Nail Art

Not finger nail art but "hammer and nails" kind of art.

A few years ago while visiting my mother-in-law in Illinois, and visiting an antique mall that I go to every time we drive out there, I came across this:

Nails hammered into wood then painted.  What a contrast, the harsh ruggedness of a nail but then dainty little flowers painted on the top of each nail head.  Here is a side view:

 I loved it but I had already spent too much so I passed it up.  I logged the idea into my head though... painting on nails, how unique.  When we traveled back to Illinois this past Thanksgiving I made my way to this same antique mall.  I had completely forgotten about this treasure and I also forgot about recreating it when I got home.  But guess what?!  It was still there... waiting for me.  When my mother-in-law asked me what I wanted for Christmas I said "THIS!"

A few weeks ago I began recreating this idea.  My first thought was to do an undersea theme and paint each of the nail heads fish:

I use roofing nails as they have the biggest surface space plus I found that they come in 3 different lengths, awesome, that way I could stagger them and make more of an impact.  So I bought all three sizes, took them home and started hammering away!  (After hammering I primed the nails so the paint wouldn't chip off.)

I think I have made 8 total but my favorite one (and the smallest) is my abstract black and white one:

I have also done an owl, ladybugs on leaves, and a few flowers.  I hung them yesterday in my studio space at Olde Towne Art

I have so much more to talk about but I'm trying to stay to one thought per entry.  As a teaser my mom and I went to a quilt convention last weekend where I got a lot of new ideas! I love quilts but some booths were geared more towards us mixed media artists... what else could we do with fabric? Stay tuned because I have dug into my fabric stash and I'm creating something awesome!