A Happy Painting

Some people find it hard to go in a book store and walk out without a book. I find an art store is my catnip. There's just something about all the brushes and blank canvases; all that potential! It's hard to pass it up! However, the sad truth is that my budget does not always allow for this sort of fun. Even so, there are ways to work around that. 

 A big container of gesso primer can do wonders in transforming a canvas. Frequently, canvases with various prints will go on super sale. You can snatch up a nice deep, stretched canvas for just a few dollars. Then, I can paint over whatever happens to be printed originally with the white gesso, and suddenly you have a fresh and new canvas with all sorts of potential. 

So, from time to time, I'll get some already printed canvases and paint them white.. ready for painting. Waiting for inspiration to hit!

 

 

 Then, earlier this year, I was helping decorate an office for a senior care business and we were looking for photos that would be inviting and fun. We found some online, but couldn't figure out how to purchase a copy so we could get prints. So, since that wasn't working, as an alternative, I thought it would be fun to paint a version of the picture that caught my eye. So, using a couple different pictures for inspiration, I did!

 First, I sketched out the image on my canvas. Then, slowly, I began to paint.

  

In high school and college, I painted more frequently. At that time, oil painting was my favorite. There's something wonderful about the texture that oils can make and, since it dries nice and slow, you can go back again and again and tweak things to your liking. The downside of oils, aside from how very long they take to dry (think multiple weeks), you need a lot of pretty harsh chemicals to clean up your brushes and things. 

So, these days, I use artists' acrylics. With these, you can still get some really fun textures with a brush or palette knife but they are water soluble and dry in just a few hours. 

.First, the background, then adding in details.  

The face took a long while, both to get the skin tone colors right, and also the shadows.. it took a couple tries and a few different attempts at mixing colors... 

 

 And a few adjustments to align shadows to the right spots.. Then it was time to add glasses!

 

Next, it was time to decide the color of her shirt. I got to thinking about that old poem, Warning, by Jenny Joseph that starts, "When I am an old woman I shall wear purple..." and it goes on to talk about growing old and having fun. That seemed fitting for this happy lady in my painting. So, purple it was! 

 And then it was time to think about her hat and its flowers.  When I got to this point, it had been several months, and I thought that the face and all the shading and wrinkles was the hard part. Wow! Flowers are their own challenge, for sure! 

 

However, while for the face I was going for more realistic, I was ok going for more of a softer, sort of abstract impression of flowers on the hat. They are crazy colors, so they don't have to be so very realistic!

Once the flowers were flower-y enough, it was time to give the poor woman some hair. She'd been bald so long, I'd gotten quite used to the look of it. But, with some hair, she's much more complete.

 And then she was done! It took from February to August to get here, but in the end, I'm so very pleased with my very happy senior lady. I'm sure she'll look great in the office. (where they will be on strict orders to return her to me if they ever redecorate.. lol) 

It's Time for Rocks!

 Finally, after all this work done with my little corner - the bench, bike and spiral of bricks, all that was left was laying down the rocks for the final touch. When I started this whole project, I was thinking that rocks were still the same price they were a few years ago when I could get 50lb bags from Home Depot for less than $10. However, since I bought them last, the prices there have gone up significantly. So, that had me looking for other options. I was really hoping that I could fulfill my vision; find a way to acheive the look I was wanting for this little peaceful, sanctuary space. Happily, Chicago has options! 

So, I drew up a (mostly) to scale plan, did some mathing, and got an estimate for how much rock it would take. And, one fine morning, I took my little drawing and went on a field trip and got myself 450lbs of Mexican pebble river rock, in a beautiful dark gray.  

However, though they had many, many types of rock, this place did not have the right sized gravel in the light color that I was wanting for my project. I was envisioning something light colored to contrast against the dark gray. So, back to Home Depot I went. Happily, gravel is still a lovely low price, so I got all the rocks I needed and loaded everything up in my car. 

 My poor car! I estimate that the load of rocks was up around 900lbs. It was driving a bit sluggishly, and sitting really low.. but this old war horse was a trooper and I got it all home. 

Finally, a few days later, the weather forecast was calling for a couple days that would be cooler. Wanting to jump on this chance, I called up a friend and talked her into helping me with all this manual labor. We had my kids come out for a little while to help, as well. Turns out, that old saying is true: many hands make light work! 

So, first thing, we pulled out the weeds and trimmed back the plants to make the space cleaner. Then, we added some edging, to keep the sand on my side of the fence and maybe even block out the weeds from spreading so much from underneith (at least a little). Then, we put down a layer of sand.

A while back, I got several square pavers off the local free page. I was very happy to get them... but they were deep in the far corner of their backyard and wow they were heavy! Happily, I'd brought my trusty wheelbarrow as well, and, together, I got them all into my car. Now it was finally time to put a few of them to use! 

 

After that, it was time to add the big, dark gray rocks. In the sand, I sketched out the general area where I wanted to lay them out and crossed my fingers that I had gotten enough.

 Feeling good about the coverage with the dark rocks, it was time for the lighter colored gravel.

