2/21/2005 — Raymond did it!

Greetings,

I am a large fan of the show (trying to slim down a bit) Anyway, a small snippet of myself, I am a self taught artist. I had some free time on my hands after a divorce and started painting furniture based on the Mexican Folk Art form of Oaxaca, Mexico. (Those little animals carved of wood and painted bright colors.) My carving skills lack, (cannot even carve a bar of soap) however, I have developed into an ability to paint furniture. I started with my dining room set to get a feel of the brush and things kinda of took off from there. Attached are some pics of my recent work. I get most of my furniture from Ikea (nice and inexpensive, and, if I mess up, it is not a total wallet drainer). The four chairs with cushions are my dinning room chairs. At the time I had no idea what I was doing which made the outcome even greater. No art skills, no upholstery skills, just a roll of the dice so to speak. If I can do this, anybody can.

I work with simple latex and acrylic paints, and apply a water based clear coat to give it that shine.

Raymond