Big Art On A Little Wall

So, somehow I got this bright idea. I wanted a wall installation. I know, it sounds CRAZY! My entry way has tall ceilings and I wanted to utilize them. The plan was to hang one of my favorite paintings, but just using the painting seemed ordinary. That's what you would see in a normal person's house. I wanted people to enter my front door and think WOW! 

The Original Painting

I began pondering over a few ideas. I didn't know what I was going to do, but I knew it had to be spectacular. One night while watching Youtube videos looking for inspiration it came to me. I decided to create a frame around the painting, but then create a cool kind of wall piece off of that. So I sketched out an idea, and just went for it.

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First, I had to make the base. I grabbed my 1x2s from Home Depot, and headed into the basement with my miter saw. I used my sketch and a protractor to figure out all of the angled cuts I needed to make. Now, my miter saw only goes up to a 45 degree angled cut. I figured if I needed anything bigger I would cut the other way. First piece went smoothly.  After that though, it was all downhill. Cutting the other way wasn't nearly as simplistic as I thought, and I am very good at math. Apparently though my geometry expertise was not as sharp as it was in the 8th grade. So I had to just take my time. It ended up taking a lot longer than the hour of time that I had allotted for such a task. 

Once I was done the shape did not look on the the floor the way that it did in the sketch. I remeasured all my cuts and angles. Everything seemed to match, but it just didn't look like it. All I could think to myself was 'You know I hope this turns out the way I want because this is a lot of time and energy for this to not work. I will be super pissed!'

This project seemed like a pain from the start. I was determined though. The pieces I am the most annoyed by seem to give me the most gratification in the end. After the frame was built it was time to move on to the face. I used the same lattice material that I used for the bookshelf. That basically was going to be the material for the remainder of the piece. So on my trip to Home Depot I loaded up. I KNOW those people thought I was crazy. Once again a 5 foot person leaving the store with 20 pieces of 8ft trim and maneuvering them all into my little Corolla. I make things happen though.  I always wonder what it looks like to people, and what they must think when they see me leave Home Depot. What would you think if you saw a woman in a Corolla drive by you with 8ft pieces of wood squeezed into it? I have realized I should probably never by a car with leather interior.

So at this point the frame has been made, and the face has been glued. I did notice one of my bad habits that has trickled to the garage, is using my car as a surface to rest things on. One of the reason I don't have a dining room table. It would never be used for eating. Just another big surface to lay things on.

It's time to design the piece in real life. I'm  going to do a combination of 1 1/8" pieces and 3/4" pieces. So, I moved it back upstairs because there is more space. I arranged the pieces based on my drawing. Can you believe I spent my Friday night doing this? The drawing is an exact scale of the actual piece, so it was easy to match up exactly where the pieces had to go. As I put it together each piece got a number to make it easier to replace after the pieces were painted. I also photographed it so I knew how the pieces intertwined.

 I spread the pieces out between the garage and the basement, and painted everything black. At this point I'm thinking I have to be crazy. Why do I put myself through this? What am I thinking? A wall installation? Am I crazy?! Why can't I ever be satisfied with just buying something. Oh wait I know why...because my name is Tanaira and it couldn't possibly be that easy.

It's time to finally put the whole thing together. I had to lay the base on the floor, and glue the pieces from the back. Problem is I need a flat hard surface. The carpet makes it hard to be precise. My garage would be the obvious choice except for it's not actually flat. It slopes towards the front. So that leaves one place. The kitchen. I know, I know you're thinking what the hell am I doing projecting on my nice hardwood floors. I'll be careful though I promise. I need to find something to put down.

 I found some giant post it notes at work and taped them to the floor. I laid the frame face down and placed the painting inside. I carefully measured the placement of each piece, and secured them with my glue gun. It worked out pretty nicely. Only problem was the sore muscles in the back of my thighs from constantly leaning over. (Must be getting old). I let it sit over night. When I got home from work the next day I flipped it over. It looked AMAZING! It was a lot of black though. I decided to add some of the color from the painting into the structure. I painted a piece of card stock for every color in the painting and placed it into one of the shapes. The only thing left to do is hang it. Now from personal experience I know that I need to go get some wall anchors. I definitely learned my lesson from the crashing medicine cabinet incident. 

