Time and circumstance have a way
of coloring things. Artist Leo Osborne celebrates that mystery with the
pedestals that support his works of art. “If you don’t seal it over,
it will continue to change,” he said.
It is that element of
co-creation, a little inspiration, a lot of hard work and some serendipity
thrown in that has made the home and Milkwood Studio that he shares with
Jane Lane such a unique and inspiring place to visit.
“This was a
co-creation all the way,” Osborne said of the remarkable renovation of a
dark and dank 1977 Sunnybrook manufactured home on Guemes Island.
In an astounding seven months, Osborne and Lane transformed a
rundown, run-of-the-mill structure into an avant-garde, one-of-a-kind
showplace. “It’s been altered,” Osborne quips, pun intended.
“There
are altars everywhere.”
Both Osborne and Lane share a strong
connection to the spiritual. His sculptures, such as the series Walking
Prayers, have an “other worldly” sense. Lane co-owned the metaphysical
store Mandala for many years.
“We decided we were really gonna go
for it here,” Osborne said of the home’s audacious use of strong texture,
bold color and architectural embellishments.
“I’ve never been so
flamboyant,” Lane said. “Leo encouraged me to take some risks.”
Those risks include richly textured ochre walls, handwritten
quotes bordering the kitchen ceiling and colorful kitchen cabinets with
bead pulls instead of “tacky” metal pulls.
“The first night we
stayed here, we thought we’d made a mistake. The place had not been
cleaned, there was no gas, no heat and the appliances were dead.”
Cleaning was the first priority and included a “cleansing
ceremony” by Heli Tattari to lighten the mood of the place.
Both
Osborne and Lane credit builder Rick Petrick of Wood Duck Construction
with the vision to see the property’s potential.
“He and his crew
really put their hearts into it,” Osborne said. “These young men added
their own artistic touches.”
Ideas evolved as the project
progressed.
Lane mentioned that it would be nice to have a larger
doorway from the kitchen to the seating area.
Osborne enlarged the
opening and Petrick found a piece of driftwood to brace the top, creating
an organically shaped archway. From then on, all doorways became
thresholds and any opening was a target for restructuring.
Color
began to fill the once dingy space, starting with a fresh citrusy
combination of lemon, apple green and periwinkle. Quotes inspired by two
Dylans, Dylan Thomas and Bob Dylan, sprawl across the upper wall in
childlike writing.
An intense Chinese red began accenting the
outside woodwork. A serendipitous accident splashed paint on the
intended-to-be-natural wood porch. Attempts to remove the paint left a
lustrous stainlike glaze that let the wood’s grain show through. Disaster
turned into a gift, a metaphor for the project as a whole.
Driftwood seemed to show up as needed on the shores of Guemes
Island. One massive beauty in particular serves as an graceful arch at the
entrance. Refuse strewn on the property was incorporated and
transformed such as the concrete mosaic walkway and sewer pipe sentinels
that accent a small retaining wall along the pond.
Osborne’s
artwork graces both indoors and out.
“We call it a living museum,”
he said. “This is our work here - to share it, so that it brightens
others.”
The combination museum, home, gallery and studio
synthesizes work and home life and allows the couple to spend more time
together. Lane, who organizes and manages the complicated world of
marketing fine art, said her favorite room “is the one Leo’s in.”
The two met in Ellensburg after respective splits from their
spouses. Lane sensed Osborne’s love for Guemes during a short stay to
visit friends.
“You love this place,” Lane said. “I can tell.”
Though Ellensburg was kind to them, both missed the green of Western
Washington and its proximity to the water.
A sunroom has a partial
view of the Guemes Channel. The warm room was a favorite lounging spot in
the summer, at least according to Sweetpea the cat. Sweetpea claimed the
room early. Sauntering on a just-chemically treated walkway, she sneaked
into the sunroom and tracked the oxidizing substance onto the unfinished
floor. It wasn’t until the floor was sealed that the treatment took
effect, leaving a whimsical, albeit permanent, trail of kitty paw prints
from the couch to the door.
It is that mix of planned and
unplanned that keep these two young at heart. They go with the flow of
what shows up, whether it’s spilled paint, paw prints or new love.
As Osborne put it: If you don’t seal it, it will continue to
change over time. The same can be said of hearts as well.
Constance Mears is editor of Home Accent. She can be reached at
homeaccent@skagitvalleyherald.com
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