Creating a TOPSY-TURVY BIRDHOUSE

 

Being upside-down certainly gives you a
new perspective, that's for sure!

 Since I first started painting birdhouses, drawn first to Pennsylvania Dutch styling where the "Dutch" is an English corruption of Deutsch or German, and I am half Saxon, one of the Germanic tribes, I moved on to other styles being especially drawn to Norwegian Rosemaling with its flourishes and color, a style that reached its heyday in the 1700's and is seen only in a variety of museums in Norway today.

   Then, I started to experiment by combining styles, then trying out hand painted scenes such as the view from a bi-plane down or the view from the ground up, taking two-dimensional art and putting it on a 5 or 6 sided birdhouse. Yes, I tried abstract type creations. When a friend suggested that I try one upside down, I was intrigued and had never thought of that before!

   After creating a larger abstract birdhouse for a custom order, I found myself drawn back into the studio I had worked so hard to create! Moving and creating space twice in one year, then all the other events since I moved to Palm Springs a little over two years ago, I was tired and felt uncreative. However, after several sales and having to recreate again what I could not find, I was drawn back to my studio and having fun again.

   I must admit though, this project was quite a challenge and took some time for me to decide what I needed to do to make it work!

Topsy-Turvy started its life like this!

   The first step was finding the right birdhouse. With so many raw birdhouses in my stash I was tempted to start small. However, the round ones or 6 sided ones I wanted to use already had string to hang them by so, I rooted around until I found what I thought would be the perfect one, perfect that is, upside down. I felt that if was to be upside down, it should really be upside down. 

   The roof, now a bottom, would be a garden with leaves and flowers and I would sprinkle images of the seasons on its six sides. I still needed to consider a design of elements to tie it all together though and pulling out drawers and looking at my collection of add-on items finally found what I wanted.

I had to create it upside
down to make any sense
of what I was trying to do.

  First came the design noting where the elements would go with the first coats of paint.

Adding the bottom trellis finally made
the upside down effect fall into place.

 The heart, my signature element of course, was added to the bird hole entrance, and everything else flowed from there.

   I started with the red heart and then the diamond shapes that were added to the bottom, now the top, of the ridge below the feet now the top. 

   Next came the

elements for the sides. A mirror on one, a wooden Christmas tag on another, wooden star on one side, another added later to the top, a laser cut clock over a created fireplace mantle ... "&" for a spring like effect that completed the sides. The pieces were painted and allowed to dry, then work began on the bottom.

 A burnt umber trellis was created first, then leaves were added outlined with a gold pen. Dots of pink randomly placed with even lighter dots became flowers that filled the new bottom that might have been the roof. In fact, it was the roof that took the most time because of the layers of design and paint. Yet, once it was done I considered that you rarely see much of the top of a birdhouse and in the past few years I have been taking designs to the roof, not ignoring them as I had in the past. I was easy to include the roof and in fact made it appear to be more of a complete design.

The various elements glued into place.

   Once the "bottom" was done, it was time to start finishing the painted elements and adding the items that would be glued into place. That was the fun part. If I had any reservations, I realized, that time was long past. After so much work to create this it was too late to make any major changes. Well, I could but after hours of creating this there is a limit of your patience.

A silver star as a base for the golden

ball, then adding a red jewel was the 

perfect, finishing touch!

The last decisions were for the old flat bottom that became the top. Since it would have been the bottom with a wide flat open space, what should I do there? I tried to postpone that decision and did until the bottom and sides were all done, the parts glued in place and then ... what? I even had the hanging hooks screwed into place. 

   Back to the drawers and checking out all the wooden pieces collected over the years. First I grabbed a big wooden ball. Painting it gold I realized that even on the stylized roof it needed something else, something more. Grabbing a wooden many pointed star, I put it on the flat painted, tiled roof, then the newly painted golden ball and thought, this is the perfect "ending" if you will. As a contrast to the gold, I painted the star silver, glued it in place, then the golden ball and to close the opening in the wooden ball, I guess meant to be part of a necklace ( I can't imagine but .... ) found a red jewel and glued it on, a perfect finishing touch!

One-of-a-kind birdhouse complete

   For my birdhouse, at least, I have found that a coating of "antiquing," usually a darkish brown rubbed over the edges and various elements, then blended with clear water tones down the colors and blends all colors into a harmonious whole. It did here as well. I tend to choose bright, LOUD colors and the antiquing tones everything down. If this piece intrigues you, you will find it on my Etsy.com store for sale. Look up TOPSY-TURNY BIRDHOUSE.

   If nothing else, this experiment has taught me that it never hurts to experiment. I think we all get into ruts, creating the same thing over and over. I was ready for a challenge and am now working on a larger, even more abstract birdhouse. Let me know what you think!

Thank you for reading my blog. I invite you to take the time to read earlier blogs where the emphasis is to explore the ways art and design affects our daily lives ... and always has. I share with you what inspires me with the hope that it will inspire you as well. Comments are always welcomed! Be sure to check my re-opened ETSY store ... KrugsStudio.etsy.com. I will be adding many new and exciting products. Many of the items talked about here will be for sale there!