So several hours, black paint stains on the carpet, 2 minor toes cramps, 1 major toe cramp, a paper cut, and pulled muscles in both thighs later we have my very first wall sculpture!

I'm so excited I could flip right now! It came out so much better, than I thought. It was worth every bit of effort I put into it. Glad it's done with though. Big pieces can be a pain sometimes because they're hard to contain during the creating process. I'm actually almost finished with the living room. Just a few more projects left. The whole thing turning out quite nicely. It's nice to see it take shape over the course of the last couple of months.  It will be nice when I'm finally done and can enjoy it. For now it's on the the next project!

Finally did a Pinterest Project

So, I know I am not the only one who spends hours on Pinterest. You look at picture after picture thinking to yourself, "That is so cool, I have to try that". Well, I finally did! I was on their last week doing my usual random glance, and came across a project for a diy dry erase board. Basically, you take some decorative paper, place it inside a picture frame, and that's it. Apparently you can use a dry erase marker on glass. Who knew! Honestly I was skeptical at first. I didn't believe the marker would come off so easily so I tried it on a random frame first. To my surprise it actually worked.  So I thought, hey that seems easy enough, why not give it a try. I decided to make one for my kitchen. I often plan out meals for the week, and right now I just write it on a random sheet of paper. Also, now that my house is on multiple floors I need somewhere else to jot things down.   

So, off to Hobby Lobby I go. For this project I used

12"x12" picture frame

1 piece of scrapbook paper

4 small magnets

1 dry erase marker

 

I opened the frame, and measured my scrapbook paper to make sure it fit. The scrapbook paper is actually a 12"x12" square so all I needed to do was cut a little excess. When I was doing my research on how to make one of these I noticed a lot of people used theirs to plan meals as well and added the days of the week. I thought it was a nice idea. I measured how big the letters needed to be and created them in Photoshop.

I carefully cut out the letters for the days, and used some double sided tape to stick them to the scrapbook paper. I put the paper into the frame, and added the glass, and VIOLA! A new dry erase board

Isn't it cute! I'm very pleased with it. It was really inexpensive and simple too. The whole project cost around $5 (The paper was 30 cents and the frame was $6, but I had a 40% off coupon) and took me a couple of hours. It would have taken less time had I not went through every font in Photoshop....twice. I wanted to stick mine on the side of my refrigerator so I decided to add magnets to the back. 

The finished product 

As you can see it is not hanging on the refrigerator. I underestimated the weight and the fact that the side of my refrigerator is textured. So, the sticking didn't work the way I wanted it to. It will stick to the front, and I did try that, but not really what I wanted. I just leaned it against the side. The magnets on the back actually help keep it in place. I must say I'm pretty pleased with this project. And for 2 hours time you can't beat that. It's on to the next project, and boy am I excited for the reveal. 

The New Old Media Cabinet

Hey everyone! It's me coming back with another project. (That sounded so YouTube. Lol. And yes I'm a junkie) Sometimes I think having a YouTube channel would be easier than a blog. I am a much better talker than I am writer. That reminds me, I'm suppose to be starting an Instagram account. We'll see if that actually happens though. Well, enough of the random chatting let's get into the project. Last week I finished my media cabinet. It is an old piece that I redid to make a new piece. Here is the original media stand.

Before

Like most projects, it started out as a general idea. I looked around and found inspiration from something I saw in a magazine. I decided in the new house that I would do something a little different. I still liked the piece, but wanted a change. It needed an update. So, an update it got.

