Click the video below to see the time lapse of this door being painted:
Want to read more about the “Door” project and how it came about?
After seeing a picture of a door on Pinterest one morning (see below), I felt prompted to contact a new friend and artist, Dana Jensen, and I showed her the door and simply said, “I can imagine you doing something like this”. Dana had been following my Facebook page for sometime, and I knew her family really well, but we had only met on the odd occasion, so it was a bit random to be sending her a message about a door. But she responded that she LOVED it, and asked about other things related to my market stalls, etc.
I’m not sure where the original image came from, but I found it on this web page HERE.
Interestingly, Dana and her family have been studying over in the USA, and had just returned for the US Summer holidays before heading back again in September. So anyway, that very morning in May, after getting my message about the door, she and her husband, happened to go to a garage sale not far from where they were staying here in Brisbane, and came across a big solid vintage door! She took a picture of it, asked the couple how much they wanted for it, and showed me the picture the next day. I wondered if it would still be available by the Monday, and so I sent my husband around in his van to knock on the “door people’s” home.
Sure enough it was still there, he picked it up and now I had this HUGE door sitting in my workshop, ready for some creative inspiration.
And here it is after I had stripped and sanded back as much as I could – using a mask and protective gear of course as this very old paint most likely contained lead.
I painted with a coat of some left over chalk paint I had laying around, then a couple of coats of Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint in Ironstone or Linen (I can’t remember which white I used now!)
And so we had a blank canvas ready for some art!
Eek, now to decide on WHAT to put on the door! We didn’t want to just copy the flower door we were inspired by, and Dana looked up several types of flowers on the internet to get ideas and gather inspiration, choosing ones that were interesting and had character. “A number of ones I picked, that stood out to me, were poppies – they were delicate and fragile and beautiful,” Dana said.
From the beginning of this project, we have both felt that this was more of an inspirational quest, so to speak, and not just purely co-incidental that we happened upon a door the same day we mentioned it. Being the spiritual kind of beings we are, we searched out the meaning of the poppy and found it had some significance (to us, anyway) in its meaning of death and resurrection, and remembrance, the 100yr anniversary of Anzac Day, Flanders fields – sacrifice, etc.
Dana also found out after she had painted the poppies, that the orange poppy is the state flower of California, and this is exactly where they’ve been living and studying. We can’t help but feel that even the door is a physical symbol of “open doors” and “restoration” that is taking place in her life.
So let the painting begin! First, there was the sketching out …
Dana used her acrylic art paints over my base of Milk Paint.
We enjoyed beautiful music and lots of coffee and chatter in between!
We used a GoPro action camera to capture the time lapse of Dana’s Painting. (No, this is not a product endorsement, we just happened to take this picture of it, and it looked cool).
And here are some pics of the finished door:
At the writing of this post, this door is availabe for sale. Door is located in Brisbane/Logan area, Queensland, Australia.
For enquiries you can contact me in the contact section on this blog post, or email danajensen@iinet.net.au
I. Just. Love. It!!
Thank you Sandra! She did an amazing job.
So beautifully written Sharon. I think you captured the essence of the piece and the process! What’s next? 🙂
Yes, Dana, what’s next?
What a lovely Idea, you are so inspiring Dana n love you to bits.
its very beautiful. thanks for the pics
this is awe inspiring beyond words. I am so going to have a go at this one day! thanks for sharing your inspiration with me ladies.
Beautiful! Sharon and Dana. Your writing Sharon was beautiful and really did capture you and Dana’s friendship, i have a bff and that reminded me of her and i’s friendship. Dana, that door is so stunning, you are very, very talented. I have a door down in my basement that i have been trying to come up with a way to really make it stand out, i am going to add a shelf about table height, add some hooks across near the top, maybe add a plant hook and make a very small potting bench (door), lol, not sure what to call it ! Thinking it might need a poppy or two or peonies (i love peonies) Did you happen to see on hometalk, the gal who painted her patio walls using similar poppies in very red and different shades of greens to match her patio furniture ??? If not, you might want to check it out ! That too is very inspiring and beautiful. Thank you ladies, have a great day.
Oh thank you for your beautiful comment Diena. A shelf – what a great idea to add to a door as well as the hooks. I’ve added 3 hooks across the center of this door since I posted about it. Oh I love peonies too. I’ll have to look for the patio door post you’re referring to. Thanks again.
Very inspiring, I have a plain sliding door which I had put in from our family to the garage, soon to become my studio. I am looking for ideas/inspiration. Love the poppy, thinking a peonie would be nice too. The boys 2 of my children, my husband and three male grandchildren are all say this should become the sports lounge. Any thoughts welcome.
Oh lovely. Yes, Peonie would be nice too. If it’s a sports lounge, you could think of something sport related to put on the side of the door that it relates to, maybe the other side, your Poppy or Peonie.