Coasters

I had bought some blank wooden coasters as just a temporary solution to keep from marking my table in my dorm room, but after a while I decided that they were very plan and that I should paint them. So I did. I did the cardinal first, which was done in a pretty standard painterly style, as it were.

Then came the violets, because they are the provincial flower of New Brunswick, and the birth flower for February, when I painted them. They were meant to be more of a Van Gogh-style impressionist somethingerather, but I’m not entirely sure how they turned out. Maybe they’re too bright.

The lemon came last, and was meant to be more of a Monet-inspired thing (again, not sure how entirely well that turned out in the end). I like the colour palette of this one the best, though. I’m not sure how actual artists capture the ‘wet’ look of a lemon so well, but I tried my best. The shadows I think are a bit off as well.

I have tried to make them usable as coasters again by varnishing them, but each of the varnishes I have tried so far has melted when a hot drink is put on top of them, melting the cup to the coaster and making it so that you can’t take the cup off until it has cooled down. So for now, they remain cold liquid-only coasters. There is a fourth as-yet unpainted coaster, so there may be another in the future!

And the fourth one is here! I painted this in September 2023. It’s meant to be a blue heron, and I think the heron looks a little funky, but looking at reference images, maybe that’s just how herons fly, with their necks all tucked in. I also found some varnish at the Home Hardware that makes the coasters usable. No more sticking!