February Workshops

This noon I finally got around to updating my workshops for February. I posted them in the Events & Workshops tab (above) and on my website if you are interested.

Last Saturday, I taught a furniture painting/3 technique workshop to Janice, a very lovely and very creative woman. She decided to paint a shelf in Provence with the Rustic Waxed technique. I love the way the color looks with a rustic finish and the dark wax. Beautiful!

Janice loved her results, and so did I! Around 4:00 pm, closing time, I was feeling very feverish and weak. Little did I know I was consumed with this awful, torturous flu. I have honestly never, ever had a flu that was unrelenting in its grip. I have been in bed all week, still am, and tonight I still am fighting a semi-high fever. I cannot get it to go away! Just when I think I might be getting better and I go downstairs "pretending" I am well, it is within a matter of minutes I am back in bed.

Some of you may know I have three cats. They all have loved having me home. For a person who never takes a nap, they all think this is such a marvelous change in their lives. No only am I home, I am in bed constantly! They are in for a jolt when I finally get back on my feet because I am never one to sit still unless I am sitting by the fire reading a book. And then they invariably find my lap a nice place to be cozy as long as I am residing there.

This is my man, Solon, the one who has greeted and helped anyone who walked in the door all week. He has the perfect Southern hospitable manner, bar none, and patience galore. I have to thank him here in this forum because many of my customers read this blog. I had originally hoped to get to my shop no later than Wednesday, but little did I realize the fierceness of this virus. Now I am shooting for Tuesday. I hope I make it. Solon needs a break too! Thank you for all your patience in my absence.

Peggy Del Rosario's: An Autumn Open House

Welcome to the world of Peggy Del Rosario, an amazing artist that has created a world enveloped in beauty, elegance, and old world style. Peggy opened her home for five very special hours today and invited people to view her immense talent, experience her warmth and flair for living, and visualize a space that achieves balance, beauty, character, and comfort in every single corner of her surroundings. Included were special offerings of collections from various women who share Peggy's love of luscious surroundings and special finds.

Peggy's back garden is an oasis of privacy and serenity and elegance. Amidst this in the foreground is the most wonderful Asian pear tree abundant with fruit. One wonders if it is really Oregon or could it be France or Italy, the European feel is so pronounced and rich.

As you enter through the front, you would never have any idea what is beyond awaiting you in the house and the back garden.

There were lovely items for sale in the garage....

I brought some of the Chalk Paint™ decorative paint by Annie Sloan.

Even Mia, Peggy's adorable cat, stole center stage in front of the cozy fireplace.

This is one of the pieces that Peggy has painted, decidedly magnificent and breathtaking!

Details....

I love the way that Peggy handles the hardware on each piece.

And the way she mixes and applies her colors of paint.

Soon this piece will be displayed at The Purple Pear in the front window.

Peggy has such a rare and exquisite talent. It will be exciting to see what else unfolds in her palette of color and beauty.

And how fortunate we are to have someone so inspiring and talented in our midst. Please see what happens in the months ahead with this creative and incredible talent of a woman!

Spring Green Reflects a Business

One of the benefits of having a retail space in one of Portland's Activ Space locations is the feeling of being part of a community of small businesses. One of these people that moved into her space around the same time as I did was Jasmine Tran of Essance, a natural aromatherapy company that specializes in holistic skincare and aromatherapy. Jasmine is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to her business. We often chat about our businesses, and frequently are the only two left working in our shops after every one has closed down. One morning I went to visit her in her shop, and she asked me about an unpainted display table. She wondered if she could paint it with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint™.

Jasmine has the most beautiful spring green her shop that reflects the vibrancy of her products. Her products are green in the sense that she uses natural ingredients, no chemicals, eco-friendly, and are vegan, a big requirement for me when I am looking for any skincare products. When she asked about this special paint, I had recalled a color I created with Arles, Antibes Green, and Chateau Grey. It was so close to her shop colors that I was quite amazed when I saw the results after she had painted the table and showed it to me a few days later.

This is the piece before she added the hardware.

This is the finished piece!

And here is Jasmine, one of the most positive women I have met. Check out her website at www.essance-us.com.

A girls gotta do what she has to do!

I know this is a boring photo for a blog focusing on beauty, French things, and Annie Sloan Chalk Paint™, but Sunday was a very busy day. I moved lot of furniture out of my house and into my store by myself. I hauled an oak dresser up from the finished basement and carried a French metal crib down the stairs from the upstairs, drove to my shop, and got ready to give a workshop. I parked the van in front of my store to be unloaded after the workshop was done.

