Repainting a vintage sailor whirligig

My Deep Fancy for Sailors 

Love all things NAUTICAL 

I have always had a thing for sailors.  I remember when I was in my early twenties, I used to write the word, SAILOR.   It's not surprising I married a boater.  

So the above whirligig was given to me by my Mother back when my kids were young. I don't think it was overly valuable but it wasn't super cheap either.    At first I liked the painting on it just fine, then all of the sudden,  I disliked it.  I decided that it looked sort of imported...sorry.  

So I repainted it, from head to toe and antiqued it.  However, before it was not a sailor but rather some sort of officer.  (Not in the Navy).   In order for me to want to keep it, it had to be repainted.  Now he fits in just fine.  I think one of my kids dropped it when they were little, too.  It was busted, now its fully fixed and looks awesome with my decor.  

I signed it on the base

Notice that I wrote "hand painted."  I did this because I did not carve it, I just painted it.  Whoever painted it the first time, had primed it a great red.  I just scraped down into the red to get the look that I wanted.  *Don't try this at home, folks, I can't guarantee the results. 

Here's the backside.  I will admit, this was a little more time-consuming than I had anticipated.  It was fun, though.  

Interestingly enough, I dropped this thing while painting it, and the arm snapped off at the paddle!  Nothing broken
but it was toward the end of this process~I panicked for a second needlessly.  It snapped right back on.  It was  dowed.  This thing was made well.  

To prove how much I love sailors, just look at the other sailor art I have done over the years.  If I do a show and it doesn't sell, it comes home! 

I actually have even more 'sailor' artwork but didn't want to underwhelm you! 

Thanks for looking! 

Enjoy. 

Tweet

Nantucket Fourth of July Painting

The Mermaid's Nantucket Parade

It was an amazing time! 

This painting is for sale thru Nantucket Country, Nantucket, Massachusetts 

Cotuit is the narrow strip of land that runs along side of
the mainland at Nantucket Harbor 

It's been a few days since I have posted.   I decided to go on a vacation, whata ya know!  So this is a painting that I just finished as of June 2014.  It's current, as they say!  Because the subject matter is about the 4th, I knew that it had to look patriotic.  Mermaid's Toggery is a play on Murray's Toggery which is a store in downtown Nantucket.  The cobblestones still exist on this faraway island and are part of its quaint charm! 

I put a lot of thought into my paintings and love when you have to take a good 10 minutes to absorb all the funny details.  I really loved the Heaven Swing idea.  If you look carefully at the top of the swing, you will see some 'heavenly' arms holding the ropes along with his hat falling from the 'holy' clouds.

  

I also love the hollow whale ride (see below).  When I was a little girl, they used to make some amazing floats in our downtown Carlisle, Pa parades.  Maybe it was because I was young, and everything looked amazing back then. 

Fire bucket compliments of Cotuit! 

The hollow whale has an interesting looking sailor inside its mouth.  Check out his 'clown' foot! 

Mermaid Toggery sells Whatever Floats! 

I think wherever there are mermaids, you have to have a little water.  I love the sweet face of the mermaid with the bucket of water! 

The ticked off looking mermaid is holding a sparkler

Look at the sheen on the whale, the bumps are crackled like an old painting
the finish is Encaustic over Acrylic. 

I can paint more serious if I want to, but let's face it.  There are plenty of serious looking paintings out there, and  I feel my whimsical mermaids meet a niche in the market that is needed!  We all need to smile a little.   I am fairly certain that this painting is going to be in the main storefront window of Nantucket Country this July 4th weekend.  Nantucket Country will have this framed in an antique frame.  Sometimes its tiger maple or birds-eye maple, and other times its a cherry frame or a walnut with a gold leaf liner.  One thing is for sure, her frames are amazing and they are genuine antiques.  

Thanks for looking and happy holiday week!  We are blessed to live in the USA!!! 

Enjoy!

Tweet