The P Words

Painting presents such a lesson in patience. I get these awesome gifted visions, and then I am forced to wait for one coat to dry before I can apply the next color or an additional technique. Like the table I wanted to get finished for the husband's big meeting tomorrow. It's not going to make it, so I'm blogging between coats. It's just maddening.

All the therapy I've needed but not enjoyed has enlightened me enough to know why I'm obsessed with transformation, renewal and creating silk purses from sow's ears, but I'm not sure why patience is such a never-ending theme for my life. It's annoying, to say the least.

For example, I probably painted what started as these ho-hum little tables over the course of the last month. It's not like I was procrastinating. I worked them in between two other jobs, painting a coat here and another coat there. Paint has to dry, and if the humidity's not right, I either have to wait or move them out of my sanctuarious garage/studio and into the house where there's air conditioning and/or heat. Here in Texas we use both in the same day. I'm telling you, while I was painting these tables, I experienced way too much humidity and other days when it was too cold to paint.

Poor little thing. It was a rather boring table with some potential. Today after much time and attention, my little tables got delivered to their newly transformed home. I was a little disappointed that we couldn't "install" the room and rearrange the furniture. I'll take another picture when the room is "done." For now here's a few pictures meant to explain the color choices. I love fun, colorful people. In this case, I've never met them, but I'm sure I'll love them when and if I do.

OK, I'm in love with these carpet tiles from Flor, which you can find at http://www.flor.com. The possibilities are endless. In this case, this space designed for some very fortunate grandkids at pool level, just above the lake, so the fact that it's indoor/outdoor is a major plus.

I had to use some black to "ground" all this color.

Even this table didn't look "finished" until I added the black dots. Black is such a meaningful color. It is so not blah. The green looks a bit "minty" in this photo, but it's Sherwin Williams Parakeet and it is not minty.

Let me end by saying clients who love color, and interior designers who hire me who are fun and who like color make life so much more fun to live. I'll leave you with one of my favorite sayings from back in the 80s: "Don't Be Scared."

In this case don't be scared to use color.