Like the cobbler with his shoeless children, this folk artist has very little ‘folk art’ that she keeps for herself in her own home. Being pregnant and then having a baby/crazed toddler when we moved hasn’t helped in my keeping of folk art creations for myself.
   It’s become a little bit easier to work lately, as my littlest isnt quite as little as he used to be. We have a built in ‘ice box’ in our kitchen that is original to the house, and it was painted a very literal plain vanilla.
  When you’re in an artist’s house, however, things don’t stay plain white long 😉 I decided to paint the base of the cabinet a deep wine red (its literally the same red I used on the floor of the studio) and the doors a sky blue (also…you guessed it….the paint used for the studio floor!)
   Now…being as this is my own house and own art, this project stayed in limbo for several months. But a while back I decided to FINALLY finish this project for myself and started painting an old fashioned New England scene on the doors.

  Of course this usually happens at about 10 pm at night and my husband walks in and goes ‘uhhhh….what are you doing?” To which I ofcourse reply “trust me! It’ll be great!”

   And I like to think I kept that promise 😀

Thinking back to my favorite parts of New England, I recalled the beautiful old salt box houses, the rocky seaside, lighthouses and sailboats. I dotted the landscape with Rufus Porter style trees and clouds. And then washed it all over with a brown glaze to make it look old and weathered. Perfect! No more tiny fingerprints glaring on white cabinets…..just folk art 😉

  I love having the opportunity to work on large scale pieces that are part of a home. When I was 15 I started painting on the walls of my bedroom (with my mom’s permission, of course!) I love folk art murals in the early 19th century style and hope to create more pieces like this. If you’ve got a piece of your home you’d like painted, let me know! I’d be happy to give it a look!~
~H