LOVE

As long as I can remember, I have loved the work of Robert Indiana*, especially his LOVE painting. Created in 1964 as a Christmas card for the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), it was later recreated into a sculpture on display on 6th Avenue in New York City in 1970. There are now over 16 versions of the sculpture in the U.S. and 13 internationally. It was also featured on a United States postage stamp. Robert's work was considered one of the cornerstones of modern pop art in the 1960's and 70's. I really enjoy his art (as you can tell).

When Matt and I were thinking about what we wanted Baby M's nursery to look like, I kept gravitating towards our typical style - clean lines, black and white furniture, pops of bright color and big graphic prints. I wanted something with impact on the wall behind the crib and I really liked those large tree wall decals, but it seemed like a lot of parents were choosing those or owls as their "theme" (no themes allowed in the M household!) After browsing the blogs I normally follow for inspiration, I remembered the LOVE sculpture and thought, "My crafty husband could probably make that somehow for the nursery!"

Matt was headed to NYC that week for a friend's birthday, and when he returned home he brought me a matted photograph of the LOVE sculpture on 6th Ave.


Looking at that sign solidified my desire to have it hanging over the crib. It's a little cliche, but Baby M is the personification of love to me. We have wanted a child for so long, and already feel so much love towards this child that is unknown to us, it seemed fitting that LOVE be the dominate focus of the room since it is the dominate focus of our lives right now (outside of Jesus of course).

To recreate it, we decided that instead of painting it directly on the wall, to instead use a light (in weight, not color) wood and cut it out, paint it and hang it on the wall - I want this piece of art with us always! Matt bought a piece of MDF from Lowe's and one evening I brought home a portable projector from work. We hooked it up to his Macbook Pro, leaned the MDF against the wall, and projected a web photo of the LOVE sculpture onto it. Within an hour, Matt had sketched and cut out the sign with his jigsaw. Even unpainted it looked great!

That is Carlos, my cabbage patch newborn. Actually it's name was Joshua or something, but Matt used him as a prop for his Halloween Costume - he went as Alan from The Hangover. Carlos is the baby. Anyhoo...

We didn't paint it for a while, as I was still thinking about what the color scheme would be in the nursery. At first I was thinking bright yellow (I love the combo of yellow and gray) but as I looked at my idea boards, I realized that to paint it any other color besides its original red would be a sin! So red it was. Matt primed it white first, then used 2 cans of red spray paint, but it came out a little too streaky, so we bought a small can of red paint and did another 2 coats.

Here is the finished product:

Don't you just LOVE it? ;) We do!

*For more information on his art, please visit the MOMA Collection.