Painting, painting, and doors

I mentioned last week (here if you missed it) that I spent my week/weekend painting the living room. I painted it the same color that it was already, partially because I honestly thought the paint I had was more of a gray than a white, and partially because I already had a plethora of paint that needed using that had been bought for other things. Here are a couple (terrible) before photos:

And here are a couple of after photos:

It looks good, but the same. I've never bothered to paint a room the same color it was before, so this is new. I'm sure there's a deep lesson in there someplace, about change being beneficial even if it isn't immediately noticeable. To make it more noticeable, I rearranged the artsy pieces around the room and added some new ones.

I finally took the plunge and worked on the door paintings. I didn't have even a slight plan as to what I would do, which is always a dangerous kind of fun. I didn't take photos of the process partially because I nearly always look back and wish I had stopped 5 steps shy of where I ended up, and partially because my hands were (and still are) so caked in paint I can hardly function.

I thought that they were finished, so I brought them inside. And hated them.

 

So I hauled them back outside and had another go at it on Sunday morning. And this time liked them much better.

House Update: The Incredible and Remarkable Artist Parents

Today I interrupt your regularly scheduled programming of absolutely no blog posting to gush about the artist parents.

They came to town for a couple of days over the weekend to spend some time with the smartest and I... and to conquer all of the house projects that we just couldn't seem to get done ourselves.

No. I'm not kidding. Every. Single. One.

In a span of 3 days, here are the things that they accomplished (ahem, with less help from us than you would think):

1 mantel hung
1 gargantuan fence-eating bush removed
2 enormous dead trees felled
6 pillows & 1 cushion sewn
2 cozy scarves constructed
2 stools revamped, painted and turned into tables
2 chairs spray painted
12 trees pruned
30 feet of vines removed
3 strands of ugly lights removed from porch
1 fearsome hard water stain completely conquered
10 items of clothing purchased at Goodwill
1 baby shower banner made
1 sweater shrunk beyond all reason (by yours truly, of course)
1 puppy spoiled (yes, she pouted all day after they left)

I can't even begin to tell you have incredible it feels to have our to do list shortened by so much- thank you mama and papa artist!!

Here's a sneak peek at our new mantel:

House Update: The Rug Life

This has been a house of many firsts. My first turtle experience... my first snake experience... my first cabinet space plethora experience... and my first rug experience. Last month, the smartest and I bought our first ever rug. Can I just say that rug-buying is way harder than I anticipated? As it turns out... I'm a tad picky (who's surprised).

I started browsing rugs back in May, when we realized that in addition to needing to warm up our living room space... that the puppy couldn't jump from the wood floor to the furniture. She kept running full speed into things, which didn't seem awesome, so I decided to bump purchasing a rug to the top of the priority list (all because my dog, like me, is uncoordinated) I hunted around online, looked at all of the cheap places I could think of, but I just couldn't find anything that was the size we needed. Which was big. Because the living room is a large space (yay).

When the BHO and I were purchasing the door that would later become the painting for my office, we stopped by the Lowes rug section. Lowes and behold (pun intended) we found not one, but 3 rugs that I actually liked. Cue angels singing.

After dragging the smartest there a couple of days later, we decided that we did in fact love one of the rugs, And that it needed to come home with us. In our teeny, tiny car. Which has a magical ability to fit all manner of things that you wouldn't expect.

We got the room all set up, and rejoiced in how happy and colorful the room felt.

Note that the puppy has already climbed to her designated couch perch in the photo above... she is fond of the new rug.

Little did we know... a big living room furniture change would occur sooner than later.  More on that soon!

House Update: An artist who can't paint

You guys are pretty familiar with me, so you are aware that the physical art (like painting... drawing... sculpting...) eludes me. I really enjoy painting, but I just haven't ever really had a knack for it, or the time to educate myself until I find a knack. Knowing this about me- you may be surprised to find out that I decided that our living room needed a large piece of artwork... and that I ought to make it myself.

It all started on my whirlwind weekend in Wyoming- we saw this lovely painting at a restaurant and I sort of fell in love with it. "I could do that" I said. And like good family members, the artist clan agreed. They even noted that I could probably purchase a door at Lowes and save myself on the exorbitant cost of pre-stretched canvas. When the BHO came through town a few weeks later, we took her truck and even purchased a door, thus ensuring that I had everything I needed to make a lovely piece of art (except the know-how, of course).

