An Updated Bathroom

I'm so fortunate to have a son who knows his way around power tools!  I invited him down to Florida for a long weekend to help me update my little bathroom.  He arrived on Thursday, and between then and today, he demolished the old one, and fixed me up with a new one!  He even had time to kayak on the river this morning!

 

There used to be an ugly vanity and sink from the '80s here, plus a huge wall mirror and a funky medicine cabinet - gone!  There was a towel rack with huge, tile ends - gone!

 On Sunday, we drove to Orlando, and went shopping for shelving at Ikea and The Container Store!  Score!

So, he drywalled holes in the walls, painted and replaced the vanity and sink - and just made it all look so pretty!  I think when he retires, he could make a lot of bucks as a handyman!  Thank you, Eric!

Surprise!

I have two 20" square canvases that I intended to make coordinating abstract paintings to go in my new upgraded bathroom later this month!  So, I put lots of modeling past texture on them, painting an underpainting, then covered that up mostly with creamy white/titan buff paint.  Then, I started using a makeup sponge to add some green paint on the texture, and look what happened!  It turned into a landscape!  NOT what I had in mind!  I'm still going to play with it and see what I can do - there's still a long way to go to finish.

But, I really shouldn't be surprised.  When I painted a lot of watercolor paintings, most of them were landscapes.  I seem to gravitate to them. But, the second canvas just doesn't have the same "feel" - so maybe it will actually be an abstract.

Here is a closeup of some of all that yummy texture!  Love it!

Creative Collage Class

I'll be teaching the class: "Creative Collage" at Under the Cherry Blossoms in Mount Dora on Saturday, August 3, from Noon - 4pm.

Price: $40 - almost everything is included.  I'll supply the substrates (we'll do 2 collages!), and have lots of paints, papers, stamps and tapes on hand!  You can bring anything you'd like to add to your collage, and we'll discuss color and composition theory and have an afternoon filled with fun!

Contact "Under the Cherry Blossoms" or call them at 352-735-3090 to sign up.

Yet another face

After watching Jane Davenport's little video, I decided to try some of her techniques.  I really like the way she teaches drawing eyes.  I did the background by tearing up some napkin, but I don't like where it overlapped, so that's probably not going to happen again.

I'm feeling a lot more confidant about painting these faces - not really sure what to do with them - but I'm getting a nice assortment in my art journal.

I'm getting ready to paint and update my bathroom.  I've got an idea for a couple of abstract paintings to do for it.  Anyone want to place bets on if that will be come a reality?  With my track record, the odds are pretty slim!

A Practice Face

So today, I downloaded a little video from Cloth, Paper, Scissors about painting faces from Jane Davenport.  The audio and video skips about every other word, so it was kinda hard to follow, but I did get some great info!  I played around with this sketch while I was watching - and I really like her!  But, of course, when I try to paint these faces, something always goes wrong.  I'm going to try to paint one again tomorrow - so we'll see!

Refill With Love

Playing with another face today in my art journal.  I still need so much more practice, but I do enjoy making the faces.  It's kinda like a box of chocolates -- you never know what you're going to get!

I do especially love the quote:  "Note to Self:  When empty, refill with love"!  I do this regularly by calling my kids, hugging my husband or petting my kitty or doggie!  There is so much love around - no use letting it go to waste!  I bought a page of stickers with "love quotes" on it, and I love every one of them!