Random - Shine for Claudia

My friend Claudia is the voice behind our blog at House of Shine. She would subtly drop hints that she wanted artwork for her birthday. Okay- it wasn't really subtle. But I didn't have a piece that I felt spoke to me about her if that craziness makes any sense! So, I decided I was going to make her a wood sign with the word Shine. How hard could it be, right? Well, the poor guy at Lowe's sawed the power chord right in half when he was cutting down the wood for me. I went home empty handed. He was terribly embarrassed and I felt bad for him. After I got another piece from Lowe's competitor, I employed my friend to not only loan me his jigsaw but to actually cut it out. No small task. I'm glad he offered and I'm glad my stubborn ass accepted. We had to rig up a sawhorse because I don't have one. I don't have a drill either and he needed one to be able to cut out the hole in the "e". We called my lawn guy who came over and supplied us with the drill. Cutting the word Shine out was no simple task.

And then came the job of sanding. Sanding with my little handheld and sanding with coarse sheets by hand. And then painting.

And then sanding and painting.

And sanding and painting.

And yes, more sanding and painting.

I couldn't get it right and I was totally rejecting mediocrity.

I was late for her birthday but I think it turned out pretty well. The reason I'm featuring it today is because I don't have any new finished paintings to show you and it's sitting on my dining room table because of a function we had last weekend at my house.

I think it turned out pretty nice. I also think I'll stick to painting on paper and canvas unless someone supplies me with a wood working workshop! The shadow it creates is cool, right?