Art - It Makes a House a Home

When I start planning a project, I think about fabrics, color schemes and art!!!  Because to me, artwork really makes a room come alive.

When I attended the MECA (Maine College of Art) holiday show in December, I had the opportunity to meet Dietlind Vander Schaaf.  Her work was stunning and even though I hadn't completely decided on the design for the Vintage Colonial, I kept thinking about it.

And as the plan came together, I reached out to her, to see if she'd loan me a couple of her paintings for the project.  Thankfully she was happy to and we started to do some planning.

I met with her in her studio and was fascinated to see her work.  You see, she does encaustic paintings.  Essentially, it's many layers of wax, applied to create a texture and depth that you simply don't achieve with standard painting.  

So, instead of tubes of pigment, she has these wonderful cakes of wax in vibrant colors.

that are combined with base wax to create her palette

And of course she has to heat it all up, to 'paint'.  Here are a few works in progress, so you can get the idea.

The resulting artwork has this amazing silken quality to it.  Much different than what you would usually see with paint on a canvas.  It has a warmth and shine that I couldn't adequately capture in a photo.

And when she came to hang the paintings, well they were just perfect!

Don't you think they make the living room a 'wow'???

If you're local, come see them in person at the Open House, 77 Goudy St, Sunday the 29th from 11-3.  And if you could bring a non-perishable donation for the South Portland Food Cupboard, that would be fantastic!!  I'm hoping we'll break our 200 pound record donation!

Pin It