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!