After

It's blue! Well teal or aqua. I can't decide really. So, the media stand got a major facelift. First came the idea of doors. I had decided a while back that I was tired of seeing every DVD I own all the time. Then the color. In the apartment, the media stand is where the TV sat. In the house, there isn't a lot of wall area, so the TV will have to go over the fireplace. Without a TV on top, it was no longer a main piece of furniture. That means I could be a little more bold and adventurous. Why not make a statement. So, I went for it. 

Bright blue it was! The whole thing was painted using Behr latex paint in the color Bella Vista. Next it was time to make the pieces for the doors. Time to fire up the Miter Saw!!!!!!! Yes, this was my first time using my big girl power tools in the new house. It was actually quite nice. A big table, plenty of room, and no worrying about neighbors. Once the doors were cut and glued, they were painted the same color blue as the base.

I created the door fronts using a specialty paper I found at Binders. Can you believe they were only $1.70 a piece. That is a steal. Even the check out girl did a double take. I used thick posterboard, and adhered the paper to the front, and then secured it from the back using thumb tacks. 

Once the doors were complete I decided to add knobs. I have been dying to use the cool decorative knobs that they have at Hobby Lobby. This was my chance. I even planned out an afternoon to go look. I was going to take my time and relish in all of my choices. I decided on some cream ceramic knobs with flowers on the front. They actually matched the piece very nicely. 

Once the knobs were screwed in it was time to attach the doors. Now, I am not a fan of attaching doors. It is actually a giant pain in the butt! Trying to get everything to line up perfectly just never seems to be as easy as I want. I had thought about going a different route. A while back on Nate Berkus, I saw him do a kitchen makeover for someone. In this makeover, the washer and dryer were in the kitchen. They were giant eye sores. Since you couldn't move them, Nate decided to hide them. He made these giant covers and attached them to the front of the space using magnets. It was so genius! What a great idea. When you need to use the washer just move the cover, and when you are done move the piece back, and the magnets cause it to stay in place. So, I did a play on that. I attached magnets to the front of the media cabinet, and a set to each door. 

Now, one of my concerns was pulling on the knob and the whole door coming off. However, just my luck that since the doors are big and touch the floor you don't even have to touch the knobs. All you have to do is just pull it forward from the top. Can you say AWESOME! You can see the middle magnets on the front side of the cabinet. Now, I did not create a back for it. I could have, but did not see the necessity. This piece is against the wall so you can't see the back.  

So, with that piece guess what? I am done with furniture building upgrading in the living room. I'm excited! Now, all I need to do is accessorize and fill in the gaps. This is where the fun starts. Next couple of things are to hang some of my art pieces. They're kind of big though, and I've never been a proponent of using wall anchors. So this should definitely be interesting. Though I think I have learned my lesson, after the infamous medicine cabinet crash that broke the toilet. (You probably shouldn't ask) Stay tuned....it's on to the next project!

Refacing the Bookshelf

So, these days consists of building, projecting, and trying to keep some level of sanity. My house looks spotless for like 2 days, and then a tornado strikes. I'm actually behind on my blogging. I have the next 2 projects finished. This project has been done for a couple of weeks now. So, let's jump right in it. I finally finished refacing the bookshelf. Refacing you ask, is just that. Putting a new face on the bookshelf.

Awhile back I built a bookcase. The design was inspired by something I saw online. However, the original was all sleek and super modern...i.e over $1000. I feel like this whole modern furniture phase is just a way for them to charge you a lot of money for boxey shelving and uncomfortable couches. It looks cool, but that's about it. However, I digress, back to the bookshelf. Like I said I saw the design online, and decided I would make my own. Who am I kidding. I was always going to make my own. I just needed an idea of a design I liked.The shape was pretty basic, so I decided I would just go for it. I used 12" wide MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard - for the non Home Depot folks), and created it using a combination of drywall screws and wood glue. Then I painted it black to match the rest of my living room furniture.

