Scrolls n Flourishes

I was having a bit of fun with scrolls and flourishes.

This past weekend, we happened across a tent sale at a furniture store.  We found a cute loveseat, but the color...well, let's just say we bought it because the size and shape was perfect, but the dark rusty pink kinda color wasn't going to work.  I quickly ran out and bought a sure fit slipcover.

It came with 2 pillows that were just as hideous as the color of the loveseat so I decided to do a project.

I went for my weekly Goodwill visit and found 4 textured decorative dinner napkins.  They were thick and sturdy enough to use as pillow covers so I snapped them right up and brought them home.

In my stash, I had some remnant black fabric and some heat n bond.

That's all this girl needed.

I am loving the silhouette lettering and numbers on pillows I'm seeing in catalogs right now and also I love a nice scroll and a flourish so I decided to combine all these things into my pillow project.

I adhered the heat n bond to the black fabric and began to draw my scrollys onto it and cut them out.

This was really fun and it became even more fun as I arranged and ironed them onto the napkin/pillow cover.

This is what I ended up with.

I sewed the cover by using another napkin (.50 a piece...YES!) for the pillow back.

I really like how it turned out.

In fact, I liked it so much, I did the other one with mine and my hubby's first initials on it.

To top it all off, I have been watching this frame at Pier One for a couple of months and I stopped in and don't ya know it, it was in the clearance section!

Home it came and now is home to one of my favorite snapshots of my grandgirl. (who, by the way, lost her first tooth yesterday)

This was such a quick and easy project, inspired by a design, 4 napkins just the right size, a little black fabric,  some heat n bond, and you've got some instant personalized style.

so fun!

It is what it is...Happy 4th!

I'm looking for my flag today.  I hope I find it. 

I want to put it out over my balcony to celebrate the 4th of July.

“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

I was just on a website of stock pictures looking for a few pictures for this post and saw a scroll with the Pledge of Allegiance on it.  I started to copy it and quickly read it and the words "under God" were omitted from it.

I'm finding this more and more.

All I have to say is the truth.

The truth is that this country was founded on those principles and God was vital and central in the founding of this country and just because there are people who don't believe in God, that does not change the truth.

Omitting those 2 words from the pledge also does not change the truth.

The truth is the truth and it is absolute.

It is what it is.

We need to be very careful about what we change or tweek to give us a bit of comfort.  The consequences of that chunk away at our freedom.  Freedom for all.

I pray you all have a wonderful 4th of July weekend.

My sister and her family are coming to visit us here in "Tinyland North"  I can't imagine how it will be having 4 extra bodies in this 850 square feet, but I'm so excited to have them here to visit.

We are going to Niagara Falls (they've never been)

possibly see the French and Indian war reinactment at Fort Niagara right on lake Ontario along with some other plans to go to The Buffalo Zoo, the aquarium and on and on.

There is lots to do here and we'll see what we can fit into that 4 days.

Well I'm off to look for my flag.

Happy Independance Day

Lesson Learned

This is a re-post of a recent guest blog post called "Lesson Learned" on The Bargain Hunter.  It's so close to my heart as an artist that I wondered if any of you could relate.

Thanks for reading

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment." Claude Monet







I’ve been a decorative painter for a little over 20 years now and quite often, I am asked to create something realistic and very specific. These types of requests are as unique as people are. It also allows me the opportunity to learn something new and to grow. How incredibly fun and childlike it is when I get to work, play and learn something new at the same time, but it also shakes my faith a bit.


A friend and client of mine asked me to paint a very, out of the ordinary, interesting mural. She conceived of it herself for the special person in her life whom she knew it would bless when he saw it.


One thing I know about me, as an artist, is that I’m never overconfident that I can pull off a project the way the client has envisioned it so I study, and I study hard, and I tend to freak out a little. You see, it’s a challenge to know that the end result has to stand up to the expectations of the client’s imagination. I was saying, “Oh Lord, give me a magic paintbrush.” especially when I realized how important this was to this particular person and how much it meant for her to give this gift of art to the love of her life.


The first subject to tackle as I was breaking this mural down was the sky. I found myself, in the weeks before the first drop of paint would be put to the wall, with my camera pointing upward as I snapped one picture after another of clouds and analyzing the perfect sky blue hues. Another element was birch trees. I searched the internet, walked in the woods, and practiced getting that distinctive bark texture and worked on a technique to make it happen. It made sense to me that, if you want realistic results, study the real deal, break it down and obsess about nature and its characteristics.


But, this intimidated me even more. Like my son used to say when he was little as we would enjoy a sunset, “Mom, nobody can paint like God”, so true, so very true.


So here I am, with over 20 years of experience, having several murals, stage sets, and countless gigantic projects in my portfolio, and I am obsessing over clouds and the perfection of a heavenly blue.


Then I remembered…I have a stitchery in my home that this same friend and client made for me. It simply says..”If God brings you to it… He will bring you through it”. Now, I’m fully aware that this quote is referring to dealing with life’s much deeper challenges, but for this moment, it helped me realize that this particular friend believed in me and my abilities enough to ask me to do this important thing for her and she had no doubt that I could do it. Isn’t it amazing how the faith and encouragement of a friend can raise you to a new level and also make you believe what they believe about you?


