Queen Room Update and A Kitty

A couple of posts ago, I included a picture of an armoire in the Queen Room that I was all set to repaint.  I had decided on Annie Sloan chalk paint with a wax coat to follow so I went to Vintage Chic Boutique in Newburyport MA to buy the paint (it's only sold in company selected shops).  I bought some paint but what really caught my eye was a large dresser and mirror recently painted in the same color I had chosen for the armoire - Versailles.  The armoire in the Queen Room is lovely but not ideal for a guest room and we had only placed it there because the room needed a place for clothes and bedding (for guests) and we didn't have a spare dresser.  I came home and told Dan that the dresser was an even better idea than repainting the armoire so we went back a couple days later to check it out again and decided to buy it.  I am so glad we did because it is perfect for the space and it really opened up and brightened what is the darkest room in the house!

Day and night shots of the former layout.  Now look at the dresser in there below!

 Note the large potpourri bowl on the dresser - it smells divine!

Early in the fall I had painted the orange flower picture you see to the right of the mirror.  On the wall to the left is a picture I recently found in an antique shop for $15 - an oil painting done by a man in 1965.  It was sold as is, cheap, because some of the paint had chipped off.  What drew me to the painting is the bright color and the Matisse style that I love - two dimensional and colorful.   Yesterday I got out my oils and got the color matched and restored the background and some of the brown table.  I love it!  Here's a close up below.

I recently completed a painting that has become a favorite - I've never painted an animal before so I was filled with trepidation at doing so.  I wanted a cat to appear barely out of the shadow of a dark room so most of it would be in silhouette.  I nailed it when I concentrated on just negative spaces instead of true features.  The hubbard squash was a lot more challenging for me than the cat!  I have that painting hanging now in the King Room and I go in there and look at it several times a day because the cat seems so real to me, like it's really alive and here in our house.  And the closest we'll get to owning a cat I think.

As well as painting more, I have continued with sewing classes.  I just finished a circle skirt for spring/summer that actually fits me and turned out great.  My next sewing project is a 3/4 sleeve boatneck tee shirt later this month.  I want to put a plug in for Pintuck & Purl in Exeter.  What a wonderful new sewing and yarn store!  Maggie, the owner, is so talented and patient and I just love learning from her and I think her store is a great resource for our community.

 I need to iron it!

Pocket detail.

Now, en fin, my current project going on right now is a series of four butterfly paintings to hang as a set.  All will be different, not too realistic, just colorful and fun to look at.  The shot below is just the beginnings of number one.  So I'm off to paint and listen to Pandora Pink Martini on this glorious snowy, beautiful day!