 'before and after' shots
let's look at them side by side:

wow!
it's a great way to give a new look to something old - perfect for Spring!

 i don't have that 'refreshed' painting anymore,  
[so please excuse the questionable lighting - i couldn't re-shoot]
but just looking at this project makes me want to get another old floral still life painting
and do it again, in a different style!


1 comment:

  1. Well, look at the difference in THAT! Very cute take off on an inspirational idea! xo Diana

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