My Biggest Project, Summing it all up

You may have seen some of my videos on you tube. I haven't done anything like that in almost 10 years and recent news from one of my Doctors made it clear to me that I'd better get the rest of things organized and put together sooner rather than later.

The first project I chose was to gather all of the material on my lilies from the garden to the drawings, paintings and designs for merchandise.

I'm not able to take the project through the computer and production phases so I've packed it away until I can find someone to help me take it from there.

In the meantime I'll be rounding up all the other materials on several subjects.

I love the idea that someday when I'm no longer able to do the gardening, drawing or painting that I'll be able to enjoy all of the great stories and photos myself or show them to others who might be interested. It means that no matter what happens to me art and flowers will always be part of my life.

Here's a list of the next projects I'll be working on:
Sunflowers
Iris
Dala Horses
Painted Furniture 

As you can see There's a lot of work to do so there may be longer gaps between my posts.

Keep Reading and Commenting. Your Feedback helps keep me going.

Thank You

Bird House Project

Yes, I'm painting Dala Horses on this and you'll be able to read more about that on my dala horse blog.

The rest of the project will be more like the wheelchair ramp that I've been painting.

What's really exciting about this design is that I will be using it as a display unit to sell my dala horses and related items from the curb in front of my house this summer. The fact that it's so bright and colorful and combines a shelf and hanging hooks should make it the ideal tool to improve sales.

I'm very excited about the possibilities. I'm looking forward to the prospects and to reporting the results to you.

Current Projects

My sister and I continue to work on this little mural each time she comes to visit.

I also continue to draw the flowers from my garden.

Other things I'm working on are carving horses to paint for my dala horse store and embroidering a handkerchief for a gift.

Adventures of a lone Iris

It's nice to see that at least one of these Iris made it through the winter.

It's funny what will grow when other things won't. My neighbor is not having much luck with her lawn this year. This row of Iris and lilies is the border between us.

I tried to photograph it from several different angles before I cut it so that I'll have something to go by if the flower doesn't last until I finish my drawing.

The weather was nice today so we also took some time to carve some more wooden horses.

Here's my favorite photo of this Iris so far.

I hope your day has been a lovely one too. summer goes by much to fast to waste a moment.

Envelope Art

Colored pencil and markers decorate a couple of the envelopes for the outgoing mail today. There were drawings on each page of the letters too but I'd written on them and didn't want to scan all of that in with the drawings.

I continue to design for Cafe press and Zazzle but spent most of today cleaning off and sorting "stuff" at the worktable so that I'll have room to get some painting done.

Everything changes when the weather does so I need to work on some of the larger paintings before I get started out in the garden. The first art and craft projects out in the yard this year will be painting the arbor and some of the lawn furniture, After that I'll move on to carving and sanding Dala Horses.

As always it will be a busy summer, short in this part of the country but well anticipated and enjoyed.

A good day to stay in and paint

It's going to be a LONG time before we're sitting out by the campfire ring again.

The back yard looks pretty bleak in the winter.

I'm back at the dining room table and ready to get some painting done before I have to return that horse. It's the first actual Dala horse I ever painted so I wanted to include some of the things that make it special to me into this painting.

A few of my other little horses have a home here in this little box I bought at target. It was on sale and had a blue side so I just couldn't resist it. It will be handy to store them in and can be carried to wherever I'm teaching a class or have an opportunity to sell some of them but the main thing of course is because I enjoy arranging them in this little display in the meantime.

Well, I guess it's time to face that canvas and see where it will take me.

Wrapping up the rose project and moving on

These are working out really nicely on balloons and stationery and have been pleasant to draw and paint on as well. A few of them went out on my mail but most will go to someone who does banners and things with them so they'll be enjoyed by a lot of people in a lot of different ways.

As I'm wrapping this up I'm clearing up my work area and getting ready for some easel painting. There isn't room in here for a floor easel but I do have a nice table model that works well for the smaller paintings that I'm doing these days.

I keep an eye on the weather but as you can see by recent photos it's going to be a long time before I can get outdoors to carve and sand more Dala Horses. I've discovered that I miss that so I'll try harder this summer to have a lot of them ready to paint next winter.

