It"s a Puzzle, It's a Painting, No It's a Christmas Present!

I admit it is not often when I take to painting. When I do it generally requires less thought and more action which is sometimes difficult for me when I am working on many projects (more work and less creative) than I probably should be. I talked my mother into hanging all the paintings that I did a couple of years ago on one wall in the guest bedroom of her house which left another wall more than blank. She was not happy about it and I promised her to make a new creation for that wall.

So a day or so before Christmas it was time to get started. The plan was to take several canvases, of different sizes (okay I had two sizes in each thing I opened so that is where the different sizes came from), and create a piece that would work if all the canvases were next to each other or apart from each other. In other words each canvas could stand on its own as a painting. I knew my mother preferred more contemporary designs and really seemed to like my splatter pieces. I used the colors in the room and in a glass frame that I get her in Italy as the color palette for the design. I actually sat down and sketched out the geometric design and went from there.

My acrylic paints were not being nice to me. The colors were clumping and I ended up smoothing them out with a thinner to make it work better. I worked in one color at a time and did as many shapes as I could with some of the shapes being on more than one canvas, then went back in to fill in the spaces. After getting everything together and letting it dry it was time for the fun part. I went outside and laid the entire piece on the ground and began the splatter process with my acrylic inks. I was hoping for a more metallic look out of some of the inks but they seemed to match my paint colors fairly well and I was pleased with the overall design.

After everything dried I wrapped each piece individually so there were several gifts to open on Christmas Day. My mother seemed to like the first one and second but then got a little overwhelmed that there were so many. When I laid them all out as one painting for her, she really seemed to like the design and how it all flows together. However framing and hanging is what she is concerned about now. I might end up coming up with a new design on the wall when I get done with the framing and hanging...it might be most interesting. I will let you know.

Sparkling Holiday Theme

I write these blog posts as I complete projects. However, sometimes, like with this post, I will post it long after I write it because I do not want the recipient of this gift to see the post and ruin the surprise. I found this wooden cutout of a candy cane at a national arts and crafts store. When I saw it I immediately knew I could do something with it, I just wasn't sure what. When I got home I knew this would be a decorative gift for my mother because she loves to decorate for all holidays but especially Christmas. However I wanted this to be an extra sparkly piece of decor so I came up with a shimmery plan. The entire piece got a base coat of white paint. After drying I painted the White strips and added white glitter to the wet paint. After waiting for it all to dry I discarded the excess glitter and repeated with the red stripes. After getting everything glittered and striped it was time to outline. Thanks to a fairly thin paint pen I was able to define the candy cane strips. Then after all was dry I spray painted thin coats of acrylic across the entire piece (probably sprayed it four or five times letting it dry between coats). It made the entire piece glossy and helped ensure the glitter will stay on the piece rather than fly around and get on everything else in sight.
Although rather well protected I would not display this outside in the elements, maybe under a roof or a protected area outside but not directly in the elements. It would probably be best served being stuck in an indoor plant to spread the holiday spirit and let it last even longer. As far as the Christmas present...my mother seemed to like it. However she seemed more surprised that I made it rather than having bought it that way. So Merry Christmas and I hope your holidays are sweet.

Popular Color

While I was set up at the craft show there were a couple of special orders. The first was actually for dish clothes. No, I had not sold out, but I have a tendency to make them in variegated colors and do not have many solid colors. So when I was approached and asked if I could make some in white, I said of course and asked how many. Two to three was the reply. Several people that day commented that if there had been white ones they would buy them. So I ran out and purchased three skeins of white cotton yarn and started knitting. Within two days I had all three ready for the order and will be delivering them tonight. The great thing about the white ones is that when you wash them, you can tell they are clean. I do have more white yarn so I will be making more to stock up my dish cloth collection for sale in the near future.

Swimingly Hot!

