Flowers for Fall...

I'm back! The creative side of my brain took a really long vacation this summer. It was too hot to be working in the garage. Aaand...let's face it...I was LAZY! 

I did finish some stained flowers, however. These are mini versions of the other stained flowers I have done. These measure almost 7" including the frame. It was really fun to paint these little guys. I could knock one out in a few hours. That being said, however, it seems to be easier to stain on the larger "canvases."

Orchid

Lotus

Stargazer Lily

I also tried something new. I added a bit of color to the plumeria flower. I painted the frame to tie it all together. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out!

Plumeria

Playing Catch-Up...

Wow. Am I glad that December is over! The stress of the holidays, kids out of school, and everyone getting sick (twice in some cases) is behind me.

I get the Winter Blues real bad. It starts around Thanksgiving and I don't escape the "fog" until around February. This year, however, the fog is already lifting! Probably because we have had such a mild winter. Hardly any snow to think of, although we are expecting a snow storm this weekend. The sun has been shining this week and the sky has been blue. I love me some blue sky! 

Since I'm feeling more normal (whatever that is), I actually finished some projects. And I realized there are a few things I've done that I didn't share on the blog. 

This last week I completed some signs for our Young Women's New Beginnings. If you are wondering what the heck that is, I'll tell you. New Beginnings is a time to welcome all of the girls turning 12 this year into the Young Women program. There are three classes of girls. Girls just entering and through to their 14th birthday are called Beehives. Girls ages 14 and 15 are Mia Maids, and girls 16 to 18 are the Laurels. I made each class a sign of their motto. The plan is to hang them up at the church.

I don't have photos of how I made the signs, but I was given some 3/4" plywood already cut to 12" x 16". I then stained the plywood. I found some clip-art, typed up the mottos, and printed them out. I used a projector to enlarge the prints and traced out the words with a white paint pen. I traced the clip-art with a white colored pencil and then painted them.

I used some 1" x 2" pine to make the frames. I sanded them and added some wood stain to the edges. Next, I used some wax in places I wanted the stain to show through and then painted them white. When the paint was dry, or mostly dry, I used a razor blade to scrape of the wax areas. This exposes the dark brown underneath and gives it a roughed-up or aged look. Everything was sealed with a clear coat. I am really pleased with how the signs turned out! Now I have to figure out where in the classroom to hang them...

I also made some simple Christmas gifts. My daughter's teacher is a major Harry Potter fan, so I made him a grouping of four small signs.

I sanded some cedar fence board, cut into 5" squares. I spray painted the squares black and used my projector to trace the words with a white paint pen. I added a bit of color with some acrylic paint. I also roughed-up the edges with my sander and finished with clear coat.

I made some small signs the same way, only using stain instead of paint. I free-handed these with a paint pen.

I also realized I haven't posted some of my other painting, or shading, with stain pictures. I love making these! FYI, I don't know the names of all these flowers, so I gave them names. Artist's prerogative.

Flower Blossom

Daisy Magnified

Hibiscus

Irish Daisy

The Irish Daisy above was fun. I used a knot in the wood to make the center of the daisy. That piece of wood was meant to be a daisy!

Belfast Blossom

I have used Minwax Jacobean for all of my art, but I wanted to try something different. I used Minwax Special Walnut and I had horrible results. The stain spread too quickly, so the flower looked fuzzy. You know, like when you aren't wearing your glasses kind of fuzzy. I was so disappointed because I really wanted to use a different color.

Open Rose

The rose above is a different color because it is a different type of wood. It was a piece of scrap I was given, so I'm not sure what kind of wood. It is also smaller and sold quickly, which means I need to make more of this size!

Ireland Day 2...

As I write this, Ireland is being battered by Hurricane Ophelia (also known as Storm Ophelia). I couldn't quite believe it when I read the headlines! You just never hear of such a thing. There have only been a handful of noteworthy tropical storms to hit Ireland. Hurricane Ophelia is different, though. It is on course to cross the entire country, south to north. Schools and all of the ancient monuments and historical sites are closed. I can't believe my sister and I experienced such beautiful weather just a few weeks ago! I hope that everyone will be safe and and the storm won't cause too much damage.

How about I share some of the beauty we experienced while in Ireland? For our second day, we planned to visit Mount Stewart House and then walk around Belfast before heading to our B&B. Mount Stewart House is a stately home and gardens bought by the Stewart family in 1744. It has been in the family since then. 

Mount Stewart House view from the Spanish Garden.

Front entrance.

The house was added onto several times, but it has remained unchanged for the last century or so. Lady Mairi Bury lived most of her life on the estate until her death in 2009. In 1957, Lady Mairi donated the gardens to the National Trust. She donated the house and most of the furnishings to the Trust in 1976.

Entering the house is like walking into a time capsule. 

Part of the silver collection. Check out the stacks of plates!

Domed hallway and crystal chandelier.

The Londonderry family had a love of horses through the ages.

Lady Edith Londonderry is responsible for the immaculate gardens. She designed them herself. Lady Edith had many other hobbies as well. If you have the time, google her name. It makes very interesting reading!

North end of the house. 

Sunk Garden

Shamrock Garden with "The Red Hand of Ulster" and sculpted harp.

Strangford Lough, which connects to the Irish Sea.

We had planned a small walking tour of Belfast to finish the day. However, traffic was worse than expected and we were quite tired. We did end up finding a car park and walked to where we planned to have dinner, The Crown Liquor Saloon. Our tourist book pointed out we should visit this place, even if we are teetotallers. It is the most famous pub in Belfast.

I had the traditional Irish Lamb Stew with wheatie bread.

In case you decide to eat here someday, make reservations! We were unaware of this, so we waited an hour to be seated. Then waited 30 minutes for our food. Then waited another 30 minutes for our check. We were so exhausted by the time we got back to the car. It really was a great day! Here are some fun places that I just had to get pics of:

I totally would have stopped here if they were still in business!

I love that so many businesses have such clever names. I needed to have my camera out at all times and I still missed pictures of them. Some that spring to mind are "Sew It Seams," and "Knobs and Knockers."

P.S. The gardens were so beautiful and full of plants that I took tons more pictures. I have already used some for inspiration in my art!

Daisy Do...

This will be a short post. I have so many thoughts running wild through my spaghetti brain that I can't seem to decide on what to write about. That goes along with my low production this summer. Usually I am out working in the garage everyday. The last few months have been too hot and I can't seem to gather the energy necessary to be creative.

That being said, I have found a new type of creation that I thoroughly enjoy making!

Painting with stain on a wood canvas. It is so fun to see an idea come to fruition! Do things always work out how I see them in my mind? Definitely not. But I am just a beginner when it comes to painting with stain. There are a lot of techniques I want to try. 

This daisy and the carnation I posted last time, were drawn freehand. I found pictures I liked and then drew them out on a wood "pallet." 

I used a fine tip brush to outline the flower. In places I wanted darker, I added more stain. This can be time consuming, but it allows me to work on other things in between drying.

To shade the daisy petals, I used a cloth and very lightly dabbed the open lid of the can of stain. I then rubbed the cloth over the petal until it had the look I wanted.

I love it! Wouldn't this piece of art look fabulous on a gallery wall? (Not an art gallery, a home gallery. You know, the type with family pictures and the like?) Actually, it would look good anywhere! Maybe that's why I haven't taken my creations to my booth to sell yet...