I normally have an idea of what I want to achieve on a piece but I love it when a piece dictates to me! This is exactly what Lady Grace did! She was already a stately little lady but my vision for her was to turn her into a grand old dame!
She started out pretty rough, missing pieces of ornate details which I replaced. Each of the round bottom legs were missing some pieces, I used wood putty to form them to match the existing legs. I painted her with Sherwin Williams/ Totally Tan, adding splashes of colors like blue, reds and yellow next. I wanted these colors to be muted but give it an old world patina. I then used General Finish water based stain Antique Walnut, watered down then rubbed over each surface which allowed the color to deepen. To create patina in this fashion, it is layer upon layer of random tans, cremes, and dark brown glazing. The top was sanded and stained with General Finish Antique Walnut stain Lady Grace taught me to be more free in my expression of an Old World patina. As an artist, if I can learn from a piece, I count that a success!!!
