Possibilities

So by the time my breakfast ended up in my lap the second time this morning, I decided I needed to plan my day v-e-r-y carefully! I didn't sleep well last night and my lack of coordination showed it, so it didn't seem like the right day to continue working on my latest painting. I am putting the finishing touches on my woodpecker feather painting. Click the link here to see a photo of what it looked like at the end of the day yesterday. It is so close to being finished.

I had an order to mail this morning and then I decided I would take advantage of the beautiful light today and retake some photos for my Etsy shop. The beauty of digital photography is you get to see what you took right away, so I figured I would just get rid of anything that didn't turn out. This morning, I wasn't convinced that anything was going to turn out right.

A few weeks ago, I went to our local home renovation store and bought two pieces of plywood that measure four feet by two feet. I paid about $5 a piece for them. I wanted to whitewash them to use them as backdrops for my Etsy photos. Previously, I had just used an extra sheet of watercolour paper underneath anything I was photographing but I wanted something with a bit more character. I had also seen a method online of making new wood look like old barnboard and I was intrigued to try it. It occurred to me that I could do the white treatment on one side of the plywood and the aged barnboard treatment on the other. Two in one. Less to store and less to carry.  I do my photography in our dining room so need to clear away my things regularly (although probably not as frequently as my family would like).

The white sides were easy enough. With a damp brush, I painted on a thin coat of a creamy white latex paint I had on hand. The effect is nice. It still allows the grain and character of the wood to show through.

For the barnboard effect, I consulted these two sources: Snovej and The Friendly Home. Both include good information and were very helpful.

First you put some extra-fine steel wool (#OOOO) in a jar of vinegar, put the lid on it and let it sit at least overnight. This will create an oxidizing solution.

As a first coat, you 'paint' the unfinished wood with strong black tea. This lays down tannins which allow the oxidizing solution to work. Once that has dried, you 'paint' on the vinegar solution.

For the barnboard effect, I treated the back side of the plywood as it was rougher. I didn't get the weathered grey initially that's in the source blog photos. My first attempt went quite chocolate brown (a pretty colour but not what I was aiming for). I put two coats of tea on the second piece before adding the vinegar solution. It went a better colour, kind of a brown-grey, but in the end I sanded back the surface of both pieces slightly and put watered down grey latex paint on top, wiping it with a wet cloth so that it was as transparent as possible and still allowed the grey-brown tones of the tea-vinegar stain through. I really like how they turned out.

I later read that if I had diluted my vinegar solution with the same amount of water, it might have given a more grey rather than brown effect. I can try that another time. You can read that advice here. I also read that different types of wood react differently to the stain so it could be worth experimenting.

The photos I took today were all on the white wood background. I've included photos I've taken recently on the darker 'barn board' side as well. Because I made two pieces of each, I can prop up one to use as my 'wall' and use the other as the 'table'.

For a day that I wasn't expecting to turn out that well, it was pretty good. I really like the photos I took. The light was beautiful. I bought fresh flowers on my way back from the post office and they definitely helped. I am enjoying how the wood backdrops are giving me more possibilities with my photos.

Oh and did I mention that the snow is melting outside? Things are definitely looking up!

❤  ❤  ❤

Sunshine and Spring Soldiers

The Easter weekend brought sunshine and warmer temperatures to the point that we started thinking of patio furniture, open windows, swimming and lush flower beds. All sorts of irrational summer thinking. It was too early for all of that. The temperatures have plummeted again. It is freezing.

I took these pictures of my crocuses in Saturday's sunlight. I love the first flowers of spring. Brave soldiers that they are.

Today, they are closed tightly as protection against the cold winds. If I knew how to knit, I would make them tiny sweaters and hats. 

The only good side of the freezing temperatures is that I was able to go into the little forest for a walk with Meeko. Once it is warm, the terrain becomes too swampy to walk in. We haven't been there in more than a week because of that. Yesterday, Meeko and I felt like adventurers as we carefully chose our steps and occasionally had to hop across half frozen areas. At one point, I dragged a small, fallen tree so that I could put it across one of the deeper bits to help us cross. Meeko became very excited and picked  up the other end of the tree and helped me to carry it. We are partners in everything.

When not on forest adventures, I've been working on adding more prints to my shop. I recently added a large print of my lilacs painting. I printed it on real watercolor paper. This one was printed on 140 lb. hot-pressed Fabriano paper. I work so hard at matching my prints to my original work. Sometimes, though, the printer can't capture the subtlety of certain colours. So I did an experiment. I applied a watercolour wash on top of the finished print where I felt that some of the richness of colour was missing. It worked beautifully!

Other new prints in my shops are here: radishes and coffee. (That's an odd duo. :)

Fall Frenzy

If you've ever wondered if I do a lot of tests before finalizing my prints. Yes, I do...about a million of them. (Well, it feels that way sometimes.) It can be tricky to get the printed result to look like my original painting, especially when what I see on my screen tends to be lighter than my printed output.

