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Author Archives: Artful me

May-June Happening at Artful Endeavors

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May and June are packed with painting fun at the studio. Summer is approaching and now is a good time to plan your studio time.

Chalky Paint finish

Chalky Paint finish

Remember:  “You never find time, you have to make it.”

Do something for yourself and just go ahead and add your painting time to your calendar.

OK so what is all this painting fun?

  • Our Assemblage class/Play Day is this coming Friday and I looking forward to experiencing all those creative minds at work.
  • I have my order in for the DecoArt Chalky Paint and am expecting it to arrive soon! We have loved using this paint and I’m excited to be able to share it with you. You can find more information on the DecoArt web site.  We have another class coming up on May 20, 10am -3p when we’ll have fun using this paint on furniture or decorative items. I have lots of product to share so plan to join us and learn all about the Chalky Paint.  Register by May 14th.
  • Wed am is painting a beautiful sunflower in watercolors starting May 14. I still need to get our sample painted but I’ll post a photo when I get it completed.
  • Our Wed evening class was postponed last week with the storms coming through so our final project, the Old Coach House, is now on May 14. This is a primitive style design by Rebecca Trimble that was in the Aug 2012 Paint Works. Beautiful vibrant colors.
  • Our Cary class starts the Red Window this evening, postponed from last week. Storms again.  On May 27 we’ll have fun repainting one of my originals that I painted at the nursing home for the residents. I love the design and we want to do an improved version.  Blue Moon.
  • On Sat, June 7, 11:30-2:30p, we have a fun Goldfish painted with acrylic inks, acrylics, pen, and a drinking straw. Hope I have your curiosity piqued. Be sure to add this one to your schedule. This class is appropriate for kids, 8yrs and up, and adults.web-Goldfish
  • Our June Play Day is the colored pencil that I’ve been promising. I did my version of Lydia Steeve’s kitten. So cute. Mark your calendar for Friday June 20, 10a-2p.  So the web site won’t let me post the photo of the kitten but you can see it on my facebook page.
  • Ros’ painting should be arriving before long. I can’t wait to see how Ros interprets our ideas for this summer. But you don’t have to wait to register. Register now.

    Sunday House

    Sunday House

  • And our schedule is filling with more weekly classes.

You can fine more information about these classes on the class page along with photos, assuming that I have the sample completed. Go ahead and register on line, send me a check, or drop by the studio.

I’ll be out of the studio this coming Monday, May 12. I’m going to Gail and Leon’s house to pick up our Ros surfaces… and see what mischief Gail and I can stir up.  Have a good Mother’s Day.  I’ll be sure to give Gail’s Mom hugs.

I have our family beach trip coming up June 22 – 28th and looking forward to it. No class that week unless Carol comes up with a treat.

Speaking of treats… Gail and I are starting to talk about an ArtFling later this summer….  We’ll keep you informed.

Keep watching the schedules for updates later this week. I have to go Zumba! right now.

Liz

Paintin’ and Cracklin’ and Sandin’ and Waxin’

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My computer is back and getting up to speed with it’s new mother board. It’s so nice. What did we do before computers? I remember having to do a lot of cutting and pasting to create a newsletter, not to mention folding, stapling, and mailing ….

I hope you’ve been keeping up with the blog where all my news has been for the last couple of weeks. With my computer in the shop I wasn’t able to send out a newsletter so I had to rely on you to check the web site.  Be sure to check out the upcoming classes.

We’ve been busy painting a wide variety of projects.  We’ve started new canvas projects in our day Raleigh class, Hodgson Mill,  and Cary evening class, Boy Fishing using our version of an old masters technique.  We’re learning lots of new techniques and practicing some of our usual favorites.  We’ve had fun with Tjaps batik in a Sat class and on Wed evening with some excitingly creative effects and outcomes.

This past Saturday a group of students and I experienced working with DecoArt’s splendid new Chalky Finish Paints and Mediums.  After discussing many design possibilities including distressing, crackling, stenciling, and more with these terrific products, each painter tackled their own small furniture piece with and eye toward how they intended to use the piece.  Here are a few photos to share our fun.  Follow the link above to find out more about these great products.

Ok the web site dosen’t want me to upload some of my photos of the student’s projects. I’ll add them a little later when I figure out the difficulty.

But here is my stool that I gave you a glimpse of earlier.

web-stool

I forgot to take a photo of the first stage but I added areas of orange and bright green to give the effect of past paint jobs that are being  uncovered by the crackle.  That’s right, the next step was to apply the crackle medium in areas. I decided not to do an over all crackle on this piece.When that was dry I applied the top coat of red.  It was exciting to watch the cracks begin to occur even before I had finish the red coat.

web-stool-stage-2-top The red will work nicely in my house.

web-Stool-stage-2

Then I decided to add a stencil for character.  I’m pleased.

web-stool-final

Now what will I work on next?

Here’s Carol’s red rocker. It turned out so cute.  Those are kitties on the seat.

I’ll have more photos of the process as soon as I can get them down loaded.

Carol rockerAnd I finished my blue revival chair. Love it!

Chair with stencil in progress

Chair with stencil in progress

You’ll see our student’s work on Artful Endeavors’ face book page.

Mother What?

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It’s amazing how much having a sick computer is a hindrance.  Yes, my studio computer is in the shop and needs a new mother board, oh no!  The good news is that’s it under warranty and won’t cost me anything. Yeah!! I love having my computer especially built for me by Intrex here in Raleigh and having local support.

However,…  not having my work computer means that I don’t have access to my email with all my distribution lists.  So this is a test for all of you, to see who is actually reading my blog and which ones have become too dependent on my email updates to check the web site.  Let me know that you read my blog.

Our class updates for April are posted on the class pages.  We’ve added and rearranged so be sure to check the schedules.

