Shabby chic painting

A while ago I found an old timber picture frame with plywood backing.
First I painted the frame in off white and with my water colour sticks added different blues and greens and then sanded the frame back to reveal the colours underneath and let some of the wood show through as well.

I didn't know what to do with the plywood backing, so I started to base coat it with white paint and then used different colours paint and let the paint run. I spattered white paint on top with a tooth brush.
In a magazine I was inspired by a photograph of flower garlands, so I painted the garlands not in a realistic style, but more gave the suggestion of flowers and a bird in blue.
I also glued small pieces of fabric onto the painting.

The frame and painting are soft and feminine in colours and look very shabby chic.

The next Shabby Chic Course: distressing furniture

The next Shabby chic course started and with ten ladies working on different pieces it will be exciting to see what the results will be.
The first night is about distressing furniture and layering paint.
The sanding is the hardest part, but after cleaning the furniture with a soft rag, the painting can start.
A candle is used to rub onto the edges of the furniture, because the wax will resist the paint and the top layer can be easier sanded down.
Many layers of paint can be applied this way and each time candle wax can be applied and the paint sanded back to reveal the colour underneath.
One of the ladies is going to paint her bathroom cabinet this way and she started with blue, next green and she likes to apply two more colours.
Exciting to see that bright colours are used, Shabby Chic doesn't always has to be in cream and white.

Human Rights

When Henk,my husband and I worked in Cambodia in 2010 one day a little baby girl was brought into the community. She was found abandoned and her young teenage mother was infected with the HIV virus.
This little baby girl was tested for the virus and she also carried the HIV virus.
We called her Ann Marie.
I wrote another blog post about her dated back to 2010.

Why I chose Ann Marie for my blog about Human Rights is article 25 in the Human Rights:
 "Right to adequate Living Standard. Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children,whether born in or out of wedlock shall enjoy the same social protection."
Ann Marie only lived for a few months, she couldn't fight the HIV virus.
Ann Marie was born into poverty and her desperate mother abandoned her, because she couldn't care for her baby and she had no way out.

Also in New Zealand we have children living in poverty, in a country that could provide an adequate standard of living for its people.
The gap between the rich and poor is growing fast.
Why, there are many reasons. The documentary: "Mind the gap" by Bryan Bruce. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__2EdGFdgTA
is giving some real insights in the growing gap between rich and poor and why it is so destructive for our society.
We all have a right to an adequate living standard and one of those rights is a living wage.
All families in New Zealand should be able to buy healthy food, be able to pay for medical care and have a warm and dry house to live in.
Sadly that's not the case and like Ann Marie many children are denied the social protection we as society should give them.





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Impressions Art Awards

Last month I entered a National Art competition organized through the Nelson arts council and Impression Art business.
I have never entered an art competition before, so it was a lovely surprise that one of my paintings was excepted and was on show for about a month.
My painting is a self portrait with my cat, I was 20 years old and I painted this portrait of a photograph taken at teachers college when part of the curriculum was studying photography.
I have great memories of that time in my life, I don't look the same anymore on the outside,but on the inside I sometimes feel like that girl so many years ago.