The Orlando Unity Chair

Description

My latest chair.
I started working on this last week. It’s a French Bergere style chair. My main objective was to have it look like a piece of art. And it needed to be aged, somewhat rustic without being ‘shabby’.

I worked hard on the paint finish. Using lots of glazes and textures. The front of the chair is covered in a taupe soft velvet, edged in velvet ribbon and nailhead trim. But the back is what makes this chair special.

It’s an oil painting on canvas that I bought at auction. I’m not sure what it’s called, but I fell in love with the image. I decided to upholster the outside back of the chair with the painting. To frame the image. I was just immediately drawn to the image of two people showing love towards each other. It made me smile a little.

The completion of turned out to be somewhat poignant.

I finished it a few days before the tragic Orlando massacre. Before then, it was simply a beautiful image reflecting the expression of love/endearment between two people.

I don’t know their names. I don’t know their religion. I don’t know their gender. It’s all rather irrelevant and meaningless. It’s two people displaying affection towards each other. And I fell in love with it. I spent time looking closely at the photos, editing them getting ready to list the chair. How blessed were they to feel that type of emotion towards each other.

Then Orlando happened.

I decided not to list it immediately; it seemed insensitive to put a $ sign next to a chair that suddenly held some significance to me. The last thing I would ever want to be seen as is someone ‘cashing’ in on a tragedy. But I need to share the chair, and my business dictates that I have to put a dollar amount on it.

Regardless, the chair is my Orlando chair. Because it is symbolic of the love that we can all share. We all have the ability to love. To give. To receive. To share.

And ultimately love will always prevail.

#loveisloveislove

Thank you,
Diane