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This weekend in my studio I worked on just a few things: The pencil sketch above. Another ballerina illustration. An unfinished portrait.
Since I spend my days at home, I often will forget to wear jewelry when I get a change to go out. To help remind myself to accessorize with a little sparkle, I started to look for a way to make my jewelry more accessible. Ikea had this tree to offer:
I remember seeing a Martha Stewart Kids magazine project which made a tree using real branches painted black with Halloween ornaments hung on it. It looked much more interesting than the simple design of the Ikea tree. So I headed outdoors this summer to find some branches and make my tree. Here is what I came up with:
- A baby food jar
- Plaster of Paris
- Tree branch
- Decorative container (I chose an antique brass… thing)
It is simple.
- Follow the instruction on the Plaster of Paris
- Pour the wet plaster into the jar
- Insert branch and prop up the sides of the branches until the plaster is dry
- Place jar into decorative container
- Hang jewelry
I left my tree branches unpainted, but i thought about painting it with acrylic paints in a solid color. I do recommend making sure no creatures are on your tree branch. I accidentally grabbed a branch that was home to a small spider who made some beautiful webs in the top of my jewelry tree, but later perished for lack of food.
Today, I went to Bayview park and set up my french easel to paint the bridge and the water. My graduate advanced painting class would come to the park and paint, and since then I have only done painted en plein air about 3 times.
It is just a 6×8 inch painting, but it is a huge success for me. I am not much of a landscape painter. The goal of this painting was just to get nice clean unified colors throughout.
The sun never fully came out, and when the rain began to fall I packed up and headed home.
The plan is for me to go to Trinitas to paint for the day. Allison is coming to babysit! Maybe I will have something to show you tomorrow. I hope so.
Meanwhile, take a look at Sarah Kargol’s website. These are her paintings below:
This was one of those days that I wish I could start all over and do again.
Because of the award given to me at the PMA members’ show, I was invited to attend a special brunch with the Pensacola Art Guild. These are the people who fund the Pensacola Museum of Art, and I was all to happy to go and meet them. So, my great friend Ellen came to watch the boys while I cruised over to the museum with freshly printed business cards in tow. Of course parking was scarce mid-morning in downtown Pensacola, and I had to search for a spot for some time. I was not the only one searching, but I did not realize this until while reversing out of one lane of parking spots I hear a scrape down the passenger side of my newly-purchased Honda Odyssey. The situation is a bit confusing to me still, and all I can say is that I was unable to see her car, the Honda Civic, until I got out of my van. She was reversing at the same time and did see me. She told me she stopped and honked, but I did not hear anything.
Our precious minivan now has a small scratch. Boo. Yes, I cried. Then she and I exchanged information, and we confessed that we were both going to the Guild brunch. Turned out she was one of the officers for the Guild. She was nice the entire time, and I must admit that I enjoyed sitting at her table and chatting. I met quite a few nice women.
Mistake no. 2: I forgot to distribute the business cards that I printed. How absurd. My husband was not pleased with me when he heard about that. Anyway…
The day did go well other than those two huge mistakes, and I do wish I could start over and do it again.
I think I am going to make one of these:
Well, I better make two since we have two boys who will love to have each his own. I would really love to have one of these Fatboys, but I fear the worst happening (weaker child getting buried under pillow for too long, yikes!)
Happy birthday to Theresa!
This week was fun and interesting with a little time devoted to art (thanks in part to our new babysitter, Allison).
We are also happy to have Mira from hopskipjump fame in our home. She came all the way from Australia.
