Wheelchair Ramp Garden Art

A couple of inches of the top and bottom horizontals will be painted black with a white dot trim to "stitch" it together with the other work that I've done over the years.

The rest of the horizontals are free space for anyone that comes here to express their creativity on. 

I'm hoping to make it a creative hub in the neighborhood and let everyone have fun with it.

Painting a bright welcome in yard and garden art

I took this photo while heading down the ramp today. Every time I go past it I can't help but smile and so far it seems to affect most other people that way too.

An Artist's Life and Projects

An artist's life and projects intertwine in ways that most people don't really understand. How do we make or choices? Why do we pick a certain media or subject? What drives us? Well there as many different answers as there are Artist's or craftspeople.

In most circles what I'm doing with the wheelchair ramp would be considered more craft than art. I don't really care what people call it as long as it makes them smile.

My reason for painting it is to protect it and make it last longer. My reason for painting it so many different ways is to help me work out different design ideas and color combinations that I use on other projects.

The main thing I do with some of these ideas is paint Swedish Dala Horses which is what I enjoy doing when I'm not caught up in easel painting abstracts or florals.

Two Good Reasons for Art in the Garden

The first and most important reason to include art in your garden is that you only have fruit, veg and flowers to brighten it up part of the year and you'll want color all year around.

Clay pots are a cheap and easy way to get started and even old ones can be brought back to life with paint. The rim on this one was a great place to practice a border that I've been wanting to teach myself. This one didn't turn out very well but the plants won't mind.

I need a lot more practice on this design so I've gone back to painting the spindles on my wheelchair ramp to keep at it until I get it right.

I kind of like my second attempt better but I've got a long way to go before they come out like that clipping that I've been saving all of these years.

Next time I'll try it with colors used in the clipping instead of using up the stuff that I've got on hand.

Turning the corner with Sunflowers

This old frame was pretty beat up and just didn't look nice enough when I tried to repair the chips in the corners so I just painted a couple of Sunflowers over it.

I'm planning other changes to both the frame and the painting but will hang it up for now and move on to other projects.

Painting without brushes, boundless creativity

Whenever I start a painting I like to connect with the canvas, run my fingers across it and beginning to apply paint. Yes, I start with my hands, any found objects near by and some palette knives. As the color and texture begin to build inspiration usually sets in.

Even if the painting doesn't work out the experience is calming, centering and even healing at times. no effort is ever wasted and I'm amazed by both the process and the possibilities. After nearly half a century it's still the driving force, lover and demon in my life.

Art projects for the house and garden

As you can see there's still a long way to go before the wheelchair ramp will be painted but each step of the way I'm learning new things and practicing favorite techniques so I don't feel like any of my time and effort on it is wasted.

I'm trying a lot of color and pattern combinations that I've never used before. Doing it outdoors gives me the opportunity to get feedback from neighbors and passers by about what things people like best.

I also think that it may help people find "That Dala Horse Lady" in town so I'm waiting to see what the summer will bring.

Creativity at Home

As I get ready to do some paintings on canvas I'm playing a bit by painting the wheelchair ramp and working a bit as I paint ornaments for an order. Work or play there's always paint brightening my day.

I came here with over 90 paintings and only have about a dozen left. I'm re-evaluating those to see if I want to make changes on them or paint over them entirely, it depends where the mood takes me. Living in a small space makes you look at things differently.

In the meantime these small projects keep me happy and come in handy for a lot of things. Paint yourself happy- I do.

Fun with Paint in the Yard and Garden

Easy Iris Painted on Flowerpots and other projects

Butterflies

All but one of the butterflies came out yesterday and that one was late going in to it's chrysalis so we're hoping that it will come out today.

It did come out later that day but I didn't manage to get any photos of it happening.

  
We're relieved that the weather has warmed up and are planning to release them on Friday or Saturday. We're all looking forward to that. The one thing
I've learned through all of this is how difficult it is to snap photos at just the right moment.

Now that we know a little more about them we're looking forward to continuing to to raise and release them all season.  

They're much prettier with the wings open and looking down at them, next time around I hope to get a photo of that for  you.

Wild and fun painted furniture

This project is off to a slow start but I'm looking forward to seeing what sorts of designs that I come up with along the way.

 I decided to follow the design  embossed in this knob and just add a bit of color to it.

I like the results so far but instead of painting the leaves green, I'm tempted to paint them red so that ot looks more like a flower. What do you think?

There's still a lot more to paint on this cabinet but even as it is, it's quite an eye opener in the morning. I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes from here. 

Red, Yellow and Blue design for ramp, porch or deck spindles

 I was so happy to have finished the spindles on this section  of the wheelchair ramp and can't wait to get the rails and large posts painted as well.

As you can see from this photo I've got a long way to go so I began painting the end on the other side you can see what things will look like eventually.

This is one of the designs I'll be using on that.