Yep, its another Monday, with a fabulously sunny and warm week predicted.
Make the most of it.
Today I go to the mountain and clean. I needed some positive vibes today as I really wanted to paint!
enjoy your Monday!
For a higher resolution of the above photo to download,
So how do you like my Fishing sign?
I probably would never have thought to paint a Rainbow trout if someone had not requested it.
I intend to do another for the Gallery, it will look great with the other fishing items available.
There are water color fishing flies, a fly fisherman in a creek and even a clay fish business card holder.
Oh and I can't forget the fabulous vintage fishing creels.
Somebody decorating a cabin in a fishing theme will have a great time picking out some lovely stuff.
I have a few special orders to get painted too, this is the last one I shipped out this past week.
I am glad people like my roses since I get a lot of enjoyment painting roses.
I think I am finished with the birds, nest and basket painting.
What do you think?
I am not impressed with the bird on the left hand side but I have worked and worked and I can't seem to get happy with him.
Even though a late snow has beat all my tulips to a pulp I did manage to get a few photos to remind me they really did get to bloom. 
They were gorgeous...
But now my fear is we will get a freeze and it will destroy all my clematis buds...
This one is just loaded, so is my peach tree, my plum tree and all my roses. One hard freeze will ruin them all and it looks like it may happen tonight.
Then by this coming Wednesday it may reach 80 degrees. Freaky weather.
We picked up some more straw today so I do intend to work on the straw bale raised bed sometime this week....I hope.
Until next time...
As many of you already know I have joined a local co-op Gallery to showcase my paintings and signs in.
I work in the gallery one day every other week and today was that day.
While there I took some photos to share…
just to give you an idea of what is available.
It changes frequently as things come and go but it does give you glimpse.
We have some really talented artisans that make furniture….
unique furniture like this barrel stave bench..
and these tables and chairs are made from reclaimed redwood pickle barrels or water tower lumber.
There is an eclectic mix of vendors in our co-op…
I love the variety…we have vintage textiles…
I am constantly tempted by these vintage table cloths…
and there is a lot of choices.
We also have some fused glass artists…I had never heard of that before joining this venture, so I am always learning something new.
That is only one of many glass items..plus we have much more but I will share that for another day.
One thing I enjoy about working in the gallery is meeting the customers.
Talking with them and listening to them as they walk through helps me see what they like and get ideas of what I may l want to paint next.
This is one of my larger painting/signs that sold today, on my website or in a photo you just don’t get the full effect.
It has been a very popular piece and I have been told several times that people wanted to buy it as a gift for someone.
The others will be very disappointed it is not available anymore but I shall paint another similar and hope it turns out as well.
So tomorrow I will endeavor to get a lot of painting done and just enjoy creating.
I wish everyone else a great Friday!
Bye until next time, when I hope to have some fabulous paintings to share.
I am getting ready for a day at the Gallery…but I wanted to share a blog that I do enjoy.
It is like a morning walk in the garden for me, and I leave refreshed.
Stop on over and see her boat house. It is a little treat.
Aiken House & Gardens
Enjoy your day!
Happy Monday!
Photo by me, watercolor effect by Waterlogue.
For a downloadable higher resolution copy of this just click here…Be Happy
Lots of painting to get done on signs today, go get my hubby at airport tomorrow morning, have lunch with family.
Wednesday I have a cleaning job and Thursday I work at the gallery.
Phew! I am tired already just thinking about it.
One day I will get to work in my garden. I think…..
Have a great week!
Just popping in for a quick note.
I have been working on more signs for the website shop and the gallery I now am involved with.
I am trying to keep up with it all and still enjoy it.
I will always be painting roses, no doubt about it.
And it seems plenty of others do to.
I do other flowers too, not just roses.
I have been working on just paintings and not always adding wording.
Nests have become a favorite of mine lately.
I had done a sign a long while ago and never made another and I think I need to.
Every time I see the photos of it (here below) I want to do another.
There are a few things I would do differently.
My garden shed signs are always a hit.
Once I am done tagging this one, off to the gallery it will go.
And last but not least a typography sign.
The other I had in the gallery sold last weekend and I need to replace it.
This one does not have the roses on it.
No everyone wants flowers on their wall art.
I have special orders I need to get working on.
So much to do, so little time.
Ta ta…
Phew! What a week I had. It was so packed each day that I did not have a chance to do one post for you all.
On Saturday, the Grand Opening day of our Artists Co-Op went great.
My husband helped me set up a canopy out front of the building with some tables and I sat and painted while customers came by, which was fun.
I was able to talk to them and get an idea of what many are looking for in their wall hangings and art.
