One more day ought to do it. I'll do the houses on the left, add some cobblestones to the street, finish the left urn/pedestal, add some more window boxes, work on the potted foliage.....I'd like it to look more wild/free form. Once again I see the need for a few corrections for one, the opening of the pot in the center of the mural is too deeply curved, its driving me nuts, but I keep forgetting to fix it.....I'll finish this up on Monday.

OK.....made a few adjustments.

See what happens when you don't work for awhile......your skills suffer. Sooooo....I made a few adjustments on the mural, enlarged one of the lamps (much better) and I also realized that people who were large enough to use the doors on some of the houses, wouldn't be able to stand up if they went up to the second floor.....lol. Rather than starting over, I opted to just shorten the houses from the bottom....widened the street, its not perfect, but its much better.
The painters did their thing and next a faux artist is coming in to do a finish over it. I need to put my arch back in. Back at it tomorrow.

Mural Progress

Here's how the Italian street scene is coming. Think I need to redo the lamps.....they're too small, and that potted tree looks a bit whimpy too. I have it taped out so the painters can do their thing before I go back tomorrow....should finish up on Thursday.

Finished Door #2

I finished up door #2 yesterday and started on door #3.
Door #3 is dragging out because I'm using oil based paint on this one. I could see that this door takes a great deal of abuse so I felt oil based paint would hold up to the challenge better. I went in this morning and put coat #2 on it......just a nice royal blue to match other things in the room.
I'll try to get back there tomorrow to add the artwork.......a trompe l'oeil flower box under its window.

Got over to the studio today and started working on painting the floor. Still waiting for the licensing to come through so I can start advertising in earnest.
I'm thinking of having a one day workshop in the studio on making this simple folding screen.
Several years ago I saw an article in a home magazine suggesting you could make a folding screen similar to this one for about $75. I knew it could be done for less, so I decided to try making one, and waa-laa.........I made it for under $30! I ended up making several of them, made some in different styles and finishes and sold them at a local painted furniture shop.
Start a new mural job tomorrow in Jensen Beach. This is the sketch of the project done directly on a photo of the actual wall it will go on.
This is one I can sink my teeth into....I love having the opportunity to do more serious projects....more high end stuff. This one should take a few days :-)

Veterinary Hospital Progress

Got a second and third coat of sealer on the wall and completed one of the three doors (started the second). Is is just me?.....I'd rather have a large wall to mural than a small area like the doors....challenging. As requested they are both meant to look as though there is no door.
This was the sketch for door 1.....
And this is the door finished......
I started on door 2 and will go in a finish it and door 3 tomorrow.

Back to the Simmons Veterinary Hospital today.

Here's where I left the wall on Monday.
I'm not sure how I feel about it, I'm wondering if it needs to spread further to the left. Today it will get its first coat of sealer and I will start on the doors. I've had a change of heart about the door I thought about painting to look like a full view of the hallway behind it.
I'm thinking instead that to keep with the outdoor theme of the area that maybe painting a flower box just under the window would be better (and simpler:-), maybe add a doggie door on the bottom? I'll talk about it with the Dr. today.

Mural Project For Today

Starting a mural project today at a veterinary hospital....pretty simple projects, the most difficult part was deciding which products to use on an already epoxy painted wall. I consulted with paint store professionals to help me with that.
I'm going to tackle the wall first, the rest of the work will be done on doors. The Dr.'s objective is to soften the view from inside the facility as you are walking done the hallways to the location.
This is the sketch for the wall part of the job. The Dr. thought it looked like a tree (when he requested vines), so I'll be softening the look with more delicate stems/trunks.
The next part of the project is to make three doors disappear. I showed him one sketch for that, although there are three doors. Two will have foliage on them to coordinate with the view out the windows,
and the third door's window view looks into a hallway, this one will be the most challenging.
This is the door that looks onto the hallway. You can see the beating this door has taken.
Today I will start and finish the wall, and prime the doors. I'll be using a new primer today, one that dries very quickly, it was recommended by a BM employee for using over the epoxy ( I'll scuff up the surface first). I'm ok with doing the wall all in one day because it doesn't see any action as far as the dogs having contact with it, but I'm more comfortable still letting the doors cure for a day even though the primer dries quickly. The doors get quite a bit of abuse. I'll get back to the doors on Wednesday. The can's out in my truck or I'd post the name of it here.....later.

