Today's garden photo's

 There's not much left of my little container vegetable garden, there are a couple of other pots with chives and carrots but a few lettuce leaves and tomatoes are about all that's left in this pot.

 The weather's been good so I was sitting out here sanding a few of the wooden horses for that painted ornament project I've been working on. Over at the next table I'm clear coating the painted ones.

 Different times during the day as I sat outside and worked friends dropped by to pass the time in between their errands so I'd take a break and visit with them.

 This is kind of a living room area. Yes, I know the "rug" looks kind of sad, we could use some rain.

Birds at the feeders

Yellow Horse Christmas Ornament

This is the first of the yellow horse ornaments painted to be part of a boxed set I've been working on for quite a while now. So far I've done 3 different red horses for it.
Judging from the size of the box it will hold a dozen or so ornaments by the time I wrap this project up.
At the rate I'm going, Christmas may get here before they're finished. That's OK by me, I'm really attached to them and the way my designs keep evolving as I continue to try new things with them.
I'd kind of like to keep them myself but of course bills do have to be paid so I just keep working and hoping for the best.

Blue Arbor Project

 This deep a blue in the shade needed some brightening up so I looked around the garden for ideas and found these in the border:

 I think it's going to work out nicely, don't you?

A change of plans

I never got enough space cleared up in the dining room to get back to that sunflower painting so I ended up going back to work on the horses I've been painting as part of a boxed set of Christmas ornaments. They don't take much room and it's giving me a chance to explore some of my design ideas and practice different stroke work with an assortment of brushes.

The weather is pretty nice now but is supposed to get hot later. I've stopped painting outside because the wind drys my paints out too quickly. There are a number of ways to get around that but most of them cost money so at least for now I'm still working in the dining room.

A rainy afternoon

I'm glad I got out and did a bit more work on the rosebushes yesterday because it's raining today.
I sat and watched the birds at the feeders outside my window as I crochet a potholder for a while. I had a party to go to so I didn't dare start painting anything before I left.
It feels good to be back home and I'm headed back to work on that knife painted sunflower as soon as I get my clothes changed.
I've felt pulled to it every time I walk past it, it will be nice to stop and slide into it to see where it takes me.

So, this is the dining room...

Current Projects

We'll be having another rainy day so I'll be designing more products with my artwork on them in my Zazzle store (you'll find links on the side of this page)
We're also trying a couple of other places to find the right mix of products and get our sales up.
It doesn't take me long before the numbness in my fingers makes typing too difficult and I'll head back to the dining room to move back and forth between a number of painting projects:

3 wooden dala horse ornaments that I'm painting to match the ones I did on that painted box. It's going to be a nice set with ornaments in a matching storage box.

3 acrylic paintings (also on Dala horse themes, one with Swedish flags)

As you've probably guessed I've got a lot of other paintings in progress on different themes but they're a lot less likely to sell and there are bills to pay so they'll have to wait.

OK, some of them won't...I'm pulled in a lot of directions today...

Before and After, practice to improve your designs

 These 2 scans are halves of the same large painting.

I'm repainting 4 of the horses on it now.

 I liked the idea of blue and white horses on yellow and thought I'd try a smaller painting. This one is 8x10 inches and designed with more open space to allow text for greeting cards. After I scanned this I decided to make changes and the next scan shows the finished piece.

Can you spot the changes?

Trimimg back the roses

Here's the way the roses looked while blooming earlier this summer.

The were pretty but didn't bloom as heavily as they used to.

 As I began trimming them back it was apparent that they'd begun to die off at the center so cutting them way back should open them up to the sun, remove the dead wood and give them a much better chance to do well next year.

 There's a lot more work to do out hear but it rained and I went in for a nap and a chance to get back to work on my new paintings.

Those climbers that I transplanted earlier this year seem to be doing pretty well. I'll need to add one or two where some of them didn't survive but I've got great hopes for them next year.

A new spin on old ideas

I've been caught up the last few days on new ways of painting dala horses and combining them with other ethnic designs. I got so excited that I went straight to designing with them on zazzle and haven't gotten around to scanning images or getting any photos for you yet.
The weather is sunny and great so I keep popping out to work on the yard and garden in between things but haven't gotten around to getting photos of that either.
We were just taking a break for a cup of tea in the front garden when a guy came up trying to sell meat out of a van. This was funny for a number of reasons but mostly because we haven't seen a steak or any money in years.
The up side of that is not caring anymore whether we eat meat or not and finding that we feel better both physically and mentally when we don't.
We felt a bit sorry for the kid, what a way to try to make a living in 80+ degree weather (dragging around boxes of meat). It can't be doing either of them much good...
The van he was driving just matched the trailer we're trying to sell so for just a minute we got our hopes up.
Oh well, sometimes life's like that. Everyday we dare to dream and get our hopes up a bit. Who knows, maybe someday we'll be right and it will all work out.

Blue arbor and garden plans

 This arbor is a pretty bright blue but in a part of the yard that's so shady it's nearly dark I think it works. I ran out of money and paint before I could finish but plan to get back to it soon.

 Painting the arbor the same color as my lawn furniture really seems to pull things together and unify the yard.

We keep hoping that trailer will sell so that we can get on with our other plans here before the weather changes (building some new planter boxes, getting a load of gravel, moving more plants)

The Easy Way to Paint an Arbor

 This Arbor has been many different colors over the years but this time I thought I'd paint it the same shade of blue as all of my lawn furniture.

 I have my husband paint the parts that I can't reach and then I sit down to paint the rest. There's also a spray paint that matches this so that I could also spray the parts that I can't reach. It's just more fun to have someone to help. 

 One of the neighbors has already been over to make faces and comments about it but then she added "I like color" so maybe it will be OK.

 There are a few other arbors around town but they're either natural wood or white, if nothing else I guess this will make me easy to find. If I was looking for an artist or Swedish Dala Horses this is where I'd stop, how about you?

It was a nice day for it and I enjoyed the work.

Floral arranging with silk or fabric flowers

 When I do flowers at home I always do fresh from my garden, especially when planning to draw or paint them but for the senior center I just work with the silk and fabric flowers that they have available. I'll be adding a few things to these purple ones next time I drop in.

 I wanted to keep this arrangement low and wide so  that It wouldn't block the sensor when it's in place under the TV. It's a little unusual looking because there were 2 daffodils but only one of everything else.

On the bright side of that is the fact that you get a very different look each time you turn it so it will keep us from getting bored.

Wildlife Habitat, the surprise in my watering can

Today's fresh flowers from the garden

The Chair's gone, still working on the box

I was so excited when I finished that chair that I ran it right over to my friend and  I didn't realize until later that I'd forgotten to photograph it.
Now I'm back to work on the box and a few ornaments to put in it.
I've also got about 1/2 dozen paintings in progress in various stages on a number of different subjects and themes.
Tomorrow I pan to gather a few flowers from the garden and get some pen and ink drawings done.
Everyday is it's own creative adventure, make yours a good one.

Lots of new projects going on

I haven't got any new photos because yesterday I decorated a basket for one gal and helped another gal with her scrapbook while working on a third project. Somehow it just doesn't leave time for photography.
I'm also finishing a wooden box and a small chair that's a gift for a friend. The 2 projects I just wrote about can be tossed in the scanner so I'll put that up now.

Both of these projects have been rolling around the studio for a while and I decided that if I finished the little chair it would make a perfect gift for a new friends collection so I'll try to get it done and delivered today...by Friday  or Tuesday... It depends on how carried away with the painting...