Missing My Muse

There is a part of me that would love to blame my lack of posting on the disappearance of my Muse, or maybe I could explain it as my Muse left when my husband retired and she felt her services were no longer needed among the talk and laughter and coffee drinking that goes on in a house with a happy retired couple. There may be some truth to that, my life has gotten crowded, not a bad thing, I just don't have much time for thinking...

My bowl painting has continued. 

One of the bowls I designed and painted for the
Tarrant Area Food Bank
on display at the Empty Bowls Event 2014.

More bowls from the 2014 Empty Bowls Event.  The green
bowl at the top and the striped bowls are "my" dog dishes. 

And I am still painting in the house. 

Will this madness ever end?  You make one little change,
which leads to another little change, then another, and...

I enjoy visiting with my family and friends. I get a little crazy when they tell me they follow my blog - they know what I'm doing and I have no clue what's going on in their life - they read my blog... They are too busy to tell me what they are up to.  I'm not too bitter. 

I'm still reading blogs - o.k., some days I'm so busy I just look at the pictures... Just wanted to say a word of thanks to all you clever bloggers out there. Thanks! ... And if you should spot my Muse somewhere out in this great, big world, maybe you could tell her she's welcome to come home anytime.


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Cloudy with a Chance of Falling Ice

No time to play today. 

For my friends in Dallas, WOW!  That was an amazing hail storm.  Hope all is well and that you all have 'really good' insurance.  If you care to see how we do hail storms in DFW check out this report on local News.

Here in Fort Worth... my freezer quit.  I was fortunate to discover the problem before we lost everything in the deep freeze - also, we have wonderful friends in the neighborhood who are letting us store our frozen goods at their house.

Now I have to get out in the garage and clean up the mess and soon (very soon) I'll be out shopping.

On the bright side - when we move the old freezer (before we put in the new one) I will get to paint that area of the garage.

Hope you are having a wonderful week - summer in all its glory and heat is upon us - Enjoy!



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Empty Bowls

Next week on Thursday, January 12th, this bowl will be going with me to my favorite local pottery studio, Hart Street Pottery.  I will use it as inspiration for at least one of the bowls I plan to paint. 

I know this will work because in the past I have used other vintage bowls and plates and even a picture or two cut from a magazine for my inspiration.

That's how this:

Became this:

Artist:  cJOY

I have all kinds of plans and never know what I will get done, but I always know that my mom will love them.

Artist:  cJOY

The great thing about this is you can come, too. 

We would love to have you join us.  Sure it might be a bit hard for those of you in Alabama, Utah, Wales, or New Zealand - but if you are in the Metroplex you are welcome to come join the party.  The directions are here and for more information check out the Hart Street Pottery webpage .  Also, click on the HSP Calendar and scroll down to the Empty Bowls section to learn everything there is to know about this event in Fort Worth. 

Janet Rodriguez,  the owner of Hart Street, is wonderful. On the second Thursday of each month she hosts an Empty Bowls Paint Day for artists, and want-to-be artists like me, to gather at her studio and paint bisque bowls. Most of us bring plans and drawings and a few bring their own brushes and we work and visit from 10 in the morning until 6 in that evening.  Some work an hour or two, some work all day.  The results range from Totally Amazing to How Cute to I Wish I Could Do That. 

Artist:  PAULA

Artist:  GLENDA

Artist:  AMY

Artist:  HOLLY

Artist:  JOHN

Artist:  RITA

Artist:  JANET

Generous donors have bought the paint and there are paint brushes just waiting for a bowl painter/artist like you to show up and join us.  The bowls stay at Hart Street where they are glazed and fired and made ready for their big day.   The $3 donation to offset the cost of each bowl will be waived for the first bowl of all new artists who mention my blog on Thursday.  Leave a comment below and show up next Thursday and I'll pay for your first two bowls.

It's creativity for a wonderful cause. We are using our talents to feed the hungry. This link will explain how all this got started and show you other Empty Bowls events around the country - there could be one near you.

If you will be in the Fort Worth-Dallas area on February 17th, and you are in the mood for some wonderful food and amazing art work, get your ticket now (all tickets must be bought in advance) and attend this year's Empty Bowls Event.   Then one of these beauties could go home with you.





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Trivets

One of my collections is iron trivets.  Don't know why they appeal to me, maybe it's just another example of functional art that I've carried to an extreme.

Trivets on white wall.