Yes, this is my traditional dishcloth. However this one seems a little hot today. I bought this yarn over Thanksgiving thinking it was an interesting color and might make a great looking dishcloth. Today on my way out of the house I grabbed it to knit with while I was set up at a craft show (for those of you who know me you know I can not sit still and have to fiddle with something). I set up and sat down to wait for customers with the yarn and needles in my hands. When I looked down the color name was swimming pool blue. Seemed rather appropriate and while selling my various designs I knitted a dishcloth, which got a lot of attention while I was doing it. When it was done I added it to the ever shrinking stack of dish cloths that I was selling. Sure enough within 10 minutes someone walked in and commented on what a beautiful color yarn it was and asked what I was knitting. I said, Oh, just a dish cloth, I just finished one with this yarn that is over there (pointing) if you would like to see what the finished product looks like. Next thing I know money exchanged hands and the dishcloth was out the door.

Snowmen Sticking In

Several years ago at a craft show my mother purchased me a wooden spoon with a snowman painted on the handle. I absolutely love the spoon and it just adds a little smile of happiness in my kitchen during the holiday season. In an effort to share this happiness I have tried to recreate that design on wooden wear of my own.
Purchasing some wooden salad forks (I have to admit I could not find wooden spoons at a reasonable price that were shaped like I wanted) I went to work on designing. A red background was what I needed to create my snowy design. Snowmen with scarves blowing in the wind, and a few snowballs (in case of a snowball fight) add a little whismy to this everlasting snow storm.
I have to admit painting on the round was a little difficult and a few lessons were learned. This is only something that can be accomplished a few paint strokes at a time. Patience is involved and it was fun to do. The forks will be priced at $5 each, and I hope soon to be able to find spoons to add to my collection.

Just Hanging Around

Every once in awhile I like to think that I am creative at something else. In the spirit of Christmas, and the upcoming craft show that is part of the Historic Homes Christmas tour, I have been knocking around with something new. I found wood plaques at a local craft store and couldn't help but purchase them. I hoped that as I held on to them they would speak to me. In all honesty I do that with a lot of things and nothing happens, so I end up collecting a lot of stuff. However in this case I thought I would try some cute little holiday door hangers and I think the idea works.
So I pulled out the paints and started working. I chose traditional colors for the background (red, green, white, and blue) and started painting. Now mind you it took about three coats to get it just the right color but that was just the background, I still had to decorate. Now what says Christmas? Is cute? And will allow my limited art talents to paint it on a piece of wood and look like something people would want to hang in their homes? So sayings, snowflakes and snowmen came to mind. I have to admit the first batch I painted ended up having to be redone because when I went to poly them the polyurethane was not mixed well and turned everything yellow. So a sanding block and a few hours later it was time to start again.
The first batch came out as planned with a couple of big snowflakes, a snowman on the hill, and Merry Christmas. I could not resist a let it snow, and Shhhhhh Listening for Santa sayings either. I did come across a plaque that looks like an old wooden danger sign and wanted to have a little fun with it. So in my best five year old writing skills I put something on that there some five year olds that I know might write, "Dear Santa, Define good..." That sign had it's own string strung through ti. The others I matched different types of ribbon to and was trying to come up with a way to secure it. Brass thumb tacks seemed to be the perfect answer. They went in easily, don't pucker or tear the ribbon, and can be removed if the customer wants to place a different ribbon on the piece or wants to display it in another manner.
The last one that I finished in time for the craft show was actually inspired by a cake I did recently. If you look on my cake blog, Custom Cakes 4 You, you will see a post titled Cake Designer Meets Baker/Decorator for Dream Cake. In it I used a scroll design to decorate the cake. I tried to use the same concept on this door hanger. With the word Noel I used a green glitter paint pen to create shimmery green scrolls on this door hanger. Now some may thing it is terribly busy while others like the fact that the scrolls are done in a variety of widths and densities to frame the Christmas Sentiment.
If you are wondering the door hangers will be selling for any where from $2-$4 dollars each depending on the size and time it took for me to create it. Even if I don't sell a single one, it has helped me get into the holiday spirit.