Here we go....from $5 funky....
to clean and sweet. I'm still trying to figure out how to decorate it.
I also started on the pirate window screens today, and of course there's the mandatory Johnny. Hold on Johnny, I know its not you yet, but we're getting close. Its a little embarrassing posting unfinished work. Hope to finish him up tomorrow afternoon.

For the last couple of days I've been trying to reach the client who ordered the pirate screens.....although I was given the size of the windows it wasn't specified as to which was the height and which the width so I'm not able to move forward on that project...I'll try again today.
Meanwhile I finally got to start working on some of the furniture pieces I've been collecting these past few weeks, starting with the $5 dresser....primed and one coat of Behr's Swiss Coffee paint (so far) and she's looking very sweet, I'll post a photo later today.
Did I show you my $2.50 table? It may have to come home with me...its beautifully made.
Oh yeah!!! I reached out to another artist working on this pirate themed project (via email), hoping he'd have the info on the window screens and I just heard from him.....he did! Now it can get started.
I picked up this rather boring tv cabinet yesterday off of Craigslist. Its nothing special I know, but I immediately pictured it as a puppet theater with lots of ornate trompe l'oeil painting on the outside, velvet curtains, miniature spotlights, and hand painted backdrops, snack bar below...can you see it?
OK....breakfast and off to the studio.

Its Over! I finally finished up at the kids party rental place, and I'm moving on to the next project. Today I went over to the studio and got set up to begin the pirate screens...I CAN'T WAIT....this will be so much fun.
Before that though I had gotten a call from one of my favorite restaurants where I've done work before...The Old Key Lime House. This is where a shark greets you at the front entrance
a pirate hangs from the rafters over the diners
and a few walls still need some help. Like below, if you're sitting at a table with your back to this railing
you get a beautiful view of the intracoastal.
If you happen to be sitting opposite that person with the beautiful view.......well, its not quite as pretty. So this wall is a project I've been asked to submit ideas for.
And the shark is the other, he's looking a bit weather worn and could use some freshening up.
And then finally I stopped at my favorite thrift shop and found another piece to add to my growing collection of furniture projects. It needs some serious TLC, but five bucks people....you can't beat that.

I did finish the 'pooh' background mural the next day and I've been back at the kid's party rental place working on the room with the large graphic designs....I'm bringing in Cricket, one of the artists from the shop next to my studio, to help me knock this thing out today.
I've been contracted to paint six window screens, all pirates, for a pirate themed boat hotel (or is it a restaurant? not sure) in Finland. The owner purchased the pirate screen I had painted for my apartment up north.
He'll be leaving for Finland next week so I'd like to get back in the studio this weekend so I can try to get one or two of them done for him to take with him.
After all this kid oriented work I've been doing lately I'm excited to do something a little more grown up.

Because work has been so steady the last few weeks I decided to treat myself. I have a couple of favorite daily painters online and I decided to purchase my first painting from one of them. I've been anxiously awaiting its arrival and it came today....so exciting. When I first saw it I didn't think it was the one I purchased. I went online to look up the painting on his blog and yes, there it was, but it looked so different....'it' was what I ordered.....bright, sunny, you almost wanted to squint your eyes from the glare of the sun, you could almost feel the warmth of the sun.
The painting I received??.......darker, more moody, it did not evoke the same feeling when I looked at it. Obviously a lesson has been learned here......I won't be buying more paintings online where images can be adjusted and tweaked. That was disappointing....still a lovely painting, but doesn't give me the feeling that I was waiting for.
Got started on the Pooh room today. I honestly thought it would take just a day, after all they didn't want any characters painted, just the background, but honestly trying to paint in someone else's style just throws me off........I'm back there again tomorrow, you can see its still in a pretty rough stage. The owners made the sculpted tree, very cute.....I'll be adding some branches to it tomorrow. A swing hangs from the chains (that are tucked up out of the way) with some stuff pooh dolls in it.

Ever have a chair that you loved so much you just couldn't let go?
I stopped in on the girls at the shop next to my studio yesterday and snapped this picture.
The chair was actually purchased here a couple of years ago by one of their loyal customers and it appears to be in need of a little ummmmm?........repair?
Off to do a Winnie The Pooh wall today.

Discovered this on my son's facebook page. See some of his work here

UP THERE from The Ritual Project on Vimeo.

Ok.........this will be close to my final post on this job. The rooms aren't completely set up yet but close enough for you to get the idea. I finished up the boat today all but distressing the sails. The carpenter put the wrong shape windows on the back end of the boat
and no window on the front so that made my day a few hours longer...trompe l'oeil to the rescue.
I don't think he understood how important it is to reproduce this project as close to the original as possible, franchising and branding are important. Scroll down to see pic of the original.
So I'll just post some images of the pretty near finished job........
And what I call the princess room....actually all three rooms are used for a variety of themed parties, not just princesses and pirates. Saturday a new job....a pooh forest background in a nursery, they'll be adding the pooh characters themselves. Then Monday back to Ooza Palooza land. I'm calling in reinforcements to help me with the large room that gets the paisley like graphics painted on every wall...oiy.

Well, the ship was delivered last night....
And here's how far I got today...
The ship didn't come with the proper trim (that should have been like the original in the flagship store) so I had to do a bit of trompe l'oeil to not only match the original but to make the two pieces match....they had different trim around the top edge....sigh....it lengthened my day. Here's a shot of the original ship, you can tell they were not made by the same carpenter/artist.......
Even though it was getting late and way past my cocktail hour, I wanted to get a start on the trim on the treasure chest. This room will be done tomorrow.

