The Latest Changes

 The old tomato plant has regenerated to the point that has set flowers. It will be interesting to see what sort of tomatoes we'll have this time around. The blossoms seem smaller than the last bunch so time will tell. I'll keep you posted.

I've finished the changes that I was making to this lily painting and so far everyone who's seen it agrees that it is much improved from the way it was before.

Next I plan to go back to that large Iris Garden painting. The Arrangement of the revised paintings has really brightened up the living room.

Of the hundreds of paintings that I've done since the 1970's I've got to say that these last 3 have become my favorites. 

Picture Framing

I went to a local art and craft store to pick up a frame for that small sunflower painting. It's a 9 x 12'' and neither Wal-Mart or target had anything that would fit so I headed to Michaels and they only had Three choices in the ready made. I had a 40% off coupon and wound up paying fourteen dollars for the least objectionable of the choices.

If I buy canvas panels these days I always buy eight by ten inch ones because you can pick up frames at WalMart for as little as two or three dollars.

I was SHOCKED that the framer had NO idea that you DO NOT put glass over an acrylic painting. He's talking about having something to protect it and NOT getting the fact that I've been doing this for 45 years and STILL have a couple of my paintings from back then that have been through hell and back, stored in all kinds of conditions and still look great. I keep telling people that acrylic paintings are a lot tougher than they think, it's just too bad that no one listens.

Writing Life

I love writing like I love painting. They both take you somewhere far away from your pain an troubles. People are often surprised when they actually talk to me or see me and find it odd when I tell them that they'd like me better on paper or e-mail. I don't think I'm alone in that, do you?

If you're going to write your day, wouldn't you want it to be somehow better and brighter instead of listing every ache or pain and problem? There are certainly enough people out there doing that and I want the focus here to be the art, gardening and crafts.

That said, I'd like to give you some further updates on projects:

I'm back to hand hemming that green tablecloth and finding it a bit boring so I keep switching between that and the sunflower painting.

I wrote notes on both of the backs of those blue and white paintings before I listed them for sale. I felt it was important to let people know that they can come to this blog and see the whole creation process from beginning to end of both pieces. Having done that I'm also considering making a disc so that I can watch the whole thing in my DVD player, a bit like a football player watching game footage to see where the game went right or wrong.

Yes, it's true "My projects have projects"

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?

2005 Studio in my living room and updated info

This photo was the other "find" of my day because I found myself wondering how I ever managed to fit so many projects in here. One of the paintings and two pieces of furniture sold but a lot of this stuff still "lives" here. The rest has been given away.

I'm now working in the dining room. It's a tiny house so once my husband retired we each had to have a space to pursue our hobbies. So far, this works.

Too hot to paint sunflowers outdoors

 Just when things were going pretty well the weather got too hot and the wind kept knocking my easel over so I headed back into the house.

 Here's a look at the progress I made this morning.

More of todays Sunflowers

Sunflower Day

 Today I thought I'd paint out in the yard where the sunflowers are.

Progress on the sunflower paintings

Getting Carried Away

 Those Dala horses are popping up just about everywhere these days.

Here's an assortment of some of the things I'm working on right now:

2 paintings

2 boxes

2 birdhouses

Everything seems to be coming in pairs this week. 

Painting Everything

I've got several paintings in the works these days and am having trouble deciding which one to start with today, there are even days when I get everything out at once  and do a bit on each. It kind of depends on what sort of mood I'm in or what my energy level is like on any given day.
As always there will be pictures along the way as soon as I get ready to take a break.

Finished Blue and White Dala Horse Painting

Here are partial scans

The picture on the bottom is a photo of the full painting. We'll try to shoot a better one tomorrow.

Buried Treasure

 This picture was taken on the front porch of my first house.

 These pictures were taken in the gallery and gift shop upstairs.

My design for this sewing machine cabinet almost made it into a magazine about 20 years ago. Who knows, maybe I should give it another try. Things are always changing, sooner or later I'm bound to be in style...

Art Exhibit

 I was re-arranging paintings in the living room today and realized that there are 20 of them! That's quite an art show anyplace, especially in a room that's 11 x 14 ft, don't you think so?

 I'm about out of wall space for the bigger paintings so these 3 "live" in the corner...at least for now...

Before and After with Pink Lilies

Preparing for winter in the Paintersgarden

I'm not doing much out in the garden these days except for a bit of clean up but as you can see the squirrels keep busy picking up the walnuts and tucking them into all of my planters, Yes, they're doing quite a job re-arranging the hosta too.

Like a lot of people we're having to make the choice on what areas to heat this winter so I'm rounding up all of the paintings and trying to incorporate them into our living spaces. This Iris oil doesn't take much room but some of the other pieces are presenting more of a challenge.

I've been hoping for years to find a restaurant or coffee shop that wants these. Having them stacked next to the sofa was never a plan...

These are just sitting on the floor in the corner right now. One thing for sure is that I'm glad  I've gone to working on 8x10 inch panels that can be kept in the bookcase. There just isn't room for large scale work or the big easel in a 400 square foot living space.
Yes, these are things that make winter a pretty interesting season around here...

First Things First, New Floral Paintings in progress

Creativity by the numbers

As I was painting in the "Winter Studio" (that sounds so much better than telling you I'm talking about the dining room doesn't it?) I was asked just how much of my work surrounded me so here are a few numbers that I found interesting:
11 foot square (the size of the room)
3 painted birdhouses (built by my husband and I over the summer.)
I large painted chest (built by a good friend)
2 painted boxes (one of those built by my friend as well)
5 pen and ink drawings
11 acrylic paintings
5 watercolor paintings
5 quilts (4 finished and one in progress)
1 patchwork vest
2 pillows (one with patchwork and quilting, one made of a great tapestry fabric I found)
3 tote bags that I designed and made and of course all three of those are full of crochet projects that I'm working on.
1 embroidered dishtowel
2 patchwork and quilted table runners (one finished and one in progress)

I'd even drawn the lilacs I'd embroidered on the shirt I was wearing.
It made me laugh to wonder how much creativity I've got by the inch around here because this list is just the stuff in one room and I just remembered that there's some pottery in there that I made as well.