I was thinking my white walls were perfect for displaying the black trivets.  Then I saw this picture and decided my walls needed a little color.  After a few weeks of searching for the perfect color, I finally settled on a Home Depot paint called "Dapper Tan" and spent a couple of days painting the back hallway. I watched the walls get darker as I painted, but when I took a picture of my painting project and looked at it ...

Trivets on beige/tan wall.

... and looked, and looked...  I couldn't see much difference.  I started to wonder what all the fuss was about. 

Trivets on tan/beige wall.

I took another picture.   It still looks almost the same as it did before the paint.   I guess I should stop taking pictures and get on with life.

For years I wanted my house to be perfect - just like a page from a magazine.   Somewhere along the way I discovered 'perfect' changes every month, and takes up way to much of my time.  I think now I'm just wanting comfortable, cute and quirky.  Pleasant.

Do you ever find yourself working for perfect when what you really want is pleasant?

Paint and Tea

Who washes the walls and cleans the base boards on those wonderful fix up the house shows?  Who goes to the hardware store to purchase more paint when they realize they need just a bit more to finish?  When will they show up at my door? 

I know it looks bad but until a few days ago it didn't have all those different colors and it was only a storage room.

Remodeling, decorating or just painting a room is work. I try to look at it as a fun project but the part I like best is the job completed. The shows I love to watch always show the before and a little of the work going on and then the BIG REVEAL. My big reveal is days, maybe weeks, away. 

I was up early this weekend because cooler weather was promised and I wanted to work in the garage so I can finish my sewing room and actually do some sewing.  Last week it was so very hot I didn't go outside except to water the plants and feed the birds.  I stayed inside and started sorting through my stuff deciding what to put in the "new" room.  Almost everything is ready to transition to the new sewing room/studio, now I've got to paint so this can happen. 

My sewing room (I may not be a studio person) has served as this house's storage room for the past 45 years.  I am painting in a room that got one quick spray of builders' white in 1966 and hasn't been touched since.  We swept the place up in 2005 and then started storing things in there, but now I have a new use for the space.  The former owner collected tools and motors, those things were gone when we bought the house, but we were left with plenty of smudges around the door and on the walls.  He also used nails to hang things and part of my morning was spent taking down large (3 inch) nails and patching holes. 

At some point I started to worry if I paint this room white it will look the same as it does now.  I searched for a 'happy' yellow color and then thought, "This room isn't white, just paint it white."

I had to sand the walls - I've never had to sand walls before - they felt gritty.  I put on a mask and started working.  I took a break and went out to breathe for a few minutes, then went back in and swept the floor, took another break, and then quickly washed the walls and left them to dry. 

I was trying to decide what color to go with, looking through all the little paint chips, when I noticed a white near the yellows called "Magnolia White." That's right. I bought a gallon of paint because I liked the name of it. 

Walls sanded, washed, and taped up - ready to paint.

Monday morning it was cooler than it had been in months - I put down newspapers and started painting. It's been a long time since I painted a ceiling.   The walls and ceiling are the same color. I have a semi-gloss white to do the trim and I'm planning on getting a new door.

It was about here I wanted to quit.  I didn't, I just wanted to.

I'm painting in sections. I'll work at organizing this area and then move to another area in the room.   

Notice I got a new switch plate, the other one didn't cover the hole that was cut in the sheet rock.  I always thought the old switch plate looked like it was holding on for dear life.  Now I've just got to wipe down the trim and give it two coats of paint.

This evening my plan is to get my husband to help me put the bookcases in here.  I hope they fit, I don't have much wiggle room - 90 1/2" of bookcases in a 91 1/2" space.  

During my breaks I had iced tea, I've had that a lot this summer, but I've been enjoying a new flavor the last few weeks.


Recipe:

3 bags decaf tea 
1 bag of Celestial Seasonings Bengal Spice tea
Boiling water

I sometimes have a cup mid-morning and the leftovers (I make extra on purpose) I drink iced during the afternoon. I know, you thought I was all about the booze or caffeine, nope. This summer I found this new tea "Bengal Spice" - well, the favor is new to me and after months of hot, hot temperatures and gallons of iced tea, I just wanted to try something a little different.  The flavor reminds me a bit of Chai, it's caffeine free, just spicy enough to jazz up my tea - iced or hot.  If you try it, let me know what you think.  I'll help - the first comment that requests a box of tea I'll send you a box of Celestial Seasonings Bengal Spice Tea.

cJoy