PRIDE IN ACHIEVEMENT
4/22/07
I am often discouraged at my lack of daily, weekly or even monthly achievements. Life’s achievements are too often taken for granted by the doer, and are seldom celebrated. The asthetic achievements during our daily lives are extremely mercurial and often ignored or treated lightly. Recently I had a closet built in the bathroom and had the carpenter build a door from plank wood. I picked out the lumber.
I bought a 12 foot piece of sanded pine and cut it in half. The carpenter made the door, and I put on the finish. It saved a lot of money, and made it worth while to finish the door myself. I chose a very deep red mahogany color. To get just the right color I blended a dark redwood stain with it. I applied three coats of stain on both sides of the door, and two coats of High Gloss Acrylic. After many hours of staining and drying the door it looked great. The pine planks had many knots in them and the wood grain was roughly sawed. I had done the preparation and staining on the picnic table in my backyard. The sun was shining brightly overhead, the sky was blue,the April weather was dry and warm. The Spring sunshine reflecting off the highly glossed, warm colored wood, appeared as a yellow flame on a smoldering fire of dark brown and deep red coals.
After I finished the staining I put up the closet door and stood away from it in critical amazement. Damn it was beautiful! I got the exact color and the high gloss finish gleamed in the sunlight streaming through the bathroom window. The warm red and deep brown colors penetrated the wood grain and colored the wooden veins and knots perfectly. An aged bronze door knob was the perfect accent. Instead of having just a door I have a 6 ft by 2 ft work of art.
I have had many achievements worth noting,but none as recent. The closet door was a unique chance to physically create something beautiful simply for the sake of creating something beautiful to personally enjoy. I was so proud of the door,that I thought I might carve my initials on one of the hidden edges. I haven’t done it yet, but I’m seriously thinking about it.
L.A. STEEL
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