This is a blue beyond blue like the primal oh-my-gosh what a beautiful color blue and I’m not the only one who said so blue. Super fine amazing quality paint, dropped off at my doorstep the other day by my très groovy neighbor. As soon as I opened the can, something had to be found to be painted with it.

Voilà! A big old flat file, used for drying silk-screened T-shirts a long time ago, heavy as heck and it holds a lot of stuff. Major corner of my newly laid out studio, a place where I like to look at the fresh prints. Should have taken a ‘before’ photo – it was gun-metal gray inside and I had painted the top aluminum, which looked kind of cool but was way hard to clean and smeary on your hands, paper too. Now it shimmers.

So, snapshots, snapshots, some with a flash, then without but adding more ambient light, then I notice an accidental shadow, then try some intentionally and that, my friends, was yet another OMG moment. Forthwith: the flat file in situ, five silhouettes, and one shadow play highly altered. The ‘newly laid out’ studio, by the way, is more like rebuilt. I took everything apart, scrubbed it all, moved it around, and reinstalled the equipment. Now there’s wide-open space in the center, where you can spread your arms wide and twirl.

Secret tip for painting flat-surface metal: after using a brush for the first coat, try a roller for the second. Glorious.

© Cat Rutgers 2016