The Last Round Up

Here's a collection of Dala Horses that were designed, carved and painted by Julia Persson-Morrill. It's a reunion of sorts because some of them were just borrowed from the current owners for this photo shoot.

As you can see there are a lots of styles and ideas in mind. Some are fairly traditional and then there are the rebels.

Sorting them out.

Leaving the rebels behind.

Project updates

The biggest project I'm working on right now is my store on cafe press which I work on nearly around the clock taking breaks whenever I need to. Since I seldom sleep more than a few hours at a time it breaks things up and keeps life interesting. The merchandise I'm designing now has an angle shot of a wooden horse that I carved and painted last year on it and is on about every sort of product you can think of...or at least that I can. The big challenge now is to figure out how to make everything easy to find and to buy.

As you can see by previous posts there's some type of drawing or painting going on here every day.

My next project is to clear off the worktable enough to set up a collection of my Dala Horses to photograph, draw or paint. I won't decide how to capture them until I get the still life arranged.

As always the crocheting continues as I'm working on a scarf and a few more potholders.

I'm also pleased to say that I'm working with some of my Dad's drawings and will add them to my stores on Zazzle along with my own work and that of some of my sister's. I suppose that sounds a bit like the old saying "the family that plays together, stays together". I'm still hoping to include my Mom and my other siblings sometime soon.

Well, that's about it for now...happy, busy and hoping for better days ahead.

Wish Me Luck!

Progress on the Arbor

Adding a few design elements to the Arbor

outside

inside

I'm still working on this but it's beginning to look promising, don't you think so?

Still "playing" with that watercolor

Well, that last project was packed up and sent to a favorite Aunt with a set of step by step photos so she can enjoy seeing it done as well as using the mug.
As long as I'd scanned the watercolor I thought I'd "play" with it a bit and see what I can make of it on Zazzle. So far there are postage stamps and note cards. I'm on my way back to work now to see what else I can do with it. Who knows, maybe I'll even try phone cases this time.
It's so hot outside that I only put in 5 more strawberry plants today. It's supposed to cool off a bit tomorrow so I'll get back to the berries and plant the Iris that came in today's mail.
I'm also hoping to get back to clear coating the last dala horses. I avoid it on humid days but the summer is going fast so I work on them whenever I can because I don't want to have to do the messy things in the house this winter. Especially the sanding, I keep hoping for a nice, breezy day for that.

Drawing and painting Dala Horses on envelopes, making cards and enjoying the mail

 I made cards out of yesterdays photos and a bit of card stock to try to decide which angle I liked best.

I tried one envelope in watercolor and decided to go back to drawing on them. Colored pencil would probably have been the best solution but I was at painting group and hadn't brought my pencils.

On this one I combined Ink and watercolor. I'm back at home and will grab those pencils next.

Red Dala Horse photo shoot taking the designs to the next level

I really enjoyed finding different ways to paint each shape and love the way that they look together.

As I was photographing these and arranging the horses I was thinking what a nice still life they would make in a number of different media.

I'm starting with the photography but plan to move on to drawings in pencil and ink and then to paintings in watercolors and acrylics.

I wish I could share the way I'm feeling about these right now, it goes beyond words.

Funny timing today, cool weather and a bit of rain

I'd gone out and watered the new plants and seed in the garden and by the time I'd gone in the house and sat down with a cup of hot chocolate it had begun to rain. I'd have skipped watering and waited for rain but there's no way to be sure whether you'll get enough of it to get the job done.

Back indoors I'm crocheting a potholder, working on more wooden horses and getting some much needed housework done.

Tomorrow's my watercolor painting day and I'm really looking forward to that.

Dala Horse projects

I continue working with the design tools and am painting some boxes to keep them in. The divided box in the background is going to be used to display and sell small magnets and buttons with my designs on them. Yes, that will be painted in a dala horse theme as well.

I was "playing with design ideas on this little horse and while it's cute enough it won't be included in my book or classes. This will  make a cute little gift for someone so no effort is ever wasted. Everything works somewhere.

I couldn't resist making some changes on the horse that I painted on Saturday. Everyone likes this one so it will make the project list and instruction sheet for the next Red Dala Horse class. the problem now is to remember which areas to paint first and what the best way to demonstrate the brush strokes would be. Keep reading, I'll get there...