A Pinch Of Salt

Watercolor Morning

Here's something I haven't tried in YEARS. ( I usually do landscapes and florals)

This was a card and envelope set I painted to write to an old friend.

Power Iris

Here's where I've finished with it for now but who knows what will happen to it next time the mood strikes. There's a lot going on in the painting because there's a lot going on in my life these days. It's one and the same, the art and me...at least with this project...

The Purple Project

Sometimes I just don't know when to stop which of course is why I keep this blog and welcome you opinions and comments to help me decide when to stop work on a painting or whether to follow the work in a new direction.

All the nice shades of blue and purple seemed like a good idea for background to some Iris I'm painting to be used as a round sticker design. There's still a lot of work to be done  but I wanted to show you what I've done with it so far. I'll be developing the flowers more and changing the colors and arrangements of the leaves so keep watching for more photos.

Art Recycle Challenge Painted boxes into other projects

These are panels from 2 different painted boxes. One in progress and the other completed about 4 years ago. The reason for the wide variety of subjects is that I was going to be teaching a community ed class and I wanted my paintbox to display the different types of painting that I'd be able to help the students with.

I almost sold one of the boxes once but the buyer complained that it clashed with something in her room. I still laugh when I think of it because my work is NOT something that you buy to blend in with your decor and I wasn't willing to compromise the concept of the piece by repainting some of the panels to match her place just to make a sale.
I'm glad I kept it now because it gives me a variety of artwork in one place that can be used a number of ways. I store things in the box itself but dumped them out today so that I could put it on the scanner and use the designs on a numbr of different projects that you'll find at http://www.zazzle.com/julia_art*

Back at it again...

Now that the sunflowers are blooming I can get back to work on this painting. Judging from the flowers on the table I think I'm on the right track, don't you? It will be easier to tell in the morning light but I think I'm about done with this. What do you think? I might change the background a bit...or not...

Sunflowers and Painted furniture

I don't have very many sunflowers this year (just 4 or 5 volunteers from last year) but I was really happy to find them blooming today. I'm starting with acrylics and who knows where they'll go from there...

Storage and display ideas for Art

I was hanging up as many of the paintings as I can to avoid the damage you get when they're just sitting around or stacked anywhere.

I decided to use that last little bit of wallspace to mount this magazine rack that I'd painted and it holds all of the 8x10 inch canvas panels that I'm in the process of doing paintings on.

This was an old magazine rack and an assorment of old wooden cut outs. The trim on the top is actually a row of hearts with the thin ones peeking over the back and the large one mounted on the front.

Today's Garden Photos and Fun with Watercolors

A bit of fun in the mail to brighten your day

This card contains bits of a card from a friend, a photo of flowers from my garden, a picture from some note paper and a bit of pen, ink and pencil. We find it kind of fun to write back and forth and keep adding things until the cards (or art, depending on how you look at things) get too thick and heavy to drop into envelopes to mail. This one is starting to get pretty interesting...and it's an idea that you and your friends might enjoy too.

Scrap lumber art for the garden

 C

Can you believe this was a 2x4 yesterday? We had an extra one laying around but you could go shopping and build a planter box like this for about $3.00. I painted it this way because it's going out by the roses and will be filled with daisies and there's no good reason for the trim except that I like to do it, it's fun and I think of it like quilting with paint.

Today's Garden and Bird Watching Photos

This time we remembered to bring the camera with us...

It kind of amuses me to see the size of the hosta next to the bird bath. Several birds landed here while we had coffee but we never managed to catch them in the photo.

These are the only sunflowers in my garden this year so I can't wait for them to open so I can finish the painting that I started of them last season.

This one looks like it's got something to say!

I guess they were relaxing a bit too, they're getting pretty used to us...

I was trying to get a better shot of the sunflowers but thought you'd enjoy seeing the geraniums I repotted yesterday.

City Gardening and Wildlife

The summer has gone by fast. I'm eagerly awaiting the 3 sunflowers in my yard this year and looking forward to planting lots more of them next year. The bird feeders are busy and I enjoyed the company of both watching and listening to the birds as I rearranged my container plants (pulling out the ones that weren't doing well and putting the best of what's left in the large urn in the corner of the yard.) This gives me 3 empty pots that I'll put away until next season and quite a bit of a nice soil mix that I'll  use to get some more transplanting done.
It's a nice feeling to walk out in the yard and find birds at the feeders and birdbaths. The rabbit was sitting by my chair, when you hear about the trouble with bees around the world it's nice to see them looking happy and healthy here. There weren't any butterflies out today but that may just be the change in the weather (we're expecting thunderstorms in the next few hours)
The sun is out right now so I'll enjoy that while it lasts and deadhead a few more lilies before grabbing a cup of tea and heading for my favorite chair.
It's too bad that gardening is such hard work but on the other hand the exercise is good. The main reason I garden of course is for the flowers I draw and paint, somehow the art is better when I've chosen and grown them myself.

Bright Spots in my Day

Progress on the latest watercolor

Low Budget, No Budget Birthday

Sometimes it's just about finding different ways to arrange or use the things you've already got. This time 2 old, heavy lead crystal candle holder/vases held silverware as I set up as much of the serving area on the buffet as I could (that old commercial coffeepot takes up a lot of room) There wasn't enough space left for the glasses and napkins so I arranged them on a cake platter. There aren't enough matching napkins so I just alternated the different patterns in a stack.
Tables were set up both inside the house and out so people could settle in wherever they were comfortable and since I didn't have any birthday decorations I brought up some holiday garlands to help set a festive mood.
I suppose I should have taken pictures when I had put all the food out or written up the menu for you but things had gotten too busy by then.  

One thing I like to do when people come up for events like this is to let them pick a drawing or painting along with the other gifts I'm giving them. Here's the one that left yesterday. I'd almost forgotten this one so I'm waving good bye by putting the design on a lot of items in my store http://www.zazzle.com/julia_art*

Getting things sorted out and organized

I "found" all of these small wooden items in a Rubbermaid bin I'd forgotten in the basement. These will be put on that shelf that runs around the top of the dining room in case anyone that comes to paint would like to do anything with them. This  excites me because having an empty bin will allow me to pack up some of the items that I had been trying to sell on eBay and that will free up 2 shelves of cabinet space that I can use for things I'm doing right now. Most of the organizing shows will tell you to go out and buy a lot of containers, I'll tell you how to make the best use of the ones you have.

This wall makes terrific use of vertical space with storage shelves up to the ceiling.

Don't forget the tops of your cabinets. They're a great place to store things that you don't use often.

Always my painting and drawing comes back to my garden. Around the world weather has made it quite a challenge to grow anything so this dwarf orange tree in my dining room is my back up plan and makes me so happy when it blossoms. I'm along way from actually getting any oranges off of it but it keeps hope alive and helps me dream of better days ahead. What could be better than that?

Sometimes You Just Have To Laugh

A tour of my work table today:
Sometimes it's hard to tell which projects to start with. There are 2 paintings in progress, a set of cloth napkins I'm hemming, several crochet projects, pencils, and a library book in this pile.
This time choosing is easy, The library book wins because it has to be returned in the next week or so and there are a lot of sewing techniques I'm hoping to learn berfore it goes back.

In my last post I was commenting that paintings just don't sell so leave it to life to prove me wrong...AGAIN.

I'm always amazed at the way that the art itself seems to have a life of it's own, I can't tell what's likely to go or what's not but I enjoy the work and was happy to trade one of the recent pieces for one of the other things I needed.