We’ve add another tjap class for those of you who missed it last week, this time in the evening.  There is an explanation and photos on the Wed evening class page.

Tjap designs

Tjap designs

Also the Wed evening group has added a dragonfly class. I know there are lots of dragonfly fans out there. Easy and lots of fun.web-dragonfly-atc

Cary and our Wed day class has added some great new classes too, so be sure to check them out.

Our last two play days have been so successful and we’re looking forward to our May 9 Assemblage Play Day.  Be sure to register early and talk to me about particulars.  More info on the Workshop page.

On April 12, that’s a week from Sat is our furniture design workshop using the DecoArt Chalky Finish paints and their terrific new French stencils.

Chalky Finish Paint

Chalky Finish Paint

I have the paint to share and the stencils as my treat to you, so here’s a great opportunity to try them out.  I’ve created some samples with the products and love them, the products that is but the samples too.  DecoArt is expecting this line of paints to be their next BIG BIG sellers and we are getting to experience them first. I’ll be one of the first retailers to stock them starting in May.  (Right now they are only available at Home Depot, mostly on line)  Come help me choose which color to stock.

chair before

chair before

Chair with stencil in progress

Chair with stencil in progress

There are many beautiful colors to choose from with french stencils, crackle, stain blocker, wax, and varnish in the line also.  You can see more about the products on the DecoArt web site.  Be sure to check out some of the Chalky Finish videos too.  Of course our creations will be most awesome.

Register now!

Frame with Chalky Finish paint by DecoArt

Frame with Chalky Finish paint by DecoArt

Single day registration for our seminar with Ros Stallcup is now open.  The surfaces are on their way to Ros and we’ll have samples later in the month.  But go ahead and register now to secure your seat.

Don’t forget to tell me that you read this blog post and I’ll see you in class soon.

Liz

 

Ros Is Coming This Summer!

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Our special 6 day rate for our seminar with Ros expires at the end of this month!  Have you registered yet?

I have a sneak peak for you.

Sunday House

Sunday House

This is Ros’ Sunday house that we’ll paint on Thurs, July 24.

Ros is working on our other brand new projects and you can be the first to paint them when you join us in July at Artful Endeavors.

Here’s the schedule of Ros’ terrific classes.

I’ll have surfaces available at the beginning of May and will have information and prices for you very soon.

Register now by sending in your check with the attached registration form, or, register on line with a credit card. 

Or you can just drop by the studio, even better.

Ice, ice again

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Once again winter is back and we have a coating of ice on bridges and overpasses in our area. County schools are closing.  There are accidents and traffic backed up all over the area. So……

No Tues am classes today.  Just stay off the roads this am and we’ll pick back up with classes next Tues.

I’ll go into the studio around noon if the road conditions are improved.

At this time it sounds like we will be able to have our Cary evening classes, but, I’ll continue to monitor road conditions after it warms a little this afternoon.  Check back with our web site this afternoon for a definite decision. 

As always stay safe and warm.

Be sure to check out our Duckling class this Saturday. We’d love for you to join us.

Duck, duck, paint.

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I’m still playing catch up from our snow days and truthfully, I haven’t adjusted to the time change. I’m wanting to wake up at the same time which is now an hour later.

Duckling

Duckling

Any way, I just finished painting our Duckling for class this Saturday. This Saturday!   He turned out so cute. This painting is appropriate for anyone 8yr and up, so bring your child or a friend or just yourself and come have some spring fun with me Sat, 1p – 4p.

Register now.

Assembly

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Assembly in a couple of different ways.  I’ve just finished assembling our updated schedule.  We changed dates, added classes, shuffled scheduled, and completed some wonderful paintings. Be sure to check the schedules to see what’s changed.

And we’ve added an Assemblage project to our Play Day schedule.

Baba Yaga birdhouse Assemblage, Liz Miller

Baba Yaga birdhouse
Assemblage, Liz Miller

  • Wed am added the Golden Delicious they like it so much.  We’ll paint it starting March 26.
  • Our next Wed am class, starting next week is Kathie George’s Egret, mixed media.  We’ve started our background texture prep but there’s still time to join us.
  • I’ve added the Tulip water color photo to our Wed evening schedule. We’ll start this one next week.
  • We’ve added two more play days to our schedule. In March we’ll have fun with Tjaps. March 28, Friday.  And in May we’ll create assemblages. Be sure to check the Play Day page for fun details.  We’re excited about this and starting to collect our thoughts and items for assembly.
  • I’ve moved the Furniture/Chalk Paint workshop to April 12 to give us more planning time and less overlap with classes.
  • I’ve moved the 3 hr workshop, Chicks, to Mach 22.  I’ll have a photo for you soon.  This class is good for all ages and skill levels.  Just fun.
Cary Painters

Cary Painters

We’ve created some wonderful paintings recently, finishing our Golden Delicious apple in the evening and our Kitties in the day class. Cary is finishing up our 2 still lifes and they are looking terrific.

Painting cats

Painting cats

Icy Ice

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Once again winter has struck and this time we have icy roads.

There will be no class this morning, Tue, Mar 4.  Stay off the roads and stay safe.  We’ll continue with classes next week.  Your homework is to continue with your painting, practice your side loading, paint something else that’s small and that reinforces your current skills, and bring it into class next week to show us.

I’ll check back with you later today about our Cary evening classes. Hopefully the sun will melt away the ice.  However, we don’t want to be on the roads if conditions are not safe, so as usual, use your own discretion.

I do plan to have our Wed classes unless something changes weather wise.

At this time I plan to go into the studio later today after the sun has had a chance to do it’s work, but, I’ll keep watch on the weather reports.

Stay safe and warm and I’ll see you later for more painting.

Liz