The Rainbow buffet!
Ok, I've probably said this before, but I mean it this time!
I've never been a big lover of rainbows (except for the ones in the sky), but my experience painting this rainbow buffet already has me thinking about my next piece in this same style!
Want to see the whole process?
This video is a fun one!!!
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My excitement over this pop-art Andy Warhol-inspired buffet certainly helped to ease the pain of having to paint over the existing paint finish!
(If you missed this Jacobean-style buffet the first time around, you can find it here in the Enchanting Garden Buffet blog).
My client was looking for a Andy Warhol-inspired buffet that was very large in a rainbow finish, and the Enchanting Garden Buffet was still available so I painted over it!
And after the first initial painful paint stroke, I enjoyed every one after that!!!
Basically, I covered the previous paint with a single coat of BOSS in gray just to level the playing field of color. It helps me tremendously to work from a clean slate!
I striped the top using Silk Paint in Salt Water and Anchor. I prefer Silk for my black and white patterns such as stripes, harlequin, and checks. It's a bit thinner than the chalk mineral paint and works great for these detailed patterns.
I chose to move to the chunky legs and base next. I knew exactly how I wanted them to look, being sure to use all colors of the rainbow (per my customer's request).
Choosing the colors for the Rainbow Buffet based on what would blend well together was key.
My favorite blended color pair is Honky Tonk Red to Peony! You can see that on both the right and left corner legs. I highly recommend this blend for beginners! It is a very forgiving combination and will make you feel like a pro!
Once I was happy with the lower base, I was ready to move on to the body of the buffet.
The drawer fronts were blocked into four even spaces and color-blocked.
To create the lips and have them be exactly the same size and shape, I decided to create my own pattern.
Whenever you are drawing anything that needs to have a matching right and left, try this: Draw one side, fold the paper in half, and cut out the pattern. When you open up your pattern the two sides will be identical!
I then traced the lips into each rectangle and began the painting process.
After, I trimmed the set of drawers with white paint.
The right and left doors were painted white; however, I chose to trim these in black paint.
I wanted to bring a touch of both black and white to the front of the buffet to coordinate with the top surface.
Then I created an arch pattern (again), using the half/half process like the lips. This pattern was what I used to trace the arch to both the left and right door. I then measured out my spaces for lines of the rainbow and filled each line in with color based on the good ole acronym ROYGBIV.
Here is the result!
The rainbow arches needed something to soften them a bit.
I considered blurring them out with a total whitewash to make it seem as if they were covered by fog. Instead, I chose to use the bold drip technique created with Fluff and water! I LOVE how it softens the rainbows and plays off the idea of rain as well.
The sides of the buffet are very unique. It took me a bit to achieve this look; even though it appears extremely haphazard!
I created bold rainbow stripes using just Peony, Amethyst, Cobalt Blue, and Flamingo.
I did this by using a large paintbrush that allowed me to load all four colors of paint at once and dragging it from top to bottom.
Once this was completely dry, I painted completely over the stripes with an ombre layer of Amethyst, Cobalt, and In the Navy.
While the ombre layer was still wet, I sprayed it heavily with water and allowed it to run off the side panel. Wanting to keep this effect, I continued to spray until some of the under-layered and brightly colored stripes were exposed.
This look is something I love and haven't used this technique in a long time. I call it "water washing". It is a lot of fun to do, and feels very freeing for those perfectionists out there!
Time for Glitter!
Once everything was dry, I added glitter to the lower lips of all four pairs of lips. The rainbow buffet needed some bling, so I used a glitter medium that I purchased from Hobby Lobby. I really like it as it's premixed and not messy to use at all! I just brushed it on. The glue dries clear and the glitter is extremely iridescent!
My final step was to top coat the entire piece in Satin which gives it that lovely sheen that you might see in the photos!
And that is it!
This piece just makes me soooooo happy when I look at it!
I am currently leaving my doors open to my shop just so I can look out and see it when I am working in my kitchen!
It will leave soon with the shipper, and head to its forever home on the East Coast. I hope it brings my client as much joy as it has me!
I can't wait to hear what you think of it!