I've learned with time that I can squish several 'tries' on one piece of paper by reducing and repositioning the image just before printing.  That has been a big paper saver. The image at the right is my final version. The late afternoon light is making them look a little darker and less sharp than they actually are.  I hope to have the print in my Etsy shop in the next day or so.

The gorgeous feather is from an Australian Ringneck parrot. It was part of the beautiful collection of feathers and shells sent to me by my friend Cindy. The colours in it are amazing. I showed you the original painting before.

I am in an intense preparation period. I'm two weeks away from delivering prints and cards to an arts and crafts show that I have been doing for over 18 years now. You would think that with all that experience, I would be very good at having my materials ready well ahead of time. No, not really. This time of year, I don't sleep so well (my brain won't stop), family dinners don't always make it to the table and everything else has to wait for my show delivery to be over.  So, of course, because I really shouldn't be painting, it's what I want to do the most! But instead, I will work on doing more prints and making some new cards as well as framing and packaging what I have already.  And, because I am distracted these days, Meeko seems to be trying harder to get my attention--not necessarily through the best behaviour.

The past week has been an interesting dependency test. We had a 'boil water advisory' for two days. It's the first time it has happened to us. (A pipe in a neighbouring municipality broke.) Then, our cable company announced that there would be interrupted service over a period of 72 business hours (depending on how many hours they count in a business day, that's potentially a lot of days!). We had no internet for half of the day yesterday. It's back today--for how long I don't know. Do you want to know something? I found it easier to boil water than I did to be without the internet. Fingers crossed that our street is fine now and they are off working somewhere else.

And the summer flew by

It's funny about the things you wish for. They arrive and then you have mixed feelings. Today Chloé went back to school. Emma went back last Wednesday. There comes a point in the summer when kids really just want to be back with their friends and, well, you come to a point when you think that sounds like a very good idea too. But the house felt quiet today and very empty.

Meeko had an emotional day too. He was crazy this morning, tearing back and forth because of his excitement over all of the schoolkids and school buses passing by. He looked pretty wistful as Chloé left though and he remembered the routine. As soon as she leaves through the front door, he races to the back door and asks to be let out so he can run to the front gate where he sits and watches her at the bus stop. Ah yes, it will be a period of adjustment for everyone in the family.

I am happy to have my routine back though. I always feel like the beginning of school is the beginning of a new year for me. I managed to create two new prints today: smaller versions of my bird nest and nature collection paintings. I hope to create some completely new prints from recent paintings in the days ahead.

We had a very good summer. We went to New York and Ontario. We hosted several family visits here. I painted several paintings. We baked. We swam. We read. We laughed. I could have posted so many more photos here and told you about so many more things, but sometimes you just need to do and not talk about what you did. :)

That beautiful photo above is of homemade macarons. Chloé made them all by herself last week. I have never made macarons before. They were delicious, so delicious in fact that we decided to give a box of them to the neighbours who looked after our flowers when we were on holidays.  Emma made chocolate dipped meringues this past week. Also a first in our household. I wish I had taken a photo before they were all devoured.  The things that come out of our kitchen are pretty amazing sometimes. School means that there will be a little less baking in the weeks ahead.  A little less play. A little more work. More focus. I'm looking forward to sharing my fall projects with you in the weeks ahead. ♥

Trowel or Shovel?

I was very happy to be able to put some new prints in my Etsy shop this week. When I look at my shop now, it's starting to look more like me. There is definitely a theme to the new prints, maybe even more than one. Flowers for sure. Spring. Lots of purple and green. Quite a few pansies. And a sweet little ladybug.

Today, I added a print based on a painting I did of crocuses.  The crocuses aren't from my garden this year.  That would take a shovel and a heat lamp to make happen (don't think I haven't considered it).

Finally, I'd like to take a moment to say that I've taken note of all of the recent cruel posts by my so-called blogging 'friends' from afar. There's more than one of you. Photos of flowers blooming in your gardens and in surrounding areas. Do you snicker as you post them? Ha ha, this will drive Kathleen crazy! She's still up to her boot tops in snow!  Somewhere between December and now, magical wintertime turns into plain old March for me.  Meeko's still having fun in the snow. I try to concentrate on that, but literally all I can think about is flowers in my garden.  Now where's my shovel?

Signs of Spring

Do you know how you can tell if I've been working on prints for my Etsy shop?  Well, I tend to be as grumpy as a bear and I uncharacteristically growl the odd four-letter word. I take Meeko for his walks while trying to ease my tense muscles and muttering aloud about throwing my computer and printer into the garbage. The past few days have been full of many ups and downs including a rebel green phase that my printer decided to go through at about noon today. Literally everything that it spit out was tinged with green. Everything.  I decided that it needed a nap and I needed a walk and that seemed to do the trick.

How do I feel when my machines have finally cooperated and my new prints are finished and up to my high standards? Relieved and happy!

How can you tell if I'm looking forward to spring? Every single print I added to my Etsy shop today included flowers! Yesterday I saw five robins at one time in our tree in the backyard. I'm not certain if it was a sure sign of spring or of mass avian confusion but it was a splendid, unusual sight to see.

Technology willing, I will have more new prints in my shop later this week. :)