Painted Box Completed

I glued the felt to the bottom and my painted box is complete.  For the moment I decided to forgo purchasing the velvet to line the inside of the box.  I'll get to that when I get a chance to get to a fabric store.  There is now a fabric store close by, but some other items I need to purchase are across town near another fabric store, so I am waiting for an opportune time to make a trip over to that area.  One of these days I will get around to it.

Since I last blogged, I also added two coats of acrylic sealer to the box.  The sealer added a lot of depth to the color and brought out the wood grain of the box.  It now looks more like a piece of fine furniture than an inexpensive box purchased at a craft store.  Sorry, I did not make new photos.  The pictures here are ones taken before I added the sealer.

I was inspired to paint this box after working with a book on Zentangle.  I needed a wooden box and had originally planned to purchase a box from the craft store.  However, I had been working with the Zentangle and decided that it would be fun to paint some on a box.  For this project I chose to do it with something of a Moroccan style.  I guess I am pleased with the outcome.  It took me a little while to relax and start to paint in a loose manner.  Like most art, the box is best viewed from about six feet away. 

While working with the Zentangle I was reminded of how much this art form looked like the decorations on ancient Greek amphorae, goblets, and bowls.  I decided to investigate a little further to see how one form related to the other.  It was an enjoyable trip to the museum.   I spent an entire morning looking at ancient art.  My research has given me a lot of new ideas for working with Zentangle art forms. 

In case you live too far away to visit a museum, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts has put their collection online.  You can spend a day viewing art from the comfort of your home.  Here is a link to the museum.  http://vmfa.museum/  Click on Collections at the top of the page to begin your journey.  I think you will find as I did that the patterns resonate through all cultures throughout the ages. 

Now that the box is completed, I am on to something new.  Spring will soon be here and soon it will be warm enough to work outside, but until then, I need one more project I can work on inside.  I think I will work on a papier mache' project next.  I am not quite sure how it will manifest at this point.  I also will be beginning a new Halloween project.  Maybe this year I will get it completed before Halloween.  It is always so annoying when the project if finished late.  I think I would have completed the project last year if a plumbing disaster had not destroyed a large part of the bottom floor of my house.  Anyway, if I begin the Halloween project this early I just might get it done.

Once it is warm enough I will begin working on a new walking stick.  I prefer to work on those on my outside work bench as I use wood burning techniques on them.  The smell of charred wood does not smell very good.  The odor tends to permeate the house and hangs around for quite a while.  My last walking stick, Shaman Staff came out very well.  I explored adding poetry as well as art to the stick.   The process was intense and inspiring.  It was almost as if I were channeling someone.  I hope I can have that experience again.  It was definitely something out of the ordinary. 

Check back on Thursday for first pictures of the new project.