 

Once all that work was done, it was exciting to put all the pieces back. The bench fit perfectly and the coverage of all the rocks was very nice. Lastly, we put the plants back in place. 

  And it was ready for sitting. It's so cozy!

 There are a few little, decorative bits that I'll eventually add in, but for now, this little corner is done! I mean, there will still be a battle with the weeds, but the heavy manual labor for this part of the project is complete. Getting this side of the garden in place was the biggest part of my summer goals. And here we are at the end and my vision has been made real. It feels good!

Meanwhile, in other areas

 While most of my focus this year has been on the spiral garden and getting the plants to grow that I'm wishing will grow, there were other areas in the yard that I had wanted to work on as well. One thing I really wanted to sort out was a permanent home for my fire pit. For the last year it had been living under the little tree, or hanging out on the grass, but then I had to move it back and forth every time I mowed the lawn. This was getting really annoying, so fairly early in the spring, I figured out a solution.. but first, I needed some bricks. 

 Happily, my local free page is a treasure trove for folks looking for landscaping materials. Someone was changing up their backyard and wanting rid of a pile of bricks. For a little hard work and sweat equity, I got myself some bricks, and it turns out they had the perfect amount. Yay! 

  But that wasn't the end of the work. Next, I had to dig up a patch of grass so I could lay down the brick. I definitely learned that grass is stubborn stuff! But, I eventually got it cleared out.

 First step, I laid down some landscape fabric.and then some sand to help level the bricks. However, the first time through, I ran out of sand. Initially, I thought it would be ok.. however, the fire pit was a bit wobbly, so I pulled everything up, added more sand and laid it all down again. 

This time, I had enough sand to fill in the gaps between the bricks and it was all very much more stable and secure. 

 Of course, once it was done, it was time to build a fire! 

 Yay summer!

Bit by Bit Things Get Done

 While it might be too hot to do manual labor, I have had windows of coolish weather, here and there, that meant I could do smaller projects. First, I rearranged some of the planter pots, now that the wildflowers inside were growing and getting tall. 

 Then, I gave my bike plant stand a face-lift. I've had it for several years, and it was looking a little worn. Also, in the old place, the white looked awesome against the wooden fence. 

However, in the new place, the fence is white and I knew a pop of color would look so much better. So, I got some happy robin's egg blue spray paint and it was done!

 

 Once it was dry, I put all the decorative pieces in place; the rearranged pots by the bench and the newly colorful bike plant stand. I could see my vision for this space coming to shape.

 It's really starting to come together! My happy little sitting spot, a peaceful little bit of nature in my backyard. I'm loving it! Now, we hope that the weather will cool enough so I can put down the rocks and it'll be done!

Spiral Garden Update

 As the summer's progressed, it's gotten very hot. Turns out, when it's hot, I don't have a lot of motivation to do much manual labor like dragging around bags of rocks and other heavy things. So, the progress of my little sitting spot took a back seat, but the flowers had gotten in and they got to growing!

It started out with little seedlings...

  and then...

 Once the flowers started blooming, I started the process of preserving them. I'd clip the leaves from the Plantains and the flower tops from the Calendula. Then, I dehydrated them and started collecting them in separate glass jars. 

 I'm still waiting for the Yarrow to bloom, but I hear that the greenery is still full of medicinal goodness so, if all else fails, I'll start collecting up the greenery. Here's hoping!

Garden Adventures - The Side Garden

 Between our garage and the neighbor's, there is a little long, skinny space. Last fall, I set out cardboard but never got around to putting down the black landscaping fabric. So, by the spring, the weeds were peeking through and the cardboard was a little worse for wear. 

 But, just a little bit of cleanup - pulling weeds and taking out all the bricks and cement blocks, and the space was ready for the landscaping paper. 

 A few weeks ago, I nabbed an old trash door from the alley. My plan: turn it into a planter. This was one of those projects that sounded great, but in my mind it seemed a bit daunting and I put it off for a while, sure it would be a big process. Happily, once I finally set to it, I knocked it out in an afternoon; made a few cuts, brought the corners together with some screws and it was done. Next up: fill it with dirt!

Of course, I underestimated how much dirt it would take to fill this planter as well, but I put in what I had and it was enough to get started on a lovely rainy evening.  I moved over my trellises to this corner, and planted my new clematis. 

 Over by the front corner of the garage, there was another clematis, already established. But it was a few inches away from the actual corner since, when the previous owners rebuilt the garage, it had to be built over about a foot from the original footprint so it would be "to code." This left the poor clematis sort of off on it's own with nothing to climb up. The little plant sort of puddled up and often got a bit trampled and pushed around, but it seemed fairly healthy. 

  So, once I got enough dirt to fill the planter, I dug up the old clematis and relocated it to my little corner spot. Fingers crossed it will handle the replanting without too much trouble, and they'll both like the space (and the amount of light it'll get over in that corner) and I'll have flowers up and over my fence. I also threw in some seeds for other shade tolerant flowers around the empty spots, just to fill things out. This really is the most hopeful time of the year! Weeks of prep and work all with hope that something pretty/tasty/useful will come of it.

  Here's hoping!