Last summer on our family vacay to Gulf Shores, Alabama, i collected tons of driftwood from the beach. The kids helped me on my quest.
There was an unusual amount of it and i had an idea. As we packed the already overloaded van to go home, all mark could do was laugh as i handed him a rather large bag of this space-stealing stuff. He is so good to me...always supporting me in my hair-brained, creative endeavors. i love that guy.
a small sampling of my collection...
It took me a year to get around to it, but just this week i put it to good use. My goal was to make a wall sculpture out of it and hang it up on our fence in the backyard by the pool as a reminder of our favorite place in the world...Gulf Shores. Check it off my list...i got it done!
Here's how we did it... We had some scrap siding plywood in the garage and i had Mark cut it for me down to 28x48. I decided to paint the rough side of it and I used several different shades of blue paint (acrylic and latex) that i had on hand from previous projects. I just randomly painted it on and blended it all together. Finally, i washed some white over it all. I only painted it on one side and i did not seal it. I think it will only get better as it weathers. I guess we'll see about that.
Mark helped me piece it all together into the shape of a heart. We had fun doing it together. It was kind of like putting a jigsaw puzzle together. I made the outside shape of the heart first with driftwood pieces and then we filled in the center.
Once we had it exactly how we wanted it, we used this glue...
It was really a two person job. I carefully lifted each piece of wood, one by one as Mark used the caulk gun to put the glue on. Then i placed them back on the board. The glue set quickly, but i waited overnight before i stood the board upright to make sure we got all the pieces glued on sufficiently.
Mark still has to hang it on the fence, but i had to bring it out and lean it so i could see how it would look. I think it really pops against the dark brown fence. {please ignore the dust bowl weed patch it is standing in}.
I still have a ton more driftwood, so i'm already dreaming up some other driftwood art i can make to complement this one. a whale? a fish? a boat? maybe a mermaid? There's a lot of open space on that fence! :)
How very cool. I love garden art. And the light blue coordinates beautifully with your pool!
Posted by: Gail Weitzel | July 27, 2012 at 03:09 PM
I. Heart. This. :) I love driftwood art, and your wall sculpture is awesome! Nick just asked me yesterday if Mrs. McDonough did sculptures. Guess the answer is yes! Nice job :)
Posted by: Carolyn@Sweet Chaos | July 28, 2012 at 07:49 AM
I live 45 mins from Gulf Shores, and we love "our" beach! Glad you found that gorgeous driftwood to make something so creative to remember your trip! Great idea!
Posted by: Heather E | August 05, 2012 at 10:16 PM