Painting Outside the Box...

 

I think I mentioned in a previous post that sometimes I have a tendency to paint anything that doesn't move too fast!

I don't know, maybe it's the three dimensionality that gets my motor running, but it seems to have a much different feel than painting in 2D.
And you get in the mood for a change, so it's all very interesting to explore...

I think it might have started with my

ex husband's motorcycle back in eighties, I had painted a nice surreal on his jean jacket that he was really attached to, it had a floating face above a marshy scene based on landscapes in photos I had taken around Nova Scotia, Canada somewhere. It was supposed to catch the feeling of the Maritimes, and it really did, in a very dreamy, bluish, sort of floaty way... After he decided his Yamaha 750 Virago had finally reached the point of needing a paint job, he really wanted that image on his bike!

Never mind that I had no experience whatsoever painting a motorcycle, had never used an airbrush and didn't even own one! Talk about being forced out of your comfort zone... But on some level, I think he did me a favour, I muddled through, did my research and it all turned out quite lovely. And I learned it's much better to step out and experiment than to get complacent and stop learning!  I wouldn't mind painting a few bikes sometime too if it ever came up, and I learned a lot about airbrushing, metal paints and so on in the process. So it was all good.

But back to the blog subject at hand... That was probably my first serious experience with painting on 3D objects. And it's got different design challenges, you have to keep looking at it as you do your design to see what the audience will see and try to balance it as much as possible to keep the composition working. It's a lot of fun, but you have to keep on top of things.

After that, periodically, I'd just paint something that caught my fancy, just for the sheer enjoyment of it!

When I was first separated and had no money, everyone on my Christmas list got homemade shortbread cookies and hand painted dough ornaments from me that year. The funny part of that was that when I eventually got more money together and things got better over time, my friends and family still wanted the cookies and ornaments instead! Hilarious;-) Thankfully, they finally got tired of them and I got tired of baking, so it all worked out.
Somewhere in the mid 2000's, I found a lamp in a thrift shop that looked like a clove of garlic to me. It was kind of attractive in shape, but was very, very ugly in colour and texture. So I decided, well, why not, I'll paint over it with acrylic and varnish it, it's plastic based anyway! The lamp turned out beautiful, and I've still got it. It got me to thinking about other objects...
Such as boxes.  Jewelry boxes, knick knack boxes, boxes for keeping keys, rings or pins in.  Why not make them more decorative and something people can enjoy putting on their shelf or mantle?  So after that, as a small hobby, I've always painted boxes, it's just something that satisfies that urge to create that doesn't seem to be quite as serious as a full blown painting.
I've noticed boxes have come back into style more in the last decade, maybe I was just getting ahead of the curve a bit... And of course, I've been experimenting with glass painting as well, maybe next I need to paint a glass box!

Images by Teresa Young:

1. Candlestick - Jul.2010,  2. Paper mache ring box - Jan.2010,  3. Small Jewelry box- Jan.2010,  4. Octagonal box - Dec.2009,  5. Circular box - Jan.2010,  6. 7. 8. Lecture Stand - 2009,  9. Painted Lamp - circa 2001,  10. Book shaped box - Jul.2010, 11. Eye box - Jul.2010.