I had big ideas for this little fellow. 
I bought him even though my husband said I shouldn’t bring another piece of poo into the house. No man tells me what to do, and what not to do (especially when I have a minivan that enables me to hide things). I had to drive around for a week with this chap in the back of my car.
I picked him up in downtown Portland
(said the actress to the bishop)
and I had every intention to use it for my next image transfer. See those nice smooth doors? just begging for some type of adornment – anything. The problem was the image that I had my heart set on, wasn’t going to work. 
Ugh! (But on a side note, isn’t she just lovely?). I hadn’t considered the separation of the doors, and the placement of my figure. Chances were that her face would be flat bang on the opening. And who wants a face to physically open up?
Not I.
The only way around this is to do a separate image on either door (and for some unknown reason JWW usually paints his subjects facing to the left). Aesthetically, it would look weird having two images of her facing left. Now, theoretically, I could get around this by doing a mirror image, but I think that would drive me a little nuts. I would know that although it looked like the original, something was amiss with it. Plus it would be strange having two identical women looking at each other ‘hey, what you lookin’ at, good lookin?’. Quite high on the ‘creep factor’, right? No-one should be ‘weirded out’ by a piece of furniture. It’s just one of my stipulations.
So I had to go to Plan B
Enter Plan B. My inspiration. 
I bought this cabinet as a ‘parting gift to myself’ when my husband savagely torn me away from the East Coast. I bought it from an antique store in Portland, Maine. I loved the color and for years wondered how they achieved the finish on it. It’s some kind of fruit wood: thick, heavy and rustic (not unlike my husband).
The ONE thing that annoys me about the cabinet is that, invariably, when people come to the house to buy pieces they always compliment me on my blue cabinet. And I always have to tell them that I didn’t paint it. Yeah, thanks for the compliment but it’s the one stupid thing in this room that I didn’t paint. sheesh. 
But back to the inspiration: the color. As with any inspirational piece, you start with an idea of where you want to go – and end up with something completely different. That’s how it should be, no-one wants an exact duplicate of something (or at least I don’t). I knew I wanted to do blue, but I also wanted some green. So – this is how it looked after the first coat. I don’t sweat the first coat. You know why? Because it’s paint. Just paint. No big deal. 
Don’t you just love my drop cloth?
After the second coat of paint (more Napoleonic Blue, some Antibes, some Provence, a little Graphite), and my General Finishes glazes (this time clear glaze with GF Dark Chocolate milk paint), and Modern Masters gold metallic paint. He looked like this: 
Sexy, non?
So, there you are. No beautiful lady adorning my cabinet, just beautiful deep, rich colors. Classic, timeless, elegant (so00 not like my husband).
The moral of the story? Well, there isn’t one. I’m not that deep. But I know that sometimes you start thinking you’re going to do one thing, and get served a curved ball and end up with something completely different.
Still as beautiful, but different. As it should be.
But you know what, and I keep telling myself this: It’s just paint. That’s all it is, and eventually, it all works out in the end.
{insert catchy ending phrase here}
Diane aka The Paint Factory