Even though I have not finished painting the treasure chest I'm going to post pictures anyway because the cool part is actually whats inside it. You can see I started painting the wood grain and the trim will be painted to look like distressed metal.
Here's the treasure chest from the flagship store.....
This is the one in the store I'm working in, love the sparkle and color.....there are even lights underneath the colored gems to make them sparkle even more....very clever, and so much prettier.

I started drawing all the graphic designs in the 3rd room (called the imagination room).
Hopefully the shipwreck is delivered tonight and I can knock that out tomorrow and have the rest of the week to paint room #3.
The cold I got last Thursday is still lingering on, I feel fine but the laryngitis is starting to annoy me!

Finally finished my work in the 'princess' room at Ooza Palooza (except for painting a window shade), and I've moved back into the 'pirate' room for tomorrows work. Here's how the castle facade came out. As usual I excitedly began working before I took a before picture.
Here's how it looks finished...notice the doors still need to be hung and I can proudly say the owner thought I had put real nails in the door until she got a closer look :-)
This is a photo of the flagship store's castle....my colors are a little stronger and the pallet was changed to tie into the colors in the this store, and you'll notice a change in the door's shape.
Tomorrow due to a last minute redesign I have another window panel to paint in the pirate room and the treasure chest arrived and is ready to paint (pictures tomorrow). I'm hoping to also have time to start tracing out the huge graphic designs in room #3 because the shipwreck will arrive tomorrow (Monday) night, so it'll be Tuesdays project. Here's a photo of the ship wreck in the flagship store.
Tomorrow I'll show you the flagship store's treasure chest and the one made for this store, which is really cool.
My cold is taking its course, I'm feeling fine today but now I can't talk.......its a very odd feeling, I've never experienced this before. Its not really laryngitis as defined by the dictionary..I've no harsh breathing or a painful cough....an annoying cough yes, but it doesn't hurt. Anyway I'm sure this too will pass.

Got a call from Jackie (the shop owner next to my studio) today....she held her first furniture painting workshop in My Studio yesterday and it went very well....she loved it, and the students loved it and created beautiful projects. I can't wait to see the photos of the class and I'll share them here of course.

Oiy.......my cold peeked yesterday and I was totally useless, couldn't make it to my regular Friday job, now its firmly embedded in my chest but I've got to get back to the Ooza Palooza job today, this is not going to be an easy day.
Hopefully the castle wall did arrive yesterday and I can get that painted....I learned on Thursday that its just a facade, not a four sided building, so that should make for a quick job. First I have to stop at the original Ooza to take some photos of the graphics in the 'dance' room that I hopefully will be able to project onto the walls, trace out and paint in, in this new store.
A quick check at one of my favorite blogs Better After led me to this post at Little Green Notebook. I oh so want to try this on one of the little chest I bought a week or so ago.
OK off to work.....lets see.....I've got my box of tissues, ibuprofen, nasal spray, cough drops..........

The sculpted trees arrived today ready to be put in place and have their foliage added.
I'll be on a different job tomorrow, but I'm told the castle wall arrives tomorrow, so Saturday I'll be painting that.
How ironic....I started drinking an immune booster once or twice a day...started about two weeks ago, and don't ja know......I've got a cold!!! Guess I can stop buying that.

I will finish up the two rooms I've been working on for the last couple of weeks today...well, the wall part anyway. All the boards are in place and I'm just filling in small sections that boards were not cut for and adding a large raspberry colored tree in the 'princess' room. The 8'x10' castle will be delivered at the end of the week and will need painting, along with a ship wreck and treasure chest for the other room.
The project after that will be this room....
And it will be getting this design work. I'm really hoping this will project easily, if not I'll be there for awhile.

How do you like the new look? Click on the link up in the left hand corner and check out some of their other designs, they have a very nice collection I must say.
I'm off to load up the painted boards to deliver to the party rental place....yippee!

Meet Wilma.....that's what I decided to call her....isn't she wonderful, a bit worn perhaps but we can dress that up :-) I found her standing on the street waiting for trash pickup last Friday, I simply had to rescue her. She now stands proudly in the studio.
Today I stopped by the studio and finished up one little last bit on the party rental boards and they are ready to go...I'll be delivering them tomorrow afternoon. Wednesday and Thursday I'll be finishing up the two rooms that these boards go in and then the weekend will be spent putting a large swirly graphic design in room #3 and some decorative work in the hallway. That should wrap up that job :-)
After I left the studio I stopped by Kmart to return some clothes I bought that looked absolutely ridiculous on me......why I can't get my brain to accept the fact that I'm not 30 something anymore is beyond me. I think I need to shop with friends so they can protect me from myself.
Left there and went to my favorite thrift place and got a few pieces to work on. Here's some before pictures...the afters won't be for awhile.
Got this great buffet for $19.00
Got three small cabinets for a total of $18.00
And this pretty cool desk that was $29.00 I just love her legs!
Can't wait to have the time to get started on them.

My artist friend and shop neighbor Jackie is holding her first furniture painting workshop in My Studio this weekend. We're both excited and hope this will be the beginning of many workshops held at the studio. If there are any locals interested in the class you can find more info about it here.