Well yesterday I taught my 2nd art lesson after taking a break for several years. I've enjoyed getting back into that and trying some new lesson plan ideas. And this morning I finally hauled our Christmas tree off the back deck where it stayed all Christmas untouched so now I have a clear deck again, well after I brush the tree needles away and scrape up some "deposits" left by Mable and Gladys, our beloved chickens.Our local art guild is having a miniature art fundraiser this year again in conjunction with our annual Meet the Artist show at the end of February. Artists have donated small pieces of artwork to help raise money for our guild to continue to provide activities for the community. I haven't done this before because of course, small is not my thing but I did finally manage to get a small drawing of an old, restored car done. It will be in a mat and frame, but it highlights the front end and wheel. Hopefully everyone locally will stop by on the evening of February 26 or during the day on Saturday the 27 to view the artwork.Tomorrow I will have to tell you about the expensive shipping lesson I learned the hard way today.
So glad it is Friday! What a long week.. How can I work all the time but never get anything done! I guess that is just how it goes.
I did manage to paint my bathroom ceiling last week. I'm glad it was small although working in a small bathroom that contains an already installed and immovable vanity and toilet isn't easy. I really only had enough space for the width of my ladder and to reach the far side I had to lift the ladder over the commode and it barely fit in the space left. It involved a lot of dangerously precarious reaching over to complete. I was using one of those telescoping ladders that you can use in all these different ways. They are supposed to be convenient but it REALLY annoys me. It is very heavy and hard to operate and I always get frustrated. I'm going to buy myself a regular old fashioned ladder one of these days.
But back to the painting, it wasn't too hard but certainly not easy on the neck. Despite that I did have fun because I just love to paint! I put a strie pattern in the border first and then went back over it and applied the design, then went back and applied some more details and highlights freehand. Then after all of that dried I put a thin streaky coat of a metallic glaze. I used Golden's Interference Blue mixed with glaze and silver paint which was the first time I really had the chance to try it out. I had a tube for a while I never knew quite where I would use it. I see its cool possibilities in decorative painting. I did notice if you mix it with any other opaque color it seems to really dull down the reflective qualities so I would recommend using it by itself or with metallics if you really want to see shimmery and reflective effects. Even then I would mix it into a gel medium or glaze for thin application. Golden has several Interference colors to try. I just chose the blue first because like most of the population.. I'm drawn to the color blue!