In the not so distant past, there have been times when I’ve quit because of a challenge that felt like it was too big for me or that I might not be equipped for bringing pleasing results or fulfilling someone’s expectations. If I had run from this project, I would have missed out on a great learning experience, the encouragement and joy of a friend as she saw, in the real, the vision of her heart come to be, and I would have missed out on the growth that comes from a challenge.


Lesson learned.

~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm Smilin'

Laughter, this kid knows how to laugh.

I love that about her.  She's taught me to be a little more joyful, and I never smile as big or laugh as much as when I'm with the Grandgirl.

It's Monday and I'm off to do the glamorous aspects of my life

you know,...laundry and groceries.

I actually do enjoy going to the Laundromat.  Funny, I know, but I really do like going and getting the laundry done all at once, bringing them home, and putting them away, and I'm done!

Love that!

Then, filling the cupboards and fridge with yummy food and the necessary things to make it through.

My hubby works hard and brings home the bacon and, most of the time, he fries it up in the pan too.

He loves to cook, it's his relaxation activity.  That and, riding his motorcycle, and golfing.

Me, I just love that we are provided for.

God has been so good to me.

I have enough today,

Enough food, drink, shelter, and smiles.

Especially when I think of her.

There are many more laughs to come.

I have much to be thankful for and to smile about.

Happy Monday to you.

~~~

I blogged about a "lesson learned" on The Bargain Hunter.

Please follow the link and check it out.

Sharing my heart.

Art supplies and good finds

While out indulging in new art supplies, I decided to do my weekly stop at our local Goodwill.

You never know when you'll find a treasure.

I've been so charmed lately by old birdcages.  A while ago, I found 2 wonderful ones at a tag sale and snapped them up.  Then, my daughter gave me a beautiful birdcage for mother's day.  I had 3 and that's technically a "collection" and I'm a happy collector.

I don't need to add one more thing, but I couldn't resist this little treasure that was leaning against the wall on the floor at Goodwill.

I think it must be an old home interiors piece or something, but for me it had texture, the right subject matter, color, and screamed Take me Home!

So, I did!

It has the same type of top as my old wooden birdcage and same color tone.

It was totally meant to be.

Smiles:)

Then, I always check out the purses.

I saw this and didn't run, but picked up the step a bit and snapped this baby up.

What a nice find.

A handmade, wool, purse with the artist's tag still on it.

Fay, whoever you are, I will cherish this.  I always wanted to buy one at shows, but never had the extra cash to justify such a purchase.  Now I have one that feels like it's just for me.  What a gift!

Love the prim looking stitching at the edges and the details.

It's really well-made

Yay!!!

Don't you just love a day like this.

Fresh new art supplies full of potential and 2 great finds.

YES!

Mural Part 3 - Finished

Here's the mural from the start of the first drop of paint to the last glorious drip.

A Master Bath becomes a woodsy retreat featuring fluffy clouds and a stand of Birch Trees.

Quite a challenge but I learned so much.

A base coat of a perfect sky blue

The first layer of wispy windy clouds

A second layer for depth

Some highlight and emphasis for the final layer

Blocking in the background

I didn't have it all layed out before I got there so some experimenting was done with placement for the background trees and how thick or sparse I wanted to make it.

With that done, the foreground trees are put in place

and then, the birch tree detail

a peaceful path that leads...well, wherever you want it to

and the finished mural that wraps around the room and opens it up visually.  There may be a few additions to it coming such as a critter here or there depending on what my friend wants and possibly a canopy of tree leaf tops to come, but I'm pleased with the results and, more importantly, she is happy with it.

Thanks for taking a peek

Mural Part 2 - Birch Trees

Birch Trees have this very distinctive bark.

In prep for this mural I did last week, I studied my little heart out, looked at many internet images of birch trees, and found a genius art teacher on youtube ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXsMFkiJNpM ), one of the best techniques I've ever seen.  I adapted it a bit to make it work for me, but wow, this did the trick.

Here is how my birch trees turned out.

I painted several birch trees in this master bath.  Here is one that climbs forever it seems.

Here they are in combo with the cloudy sky from the previous post.

More to come!  I'll reveal all the mural pics on tomorrow's post.

Have a blessed day,

T

Master Bath Mural-Pt. 1 Cloudy Sky

I know it's been a while since I've posted. 

Hi everyone!  I've missed you :)

I've been working on and studying for the mural I had the privilege to paint last week.

So much happened during this project, personally, spiritually, relationally, and I really think there are probably 10 blog posts I could write about all that surrounded this past week, but for now, I'm thinking I'll just show you this pics of the progress as it went.

This was a mural in a master bathroom that was for someone specific who loves the outdoors and especially birch trees.

Of course, like every project, it started out with a plain white box. (well, that's after several days of my friend tearing off wallpaper)  She did a lot of work before I ever got there to touch those walls.

A beautiful sky blue base coat on ceilings and walls

The first layer of wispy clouds appeared

Then a second layer

and with the final refining touches, the cloudy sky came to be.

~***~

I'll be posting another step in the process as the mural was finished.  I took so many shots of it, I have a lot of pics to go through to show you.

Hope you all are doing well.  Now, I'm off to visit some of you.

I've also got a giveaway coming up in the future.

See ya soon,

Blessings,

T