Painting a Ceiling

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!

Learning the Art of Troweling

A couple of weeks ago I took a class to learn how to use American Clay. I was looking for something to expand my mural and decorative painting offerings and started researching plasters. Initially I wanted to use Italian Plasters but then I found a place to learn American Clay close by and signed up. I really enjoyed the class although I must say troweling is NOT easy. I hope to try to use it on a couple of walls in my bedroom and will hopefully hone my skills further with that project. I took the class at Tuscan Impressions. Eve is the owner and a very talented artisan. She was out of town for my class but her husband taught the class and I learned a lot from him, one of the other studio artisans and a professional Italian plasterer also taking the class.

I've since met Eve and she is very friendly and she creates absolutely beautiful Italian plaster finishes and American Clay walls. http://www.tuscanimpressions.com/. She can definitely create a creative and beautiful plaster finish in a variety of looks and design styles.

The American Clay is very forgiving and can be easily repaired, even if it gets marked on with crayons or pencils, you can fairly easily remove the marks unlike with paint. Even better it is a natural product that is environmentally friendly and non toxic. Using American Clay in the construction of your home or business can earn you LEED credits as well!

Below are some of my sample boards I created and one I used some decorative techniques on. I look forward to using it on my walls, the only downside as it takes a lot of equipment and tools I don't yet have : ( Oh well.. I don't think my husband will object to me buying more tools!
This is the Loma finish:
Here is the Porcelina. After starting out practicing troweling on the wall I was quickly developing a sinking feeling because it was so hard to catch on. But then I jumped into a bicolor application on smooth Porcelina and it turned out well much to my relief. I think I will stick to Loma and Porcelina finishes for now.


And then the Maritimmo which was actually quite difficult due to the type of finish it results and the necessity to NOT overwork it. I admit I had a good bit of help with this board ; )

And finally what I really want to use this for is the decorative applications. Here are a couple of things I played around with.

Shipping a Painting

Well, today I sent my painting, Emotions in Magenta, off to Florida, hope it makes it there safely. It is headed to Punta Gorda for the Visual Arts Center's 2010 Biennial National Art Exhibit. I fretted over it's packing but luckily I know some great boxing guys that helped me out : ) Now UPS better take care of it! I was super excited to be accepted into this juried show. Here is the link to the arts center: http://www.visualartcenter.org/index.html

I started painting my bathroom ceiling last night. This is one time I can say luckily I have a very small bathroom - and this is the half bath at that! But I wanted to do a ceiling and that one is the only flat ceiling we have (the rest covered in the dreaded popcorn!) and hopefully I'll finish it up tomorrow.

Went to see my grandmother in the nursing home tonight, although she is there for rehab only... what a terrible place, so depressing...talk about making you think about life. I need to bring her some stuff to brighten her room...

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Portraits

This is a portrait of 3 siblings that was commissioned as a Christmas present. I used 3 separate photos which is always a challenge to incorporate into one, but after much work I think it was accomplished alright. This one is mainly pencil and does not have as much of a paint wash as the portrait titled Amelia I posted before. And on this one I used watercolor instead of acrylic.

Glad that the holidays are over, (and yes my Christmas tree is still on the back deck where it stayed untouched all season) I hope to get back into the studio painting regularly soon. I've been so busy with graphic design/marketing lately. I did get into a major juried show in Florida which I'm super excited about. I'll give more info on that soon.

New Painting blending Landscape and Figure

This painting I did as inspiration from my vacation a couple of months ago. I'm not a landscape painter but really wanted to do something with the lighthouses so I melded a figurative element in... It's one of those either like or hate it...

Back to some Cars

I have been wanting to do more cars again lately and finally had the chance with my latest drawing endeavors. It is of course a Bel Air, one of the most popular and readily available classic cars. I even found another rusted one this past weekend that was a Bel Air. It had fabulous rust colors though and I think I'll probably get a good painting out of the photos I was able to get. It fascinates me at all the old "classic" cars sitting around rusting and rotting away. #1 I don't think "todays" cars will hold up to sit around rusting away and if they are, will they look as cool? #2 Will our kids and grandkids be restoring 1990's and early 2000's cars and will they be going to car shows with restored cars from today??? .... I think not... (now maybe with the new Chargers or Magnums...) But the one in this drawing/painting was a restored car. I am still searching for the perfect back view of a car for a painting I have that has been hanging on the wall unfinished for a couple of years. It is a landscape with a black asphalt road running straight down the center so it needs a car... I just don't know what car yet...

New Portrait Drawing

I just finished this portrait. It is of my sweet little niece. I took family pictures of them last week and this shot was just so cute and perfect for a portrait because it showed so much of her personality. I have really been wanting to get back to some drawing and this is the 2nd drawing I've done in a while. It actually ended up as a mixed media piece. I used graphite, charcoal, and thin washes as well as dry brush of acrylic paint. I liked mixing the pencil and paint and might do that some more.