Watercolor Dessert

Fred's Birthday Dessert, 4"x6", watercolor, Toni Youngblood 2013

Six-string Incantations I

Above:  Six-string Incantations I, 21-1/2" x 21-1/2", Encaustic on board, Toni Youngblood 2013

Crows

Manny, Moe & Jack - Toni Youngblood, Acrylic on canvas board, 12"x9"  2013

Amalfi Watercolor Sketch

This is a tiny postcard sized watercolor, 4"x6" of a hillside in Amalfi, Italy. When I was an architecture student in Italy, I painted one small watercolor while we were visiting Villa Cimbrone, but there were hundreds of little areas near Amalfi to paint and we had to get back on the bus, so I took a few snap shots for later. Later is now---25 years later!

Handmade House Constructed with Salvaged Materials

My House, My Castle a New Zealand TV program aired a story about this house completed in 2006 and built by G. Clarke in Wanaka, NZ.

All photos by S. St. Clair
Drought tolerant plants comprise the landscaping adjacent to the home and blend with surrounding natural terrain.

The following information originated in New Zealand's TV Program, My House My Castle:   
The Labour Of Love category includes a Recycled House from Wanaka. Owner Greg Clarke combined his skills as a panelbeater and carpenter to build his unique home almost entirely from salvaged metal and recycled materials.

It took him years to complete and for many of those years he lived without a flush toilet. “I lived really rough,” says Greg. “Without heat and hot water!”

Now, he has all the comforts, is mortgage-free and loves his home!

INTERIOR:

Bathroom

Bathroom

Kitchen & Dining Area

Lounge Room

Lounge Room

Master Bedroom

 Master Bedroom

Guest Bedroom

Sailing on Lake Wanaka

After: Yard Sale Toy Bench

Before                                       After

 

                                

The only color I loved on the original toy box/bench was the red.  I saved the red in its distressed condition and chose black and creme to paint my pattern. 

I wanted my new paint to have the look of age and use of the old red paint, so I applied the black and creme paint accordingly.

I was lucky that the chest was composed of even proportions that provided easy numbers  with which to work in developing my design.             

Before: Yard Sale Toy Bench

I'm a believer in the value of reusing "stuff", versus throwing out and buying all new.  Could be the influence of grandparents who lived creatively through the Great Depression, not to mention the austerity measures people were tasked with through a couple of world wars.  

More than ever, I'm also rescuing and reusing because it's an  important action to break the cycle of throwing out and buying all new.  It helps us keep functioning, quite happily and creatively without making a dump out of our planet. Now I'm not recommending filling up your house with garbage. I'm just pointing out the beauty of giving existing quality items another chance to shine.  Furnishing by recycling, you may call it.  

Besides all that, there are a lot of old things with character that I really like---just as they are.  And sometimes I see things that require some help . . . to become lovable. So I jump in and give them the TLC they need.   And it's not just about choice of style.  Oft times vintage pieces are higher quality in materials and construction!

Pictured here, is a toy box/bench yard sale find for $5.00.  I'm in the process of transforming the character of this piece with paint.  See the completed bench here.