Asher Hill Barn Sale... Teasers and Textures

I kinda left you all cliff hanging last time. I showed you what Brownie got, but I didn't show you what I got at the Lucketts Spring Market last weekend. Well here it is:

From left to right and then clockwise: Jenny Lind pattern tea cup and saucer, a German scrub brush for plant pots (or dishes) and some matte finish Tough Coat sealer from Miss Mustard Seed, three old skeleton keys, and under everything is the vintage copy of Alice in Wonderland I scored for my sister's office make over.

Have I told you guys that I am redesigning my sister's house right now? Well I am and it is my favorite project ever! But that is several other posts from now. So you all are just gonna have to wait.Today we are still talking bout barn sales.

The Asher Hill Farm Barn Sale, to be exact. 

This coming Friday, Saturday, and Sunday

June 3-4-5th

at Asher Hill Farm

4580 Sudley Road, Gainesville VA 20155

 

I spent all week last week over there painting and sanding and hauling and looking and prepping stuff. You guys wanna see what a barn sale looks like the week before the show? Nothing is styled yet, so I thought I'd just give you guys some "textures"

Jeff, Margaret's master wood worker of a husband has been busy building cool stuff for you guys. Here are some dinner bells he made out of acetylene tanks and some really beautiful wood.

And here is a reproduction wooden milk bottle holder he made. I think there are going to be two or three for sale in the show. They are so crazy solid. You could bathe your dog in them...well maybe not, but they are built to take a beating. And I think they have another layer or two of color coming.

See the copper table top next to it? Here 's a better pic:

There are several patinas to choose from. These are all going on top of various bases, mostly metal, like antique iron sewing machine tables. Super cool stuff. And any anything Jeff builds will last for generations. The man is a perfectionist and a true craftsman.

This is another sample of his work. Not the carving, but the rehab. He pieced together this huge antique mirror (It is seriously huge, probably 3 ft x 5 ft) and reinforced it to last another 100 years. 

I gave it back it's gilding. It took a while. Like 4-5 hours. Wanna see?

I am in love with how this turned out. If you want to know how I did it, you're gonna have to come to the show and ask me.

Speaking of the show, here's the details again: 

So I told you I've been doing some painting. 

Here's a few teaser pics of some things I've been working on:

That's all I have pics of right now. If you're lucky, I'll have time to shoot a few more beauty shots of me and Margaret's stuff and post them before the show. if not, you'll just have to come see how they turned out in person. 

But let's go back to the textures. I love how they turned out!

Sigh. So much good stuff. This is just a fraction of it. 

And it's not just love from me and Margaret. 

There are a bunch more awesome vendors coming. 

Here are the links to their pretty photos:

Rust and Refind

Vintourage Home

LAPD Home

Shawna Jeannine

Clover Hill Ceramics

Labahoula Designs

Abingdon Vintage

Pieces With A Past

Just My Style 

Mad Olive Shoppes

So come and check us out this weekend! 

We will be there rain or shine, so think sunny thoughts, kay?

The First Annual Asher Hill Farm Barn Sale

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday

June 3-4-5th

at Asher Hill Farm

4580 Sudley Road, Gainesville VA 20155

New Workshop! Egg and Nest: Make Your Own Chalk Paint and Glazes

CM Shaw Studios Workshop: 

How to Make your Own Chalk Paint 

and Work With Glazes

UPDATE: CLASS POSTPONED

Just as all this snow has been super unexpected, I've had some things crop up out of the air. The class needs to be postponed until a bit later this season. So sorry for any inconvenience this causes you.

When: Postponed

Where: TBD

Cost: $85 ($75 with *discount code if you register by April 1st)

*enter discount code EGGANDNEST at checkout

Register Here  

This winter has been so long and cold. Why don't you come and brighten things up by learning to make your own chalk paint? Just think of all that latex paint sitting in your garage, waiting for a new life as chalk paint. You'll use two different methods to make chalk paint and I'll share my own experiences with a few more. Once we're all stirred up, we'll learn a simple driftwood glazing technique. 

You could make your whole house look like a Restoration Hardware ad.

Once you are feeling more comfortable using a glaze, we will practice using the new paint to create layered glazes and make realistic looking faux eggs. 

We'll use three different techniques to 

make our little eggs look real.

You can do this! 

It just looks hard.

When you are done, you'll have something like this to take home and look at 

instead of the snow.

So come paint with me and let's forget about the cold and welcome the spring. 

Just in time for Easter.

• All materials will be provided. 
• Please wear painting clothes that can get messy. This class is not one for your Sunday best. 
• You will also go home with a Free sample of Webster's Chalk Paint powder and a wax sample, which should be enough to chalk paint a small bench or med-large picture frame.

