A new project and a new blog

I recently sold this painting to a local customer and reader of my blog. The painting was one of my first forays into expressionism. I was really excited to see an email from her yesterday sharing her new blog, Pursuing Vintage. Check it out.

I am just starting a piece of art work that will either be really awesome or an epic fail.

I stretched hot pink silk on a stretcher frame with the intention of using clear gesso and painting in oils. Luckily, the smart me took over and tried the clear gesso on a sample of the silk first. Yuck. It looked gross and took away the vibrance of the color. I sparyed it with fixative (for stiffness) and sketched my figure in  charcoal and got out my acrylics.

I did five preliminary sketches of different poses before settling on this one.

Here she is, half done.

There is much more to be done but I honestly haven't decided on all the colors yet.
Oh yeah, anyone want to do a guest post?
I have so much on my plate currently but I don't want to just disappear from blogworld so I am looking for guest posters.

Drake-faces and other things that should be outlawed

I'll get to the faces in a minute.

I am in week two of a gluten-free, vegan experiment and I am a bit hungry and grumpy as will be evident in this post. I need a chili cheeseburger.

Have you ever had another design blogger come to your house and have the overwhelming urge to apologize for all of the ugly crap in your house that you haven't gotten around to changing?

That was me Saturday morning at 10 am.

I had already joked about my ugly kitchen floor and the still unpainted walls in some rooms and somehow found the strength to avoid total dorkdom by commenting on all of the orange wood in my house.

The suburbs just wouldn't be the same without orange wood and the economy might collapse entirely if all of those 50 gallon drums of the stuff were suddenly outlawed.

Have you ever wondered who picked this for the standard builder wood stain? 

Usually wood is stained a color that it might actually turn if oiled and left alone for 100 years.

The other thing I have decided to hate is ceiling fan /light combos.

I am not thrilled with ceiling fans but they are a necessary  evil in some parts.

I have the ghastly builder version.

Just because fans and lights would both be useful on the ceiling does not mean they should be combined.

A toilet and a bidet...useful in the same place...not good to combine.

It doesn't make it any better to make it look all space age.

There should be a $300 fine for using them.

Now I should explain the term "drake-face". Drakes are the name of a male ducks.

Just when I thought that Restoration Hardware dominated the man -duck-face in print I saw this...

iphone photo

Its an ad in Elle Decor. I laughed out loud and still can't look at it without smirking.

That guy and his mustache just said, "We have this Indie-barbershop quartet and it was so hot that we took these bedazzled inner-tubes on our electric scooters to the ironic swimming hole." Then he made a drake-face and now the water is cooler.

Karen very kindly featured me in an interview with her 2013 Artist Series. Be sure to stop by.

What I wore...

Last night was "First Friday" here in Fredericksburg. It is a night that all of the art galleries host an opening reception for their monthly shows. 

The painting above is one of the pieces I chose to show this month. Several people commented on my outfit's close resemblance to the colors in  my artwork.

This is what I wore.

I wore this Lilly Pulitzer Nina dress that I treated myself to for my birthday.

I carried my new Kate Spade Christy bag too.

It must be serendipity that there is the cutest boutique, Monkees, just across Caroline Street from the Art First Gallery where I am showing my work. I bought the dress and handbag there.

Could be a dangerous combination!

Almost totally thrifted

The tray from West Elm is one of only a few new things in my living room.

Hope y'all had a great 4th of July!

I was thinking about a post on thrifting and it dawned on me that my formal living room is almost entirely bought second hand in shops or on eBay. I inherited a couple of items and only a few were bought new.

It can be done with patience and lots of searching.

This little X-bench is from Target and I recovered it in a piece of Brunschwig's Le Lac that I scored on eBay.

I inherited the Persian rug and this antique French child's chair.

It has only recently become a bit too fragile for kids. I have many fond memories of this chair from my childhood.

This bombe chest was a local antique store find for under $350 because the marble top has a crack, all the better if you ask me.

The Sheraton style sofa is my favorite thrifting score of all time. It had just arrived from an estate and was marked at only $350! I was really suspicious of flaws (smells) at that price but it was in perfect condition and is a very high-end piece.

This Korean case was only $15 at the Salvation Army. It makes a great end table and if I get tired of looking at it I won't feel guilty in sending it away.

I purchased a pair of these chairs on eBay and then had them recovered, making them the most expensive items by far but they are super comfy.

Many of the accessories were thrifted.

I did buy new drapes and hardware, as well as, table lamps.

The chandelier is from eBay Curtains and hardware are new

The wall color is Sherwin-Williams Faint Coral and this whisper of pink is my favorite part of the room.

Why so many thrifted and antique things? Well, the first answer is easy, budget. I either haven't had or wished to spend thousands on a single piece. The second part of that answer has more to do an appreciation of the imperfect. You should see my husband! Ba-dum-bum! Sorry, I had to do say it.
 In my eyes nothing is all that great if it doesn't have a little wear on it. Too much newness looks vulgar to me. I like patina and its offered without a premium in second-hand stores.

Why do you use Pinterest?

my Pinterest boards

I found a really useful article about which pins on Pinterest get repinned the most.

I found it a bit surprising on some counts and obvious in other ways, like a very saturated image gets more attention that a dull one. Things I rarely consider, like the aspect ratio of the image having an affect, were mentioned too.

art wishlist board

Pinterest has been very helpful to me from an art sales standpoint but that is not the sole reason I use it. Its so yesterday, but I use it mostly to save and categorize images and ideas.

The article is a good read but it made me wonder, why do you use Pinterest?

Has it helped you business or blog?

Guess which one I chose!

#1

While waiting for my son's perpetually late (but very good) guitar teacher to start and complete Monday's lesson, I traipsed on over to Home Depot in search of a semi-flush mount light I  spyed earlier.

This is for the little one's barely pink room and I want it to be an uber-feminine style but not a chandelier.

#2

I am posting the Instagram shots because ironically, the lighting in the lighting department of HD stinks.

#3

Which do you think I chose?

Before I spill the beans... a few asides.

Instagram, Follow me here. I am still on private but chances are I will check the allow thingy. Its just one of my neuroses.

Also, the owner of this guitar shop and I have chatted during down moments about the painted guitars in his shop. I really wanted to find one to paint myself.

 Long story, made short, he gave me one to paint and instead of insisting that I let him show it off in his shop, he very kindly asked if I would consider showing it there.

 I'll most likely just give it to him. 

I thought that was awfully kind.

Life is good.

Ok, I chose the second one and for the first time in my life it was the least expensive choice.

What awesome thing have you found or received lately?

P.S. If you are local to Central Virginia, My first "First Friday" at Art First Gallery is this Friday 6-9 pm. Do come if you are able. I would love to see/meet you.

Project pile up

Does this ever happen you? You have a project you wish to start and you realize that to be done properly you need to tackle something else first. The trouble is you can't tackle that until you do another thing (or maybe two) and just give up in disgust.

Recently my husband declared loudly that a major priority would be to finish the library. It is a room just inside my front door that was temporarily set up as a bedroom for my stepson. The bed was one of two matching twin beds from my little girl's room and it is still there.

I recently chose the paint for my little girl's room and posted about it. It seemed smart to leave the other bed downstairs until the painting was done. My mother in-law's visit derailed that paint job so it is still not done.

You see, months ago, I mentioned not painting that room because there is a useless door to the bathroom on one wall. I was told that it wasn't going to be closed up until we redo that bathroom.

I just want the walls painted so it doesn't look like something out of a gothic romance any longer.

Last night the genius handyman says, "Aren't we going to close up that door before painting?"

It was his birthday so I did not strangle him.