November 10, 2019

Many years ago, my husband came home with an interesting piece of wood he had found in the river. I "saw" a picture and painted on the piece.  Since that day, I have probably painted an eighteen wheeler full of driftwood boards.  I no longer live close to the marshes where I used to collect the driftwood, but one day I found an antique ironing board at Habitat for Humanity.  It became my first ironing board painting.  I sold it immediately; didn't even make a picture.

Then I began to look for the old wooden ironing boards.  My favorites are one board wide, usually 12 inches.  I also like wooden legs.  Usually I paint a wash day scene on the ironing boards. As a child, Monday was "wash day."  This meant water was heated in a big black pot over an open fire outside.

Two big washtubs were filled with water drawn from a hand pump or a well in the yard.  One tub was used for washing equipped with a washboard, a hunk of lye soap, and elbow grease! I've painted on a lot of washboards as well!.

 Sometimes a housewife had washing powders sold at the grocery store. Often washing powders offered a bonus gift of dishes inside. The wheat pattern was popular. Of course, one had to buy plenty of washing powders to collect a set of dishes.

The rinsing tub was my favorite.  In the summertime, my mother would let me wash my feet; then stomp barefoot on the clothes in the rinse water!  After wringing all those clothes by hand, they were hung out to dry, hopefully in full sunshine. A light wind was desirable to keep the clothes fluffy and fresh ( no fabric softener in those days.)

I've posted pictures of numerous ironing boards and washboards on my website; www.beckysart.com.

This summer, I painted a washboard I especially enjoyed.  It has scenes from Edisto Island that many people are familiar with.

From left to right, the scenes on the ironing board begin with The VooDoo Tree.  Traveling from Edisto back to the mainland, the voodoo tree is located in the woods on the right hand side of the road, coming off Dawho River Causeway.  I don't know who the artist is who keeps up the voodoo tree, but those of us who are familiar with it, have enjoyed it for a number of years.

Another favorite landmark, is the mattress hammock located on the road to Edisto Beach. I have also done this painting on canvas, entitled "Edisto Beauty Rest".

Behind the mattress hammock, I have painted the wash day scene.  Then on the right of the tree in the center of the ironing board, I show crabs being cooked in a big black pot over an open outdoor fire.
The crabs are "fresh" from the river, and the crabbers are securing their lines on a crab reel, the last scene on this ironing board.

Crab reels are also a "site" from the past, another scene I have painted on canvas. Crab reels were used when crabbers used long lines stretched out down the rivers, baited with bull noses.  After a day in the creek, the crabbers would roll up their lines on spools they had built on the shore. When crabbers began using crab baskets, they no longer needed the reels.

The last crab reels I remember were located on the beaches of south Fenwick Island ( or Seabrook, as the neighbors called the area.)  The island was created in 1903 when the Corp of Engineers removed a 26 acre tract of land, creating "The Cut" between the Edisto and Ashepoo Rivers. The government paid the black man who owned the 26 acres $2000 for his land.  "The Cut" was part of the inland waterway system.  Making "the cut" also isolated the families who lived on the other side from the mainland.  They were offered no "due process or just compensation" for losing access to schools, churches, and other necessities of life.  Eventually, the families moved away from their homes.

The ironing board with "The VooDoo Tree and other "Seens" from Edisto" is available for sale at Consignment Envy in Walterboro, S.C.  Other ironing boards and washboards I have painted can be seen on my website: www.Beckysart.com.  My work is on display at The Charleston Artist Guild Gallery at 160 East Bay Street, The Sunset River Market Place in Calabash, N.C. and The Colleton County Museum.