OK.......today was a total bust as far as customers...not a one....too nice of a beach day I think. BUT!......I got a lot of work done (or so I thought :-)
I finished up Johnny, except now that I see a photo of the screen I need to work on his hand a little more....funny how photos can show you whats wrong.
And I got started on pirate #2 of 6. Please don't judge, he's just in the beginning stage (lots more to do..yes, yes, I see the mistakes :-), but I'm liking him. He's going to get a parrot on his shoulder too, or maybe not :-)
I'm already excited to work on the others, which will include a female pirate all busty brazen and proud :-)
Off subject.....here's how the $10 chest of drawers looks painted and distressed...
Tomorrow?.......back at it.

Well the turn out I was hoping for did not materialize. About a dozen people came through and one sale was made, a small white table. There were lots of compliments and some interest shown in mural classes, suffice it to say....it was a bit disappointing.......here's hoping for a better today :-)

Doors open in two hours.....hoping for a good turn out. Yesterday was a day of just tying up loose ends, getting all the last minute things done. Funny though how I always manage to squeeze in one more trip to the favorite thrift shop :-) I got two chairs for a dollar each, I just really like their lines (sorry for the blurry pic)
.....did a quick redo and now have a chair to go with the desk....
Also found a table whose lines I was also attracted to, love the drawers on either side and it has a nice wide leaf.
And I got a great dresser. Each were $10. The right top edge of the dresser was broken off, but an easy fix.
No working on furniture today though, its back to painting the pirate window screens.

An artist friend of mine Janet, along with a friend of hers have started a new blog, which led me to the discovery of a new reality show (which is what their new blog is about). So where have I been.....what fun.....a reality show about artists! I'm watching it now as I write. Its on Bravo, and you can watch the first episode too, just go here and scroll through the clips below to find the show.....click and enjoy. Thanks Janet.

Spent ten hours in the studio today getting it ready for doors opening on Saturday. Cleaned up the floor, checked every piece of furniture for their final touches, arranged everything and its ready to go. I even got this piece done that I just picked up yesterday. Ok, I forgot to take the before picture so I'll just tell you it was all dark stained wood....its now white and distressed.

Here's the screen as of today...

I started the folding screen today and I'm really happy with the progress I made. I will finish this tomorrow :-)
The back of this....or actually what was probably the front......is hideous, so I've decided to just paint it black and make it go away. I was hoping I could knock out the wood blocks that were creating that Southwestern theme/feel, but they're in there good! I could always get some luan board and face each panel.......but I think I'll just paint it black :-) Or.......maybe I'll paint a section white first and see if that changes the feel of it, if not, black it is.

I did change the scene on the buffet and stained it and I'm happier with it now.
I also got this little guy painted up. I won't do anything more to it other than lightly distress it.
I finally got the folding screen I bought months ago ($15) to the studio and got it primed and ready for artwork.
And these guys have their final paint job and are waiting for artwork.......still not feeling anything, not sure how they'll end up.
The screen will get a James F. Hutchinson inspired painting, one I've done before.....a couple of times :-) I really love it.
Just a few more days to get everything ready for selling this weekend.

Well I didn't work on the small piece I mentioned in the previous post, I worked on this one instead.....
and came up with just a fun piece for a kids room. Of course I'll add a basket of chalk and some checkers in the cubby.
I decided I am going to change up the buffet also posted in the previous post. My artist friend Jackie from the shop next door brought a couple of people into the studio yesterday and along with offers I've gotten on pieces from others, its obvious the most popular work I've done so far are the pieces that have the 'old' Florida scenes on them, people love them.
So along with finishing up pirate portrait number one, a few changes to the beach scene and some antiquing on the buffet are on the agenda for today.

Finished this piece yesterday. I'm a bit disappointed with myself about this one. I was originally going to do an old world landscape scene and then age the whole piece, but I got lazy (and concerned about time) and did the quick beach thing. Maybe I'll change it.....I'm not lovin it??
Today I'll work on this little guy. I'm not quite sure yet what I'll be doing to it.

Well my instincts were spot on, the studio landlord showed up today and stated that rent would start and bills will be paid effective immediately. It smarted a bit, but still he gave me a very good price on the rent and I'm so grateful for the time they allowed me to be in there for free. I'm also grateful that I had that kids party rental job these last few weeks....it enabled me for the first time in I don't know how long to put aside a few hundred dollars and buy the furniture that will hopefully sell and pay next months rent. I was hoping to use the saved money on the truck (its squeaking like crazy and needs a tune up bad) and a visit to the doctors for a check up (no health insurance and its been a couple of years).
But I guess you know where that money went today.....so we're back to square one....broke........but with lots of furniture to sell :-)
I've talked to the girls in the shop next to mine about my idea to only open the doors to buyers as a two or three day event once a month instead of being open every day, which obviously I can't do because of my mural work. And now that the pressure is on to make this studio produce income, we've decided to join up and have a two day sale June 12/13. The girls were just saying how they have a surplus of furniture, so they're going to bring some pieces in to the studio and we will have this sale together....and of course the place will look nice and be full of pretty things. I'm making some headway on filling up the space...........
but it'll be helpful to have some of their things in there to.
So this next week will be a frenzy trying to get the last of the furniture finished.

Ok.....another day of painting furniture......I have until June 22nd to get the pirates done, and this furniture really needs to get done.
This chest is done and ready for sale...
and I finished up the desk, I really like this desk......
The furniture collection is really starting to grow.......
I still have these pieces to do plus some you don't see here.
You can see the first buffet I bought a few weeks ago there on the left....it has its fresh coat of paint and I plan to age this one with stain and paint an old world sailing scene on the panels in the doors. Here's the buffet before......
I think I've decided to amass all my pieces and then promote and have a one weekend sale. Its impossible for me to keep regular hours at the studio (as a store) because of my mural work and I think I like the idea of having a once a month 'event' sale and becoming known for that. It would free me up to shop for and work on pieces instead of being tied to the shop not knowing if any customers would even come in that day. We'll see how it works out.
The price tags that I'm putting on the pieces are pictures of how they looked before. I think its a great idea to let people see how much work went into the piece, maybe it'll discourage them for asking for a reduced price.

It's getting addictive, this buying of furniture. I needed to take a mini break today to run some errands, do some sketches for a mural job, and of course run out to my favorite thrift shop. While there I picked up this very nice buffet,
I love functional furniture....
it was only $19 and in great condition (even still has its key to the door!)
I'm really not sure if I want to paint it??.....maybe just age it a bit and paint an old world scene in the doors?.....get less obtrusive handles?....not sure.
I also picked up this wine rack/table with a stained glass top, not really my thing, but it caught my eye and was only $10.....
some guy who was also looking at it after I had committed to the purchase offered me $20 for it. Maybe I should have taken him up on it, after I got it to the studio I noticed the new 'Made in China' sticker on the bottom...lol. But I'll lighten up the wrought iron base and make it more in keeping with the Florida style of decorating, and I'm sure to get my money back on it. A glass artist I know will fill in the missing bits.
So....back in the studio I did a bit of painting and called it a day. Tomorrow I will be getting back to the pirate window screen portraits.

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.