This is a photo of what is inside the van. If my husband had been around, everything would have been arranged and secured with rope, but I was in a hurry and really nothing shifted on the trip to the shop. I intend to paint everything pronto!

The workshop was so much fun! The weather was perfect, sunny and in the high 70's. I love it when I can open the garage door and let the light in. People passing by also love to look inside and see what we are up to. What a great group of women, very enthusiastic, gracious, and fun. This is why I absolutely love what I do. I have met some of the most talented and lovely women since I became a Stockist almost a year ago now.

One of the women brought a chair that she had purchased for $12 and wanted to learn how to paint a piece of furniture. So after the other three women left, we picked up our paint brushes and started painting with Duck Egg Blue. I am so sorry that I do not have a before photo of the chair because it was nothing special and then when we added the clear and dark wax and distressed it, it really looked like a very sweet and special chair. She loved the chair as well as the process. What a fun way to end the afternoon!

Then it was time to unload my van and return it to the rental location. By the time I turned it in, it was 7:00pm so I inserted the keys in the mail slot and drove home very pleased with the day.

The reason I moved some things down to my shop was, not only to paint some more furniture, but also to refresh the store with new things since this little table sold, and I had some other furniture moved out that had been there for awhile.

Last week I devoted myself to focusing on painting some pieces of furniture that had been in my back room so I could move them to the front. This desk was really nothing special and I was getting tired of using it as it was. It was so quick and easy to paint! Since I now have wi-fi I can listen to Pandora and sit in my front room at my computer when I need to attend to other business.

I tried to create a color I had seen from another Stockist who had used Olive, Duck Egg Blue, and Arles, but somehow did not realize her exact color, so I added a little Old White to lighten it. I will have to try again with the color, but this turned out quite nice. It is waxed with clear and dark wax, and I still need to do a little distressing.

I usually paint the hardware particularly if it is very common. I like to add the dark wax to give it a little character.

This was the other piece I painted. It was actually a pine cabinet. I had it in my front room way back in July when I had first moved in and then moved it to the back because I did not want any unpainted furniture in the front room. I painted it in French Linen with the doors accented in a combination of French Linen and Old White. I finished the piece with clear and dark wax and moved it to the front room to house some French linens, textiles, laces and trims, and soon to arrive some of Annie's new fabric collection! It needs a little distressing which I will do today.

This is the before photo of the pine cabinet. Please stay tuned in the next few days as I am going to feature a post on stenciling furniture and fabric as well as some really special signs that I purchased yesterday for the store from a woman who loves Annie Sloan Chalk Paint™ and does some really outstanding and unique pieces. In fact, she is soon to open her own shop!

Plucky Maidens Show

My dear and very special friend, Gina, helped me with Plucky Maidens on Friday and Saturday. Gina and I have the same passion for all things French, and she also loves beautiful French toiles and linens as much as I do. Gina also is devoted to Annie Sloan Chalk Paint™ and does so many exquisite pieces using the Chalk Paint™. She actually went to San Francisco to meet Annie Sloan during Annie's US Tour. We had so much fun catching up with our lives and our creative projects because Gina lives in Bend, Oregon, so we usually talk in fits and starts on the phone whenever we can grab a few minutes. It was so nice to be together for two whole days!

Our husbands had roles too! My husband stayed in my store to help customers there, and Gina's husband helped us move things in and out of the space and fetch us drinks. We could not have done this without these two wonderful men.

Gina has two friends that have lots of beautiful European textiles that Gina sells. Her friends sew them using some of the most beautiful linens.

This is Gina's Louis Blue and Old White dresser with clear and dark wax. It has a marble top and beautiful tiles on the decorative back piece. I have consigned this from Gina for my shop.

When Gina sent me photos of this chair (she has two), it was love at first sight. They are so beautiful! Gina painted them in Paris Grey with details in the lovely color, Antoinette. The eye-catching red pillow was one Gina sewed.

Such a lovely bench in French Linen and Old White.

I think Duck Egg Blue is everyone's favorite!

Gina's husband, who is also very talented, created this adorable coat rack with a mirrored piece and used old door knobs for the "hangers". It is in the background leaning against the legs of the chair. Gina and I also both love beautiful dishes.

We both are hoping to do more fun shows together so we can keep on collecting and painting and sewing and catching up with our lives as we plan future events.