Of Plain Doors and Objets d’Art

Of Plain Doors and Objets d’Art

Once upon a time there was a little pile of scrap wood. It could have been a lot of things; fire starter, shims, filler in a corner of shiplap, a birdhouse. Hmmm…a birdhouse, that appealed to the scrappy little pile of boards. A worthy aspiration to be sure for a few short scraps of plywood. But alas, the craftsman had a different plan. The little boards turned out to be just right for a little square door to cover a crawlspace. A simple, humble door. But this simple door got it into it’s simple door head that it could do better. That crawlspace door was not its idea of its best self. It wanted to be a birdhouse, up in a tree, keeping the little eggs and baby birds dry and safe. Only how? It was already fashioned into a sturdy little door. It was never going to be a sheltering, cozy birdhouse now, pulling apart all the nails and glue would be too painful, and a waste of the craftsman’s skill. Oh well, guess I’ll always just be a plain old wooden door.

Of Plain Doors and Objets d’Art: Problem Solving

But lo and behold, the craftsman looked intently at the simple, humble door, and saw something else. So he brought it over to the artist, who was sitting on the sunny porch drinking mint tea, wondering what her next painting would be. The craftsman said to the artist, “Look, I made you this sturdy little door”. The artist smiled and said “what a pretty little door! You did a great job, as always. Smooth, square, straight. I love it!” So she took the door from him and he went back to his tools to make some other things. The artist, however, looked intently at the small door. Studied the grain, the joins, the vintage trim that framed it. She dipped her brush in some paint, felt the smooth flow of the buttery colors onto the surface of the wood, and out of her mind and hand and heart came a thought, a design, an image of beauty and peace and soft colors and motion.

The Painting Part

She dipped the tip of the brush into rich burnt umber and out of it came delicate, fine twigs and branches. The brush next picked up a little bit of light, medium and dark greens and combined them in perfect proportions so that it seemed to capture every shadow and highlight of each leaf with a slight twist of the brush hairs. The pattern burst past the limits inside the frame and trailed out of it’s natural boundaries, over the frame and to the very edge of the little door. Then the artist leaned back, sipped her tea, and thought for a minute. What else do I see in this sweet little door? What belongs there? How could craftsman be happy? Ah, she took up the brush again, dipped it into several colors at once…gold, gray, pink, soft blues and white. She worked intently, her tea went cold, the door had no idea what was happening but could sense the purposeful placement of each brushstroke and color.

Then It Was Done

Then, it was done. The artist was smiling, satisfied. The door was amazed, only it was no longer just a simple wooden door, but a masterpiece of work and skill and love. The artist took the humble gift from the craftsman and gave him back the gift, now embellished with a graceful cluster of branches, leaves and blossoms, supporting a small, round bird’s nest encircling three shiny eggs. So the little door became not exactly the birdhouse it had wished for, but a beautiful work of art that everyone would gaze at and be inspired.

Back Story

We’re telling you this because among other things, we like surrounding ourselves with art, literature, things of beauty, and nice flavors and fragrances.  We call all of this “Human Scale Living”.

Of Plain Doors and Objets d’Art is a story of when we were working on the room that we now call “The Nest”. We’re still trying to perfect it. That picture is still there, for those who want to see it. We’ll replace the picture of the cardinal with another image of the door when we can.

Of Plain Doors and Objets d’Art is about the human scale experience of putting a decorative touch on something that is utilitarian.

Here’s a link to our Amazon Author Page. We have a lot of stories like this

Amazonhttps://us.amazon.com/Ellen-Maxwell-Cowan/e/B098S717T2%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share