My New, Old Drawing Table

As of today, I have a newly functional drawing table in my scrapbooking area. It's functional now due to the new black board on the front. The board was originally painted 1970's orange. I took it off a couple of years ago, hoping to spray paint it black, but eventually I decided that it needed to be replaced with a heavier board in order to make the table sturdier.

For a variety of reasons, we never managed to paint or replace the board. I've been carrying it around in the back of my SUV for quite some time now. Finally last night, I asked the nice (albeit surly) Cutting Machine Guy at Home Depot to cut a new, thicker board of the same dimensions. In all of ten seconds, it was done. Today, Spouse drilled new holes and DD painted it. I attached it with six screws and the project was complete. Why, oh why, did this take two years?

My drawing table is actually very special to me. My grandma bought it for me when I was in high school. Like my grandma, I loved art. She told me that all artists need a table and she believed in me enough to buy me one, even though I'm sure she couldn't afford it.

Perched on my tall stool, I used the table for drawing, painting, and all kinds of creative projects...that is, until my perfectionist tendencies squelched all of my artistic endeavors. From that point forward, the table sat unused in my parents' basement.

When I started to dabble in scrapbooking about ten years ago, Mom asked me if I wanted my drawing table back.

That was like a wake-up call.

In a sort of silly, sentimental way, thinking about my drawing table reminds me of who I used to be. I know that somewhere along the path, I lost sight of that person. For the past ten years, I feel like I've been working my way back to her. I want to find her, because I think that is the person I'm really supposed to be.

Grandma is gone now. And for some reason, I've been feeling a need to get back up my high stool and work. I believe that my new, old drawing table will help me get back in touch with the person she believed in all those years ago.