Register here



Can't wait to see who comes!
CM Shaw

What I'm Working On ... A Many Faceted Answer for February

People are always asking me what I'm working on. This is a complicated question for me to answer because I am usually doing about a billion different things, in different realms, most of which is not what they would consider "Art". There is usually at least one major organizing project going on. I have a home project "to do" list that's about 200 items long and mostly just waiting for the budget to do it. I am always thinking of new things I want to try in the studio, and I've been writing these down, as it's not really time for me to create right now. I am gathering ideas and energy right now. But that's doesn't mean I'm not going on a whole bunch of field trips to look at stuff and get inspired. I have been doing that almost once a week.

So in an effort to answer the question, "What are you working on?" I thought I'd just take you on a little tour of what I've been doing in February.

Hanging out at the National Gallery of Art

Winter is the best time of year to visit the museums on the National Mall. There are hardly any tourists, (due to our crappy winter weather) so you may be the only person in that entire section of the museum. It's heaven! When I have been going lately, I have worn my "Art Geek" hat. I've been looking for guidance from the Masters, be they Renaissance, Dutch, Modern, or other.

 The layered colors just killed me when I saw this huge piece, Ocean Park No.61,  by Richard Diebenkorn. I had seen it in a book, but I had no idea it was 10 ft by 8 ft! And it just glows, like a pearl. It gave me all sorts of ideas about layering different concoctions of chalk paint and glazes to get different effects; how I could mix pigments into wax to make a glaze become iridescent or pearlized. See what I mean about Art Geeking?

In the Dutch section, I was struck by how Jan Steen used different colors in lighter and darker shades to show the folds of the cloth in his merry painting, "The Dancing Couple." For some reason, that idea is completely revolutionary to me. And when I was telling my very science geeky 14 year old about it, she mentioned that one could take advantage of the Doppler effect and have things closer to you be redder and things farther be bluer to trick the eye into seeing depth. I love it when life just teaches you from random directions.

And then there's Andrew Wyeth. I don't know what it is about this man's paintings, but they have haunted me with their mystery and beauty since I was introduced to Christina's World in 8th grade. In this one, Wind From the Sea, I was looking at how he created the sheerness of the curtains. The more I looked for shading and color clues, (picture me leaning right up to the canvas as the security guard inches closer and closer nervously) the more I realized there weren't any. He simply painted the lines of the curtains and then left at at that. Remarkable effect, wouldn't you say? Transparent looking because there is no paint there? Brilliant! 

See? This is why I go look at other people's art. Because I would never think of this this stuff. Once you figure out what they've done, it seems obvious. But it's the thinking of it in the first place that's the trick. So I just file it all away in the Mental Cauldron and it swims around in there until it decides to combine with something else and emerge again as a loosely formed idea.

Making My Own Chalk Paint

I have been toying with this idea ever since reading this post from Cottage Instincts. So this week I actually tried it. I can't tell you my results, as I am teaching a class on it this coming April 5th (more on this soon. I am super excited about this class!), but I will say it made a mess, and that's always a good thing in my book. 

As a part of my class, the good people at Websters sent me wax and mix in samples for all the students in the class! They are the best! Check them out here. And I promise to do a full review of their products as soon as I have a chance to use them. What's not to love about new brands of art supplies?

Making Things Out of Other Things

Neither of these is a great photo, but they give you an idea of what 

my inner up-cycling bug has been up to lately.

I (well, DK and I. He helped me a lot on this one) made a curtain rod out of pipe conduit. 

I couldn't stand the vertical blinds in my basement any more, both because they were ugly and mostly because my kids never shut them the right way and they were breaking. So DK and I took them down and replaced them with a pipe conduit curtain rod inspired by this hilarious post from Lynne Knowlton's blog Design the Way You Want to Live and some Ikea cotton drapes. 

And don't worry. I have full tutorials in the works for building the curtain rod (you get to use the pipe cutter at Home Depot!), hemming the super long drapes, and adding big fabric stripes to the drapes. Obviously, that last one hasn't happened yet, due to a disagreement with my sewing machine. It needs to go see the sewing machine doctor and then we will resume our merry course together.

I also stripped a tree stump I saved from my friend Rodney's 

wood pile and made it into a plant stand.

I got this idea from my dear friend Brandi's excellent blog, Don't Disturb This Groove. Check the awesome tutorial out here. Brandi's tutorial is so good,  I don't need to write another one here. 

She and I are Instagram buddies and I was completely taken when she posted her awesome "after" pics of this project. I had the stump in my studio, curing. I tripped on it one day and decided the time had come. So off came the bark, and out came the bleach. "Worth it, but nasty" is all I have to say about the process, especially after cleaning out my tub. I also ended up sanding the stump quite a bit after it was dry, which she doesn't cover in her tutorial. I prefer the lighter inner wood to show, as opposed to the darker wood near the bark. And her stumps had no bark to begin with. Lucky!

