OHMYGOODNESS, STRAWBERRY!!! How BEAUTIFUL!!! What talent!!!!! There's such depth - looks like you could wander down the path and through the gate. So it was from your Mom that you learned to paint on porcelain. Is the house still in your family?

well, when I was raising my kids, my mom was retired and had remarried, after being a widow for a number of years.
she and her new husband started in with ceramics and it wasn't long before she turned to painting on porcelain. I heard of it through her but I wasn't the least bit interested. she and I were more estranged than anything. whatever she liked, I rebelled and liked the opposite. if she liked silk, I decided I would make a stand for burlap, if she liked china, I chose jelly jars..you know that kind of brat kid I mean..I was all about that~
I just couldn't accept being like her.
( I wasted years being like that)...
so, years go by..
about 3 years ago, I was offered a chance to be taught to paint on the porcelain by one of my mom's closest friends.

the house had been sold the 34 years ago to a lady who bought the 5 acres for her son, so he could build himself an automotive repair business.
that's why I hadn't been back. I'd driven by it dozens of times, over the years, on my way to the water at the end of the long drive to a boat launch and small beach.

my mom also had painted a sink at that place she and her husband lived at...
about a year ago, I thought I should make an attempt to go out there and ask if I could take a picture of both the mural and the sink or I would forever lose my chance to save the memory of the things she had painted.

two weeks ago, I was invited over to the ladie's house that's my mentor. I didn't want to go..I wanted to stay home, I just wanted to stay home and quiet.
but I went anyway.
while I was there, we just talked about how I haven't been putting much time into the painting these last number of weeks.
when I was leaving to go home, I said I was going to stop at the farmer's market in town, then drive home.
at the bottom of the hill, I had the blinkers on to go left.
that little voice told me to "go out to your mom's place"..I drove out to the middle of the road, ready to turn left and again it said..."just go out to your mom's place"...so, rather annoyed with that little voice, I turned right and headed out to my mom's old place.

when I got there, it was as I had seen many, many times.
a regular automotive place.
my mom and step dad had sold it around '75 I think.
I got out of the van, went inside and asked the receptionist if the little house was still the same, out in back.
they said it was an apartment now and it had been renovated around a year ago..(about the time I had that fleeting thought to go see if I could get the pictures)

it had just recently become vacant and did I want to see it?
well, yes..I decided to go take a look.
the mechanic walked me around back and I went on it..it was soooo weird...so de javue.....
most everything was the same with a few modifications. two of the doors had been closed off and a window had been dry walled in.
it was rather dark now but the mural over the sink was still there. the handles were gone..they were fist sized roses, my mom had made from porcelain clay, painted and fired.
now they were little round chrome ones.

and the bathroom.....oh, I was hoping the sink was still there..

it wasn't~

so, the guy asked me if I wanted to ask the owner about any of it. he directed me down the road, to the back part of the acreage, where he had cleared and had a mobile home moved in.
I walked on down and found the owner.

it was a Friday and it was the first day, morning actually, for their weekend long, every weekend in fact, to have a garage sale, till everything was gone from that huge shop.

I asked the guy about the remodel..told him my mom and step dad used to own the place. he knew my mom's name right away.
I told him she was the one who had painted the mural and sink...he was surprised about that. he never knew that.
I asked him about the sink.
he said "your mom painted that sink?"
I told him it was right after they bought the property and Paul had done all the remodel, when they first moved in. he built her a large studio, for their combined business of pouring, painting and selling the porcelain, and had featured artists in the studio from time to time.

I asked what ever happened to the sink...
he said. ..."since it was your mom that painted the sink, you get to have it, it's right over here" and he went and got it from a shelf, among hundreds of things at the garage sale.
I was floored!

I had forgotten what it even looked like, so he loaded it in my van and I brought it home.

it's been sitting out in a shop for over a year and it's dirty, from the construction that was going on, while it was still in the bathroom but the picture shows at least the design. I haven't cleaned it up yet and I don't exactly have a place to put it but I'll treasure it forever, even if it sits on a shelf. it's about the last thing I know of, that she painted, that I had wondered what ever happened to it and now I have it for my studio, if I should ever have a serious one built.

{{gwi:2088137}}

What a wonderful story. Wow. Your mom was certainly talented. I love that sink.

WOW!! I wish wish wish I could paint...(yet another future addiction I'm sure)Those 2 things are WONDERFUL!!! And so is the story!!! Thanks so much for sharing! I was that rebel too, my mom knit amazing stuff and so I wanted guns and bows&arrows, dirtbikes etc! I always did have a creative streak and my mom did encourage it.

Yes what a great story .Love that sink .You know you could always make an out door sink and use it for that..

OHMYGOODNESS, STRAWBERRY: I think I'd remodel my whole bathroom in order to put that wonderful sink to use. Absolutely delightful. Great story.

Aren't those flowers...."forget me not's"? The whole piece is stunning. What a great piece to have. Maybe you could think of something to do with it other than wash your hands and brush your teeth? Birdbath in the garden standing on a purple and white pedistal top? You could enjoy it every day and so could the birds. If it is fired porcelain it should last another 100 years.

they're violets...I was told, cuz I didn't even know that..

I should take a picture of the sink in my own bathroom she painted....
as soon as I clear up the area, I'll get a picture of that one on here.

What a nice story. Your Mom was so talented and you are so lucky to have the sink, whatever you decide to do with it.