Stacy's Tray

My grand-daughter Stacy asked me to paint this tray for her.  It was unfinished when she got it at a garage sale for $1.  Her home features the color teal which is her favorite color.  She asked me to paint a version of "Endless Rose".  I decided to do the teal rose on a dark brown background.  I am happy with the way it came out.  The rose has a very 3D look.

I am a day late wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.  We had a house full or family for dinner yesterday.  There were 19 family members here.  We feel blessed to all be together.  We miss the nice Arizona weather but love being close to family.

I think my next project will be a magazine rack/end table.  I stripped it down and it is ready to paint. The problem I have is that I haven't decided on colors or design yet.  I am doing this for myself so I should know what I want but I don't.  I don't know if I want to match or contrast with the other painted pieces I have in the living room. Decisions, decisions!

Home Improvement Project

This post does not show a new painting but a home improvement project that we just completed today.  This project has been in my mind for probably over 20 years.  I'll post photos then tell you the story of how it came to be.

This is my front entrance hall.  Even though we have a coat closet I wanted hooks of some kind on the wall.  We have so many people stop by for short periods of time.  Since this is Michigan, for over half the year they are wearing a jacket or coat.  I thought for convenience  it would be nice to have a coat hanging wall.  We went shopping at the home improvement stores but all the coat hangers were so ordinary that I knew I had to come up with another idea.

So.....Flash back to 1960.  For the first year that we were married every time we drove by Hammers Furniture Store on Market Street in Youngstown, Ohio I commented on how much I loved a clock that was hanging on a wall in the window.  It had a round center about 12" in diameter with the clock face which was very simple with round little knobs as the numbers and streamlined hands.  Coming out around the edged of the clock, randomly spaced, were stems with large and small flowers on the ends.  It was made of off white metal highlighted with  antique gold. The all over size was about 40" wide by 30" high.  One day as we drove by I noticed the clock was gone.  I was sad that I would not see it anymore.  Little did I know that Roger had bought it for a present for me for our first anniversary.  That clock followed us from house to house for the next 35 years.  By the time we moved to Tucson it was in pretty rough shape and was not working anymore so Roger told me to get rid of it.  I decide to remove the flowers and keep them.  I told him someday I would come up with an idea of a project where I could use them.  When we packed up to move here they were still in a box and again he suggested I get rid of them but I said no that someday I would use them somehow.  That day has come!

While thinking of a way to make an attractive area to hang coats I thought of the flowers.  Since I have a combination of both silver and gold items in my living room I decided to use that combination.  I removed the antique gold centers of the flowers and spray painted the petals a hammered silver then reattached the gold centers.  The hanging hooks are also antique gold.  I love  how it looks.  Just nine days after our 56th anniversary the flowers again have a place of honor in our home.

 I also want to mention the color of the wall they are hanging on.  Slowly we are getting some of the walls painted.  Most of them are two shades of tan both light and dark.  I wanted a little more drama so decided on using this color called Divine Wine on a few selected walls.

The house is a work in progress so it is nice to get a few smaller jobs done.  I am still waiting on news of when my new kitchen will be installed.  It was supposed to be last week but the counter tops were not ready so unless it is done tomorrow or Wednesday I want to hold off until after Thanksgiving.

I will continue to post photos of home improvement projects along with any art projects I complete.

Forest Royalty and Ostrich Egg

My new life here in Michigan is keeping me busy in a different way than my old life in Arizona.  My Tucson life revolved around my art and Southern Arizona Art Guild functions.  I worked the gallery a few times a month and was part of many art exhibitions and show openings. I spent many hours each day painting. We went out to lunch a few times a week with friends. We had church activities. We bowled a couple of times a week.  Roger kept busy with his stained glass commissions.

 Now that we have moved things have changed.  We spend much time with home renovations which include our house and two houses belonging to family members.  We attend church each Sunday and joined a bowling league which meets once a week.  Instead of leisurely lunches with friends at upscale restaurants we share many meals with family members mostly at our house or at fast food places.  Our art has taken a backseat to family and house projects but that is okay.  We are loving being so close to our family and we like the laid back feel of living in a small town.

 When we were younger and planing our retirement we always thought we would move to a small town and renovate a century house but 20 years ago when we retired we changed those plans and moved to a brand new house in an active adult community in Arizona and turned our focus to our art.  We now think of that as our first retirement.  This move to MI is our second retirement which fits the plans we made long ago.  Once we get the house projects done and build our new art studios we will once again make creating art main activity.

 I know that it will take awhile to get established  in the art community here and I have taken the first steps by applying to join the Three Rivers Artist Guild.  I will have to be juried in and that doesn't happen until January.  I also plan to apply to a juried show at the Carnegie Institute of the Arts which again, doesn't happen until January.  Hopefully I will be accepted in both.

 In the mean time I still make some time to paint and have finished two projects which I will post here.  The first is a painting I call "Forest Royalty".  I thought this would be a good fit for the area where I now live.  The size of this painting is 18 X 20.

The other project that I completed is the ostrich egg that I mentioned in a previous post.  I had a hard time getting a good photo because I kept getting a light reflection spot in the center of the egg. I finally gave up and decided to post the photos with the spot.  Here are two of photos showing the egg from different sides.

I am currently working on a tray for my grand-daughter Stacy.  After I complete that I have to work on refinishing a few pieces of furniture for my living room and also we are building some shelves for our new office that I will have to paint.

Thanksgiving is coming up soon and I will be the dinner host.  There should be 20 family members coming.  I am still waiting on my new kitchen to be installed which should happen next week.  I'm hoping it will be done in time for Thanksgiving.

One more thing, even though I no longer live in Tucson I will still have art showing at the SAAG Gallery Holidazzle show.  If you live in Tucson this will be your last chance to buy my work at the gallery.  After that you will have to contact me at rogpamd@msn.com  and order online.  I'll post more information on Holidazzle in an upcoming post.