Merry Day #4....

 ~ Welcome to my ~

Merry Day #4!

And today we will learn the rest of my painting story...

but first December 4th is a very special day...as it was the day my boys were born! So I thought I would take a little pictorial trip down memory lane...

you know as I scroll through these pictures I get sad....where has time gone. I also get real happy because although the road was rocky at times, I am so very, very, very proud of my young men. They both have become outstanding adults. They are kind, polite, hard working, making their way in life....what more could a parent want. Ian and Jacob are both so tender hearted - wanting to help everyone that needs it no matter whether it is a human in need or an animal in need. Between them and myself we'd live in a cat colony helping all the stray and feral cats we could. LOL!

Ian is still in college, working toward his associates degree in Advanced Maintenance and Robotic Arm Technology. He will graduate in May! He is engaged to Edie (his only and longtime girlfriend - they met at Kroger while working there together when they were sophomores in HS) and they are planning their upcoming wedding in September 2022. HURRAY IAN!! 

Jacob graduated in May with an associates degree in Advanced Maintenance and Robotic Arm Technology. He currently is working full time, at PRD a local-ish plastic molding manufacturing parts facility that makes parts for cars, tanks, all sorts of other manufacturing facilities. He maintains all of the machines that work on the line, programs the robotic arms/robots and sets plastic molds during parts changes. He just was promoted to a regular employee and is no longer considered an apprentice! HURRAY JACOB!!

 

HAPPY 22ND  BIRTHDAY TO MY HANDSOME BOYS! ~ Mama LOVES YOU BOTH!

Now for the rest of the story....

so we have learned that I always wanted to paint, my grandmother, mother, sister-in-law, friends all painted and I had always wanted to learn. I had a few false starts throughout my life and finally last year on Dec. 19, 2020 I bought my first brush and paint tubes and my first three pieces I shared with you. Alright now....

Winter seems to be a very productive time for me...

I don't have as much finishing because I'm always like: I'm slowing down on finishing and I don't take as much...by the end of March that's out the window and I'll have 30+ packages here 😂 because I cannot tell people no. Anyway, I get a lot of crafting done in Jan/Feb/March. I practiced A LOT on painting last winter. And I must say I think I got rather good in comparison to my first pieces. Now remember I'm self taught. When I decide to do something I am all in - I read, research, watch, whatever I need to do to learn and teach myself what I am aiming to do. Here are my pieces that I did all of this year:

Now are these perfect? NO - by no stretch of the imagination are any of these perfect....but I learned a great deal and for self taught I'm pretty stinking pleased with myself. I'm a heavy hand. I need to learn to be lighter of hand, lighter of brush. I also know I have some issues I need to correct. For instance, here's one of the things I need to learn: patience. I get halfway through with a piece and I think: I can get this done TODAY and I paint and I paint and then I get tired and I get sloppy. I have got to learn that I can stop and pick up painting where I left off another day. 

I also learned that it takes as much or more stuff than cross stitching! ha ha ha! and lots of SPACE and you need GOOD LIGHT to get the shading and shadowing correct. You can't leave (or I can't anyway) a big ugly mess laying out all the time. So I have what I like to call my "mobile painting set up unit" When I decide I want to paint I get out my white craft table that I bought expressly for being my painting table and I set up in the back corner of our living room. Here is my set up today (because I'm making a lot of presents for Christmas so it's out and likely to be out for quite some time)

This area is hidden behind lazy boy recliners and back in the dark corner so I can sort of hide the ugly back there. SEE how much crap you need. I have my hair dryer for hurrying up the speed of drying paint...every tole painter uses one, I have baby wipes because they pull off paint even if its a little dry and if you make a mistake use a baby wipe and wipe that mistake clean, sealers, brushes, brushes, BRUSHES (and yes you need all of them) my OTT lite, iPad holder to watch shows while I paint or listen to music or hold patterns whatever....a LOT OF STUFF and of course you have to cover everything in newspaper because well... paint!

Since I started painting...and sometimes buying the wood surfaces - I could see - it was going to get costly, I used my Christmas bonus from the quilt shop last year to buy myself a scroll saw. This allowed me to cut my own surfaces out. 

Here's a picture of my dark corner of the basement in my laundry room where my husband set me up to cut, store my wood stock and store my paints - all sorted by color families. I'm what you call a "bottle baby" painter. Meaning - I won't mix colors - I want my pieces to look exact to the artist's model so I have most of the Americana color line acrylics and I store them all in my paint corner of the basement. See just like collecting DMC as a cross stitcher! Today, right now as I type, as a gift to me, my sweet husband is wiring in a new LED overhead light so I can see better when I cut. 

This past weekend I was placing another order with Renee at Plum Purdy (she loves me, I'm sure) and  I bought myself an early Christmas Gift....A set of Dynasty Brushes, because people - quality matters and this is no exception to paint brushes. The brushes at Michael's and Hobby Lobby are OK, but Dynasty and professional Artist brushes...well there IS a difference. So I bought myself a set of angle, script liners and filbert wisp (wispies) brushes. Next purchase after I finish a whole bunch of stuff and can afford it, I want to buy some flat shader Dynasty brushes. 

These brushes work great for the style that Renee Mullins and Tracy Moreau paint...however Lynne Andrews paints in a whole different style. and I was doing alright using brushes that I had, but I thought I might as well get Lynne Andrews own line of brushes and then the pouncers she uses too. So I got these too from Lynne Andrews: 

and every time I get a brush I have to tell Ellie - MITTS OFF these are mine - are they will go missing....LOL!

So see people...painting. I'm down for it now! LOL! 

 May I encourage you....no matter if it is painting, quilting (remember I do that too), cross stitching, embroidery, finishing, whatever you WANT to do....YOU CAN! People say I'm talented. I'm not talented, I just have a strong will. And when I want to do something - wild horses won't keep me from doing it. Ask my husband - he'll tell you! LOL!

YOU CAN do whatever you want. Your mind is like a muscle - exercise it and don't tell yourself you can't - YOU CAN - remember that!

Now I just need to tell myself that I CAN lose weight and do it! LOLLOLOLOL!

So now you know the rest of the story....

(I loved Paul Harvey)

and tomorrow....I will share cross stitching, I promise!

Merry Day #4!

Merry Christmas!

All my love, 

Vonna xxxx

P.S. the pottery plates above: Pioneer Woman 2021 Christmas plates from Walmart - I have an obsession with her too.