The smartest disappeared on a business trip, and 3 evenings of painting ensued. At the beginning... it looked like this:

My first go-round looked like this (which I would later find out was my favorite of the bunch):

And I wasn't sure that was quite what I had in mind (it photographs better than it looked in person... which should tell you something). So I went over it, and ended up with this:

and REALLY hated that. I went over it again... and got this. And then a sinking realization when I remembered that I like graphic design because you can always revert to a previous version:

And I still wasn't sure. So I flipped the door over (after it had throughly dried) and started again:

And ended up here. This version actually looks better in person than it does on film, which I guess is a win? In all honesty, I wish I had stopped before I added the gold, and just left the blues. Darn you real life, where is your undo button?

I still have some lingering questions about it... but decided this is good enough for now, particularly since each step in the painting process seemed like a step back once it was complete. I have been collecting pieces of inspiration over the last couple of weeks, and think I may buy another door and give it another go... after I practice on a smaller canvas.

Anyone want to do a large, door-sized painting for me? Or maybe give me door painting lessons...?

House Updates: The great weed battle of 2014

I have been getting some questions about our house lately. Questions like "Hey. Is your house still standing? Yes? Where are those pictures you promised us?" and "So how are those house projects coming along?" Here to put your fears to rest... the house is indeed still standing, and even slowly growing from an untamable stallion into a... less untamable stallion.

We haven't had as much time as we expected to work on the house this summer (can I get a hallelujah- my brides have been AMAZING and I have been so blessedly busy with work!) but we have slowly been conquering smaller tasks.

Back in July, the weeds along the sidewalk at the front of our house had gotten a bit unmanageable. To the point where I had to pick the puppy up and put her past them in the yard, because she couldn't actually jump over them or walk through them. We spent a morning with weed eater and pruners in hand, and took that mess from this:

to this:

Spurred by that accomplishment, last weekend we conquered one of the other trouble spots in the yard- the mail box area of death. We have this very unique (and incredibly friendly) vine/ivy business that grows all over the yard, and had wrapped everything in our mail box section. 2 hours (and four completely cramped arms) later, and it finally looked more like a garden and less like a national forest:

We have been up to some shenanigans on the inside too... but I will hold those hostage until tomorrow.

Calendar Love

Did I ever tell you guys about the 2014 calendar that I illustrated for the smartest and I? In the midst of busy season last November, I got it in my head that we NEEDED (not wanted, NEEDED) to have a 16X20 calendar with illustrations for each month. "What fun", I thought to myself, "How neat! I could use a hand cramp right about now". So, right around Christmas time, I found myself with this little guy proudly in hand (and yes. The smartest does make me retire the glitter-deer for the other 11 months of the year)

In the interest of full disclosure... we don't use it much. It is actually currently situated behind our coatrack, rendering it at least mostly useless, but it was a fun project to explore. I based most of the hair/clothing choices on things we actually wear on a regular basis (though, of course, in the illustration it looks as though my hair isn't attempting to overthrow the rest of me on a regular basis. Which is inaccurate). And if I had drawn May the way it actually is... you would see the puppy and I cowering in a storm shelter, rather than frolicking under an umbrella. But you know... artistic license and all that.

Adventures in Painting

If you are familiar with me... you know that I'm not really a traditional artist. I specialize in digital medium, more so than painting, drawing, sculpting, or really any sort of art that doesn't have an "undo" button.

Here's a fun fact for you- I absolutely HATE that about myself. For a long time, I felt like a bit of a hack for only being talented at design, rather than the creation of something from nothing in a more traditional manner. I have come to terms with my own unique artistic style over the last couple of years, but there is still a tiny part of my that yearns to sit at a canvas rather than a computer screen, and make something other than glitter letters. I decided it might be fun to try to learn some of the skills that art school tried so very hard (and failed so ver spectacularly) to instill within me- so I busted out my old acrylic paints this weekend.

In the absence of prying eyes, judging classmates and a grade looming over my head, I actually found painting rather enjoyable. I took a photo at each stage of painting, so I could recognize where things went horridly wrong, in the event that they chose to do so.

As it turns out, the painting didn't veer in an unfixable direction...

and now I have fun photos to share with you.