I’ve always had a weakness for textiles, particularly table linens and upholstered chairs. A few weeks ago, Hubby agreed to let me purchase an online upholstery course from Chair Whimsy.
Wendy Conklin, “the chair stylist,” is a retired school teacher from Texas. She’s really good at teaching, and her way of communication just feels like home to me!
There are upholstery projects galore all over my house. In fact, I’ve got a cut-up memory foam queen-sized mattress tucked away in a closet upstairs just awaiting my summons to a project; I just never had the confidence I needed to start tearing a chair or bench apart. Now I do.
Shortly after taking the course, which has lifetime access, I took apart my barstools. Their pleather seats were looking shabby after 9 years of heavy use. A friend at church (HanselLeather) cut circles from real leather for me, and Hubby set up the air compressor (I’m a little afraid of it). I started on stapling, Hubby watched me, and then he took over so I could put the chairs back together as he finished each seat.
We were both so proud of the finished products!
This week, I started yet another new venture—selling art through Daily Paintworks online. Carol Marine, an artist from Austin, wrote Daily Painting, a inspiring book that I read on a plane a few years ago that has stuck with me. Marine was unsatisfied with the art gallery world and in 2012 enlisted the help of her programmer husband to create a website for artists.
The couple has thought of everything! The online gallery options, the methods of collecting payments, the reports, the email promotions to thousands of potential buyers, etc. are just as empowering to the artist as Chair Whimsy’s lifetime-access upholstery course is to an aspiring chair stylist!
I hope to get all of my art on the new site as soon as possible. If you’d like to sign up for updates as I post, please follow this link. Another way to view my paintings would be to search by artist on www.dailypaintworks.com.
Happy first-day-of-Spring-2025 Friday!