For the most part I had no problem with it and it stayed like that for awhile. However, if you have ever worked with MDF then you know that the edges are very unfinished, and no matter how much sanding and prepping you do it soaks up so much paint you can never get a smooth surface. So, moving into the house caused me to finally take the plunge and finish the edges. I decided I wanted them to be nice and smooth and also wider as well.  The original edges are 3/4 of an inch. That was a little thin. I wanted a thicker more prominent edge. I figured molding would be the best option. I headed to Home Depot to find what I needed thinking that this would be a pretty simple project. WRONG! You would not believe how difficult it was to find what I needed. Honestly I didn't think I was asking too much. I saw all kinds of molding...plenty of 3/4" and 1 1/4" but no 1 inch. Really?! What a pain. I was going to go with Balsa wood from the craft store and just cut it to size. That was going to be an even bigger pain so I really wanted to avoid that. One day I happened to ask my boss if he had any ideas. He suggested door molding. It come in thin strips, and it's wasn't real wood so it would easily take the paint. It could be found in the back with the door frames. So, I ventured back to Home Depot and took a gander. However, I just so happened to look in the molding section one more time. I walked up the aisle, and was just about to walk over to the door section when I turned around behind me and there it was. Long 8ft pieces of small plain molding. Wow! Are you kidding me? Where the hell have I been. I have looked up and down this aisle at least 5 times, but never looked on the other side. I just assumed it was all expensive hard wood. I looked through the stacks. Funny thing is I have used this stuff before for another project years ago in where I needed to cover the raw edge for a desk. Go figure. They didn't have 1 inch, they did have 1 1/8" though. That was good enough at this point. I picked up 10 pieces, and 2 3/4" pieces for the bottom, stuffed it in the Corolla, and went home...feeling quite accomplished I might add. 

The pieces were pretty easy to cut. All I needed was a utility knife. I laid the bookshelf on it's side and then began applying the molding to the bookshelf using a mixture of wood glue and gorilla glue. I was actually pretty nervous about this being that I know just how heavy it is. Last time I tried to move the damn thing it almost fell on me. 

This is what I mean by MDF edges. They are unfinished and rough compared to the top

Now, being that the pieces are wider than the actual edge, they hung over 3/8". Since the bottom pieces can't hang I just used  3/4" pieces. Once it was done and all the wood was applied this is what it looked like.

 I let the whole thing set for a couple of days and then it was time for paint. I decided that since my living room no longer has majority black furniture that I needed to change the color. I wanted a neutral, but not black or brown. That pretty much leaves gray. So gray it was. I used a Hi-Gloss paint, and this is the finish product.

I know in the picture it probably looks the same, but in person you can definitely see the difference

I have started to accessorize it. However, I realized I don't have as many things now. A lot of the pieces I had on it before will be going into my office, so I've started playing around with some other ideas. I don't think I'm going to think too hard about it. I'll just gradually add to it as I see things I like. The only thing missing is the photo albums. They are suppose to go on the bottom shelf. However, upon taking them out of the box I realized how unorganized they were. Well they weren't really unorganized, but more so not so attractive. So, now a whole new project has been born. Let's not even talk about how that happened. I'll have to do an updated post once the shelves are more filled in.  

Glad I finally did this project. I've been wanting to reface the bookcase for a while now. It looks beautiful. So, now that that is done I guess it is on to the next project. Well actually I finished the next project already. Just have to blog about it. I guess it's back to the project after that....painting the living room walls. Definitely can't wait for that to be over with. I hate painting walls. I'm never tall enough to reach the entire thing so it requires lots of ladders and step stools. Stepping up, then back down, using the paint brush, then back down to get the roller, trying not to fall, and picking dripped paint out of my freshly washed curls (Don't ask!)...yes it all sounds so fun, but it's the life I lead. Until the next project folks! 

Love My Ladies

As of this past weekend, my house is a little over 2 months old. The decorating is coming along great. Probably not as fast as I would like, but I'm okay with that. I was told that putting your house together is a marathon not a sprint. I have actually been told some variation of this statement by several of my friends and coworkers. They clearly know me all too well. I am a definite busy body, and have this constant feeling of getting the house finished. However, I am officially back to one project at a time. Though I do have to stop myself from time to time when I start thinking 5 projects ahead. Last week I finally started to hang some of my paintings up. In particular my ladies. I'm excited because they are some of my favorites.

