A Rainbow Touched My Heart...

One day I was driving around running errands and I saw... a rainbow. Only it wasn't a real, prism-in-the-sky kind of rainbow. It was a logo on a local park sign. But I thought it was cool. So I jotted it down in my notebook for future use, and let it go.

But when I was working on this piece recently, the space to the right of my little blond-headed girl needed something. I wasn't sure what. The elements at the top of the page were rather "heavy" which is why I made her dress black... to balance that all out. And i really liked the cloud, so I wanted to keep that element in there somehow. And then I thought of the line in that Andy Grammer song that goes...

"...only rainbows after rain..."

And bing! The multicolored image from my journal popped into my head. And although I was planning to use it with a shooting star... why not a rainbow straight to your heart?

It worked as the perfect element to fill up the space and I loved the story that went along with it...

"The storm passed and then a rainbow touched my heart."

That's kind of how I feel when life hands me something that I didn't think I could handle... and then I get through it and feel so much more empowered. And I thought this was a great visual reminder of that sentiment.

Well... I Was GOING To Relax!

Because I live near the beach, my work schedule is sometimes determined by the weather. And because of that... I found myself having worked 12 days in a row when this weekend rolled up. So I was determined to do nothing but go to the beach and relax for two days straight!

Well, then I had gone to a moving sale and found this dresser. It was only ten dollars! I'll say it again... ten dollars! I had to get it... even if it was based solely on price.

But it was actually the hardware that sold me. Look at that beautiful detail and patina'd antique gold color. Things that dreams are made of!

This beast turned out to have been made with a not-so-appealing laminate facade. Whoever painted over it used a black oil-based paint. Yikes! I was able to actually peel the paint off of the top, but the rest of the unit proved to be a bit unruly.

So, I sanded... just a little (my perfectionist days are over, baby!). Then I primed it... twice!

Painted it with an obnoxiously bright version of a tealy-seafoamy color called shoreline green.

And then added some antique gold highlights to a few key areas. Glad I finally found something to do with those Golden Acrylic metallic paints that are so transparent that I never really knew what to do with them!

I still have to put a coat of varnish over the entire piece, and then it will become a place for me to store my found object goodies from the flea markets and such. I'll show you a picture when it's all done.

So... yeah... ummm.... what was my point? Oh yeah... this is me relaxing! Hope you all had a nice weekend!