Faux Your Eye's Only!

I hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween last night!  I also am keeping our northeast friends in my prayers that power comes back on soon!

I am always amazed at the creativity of others.  I have had so many clients who have truly inspired ideas, but they just need someone else to actually do the painting for them.  This little table is one of those projects.  My client had this bare wood side table still in the box and she knew she wanted to use it for her guest room.  She said she'd like it to look like someone had laid their book and glasses on it and drifted off to sleep.  Lovely!  Even as she was decribing it to me, my inner squirrel was darting all over the place collecting ideas.

Bare Wood Table

I chose to use an antique book I picked up at a yard sale, it had lovely pictures and I thought that would bring some additional character to the table.

 OK, I know not everyone can paint the book and glasses freehand, but that's OK.  Imagine a more simplified book, say a Dr. Seuss book with gorgeous colors and simple drawings.  You could photograph the book open to the page you like, print the photo and then use carbon paper to trace it onto the table.  Then it's just a matter of painting the colors they used in the original book.  Voila, an original hand painted table for your child's room or a playroom!

When you are trying to make something appear to be sitting on top of the surface, shadows and light are the most important factors.   If you paint a darker shadow on the outside edge of your painting, the eye will read that your painting is three dimensional.  I usually will use a watered down slightly darker version of the table's paint color for the shadow.

The glasses I used were my own reading glasses and quite literally, I rested them on the real book on the table next to the spot where I was going to paint them, and painted the lights and shadows exactly as I saw them.  Note:  make sure you know where the light is coming from in the room the table will reside and make sure your light source when you paint is coming from the same direction.

I also changed the text in the book so the main characters were my client and her husband.  It was a minor detail, but really makes the table special to them.  If I were doing that Dr. Seuss table, I may be tempted to change the text to my son's name or maybe write his name in a tree - anything to make it personal.

My last detail was to the drawer of the table.  I painted a little monogrammed hankie that appeared to have folded over the top of the drawer.  Two coats of sealer and done! 

This project was a blast and I loved that my client had such a clear sense of what she wanted, but yet allowed me to take her idea and use my creativity to expand on it.  What book would you paint on your table?  Pride and Predjudice?  Where The Wild Things Are?  How about really giving your guests something to talk about and paint Fifty Shades of Grey!