It all started one day I was having one of my many random conversations with my good friend Herb. Now a little background on Herb, he is just plain special. There is no other way to describe it. It amazes me the things that he says and does sometimes. All you can do is shake your head, smile, and go with it. He's one of a kind in the best of ways. He also happens to be one of those friends that pushes me creatively. We will just be discussing some random topic and somehow a great idea will come about. On this particular day we were talking about Outkast, and that trickled down to the Outkast cd art. If you don't know, Outkast puts women in some sort of artistic aspect on their cds. We thought it would be cool to recreate it but bigger. So, with that my first lady painting was born.

I didn't know where to find round canvas, so I went to Hobby Lobby and picked up a large piece of matboard. The whole painting took me a few months. Like I said in my last post, I was never much of a painter growing up. My expertise is abstract, so recreating something more real life always wrinkles my brain. I was actually quite surprised with how good it came out. I impressed myself! I did the painting for Herb and have not seen it since. It somehow seems to be in some secret location heavily guarded in his home. 

From that day forth I was inspired. Something about painting using the shapes and curves of a woman's body always makes for a good art piece. I definitely love men in real life, but in art no so much. After that I was inspired to do more. Most of my favorite paintings have been of women, and I finally found homes for all of them.

Fire and Ice

Fire and Ice is one of my favorite paintings. It's funny because I originally had no intention of keeping them. I only did it to create the idea that was in my head. I was actually getting ready to sell them. However, the guy who wanted to buy them seemed to have an awful lot of feedback on how I could have made them better. That was the best thing he could have done that day. I realized it wasn't the painting he loved, he loved collecting stuff. I wanted someone to love my artwork. So, I decided to keep it and after awhile fell in love with it myself.  Lots of people actually like this set of paintings. My aunt seems to have already claimed them if anything were to ever happen to me.

This was inspired by a picture someone posted on fb. It was a small postcard of a woman's back and a big curly afro. I thought it was cute, and mentally stored it for future project inspiration. One day I felt like painting something so I decided to give it a go. I imagined a woman with a big afro made of circles. The circles in my head were suppose to look more blended, but the colors weren't giving the effect I wanted. I decided to just make them more separate. This painting took almost 6 months to do. I painted the woman, her hair, and then got stuck. I wasn't sure what to do with the background, or her body. She was originally suppose to be bare all the way down, but once I painted it I wasn't really feeling it. It looked flat and lifeless. I got to a point where I didn't know where to go. So, I put it away. It stayed away for months. Then one day I wanted to finish it so I took it back out. With fresh eyes, the rest of it seemed to come together. You'd be surprised how often stepping away from something and coming back is all you need. I LOVE HER! I have had several people ask me for this one. I've decided I want to keep her though. I feel like I'm allowed to keep some of my art. :)

This painting is one of my most recent creations. After completing the last one, a fellow artist had asked me about recreating the painting in black and white. It's always difficult to recreate a painting. It never has the same "WOW" factor as it did the first time. However, now my interest had been peaked about an all black and white version. Black and white paintings pose their issues. When you only have 2 colors to use you have to get creative to create contrast and separation without the colors running in to each other. I remembered another painting I had done in black and white using different patterns, so I used that same idea. I drew the outline of the woman, and then started to fill her in. This was slightly difficult because unlike the other black and white painting, I needed the woman to stand out while still using the same 2 colors for the background. I have to say she came out so much better than I imagined. She's hanging upstairs near my bedroom. I am selling her so at some point I won't have her anymore, but stay tuned I have some ideas for a variation. 

I wonder what the next lady will be? Who knows, so for now....it's on to the next project!

