Making Progress on the Wheelchair Ramp

Exploring Colors and Patterns for Projects

I was kicking around ideas for painting more Dala Horses and decided to try this little border on an old pool cue case to brighten it up a bit and see how hard it is to paint.

 I continued to experiment with this pattern and others as I painted a post for the wheelchair ramp here.

I enjoy "playing" with color and designs while still getting something done around the house.

What I also enjoy about this is that it makes a smooth transition from the furniture painting that I'm known for to my Dala horse designs and bridges the two nicely.

It's kind of like "doodling" in paint and is a great day to relax between projects.

My Favorite Things In the Garden, even the Butterflies Love it !

It was amazing to find 3 butterflies on this clump of flowers in the front garden. There were a lot of bees to so I'm pleased that it really does matter which flowers I choose and combine in the garden.

Meanwhile in the little side garden where I do my entertaining the tomatoes are ripening and my company was amused that part of our meal could be picked right next to the table.

How many gardens have you visited where you can pick lettuce and tomatoes on one side of a bench and raspberries for dessert on the other side?

You'll have to excuse the smoke in this photo. We were cooking lunch in the campfire. None of my old cushions ,pillows or tablecloths match but I love entertaining here anyway and it is comfortable
so no one seems to mind.

Pink Flowers out of the Garden and back again

We planted these from seed so I was very happy when they finally bloomed and eager to do everything I could with them.

First I started with a few drawings on bits of my outgoing mail. This one was on an envelope.

Next I moved on to a card and envelope set in watercolor.

  After that I rearranged the flowers and removed the droopy ones before painting them in acrylics on one of the posts for my wheelchair ramp.

I was quite pleased with the likeness on that and eager to get the post installed so that I could get the full effect.

It pleased me that these flowers had now become a permanent part of the garden where I can see them out of my window all winter long.

Scrap Metal and Jar Lids turned into Art in the Garden

What you see on the side of the ramp is what's going to be a great dimensional sunflower made from part of an old solar light and a jar lid. I can't get into that part of the yard but my sister will be painting the section between the 2 pieces to look like the center of a sunflower and then will paint a stem and leaves up that post.

 The metal sun type piece used to be part of a sun shaped solar light but I'm hoping that when we've finished painting around it we'll have the look of the petals of a sunflower in the wind.

Whether it will actually work will depend on how convincing the rest of the painting is. I'll post pictures of the finished project as soon as I can and you can judge for yourselves.

The effect from across the yard should pull all of the sunflower designs together.

Stripes and Dots Painted on the Wheelchair Ramp

As you can see each post celebrates one of my favorite themes to paint. I'm enjoying both the variety and the contrast that you see when they're displayed together. It's my very own permanent art exhibit.

No one has really mentioned it to me but I did notice a gal taking pictures of it last week and today as I was out painting vines on the arbor a couple of people slowed down or stopped a while and watched me work. I'd rather that they'd stop and talk to me but I assume that they didn't want to interrupt me.

Painting Vines on the Arbor

After a decade of painting this arbor with all sorts of different colors and designs I'm returning to a simpler time and simply painting it white with a few vines on it.

It's a blast from the past and an effort to blend it with surroundings in a more harmonious way. I'm enjoying the results so far but will find it a challenge as I'll only be able to paint what I can reach from the wheelchair. Who knows? Maybe that will lead to more creative design solutions this time around.

Painting Flowers in the Garden and the wheelchair ramp

I thought I'd add a few daisies to the wheelchair ramp. It really shows up great in the shady corner of the front garden.

The wheelchair ramp takes up so much of the front yard that there were only 2 choices possible...or at least I thought so. I figured I either had to paint it to blend in or decide to make it a feature.

What I ultimately decided on was to do a bit of both. The spindles are bright bits of art decorated with some of the flowers that  I grow here in the garden and I'll be staining the top and bottom rails as well the 4x4 posts to match the house.

What's next? Kicking things up a notch with brighter colors and a blast from the past that celebrates my World Chair Design that was published in a magazine years ago.

What I'm really enjoying about this project is that it celebrates both where I've been and where I'm going while making my home a lot more fun to be around.