To make a long story short, this is a piece of an old Amish barn, the barn had burned down. The indention that has been chiseled out was the location where a bracket once was positioned. The bracket was removed and is going to be reused in our old town interurban depot. Two brackets with rollers will hold up a sliding wood door that will move back and forth to cover things posted on a wall.
Even though it is not so much decorative, the craftsmanship has to be admired. It the barn had not burned that one person's work, which was essential for that door to be hung correctly, would have stood maybe another century.
A footnote to what I said here, the barn was from out east and it was on the man's brother's property. Amish are building new barns now where they have settled, more in Missouri than in Iowa.
Another tea pot that I hadn't included with the one blog in which I talked about decoration. This one had a stencil line outline placed on it and then it was hand painted as you can see where they painted sometimes outside of the lines with quick brush strokes.
Just like a good soldier, I finally moved the very last of the Christmas decorations to the basement. It was a couple of boxes that sat there for awhile, and today, I just did it. In ten months I will bringing it back up.
I have been painting and reworking paintings and getting back on the bicycle again. Painting is a skill but when it is also an expression you have to warm up the process to have success. I painted out a sky three times today and still don't have what I want. Maybe tomorrow I will get it done. Thanks for stopping by.....Friday
10 comments:
I am always in awe over the Amish people.
This tea pot is so very colorful. As an artist yourself, I am curious - do you think it would be hard to paint on a surface (such as a teapot) that is not flat?
Glad you got those ornaments back - we took the year off from decorating this year and saved my knees from going up and down the basement steps!
Are there Amish where you live? I always think of the Amish being in Pennsylvania and Ohio.
There are communities of Amish in Eastern and Southern Iowa and on into Northern Missouri. They have moved in the last thirty years ago because I came from Southern Iowa as a kid and they were not there then. There is a buggy sitting in the yard of my Uncles farm now instead of a farmall tractor.
Glazes are a liquid with suspensions of minerals in it. When you paint them on, it is rough material compared to smooth paint. When it is fired again it turns to the color and shine. Most hand painting has some flaws it and this tea pot is actually done very well. It actually helps to know if it is hand painted because you can see the workers uneven mark. Americans demand perfection and I hope I wasn't sounding like that. I just think it is interesting to study how they are created and see the human element in the work. I have a Japanese bowl that I found in a garage sale, that is painted so bad the it is ugly. I looks like sixth graders had painted it. I keep it as I am curious of it's history.
I hate to say it but.... Christmas isn't that far away ... the next one, I mean. Love the teapot. Hope your painting goes well.
We have an Amish community in our area. Their craftsmanship is amazing.
That is a beautiful teapot. The colors are really pretty.
LD - we still have the garland and bows hanging in the front rooms of the house - it just seems so bland and blank to go from the extravaganza that is Christmas decorating to blank walls. I think maybe after Valentine's we'll brave the stark look.
Well - i should never have boasted that it never snows here - we did get out of school early and we have 3 inches on the ground - and that feels really weird - it's been about 7 years since we have had snow here.
Just up the road about forty miles is a huge Ammish and Mennonite community. Their woodworking is impressive, as is their farming skills. They handmade all the cabinets in my home, the most beautiful oak I have seen.
I like to watch barn-raising's on PBS, hard working craftsmen.
Love the teapot !
Yes, you are correct about the Christmas decorations....ten months, and we'll be dragging them back into the livingroom ;)
I love old barn wood...we had an old barn on the lot across the street so my hubby tore it down and we used it on our walls downstairs in our "cabin room" and decorated it like an old fashioned hunting cabin with a deer head and everything...we live in a log home so that was the only room I wanted to copy a "rustic" motif. Loved the barn wood ambiance in there and the knots in the wood.
Congratulations on getting the Christmas decorations put away!
I'd read that the Amish were moving to other areas because tourism had overrun the original areas they'd settled in. Don't know if that's accurate?
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