Marbling....who knew.

Prepare to spend another day lost in the land of blogs. Someone left a comment on this blog yesterday and not knowing her, I decided to check her out.
Theresa Cheek.....wow! I don't even want to try and say anything here, just dash off to her blog, its full of great information, great photos, and follow some of her links to other blogs. Theresa introduced me to a whole new world. Thanks Theresa!
Another fun site I came across......I love before and after pics, and here's a site that's all about that. Don't know if Lindsey will use them but I had to send her one of mine.

Couldn't Be More Pleased

My Studio is very pleased to announce new classes being added to the curriculum. Professional artists Jackie Jacobson and Cricket Megias are bringing their talents to My Studio. Jackie and Cricket are two very talented furniture painters/finishers and will be offering workshops in Painting Furniture and Distressing, Silver Leafing, and many other techniques that were learned and or actually created by these two amazing artists. Jackie is the woman who inspired me to begin painting some fourteen years ago. I stopped by their shop today to talk about the details and snapped some photos of some of their work. These are representative of some of the finishes that you can expect them to be teaching in the future.
I fell in love with this decoupage piece!.......
And this one too........
Swedish Finish on Chest.....
A sweet simple stencil on painted table
Silver Leaf on lamp......
Another favorite piece....I believe Jackie's son created this....talent definitely runs in this family!
Look for Jackie and Cricket's classes to begin in February.

My Studio plans are progressing nicely....paper work in progress, waiting on inspection.
I've gotten a couple of mural jobs, one begins Monday and the other the 25th. So its going to be a deliciously busy month. I'm happy :-)

I feel like Cirque du Soleil is playing in my head.

I've got tw0 possible mural jobs coming and I can't move forward on the studio until I get at least one of them started. There's enough $ in the bank to work on the studio or pay my apartment rent, not both. I can't put signage (Coming Soon) in the studio windows to drum up business/interest until I get my occupational license (or you can get fined). I won't get that until I know about the mural jobs...license is a couple hundred bucks. Auuuurrrrggghhhh! Stuck in gear! Deep breath ............it'll be ok.

Studio Progressing

Met with the property owners today about the studio. We finalized all the details....went over what few things still needed to be taken care of and I will spend the next two weeks cleaning, painting, stocking, organizing, etc in preparation for classes.
I'm happy to say our first student has signed up for the mural class being held on Feb 8th-12th, and I look forward to meeting Tiffany. Remember to sign up soon, classes are limited to five students.
I heard from the animal hospital that I had submitted a proposal to for mural work and I'll be meeting with them this week to discuss the project.
Things are looking very good.

Looked at two possible mural jobs

Looked at a potential mural job on Tuesday. This would be for the newest edition to a young family....a little girls room. The client requested a Florida scene but one more pastoral rather than the typical beach most folks request. I submitted three sketches today, offering three different prices and will wait to hear.
First option was one that I thought would be more child friendly because fun elements could be added to the beach ie sand castle, vintage bucket/shovel, critters, etc. This would just be on one full wall and take two days to complete.
The second option offered was the lowest priced option and would just be an open window view. It would be done in a day.
The third option offered was a complete room wrap above a chair rail. Its my favorite I think, and would take three, maybe four days to complete.
We'll see.
Now I'm getting ready to start some sketches for an animal hospital. They need some foliage painted on some walls and doors to complete their 'outdoor' theme.

What am I doing wrong??

What am I doing wrong.....lol
Raphael’s chalk drawing “Head of a Muse” sold for 29.2 million pounds ($47.6 million at the time) at Christie’s London on Dec. 8, setting an auction record for a work of art on paper.


''Composition avec bleu, rouge, jaune et noir'' by Piet Mondrian. The work sold for 21.6 million euros ($27.4 million) at Christie’s Paris sale from the collection of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berge. Source: Christie's Images via Bloomberg

Check Out My Friend Janet's New Work

Janet's work always makes me smile...and having grown up in Jersey I love her new project (click to see more).