Accent Dec Glass Houses

Glass

HOUSES

ARTIST DONNA WOODS’ HAND-PAINTED CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS DEPICT LOCAL HOMES

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TEXT AND PHOTOS BY CHARLOTTE BLOM An old cedar chest holds remnants of Donna Woods’ very first craft projects, most likely salvaged from Vacation Bible School. When she was 13 years old, she painted her first mural on the wall of her cousin’s bedroom, a depiction of Holly Hobbie, the blue-bonneted little girl character popular in the ‘70s and ‘80s. At 50, Woods is still using her artistic ability to manage her own interior design business, Southern Art, as well as to hand paint Christmas ornaments. In her small studio attached to the black and white checkered-floor kitchen of her Hattiesburg home, Woods meticulously paints houses, or other images, onto clear glass orbs on commis-

sion. Each house ornament takes her about one or two hours. She asks her clients to give her 3-4 photos of the houses to work from. Woods says the idea just came to her before she fell asleep one night about eight years ago. “I just think the good Lord gave me that idea,” she says. Many of her patrons are from church. Woods believes her best advertising being word of mouth. One year, she said, someone placed an order for 20 of the same barn. Another customer ordered 30 ornaments for her Sunday school class. But mostly, people place orders of their own homes to give to family members or friends.

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After graduating from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas with a bachelor’s degree in interior design and a minor in art, Woods moved to Natchez to be closer to the antebellum homes she loved to study. Under her mentor and boss, now deceased designer Hal Garner, Woods learned a lot about historic eras and restoration of old homes and antiques. To this hands-on education she attributes her ability to not only paint homes but the faux finishing and murals, cabinet glazes, hand-painted furniture, accessories and antiques, house portraits, pen & ink commissions for personal stationeries and such, and ornaments. “Anything that stands still,

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I’ll paint on it. If you stand still long enough, I may just paint on your face!” she jokes, a pewter painter’s palette pinned to her red shirt. Woods loves the business of art. “There are always new things in design. New types of products, every person you work with is new. Every person brings a new experience, and I love people. I love helping them,” she says. In the late ‘80’s, Woods’ vocational calling was tested, and she returned to school to get her teaching certificate. She learned this was a mistake. She taught junior high for less than one year in Texas. “I realized the hard way I

did not have the teaching gift. I have the talent and skills, but not for teaching. And that’s OK.” Shortly after, Woods returned to Mississippi where she landed a job at Hederman Brothers, a printing company in Jackson. She also joined Broadmoor Baptist Church, where she met her husband, Gary Woods. Another connection she made at church was with Don Baker, who commissioned a painting that Woods says “put her on the map.” This job brought back to her love of old houses. As an engagement gift, Baker wanted her to paint the Windsor Mansion, a ruined antebellum home in Claiborne

County, from a Union soldier’s sketch. She was asked to put the painting on display at an antique show and soon she was getting orders for it. She was able to use her employee discount at Hederman Brothers to make 2,000 prints. Soon, she was shipping her rendition all over the country and the world, including to Brazil, Germany and Spain. In ’95, Woods and her husband moved to Hattiesburg, where she worked as a rug sales manager for Anderson, with one of her Windsor prints hung above her desk. About two years later, she was looking through the newspaper, and she saw the Secret Gallery was looking for a manager.

“My eyes fell on that ad. Again, I think that was God,” she said. Slowly but surely, she started cutting days off her work schedule. Eventually, Woods became self-employed full time, shifting focus to her Southern Art interior design business, and painting Christmas ornaments. For this Christmas, Woods began taking orders as early as last February. In addition to house ornaments, Woods has painted renditions of historic buildings in downtown Hattiesburg, and of the Area Development Partnership’s decorative swan. She is also currently working on an order for the Hattiesburg visitor’s bureau

with Mississippi on one side, and on the other, the greeting “Merry Christmas, Y’all.”

TO PLACE ORDERS Contact Donna Woods at (601) 543-0340. Donna Woods’ ornaments are available at Main Street Books in downtown Hattiesburg. Merry Christmas Y’all is $10, house ornaments are $35, and others are $16.95.

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