Painting Things Really Bright Colors

This was one of my birthday presents. My sister always sends me the things that I can't really justify buying, but that I can't live without. This print was just calling to me (It's by Vin Zzep. I like all of his stuff. You can see it here) I knew exactly where I was going to put it; to the left of my desk, so I could stare at it when I got writers block and could pretend to frolic in the grassy fields under the giant fish with a crown. Totally normal, right?

I ran right out and bought a frame at Walmart and got it home and framed it up. And all I could think was "I like this, but the frame needs to be red." So back to Walmart I go, to the blessed spray paint aisle. A little primer, a little spray paint, and Voila! The perfect frame for a flying fish!

And the other day, I was sitting in my chair in the living room looking at my front door. I just KNEW it needed to be electric orange red. So up the paint chips went. DK was leaving town for the week and he made me promise I wouldn't paint it until he got back. So I agreed to just mess with paint chips in various locations until he got back. 

Let's just say 4 coats of paint were on the door and dry within 2 days of his return. And I LOVE it! It makes me feel like it really is MY house. (Tomato Red by Benjamin Moore Aura paint, for those interested.) 

It looked like ketsup on top of the can, and DK said it reminded him of tomato soup, so now our door has been named "Campbell." Gotta love my kids. Who names the front door?

While all this paint chipping was going on, I brought home some aqua chips as well, just in the name of being thorough. I had become entranced by Sherry and John's new entry way from Young House Love here. (Do you think I read enough blogs?) And yes, I have total Moravian Star light envy, but that's another story.

Long story short, I hated the aqua for the front door, but loved it for the laundry room/garage door. DK hadn't extracted any laundry room "no painting" promises, (it's the laundry room for heaven's sake) so I painted a few base coats with paint I had and ran to Benjamin Moore to get a sample of Fairy Tale Blue the day after he left. And I told him he'd have to figure out what I had painted when he came home.With me, that could have been anything. 

I am in love with it, but I can't decide what to do with the wall color, as the many paint swatches indicate. The existing taupe is pretty trashed. And while it looks nice and all, I'm just not a taupe girl.

So that's the rundown. It sounds so much more exciting telling you guys about it than it actually was. 

The funny thing is, the project I am most happy about was 

sorting through all the out-grown, hand me down clothes!

Notice the clear labeling and the uniform containers. It is ridiculous how happy I am about this.

I went through nine big boxes or bins of clothing and trashed or donated 4 bags of stuff, sent some to my sister, labeled and binned the rest for my younger kids as they grow. I have wanted to do this for a YEAR. And now it's done. 

There is such joy in "Done".

What have you guys been doing?

Talk to you soon,

CM Shaw

PS. If you find that I don't talk enough here and you need some more, 

you can follow my Pinterest boards here

Playing with flowers and chalk paint

And now for a moment of brazen self promotion... ;)

If you like this

and this

and this

source

Then baby, do I have the workshop for you!

------------------------------------------------

Andrea Gagnon of Lynn Vale Farms and I have teamed up to teach a series of workshops called Petals en Place

 

 

Saturday July 13, 2013  1-5pm

Lynn Vale Studios

4475 Sudley Road Gainesville, VA  20155

The name pulls from the French cooking term mise en place, which literally means"everything in it's place" and refers specifically to having all the preparation done in advance, so you can just sit back and enjoy the experience of cooking. Likewise, the point of this series is to help you celebrate each season through up-cycling, table-scaping and floral design. We do the prep work, you just come and soak up the experience.

For the first class on July 13, we'll be focusing on a summer farmhouse style. Think barn wood, bright flowers, fresh-from-the-garden food and a breezy casual vibe.

 saipua.com

You'll build a charger out of up-cycled pallet wood and go home with a kit to build another. Next you'll learn how to apply chalk paint and clear and dark wax to your charger.

"Intermission" is a walking tour of Lynn Vale's beautiful cutting gardens, which will be at peak bloom. (We are talking an acre of zinnias, people and that's just one of the more than 30 varieties they grow!) This tour will be guided by the farmer herself, Andrea Gagnon.

 lynnvale.com

 Refreshments will be served and then we start Part 2 of the class.

When we return to the barn, Andrea will be teaching you the principles of arranging a farmhouse style bouquet, as well as how to incorporate flowers and greens from your own garden into your future bouquets. While she demonstrates, each of you will be creating your own unique bouquet from a full compliment of the flowers you just saw in the fields.

And just to add that last little detail to tie things together, you will be shown how to blend your bouquet, it's vessel, and your newly made charger to create a farmhouse style tablescape in your own home.

So grab a bunch of your friends and come out and 

play in the fields with us!

Saturday July 13, 2013  1-5pm

Lynn Vale Studios

4475 Sudley Road Gainesville, VA  20155

$150 registration fee covers:

- 1 completed charger 

-1 kit to make another charger, including paint and wax

-instruction in chalk painting and waxing

-instruction in up-cycling pallet wood

-farm tour

-instruction in fresh cut bouquet making

- 1 bouquet of flowers and vessel 

Sign up here on Eventbright.com