This is the story of how I came to do an art project:
Josh: Graham and Mandi invited us over to dinner.
Jen: Yum.
Josh: It's art project night so bring an art project.
Jen: !@#$%^&*&^%$##
I appreciate art. I admire artists. I am secretly (or not so secretly) jealous of people who can create beautiful things. But, I've never had much success with the dreaded "art project"; this probably started with my attempt as a 5 year old to make an angel for the Christmas tree out of a toilet paper roll (what adult in my life thought that was a confidence-boosting art project anyway?!).
So, when Josh announced that it was art project night at our super creative friends' house I just about caught a deathly cold and needed to stay home for the night. Instead I mustered up all my courage, bought a $12 picture frame at Ikea, Googled "how to clean an old painting" (answer from the interwebs: DON'T DO THIS IT WILL RUIN YOUR LIFE), rolled my eyes, turned off my computer, threw some q-tips and cotton balls in a baggie, and threw them in my purse along with a bottle of Dr Bronner's magic soap.
After a lovely dinner it was art project time. This was my art project: cleaning and re-framing an old painting that had been in my family for a couple of generations. The painting was done by my great great uncle in Spain and depicts a flamenco dancer performing in a plaza. It's not valuable, but has sentimental value to me since I remember it in my grandparents' house when I was a kid.
I broke the old frame off (it was literally nailed to the painting, which was done on wood) and got started. Contrary to all the advice on the internet I dipped a q-tip directly into the soap and started cleaning (yes, I'm rocking a horse t-shirt).
See the line on her skirt where it's partially cleaned?!
Ta-da!
It looks great in the frame, but we didn't get any pictures of it and I am currently camera-less. I am so happy that I tried this and that it worked! Check out Mandi's blog to see her super-creative self: mandimakes.blogspot.com. Have you ever been pleasantly surprised by an art project success?
This looks super cool in the frame. The difference is even more than the pictures show, its really transformed. Good job Jen! :-)
ReplyDeleteP.S. keep doing art.
Haha.... I love this post so much, mostly because I can really relate to the *^(*%$%## part of it at the mention of art projects. It doesn't help that people are always thinking that because I sing well I must also be gifted in other artistic endeavors. I think, with very rare exception, the only time I have been content with an art piece is when it came out completely differently than what I had in mind.
ReplyDeleteThe best thing that anyone ever told me about art is that it takes gobs of courage. Boy, do I get that!
I love that painting, by the way, I would totally hang it somewhere. Kudos to your uncle.