Back

Seems as though I got caught up in life and just let my blog slip to the bottom of the list of things to do. I'm back so watch out, here I come.
  I"ve been busy doing all kinds of things. I have worked on my house, I put down a brown paper  floor in my kitchen and that was a big surprise for me that it turned out so well. I had to pull up old tiles first so that was the hardest part of the  job, then tearing the brown paper up, putting glue on it and sticking it to the floor. Then you cover the whole thing with at least 2 coats of poly to seal it. Turned out great and easy to take care of too.

  My art has been moving right along,  I've found I love the way black paper reflects certain colors and have become addicted to using it for all kinds of art. I have also come up with a faux mosaic style. I will post pictures.

 We went from sunshine to rain. All week has been rainy and cool. It seems like I don't get much done when it rains. I belong to a group on ebay for people who do ACEO's, we had a challenge to do an interpretation of a photo of a street in France. I did manage to get 2 done. One a watercolor and one a digital. it was fun to see all the different ways people saw the photo. The damp weather has put a halt to any work on my kitchen floor. I am afraid it would take to long to dry and not set up good.

  

The weather this week has been beautiful, which means I didn't stay inside to much.I had intended to work on the kitchen floor but that got put on hold while I do a few other things. I painted doors and some woodwork and did a countertop in my dressing room using a silver paper and coating it with the poly. I used about 5 coats on it and it looks pretty neat. I think it's going to work real well.
  Today was take Max to the vet, and that was an experience I do not want to repeat for a long time. He peed at least 3 times on the floor, then when I wasn't looking he hiked on my leg. Not a good thing. He managed to pull out of his harness and I had to redo it tighter. He really gave the vet fits trying to escape. Who would have thought a  20 lb dog could cause so much trouble.
  Here's a picture of my little guy. This is his favorite napping spot.

Today was a start on Spring House cleaning day.  It was nice and warm here about 65 or so and great for opening  windows and airing the house out. I went to Ace Hardware this morning and got a free quart of paint. They are giving away a free quart any color every Saturday this month! I got one last Saturday and have been painting my dressing room a raspberry and today I painted a dry sink and old cabinet in  Blooming flax which is a pale blue. Turned out really good now I need to get some new knobs for the drawers. Tomorrow I have to finish painting the dressing room and a wall in my bedroom. I have to use a ladder so I saved the high stuff for one day.
  I managed to paint a couple of dog portraits today but decided I need to clean more than I need to art, so if it  rains tomorrow maybe I will work on some more art.

More aceo's  using the letters that I found. This is getting addictive. I stopped for awhile and went out and bought some rolls of brown paper and a couple of sponge mops so I can try the paper floor this week end. I bought a gallon of polyurethane from the local rehab store for $17 compared to the 40 + that the hardware stores want. All you do is use white glue to lay torn pieces of brown paper on your floor then you coat it with several coats of polyurethane. I have a small kitchen and I am going to make an attempt to do the floor in there.  The paper was only $1 a roll and there is 15 ft on each roll. I got 3 rolls so I am figuring the cost of a new kitchen floor will be under $30. That's a lot cheaper then new tile or carpet! I will post pictures if I succeed in getting it done over the weekend.

 I think I have Spring Fever, I haven't done any writing for awhile, and the sun was out and it hit 70 today. I have been doing some aceo's using old letters I found from the 1940's. I recycled some old aceo's I didn't like and pasted parts of letters on them. Then I used water color and painted over the letter letting the writing show through. I really liked the effect.
  My granddaughter who's a senior in high school, gave me a hair tip yesterday. It seems tht having different colored tips of hair is the new trend. It's expensive and not temporary, so someone came up with a different solution. You dampen the hair you want to color and using chalk pastels (I used Rembrandt, it helps to be an artist some times) you rub it over the hair till you get the look you want. I had a pretty pink strip for awhile. Then you use a curling or straight iron to set it with heat. it washes right out and even little kids can have bright colored hair.

 Today the weather was not nearly so nice, it seems to be hovering around the high 30's. I worked on a few dogs but nothing seemed to inspire me today. Some days are just like that. I guess sometimes you just have to do the mundane things like clean house, cook and wash clothes. I have managed to do some reading on my Kindle between  working. The Kindle was one of the best gifts I have every got. I read 6 -10 books a week and now I can read what I want when I want without having to make a trip to the library. I really enjoy it. What I don't like is the price of the covers and skins they make for it. I wanted a cover, so after a bit of thinking I decided it would be easy to make one. It is very easy and they look just as nice if not better than the ones you buy. All you need is a hard cover journal(they generally cost $5 or so) and then take the pages out and you can attach elastic on the inside to hold the kindle. Experiment and you can customize it to your own taste. I made several and they work great. I'll post a picture of one a bit later.