Project Archive #3 - AUC Love

This past weekend, was graduation reunion in the AUC. As of this weekend I will have been out of college for 10 years. Wow, how time flies. I can't believe that it's been that long since the good ole college days. Walking the strip, socializing in the Library, partying at Studio Central and the Warehouse, AUC basketball games (aka AUC social event on a school night), and late night eating from Stegals. So, it's only fitting that I write this post now.

Most people would never think that growing up I was never much of a big painter. I was always more into drawing and sketching than anything. After graduating, my friend Landon, who I had done a picture for before, asked if I would do a painting for him. I was thinking okay, that sounds reasonable. Then he tells me what he wants. He wants something to remind him of the AUC. Now, in theory since I was never much of a painter I didn't know what I was going to do or even where to start. I mean something that reminds you of the AUC could be a wide variety of things, but I was up for the challenge. So, I took a day and traveled back down to campus and just started taking pictures. At this point I still had no idea where I was going with this, but I figured something would bring inspiration. I threw several ideas around in my head. How was I suppose to bring all of the AUC together? I looked through all the pictures I had taken, and it then it came to me.

Just like that my first painting project was born. Somehow I managed to combine the campuses of Spelman, Morehouse, and Clark all into one painting (Sorry Morris Brown. There wasn't enough room). I'm actually pretty impressed with myself. I'm an abstract kind of a girl, so recreating real scenery was a definite challenge. I just saw Landon this past weekend. He told me to this day that this is still one of his favorites. I guess I did okay for my first painting. What do you think?

No more power tools in the apartment!

I am happy to say that I will no longer be using my miter saw in my apartment. Why? Because I have a garage! YAY! (Insert applause here). I have been building my own furniture for years. It started when I graduated college. My uncle and I went searching around for a bed for my new apartment. All I saw were beds with mattresses and boxsprings, and I hate boxsprings. They're ugly.  I wanted a platform, and back then Ikea wasn't here yet. So, on a whim I asked my uncle how hard it would be to build one. He told me it's not as hard as you think, and actually much cheaper than buying one. That was all I needed to here. Cheaper than buying, so I went for it. I mean how hard could it could be? Make a box and put some legs on it. The rest is history. From there I became fully acuainted with Home Depot, and just started building all kinds of things. Skip 10 years, and most of my big pieces of furniture are TM.Originals. I always feel it has to be funny to see a 5ft woman, carrying an 8 ft piece of wood, and attempt to strategically manuever it into my Corolla.

Last weekend I really took some time to get some stuff done in the house. One of my projects was organizing my garage. Now, I am fortunate to have a 2 car garage. So, my car goes on one side and my tools and building materials on the the other.

Before

After

This took me about an afternoon. The main goal was to make sure everything was easily accessible and easy to find. As you know, I'm not one to be searching around for stuff for too long. I also wanted to make sure to keep the work surface clear so I had space to work and spread my projects out. The only things not out are my cans of paint. I put those in the garage closet.

You have no idea how excited I am to finally have my own workshop. For years living in apartments, I would always build in my living room. Yes, in my apartment living room. I have drilled, cut, glued, sanded, spray painted, and sawed all indoors. Inhaling sawdust is not pretty. Trust me, I have learned the lesson from personal experience. It sounds crazy I know. I will admit that using a Miter Saw in an apartment is not the best idea, but I have to work with what I got. Now, I know what your thinking....the noise. I will say that I try to be a considerate neighbor. I do not do any loud work too early in the morning or late at night. To this day no one has ever complained. Well at least not to me. My coworkers joke that they're too scared. You hear a noise like that your not sure what it is.I could be a crazy person cutting up bodies. HA! No bodies, just 2x4s. Now, I will not never do a project in the living room again, because that would be a lie. My bookshelf is currently laying on its side upstairs right now getting a face lift as a write this. However, I will definitely keep it to a minimum. 

I'll be doing my first building project next week. I'll have to come back and tell you how it went. Should be exciting. The only thing missing now is a table saw. Then we would really be in business. Until then, it's on to the next project!