The Painted Table

[Meredith Pardue, Tropical Series I, # 2, 48 x 48 inches, mixed media on canvas.]

Painter Meredith Pardue has done something kind of poetic with the biography section on her website. Rather than simply list where she earned her degrees or where she exhibited six years ago, she shares a bit about the landscapes, colors, scents, people and experiences that have shaped her work. While reading about her days in Savannah -- when she had the freedom to paint outdoors shielded by enormous banana leaves in her garden courtyard, or to work through the night, staying up to watch the sunrise -- I escaped for a few minutes to the warm city with the great old bricks.

[Leaves photographed by Konaboy; Savannah bricks photographed by JodiGreen; easel available at NK; palette courtesy Victoria Molinelli; chair with paints cropped from Melanie Acevedo's photo of artist Konstantin Kakanias' house as seen in House & Garden.]

My mind wandered, imagining the movie version of this apartment.

[Francois Halard photo of Julia Reed's old New Orleans house, Vogue, February 2001.]

The set would definitely need a big sturdy piece that could do double duty as a work space and part-time dining table. Remember the paint-splattered table top that Keith Johnson found in the UK episode of Man Shops Globe? Getting any DIY ideas?

David Douglas Duncan captured so many wonderful images of Picasso's life at Villa La Californie where the line separating studio space and domestic areas was sometimes blurry.

[Damian Elwes, Picasso's Villa La Californie I & II, 2006, oil on canvas, 66 x 66 inches (each).]

For a much smaller place, the hypothetical young artist's apartment in Savannah, I also love the idea of Oomph's painted demi lune table. Not to be used as a work space, but with the antiqued stainless top as a bar or sideboard.

Just as a narrow table in Picasso and Jacqueline's dining area was laden with sculptures, paintings and objects, the demi lune could hold small finished works too.

Oomph's table is offered in all sorts of brilliant colors, however I'm thinking Van Dyke Brown would be a nice counterpoint to lots of brightly hued paintings.

Another must: a set set of silver julep cups. (Frost is better on these than on Atlanta's roads.)

Last image via Martha Stewart.