There is such a wide variety that I can go many directions with my paintings and signs and never get bored!
I had bought the hanging basket of gorgeous petunias to hang on the eave of the co-op but I had to set up a photo shoot on my potting bench before taking them over.
Then I Waterlogued them.
I love how it turned out so I am sharing it with you with a lovely quote.
Today I have taxes to finish up (nothing like skating in at the end) and some signs to work on that have been ordered.
I also want to dig up and transplant some delphiniums too, but we shall see if I get to that.
It always seems I have more things on my ‘to do’ list than hours in the day.
Below is the link to a full size jpg of the photo above you can download and print if you wish.
Personal use only please.
What a fine day this is.
6:30 am and I am sitting on our front porch bench sipping my first cup of coffee and listening to the birds sing their Spring songs.
I love to hear them singing, they are especially tuneful this time of year and you have to slip outside in the early morning to hear much of it.
I have a week of painting signs to do, I love spending time in my studio/cottage.
I can’t wait until it looks like this again…
I planted pink climbing roses on either side of the door, they look to be flourishing and I am hopeful of getting lots and lots of roses.
I think the pink will contrast well against the yellow.
Have a Happy Day!
The past few days have been spent mostly working on the mountain cleaning so painting has taken a back burner.
But that does not mean I don’t have something to share.
I have finally be able to paint another step on our staircase. 
I waffled for a while on what to paint.
I thought maybe Hydrangeas, daisies or poppies….but none of those seemed to fit that step (I may do any of those on the next)…
finally it struck me that a basket of red Geraniums would do the trick.
I started with the basket…
And then some leaves…
Because the craziness of life set in, it sat like this for a couple weeks!
Sophie made it her spot and when I asked her to move so I could work on it….
she glared at me with a look that said…..
“Bug me and die!”
She finally, none too graciously, moved herself to a spot behind the wood stove.
And I continued painting the stems and a few background buds.
(if you wish to see a full tutorial with Video just click HERE)
Next I added more buds with a touch of white and a brighter red.
A few trailing stems or vines to add some width.
And voila’ the step is done…
well, mostly done, I will add some shadowing to give it depth.
Though looking at the photos I think I should’ve taken the buds up on to the tread to give it more height.
Hmm…what do you think?
4 steps done and just a couple more to go.
Hunching down to do the bottom one is going to be killer!
If you wish to see a full tutorial painting a Basket of Geraniums click Here
For some reason I cannot find where I posted on painting the Yellow Rose bouquet.
Did I do a post on that one?
Too much going on around here, I am losing it!
Have a fantastic day everyone!
I have seen a few window cleaning posts online but none of them supplied the one tip that really made my window cleaning efforts so much faster and easier.
When I am not painting up signs, recording fabulous videos for you all and trying to work on my house a bit….
I clean vacation cabins and condos to make a living.
I was taught many a tip and trick to be more effective by someone who has done it professionally a lot longer than I and had a window cleaning business at one time.
So I thought to share with you.
First, gather your tools.
I use a bucket of warm water with a couple drops dishwashing liquid.
My favorite for this was the original Lemon Fresh Joy (not concentrate) and I have not found that in a long time.
So now I use a Dawn Hawaiian scent.
(don’t use one that has moisturizers in it)
Absorbent towels that have not been washed with fabric softener
A good squeegee
A glass safe scrubby sponge.
(the yellow sponge with a green side is NOT glass safe)
The spray bottle has a homemade cleaner in it that I use for most everything.
Mix in a one gallon plastic jug:
I gallon water
1 cup rubbing alcohol (90%, not the 50%, if you use the 50% then use 2 cups)
1/4 cup ammonia
2tsp dishwashing liquid
Be sure to put the dishwashing liquid in last.
Spray the dirty window with your fancy dancy homemade cleaner.
The alcohol and ammonia help cut grime.
(some like vinegar instead of ammonia in the mix but I don’t find it as effective)
Take your sponge, dip in bucket of barely soapy water and squeeze it out a bit, not too dry.
Depending on how grimy the window you may need it to be rather wet.
If you need to….use the scrubby side to get off tough stuff.
(This is the wrong sponge to do that with, that is why I made sure to put a photo of the glass safe scrubby sponge in the photo with the tools)
Now here is the tip that really made it go faster for me…
Take your towel over a finger and rub it along the top and edges
Start your squeegee on either side with the top and one edge in the dry areas created by your towel covered finger.
Wipe squeegee with dry towel between some of the swipes.
What makes it so much faster is there is no cleaning up drips left from the squeegee.
Once you are done squeegeeing it they are sparkling clean.
No streaks.
Happy Spring cleaning everyone!
