Enchanted guest #13......say hi to Amy from Mason Decor!

Hi everyone, thanks so much for your well wishes from Saturdays post, when every muscle in my body felt on the brink of collapse, and my feet  about to fall off, reading all of your kind messages and emails was the perfect remedy, it really warmed my soul (and gave me some much needed diversion and laughs) and I do not say that lightly. We are trudging along, starting off being sick wasn't exactly part of the plan but I am feeling a lot better and am definitely pacing myself (while pinching myself all the while that we are finally here). Hopefully within the week I will come up with some kind of an updates post. Until then my wonderful guest posts continue.....

 I think of my guest blogger today, Amy of Mason Decor as being akin to a modern day superwoman, the kind of person who can do anything and with a seemingly magic wand, she gets the job done and makes it look so effortless. There is no playing around with Amy, when she says she wants to do something...it gets done and it gets done then and there! (I know all of you who know her are nodding your heads right now).  She can post in the morning about thinking of painting a room a certain color and by days end, there is another post with the newly unveiled room in its new color......this is how Amy rolls. 

I knew shes talented but I had no idea she was this talented, and she nearly knocked my socks off when I saw this post. Amy, my hat goes off to you for your imagination, talent, vision and gumption to "get the job done". I think you have found your calling and so could make a business, you have my vote! Make sure you stop over at Amy's fabulous blog, just filled to the brim with all of her amazing projects and things of beauty, click here to visit Mason Decor. Thank you Amy for this wonderful and very inspiring post and to all of you for stopping in!

Before I let Amy take the floor, I had to share with you a few pictures of Amy's beautiful, charming home (many of the projects she did with her own two incredibly talented hands). Seriously, Amy.....Rachel Ashwell has nothing on you!

This is superwomens home office, elegant don't you think?

A dreamy office!

Love the big wide open shelves.....

Love how she wallpapered the book shelves here

Gorgeous secretary she did in chalk paint

Her charming dining room

Her laundry room...love the colors and look at what she did to the ceiling! That's right SHE did it.

And now from the maestro herself......

Hello to everyone visiting today with Tina at The Enchanted Home!

I was more than happy to be asked by Tina 

to do a guest post here at one of my favorite blogs.

This piece was created especially for my Enchanting visit~

I hope you enjoy it.

 Chinoiserie~ A french term signifying "Chinese-esque".

I have always wanted to try my hand at this Asian inspired art

 to create a piece of my own Chinosierie. 

A lamp in the living room was my canvas.

 

 This was how the lamp used to look.  

It is a tole lamp, (which means it is metal).

 There was nice crackling detail, 

but the overly cheerful subject matter did not fit my living room.

 The crackled texture on the lamp would 

still be visible once I painted over it~so this was a plus.

 A mixture of Paris Grey and Old White chalk paint

 covered the old artwork on the lamp with one coat.

This lamp would dry quickly~

now I needed to decide how I was going to create the chinoiserie scene.

First I drew a sketch of a pagoda sitting on an Asian tree on my sketch pad.

I was planning on doing a monochromatic look, but as art happens,

 I ended up using 5 colors with metallic sheens.

I wanted colors that would look nice in the living room.

 I drew the pagoda onto the lamp lightly with a pencil, 

then added the metallic pencil color into the sketched areas.

 After I colored my sketch I applied a champagne 

metallic craft paint with a tiny brush over the colored pencil.

 I laid the lamp down so I could carefully apply the paint by brush, 

which is harder than applying color with

 pencil on such a small and detailed sketch.

 I found my chinoiserie inspiration on a teacup 

I owned as well as online by googling images.

This was the pagoda before the metallic craft paint was applied.

 I planned to add scroll work and crosshatch motif

 seen on this tole tray all around the bottom of the lamp.

I spent New Years Eve watching Dick Clark and painting this lamp!

The background was done by mixing some Louis Blue

 chalk paint in with the champagne craft paint.

 Here is my inspiration tray, sketch and tools that I used to create this lamp.  When you put the sheer metallic craft paint over the penciled artwork it all kind of melts into a painted effect.  The entire lamp has a lusterware effect and it is quite enchanting.  This was really a shot in the dark~I always remind myself that things look worse before they look better. When I drew the image of the pagoda I thought I might be painting over it and starting from scratch.  But I kept going and added a little bridge to the right of the pagoda and some tall Asian style trees too that I found pictured on the side of the blue and white pagoda teacup.

Each panel fades to luster when you look at the next panel. 

 The crackle base comes through and adds a nice quality to the finished result.

It sits to the right of the sofa....

While this ceramic lamp that my parents owned 

when we lived in Asia sits to the left.

The old lamp went from this~

To this~

 The pair of lamps in the living room.

Old world meets new.

 It mixes nicely with the French desk I painted too.

 A custom Chinoiserie lamp~

made with colored pencils and a little bit of faith and paint.

Pretty amazing, don't you think? I am continuously blown away by Amy and all of her surprises up her sleeve. I have stopped thinking I have seen her best work because sure enough she comes through (normally within hours) with yet another project! You go girl. Do visit Amy and tell her how  much you enjoyed this post and thank you so much for stopping in. Click here to visit her. Wishing everyone an enchanted day!