Bonnie Blue Birds Table

Usually I can say anyone can do this, but this project is a little advanced for beginners.  There are plenty of pictures to help if you decide to do this.  I'll try to remember to add odd details that otherwise might be left out.

Remember Bonnie Blue - that round face, those blue eyes, those curls?  I envisioned a hat just right for her with blue birds adorning it.

To be honest, the birds are not really blue, but sea mist.

 This is what I started with - a misused coffee table from a house clean-out.  Someone had used it to put paint cans on - black and white paint to be exact. The cans left rings.  I saw potential here with that expanse of the top.

What kind of paint frame is that!?! Long ago, kids, when I was young, we had metal garbage cans. The cans would fit into the frame with the bottoms resting on the triangular-shaped braces.  This prohibited animal invasions!

I needed the metal paint frame for another project so Bonnie Blue Birds was moved to the old recycle bins to dry.

Long ago, kids, we had three bins of different colors.  One for glass, one for paper, and one for cans.  Now we have a big blue rolling cart, and the prisoners sort the recycle for us!

Bonnie Blue Birds is now greige - a Valspar paint and primer mistint that was $2.  I thought it was going to be more gray, but sometimes I am wrong. (Don't tell Chucks!)

Long ago, kids, when I promised never to use stencils again, I was lying.  I cannot seem to stay away from them.

This time there are three, count them, three stencils from Show-Offs at Hobby Lobby.

You can only use one at a time because of space issues.  I started with the large bird in the center, then the right, and last the left stencil.  I used an old stencil brush with some wild hairs to make the edges a little fuzzy.

All paints were Folk Art craft paint.  First I used mushroom.

You might be tempted to stop here, but don't.

I moved the stencils about 1/8 inch to the upper right to stencil with barn wood.

You might be tempted to stop here, but don't.

I moved the stencils another 1/8 inch to the upper right to stencil with sea mist.  The birds got a heavy dose of paint and the leaves a lighter touch.

You might be tempted to stop here, but don't.  

Ordinarily I do stop after the third stencil, but this time we are going to switch to actual painting.

It takes patience - you can learn!

I took a liner brush (long thin bristles) to outline the berries, leaves, and branches with winter white.  

Just think where is the light to decide which side to paint.  I like to paint in natural light instead of artificial light because it is easier for me to highlight correctly.  

I know I have the after berries before the before berries.

The little dot of white just adds dimension.

Stay with me now - you can do this.

Here I have highlighted all the tree branch parts.

You can tell how much the highlighting adds to the overall painting of the birds.

Here is a close-up of the center bird.

Here is a close-up of the right bird.

There are no longer any stencil voids - I have filled them in.

 Now to add a little smidgen of realism to the birds.  You don't want to go too far - you want it to look primitive.

I used medium gray to outline the parts of everything that would be in the shadow.  This would be the opposite side of the white highlight.

Why?  It gives the painting more depth.  From the photo you can see that the birds are no longer laying flat, but appear to be raised from the surface of the table.

 I gave each bird an eye - a c-shaped curve with medium gray with a highlight of white.

A few light strokes of the liner brush and you have wings.

Always hold the brush perpendicular to the surface for better control.

If you look closely around the bird and the leaves, there is a shadow behind them.  Using the medium gray and a scrumble brush ( a worn-out one with splayed bristles), I dipped the brush into the paint and then dried most of it off on a paper towel and then gently scrubbed it around the objects creating shadows.

 

Just a picture of the bird on the left - I seem to be leaving him out of this post.  He was getting the same treatment as the other two!

I did sign this.  I am a strong believer in people signing their work.

Chucks did want to know what the '12 was for.  I gently explained to my absent-minded husband we had entered the new millennium and it was 2012.

And no, he did not have a personal jet pack or a flying car - those were promised to us by our Weekly Readers in the 1960's!

You can relax now - no more hard stuff.  It is time for waxing Miss Bonnie Blue Birds.  I pulled out the Howard's Citrus Shield in dark oak, dragged her outside, and began to wax.

Fast, quickly, speedily - a storm was brewing right over me.  I do a lot in the house, but I do not, never, ever use wax in there.  I am too klutzy!

I made it!  Miss Bonnie Blue Birds is now in the car waiting to go to the shop.  She looks great with the dark wax distressing her just a bit.

Here is the whole family of blue birds - well, really, sea mist birds!  The photo is crooked - remember I was trying to beat a storm!

Oh, there go my towels - gone with the wind.  Oh, well, Bonnie Blue Birds is safe!  (For now,  someone will probably buy her and paint her again!)

I hope this post encourages you to go beyond the stencils into real painting.  Trust me, if I can do it, anyone can!  Thanks for stopping by.  The storm has passed so I am off to another project!

See y'all!




  .