The mermaid jewelry box from one side.

This is the final product.  This jewelry box started out as  all white.  Not sure about what colors to make it, I started painting the mermaid on both sides of the box.  When I decided to make her tail a lime green, and what colors to use on the palette, I decided to paint the rest of the jewelry box in yellow-green and yellow. The very top of the box, which is not visible in this photo,  has a seashell painted in each corner.

As I painted, I made decisions about what colors to paint where.  Altogether it took about 12 hours (3 days) to complete the box.  The back of the box and the underneath part that no one really sees, was painted an off white, so that everything has a fresh coat or two of paint.

It was not difficult to paint this and has given me confidence to paint more wooden furniture.

When painting on previously painted furniture, it is best to give it a light sanding with fine sand paper and the acrylic paint will adhere much better.

Used white jewelry box after 2 hours of painting.

Hand painted furniture has always appealed to me.  I have seen how old  or used furniture can be hand painted with a variety of pictures and designs which make them so interesting and much more attractive than they were originally.

Recently I have been changing the furniture in one of our smaller rooms to create an entertainment center.  We are selling or giving away all the furniture that we have had in the room.  So I find myself with a white jewelry box and a small white dresser that I can either get rid of  or paint.  They are not expensive pieces, so it seems like a great opportunity to experiment with painting these two pieces of furniture.

This photo is of my used jewelry box that was off-white.  I am painting a mermaid on each side of the box and also changing the colors.  Using small sea shells to accent the piece is also a plan.  I am enjoying this challenge.  There seems to be little help available in guiding me through this process.  Very little information is available on the internet or in the library.  So I am learning as I go!

"Dusk" Painting of Residents' Beach Walkway

This is the finished painting of  the walkway at Residents’ Beach at dusk.  You can see that the colors used were primary colors.  It was a lot of fun to paint as I have not painted such a large painting with palette knives before.  I spent about 24 hours on my feet applying the paint over a period of two weeks.  I love challenges and this certainly was one!

Residents' Beach at Dusk

For the past two weeks, I have been working on a painting with a palette knife.  I wanted to paint a scene at the walkway onto our Residents’ Beach which is a very popular place on our island.  Recently I took a photo of the walkway at a time where the sun had almost set and it was quite dark.  I liked this photo and it made me want to make this painting different by creating it with a palette knife.  The photo above was the one I used to inspire me in painting this piece.

My first step was to brush on an underpainting of  a purple/blue on the top half of the canvas and a red on the bottom half. Then I chose the following colors to use: alizarin crimson, ultramarine blue,  cerulean blue, dioxizine purple, hookers green, lemon yellow and titanium white.  I put away my brushes and pulled out my knives including different sized palette knives.  The large knives were very handy in painting the sky and the walkway.  Otherwise, I used the standard sizes and at times, wiped off paint not needed with a wet paper towel.

One thing I found was that painting with knives takes a lot more paint than brushes.  The palette knife spreads the paint on the canvas much thicker than a brush.  Frequently I would dip the knife in water to keep the paint moist and to help the paint spread on the canvas, but I must have used 10 times the acrylic paint that I would have used if I had painted it with brushes.  The palette knife gives the painting a more impressionistic look, with a lot of uneven edges.  The painting also has more texture due to the application with a knife, especially with the trees and bushes in the forefront.

See the finished painting in the next blog:  Finished Acrylic Painting With Palette Knife Application

My most recent painting using both acrylic and oil paint.

I painted for about seven years with no real answer as to what was the best type of soap to clean my paint brushes.  I tried many different cleaners and bar soaps recommended by other artists and advertised in art magazines.  None really did the job well.  My brushes felt sticky or gummy at times after they dried.  Then I read what really worked well.  I believe it was in a question and answer section of an art magazine.

The best soap for cleaning oil or acrylic brushes is one of the favorite dishwashing liquids that so many people use – DAWN!  Yes, Dawn Dishwashing Liquid is my favorite soap to clean my paint brushes.  Once I first tried it, I stuck with it.  First I rinse each brush with water.  Then I put a substantial amount of Dawn Dishwashing Liquid in a clean container and swish each brush in the soap so that the hairs of the brush are saturated with the soap.  If necessary, I rub the brush hairs with my fingers.  Then I usually put water in the same container holding the Dawn liquid soap and let the brushes soak in this soapy solution for 1-5 minutes.  Then I take the brushes out of the solution, rinse them with clear running water until there is no trace of soap and then shake out the water from the brushes.

To dry the brushes, it is better to lay them down to dry.  If you have the brushes dry standing up in a holder, the water will run down into the metal part called the ferrule.  After a while , the hairs of the brush and metal piece  may get lose.  And you don’t want this!    So I pat the water off the entire paint brush with a paper towel, and lay my just washed brushes flat  on a clean paper town to dry.

I use acrylic and water soluble oils.  Dawn Dishwashing Liquid is great for cleaning these paints off  my brushes.

I hope this information is helpful to you.

Our Art Colony ArtWalks, here on Marco Island, Florida, have been gaining popularity over the past 11 months since we started them last January, 2010.  We needed a way to bring the public into our three studios so the ArtWalk was born.

People often ask us what an ArtWalk is.  It is a time that we invite the public to visit our three studios  (which are all located close to each other in the same shopping area) and enjoy free food including wine, free music and view new art we have created around a given theme.  Lately we have had the visitors vote on their favorite new painting which are submitted for voting by each of the eleven artists in the Art Colony.

In November, our theme was ‘CELEBRATE’ because we were celebrating our first anniversary as an Art Colony.  In December, our theme will be ‘I’M DREAMING OF…’.  The ArtWalk is scheduled on the same day each month to help people remember it.  We decided to hold it on the last Wednesday of each month from 5-8 PM.  This seems to be a good time for the ArtWalk.  Many visitors attend the ArtWalk and then go to dinner at a restaurant in the same location as our studios.  So it helps the restaurants too.

Occasionally a piece of art will sell during the ArtWalks. However, our main goal is to get people to visit and become familiar with our studios and artists, with the hope that they will return for a purchase in the future and also be able to have positive things to tell their friends about us.

Handpainted Pillow with Ibis

When we first moved to Florida in the late 1990′s, the trend for decorating Florida homes/condos was to have white or very light colors.  This included walls and furniture. Our homes were filled with light.

But now the trend is to use colors in Florida homes/condos.  Colors such as red(various shades), yellow, soft green, tan and peach are popular.  Many times the different rooms will have different colors.  Furniture no longer has to be white.  Many people like maple and oak and other types of dark furniture.  In fact, it has been difficult to find light colored wooden furniture in Florida furniture stores over the past five years.

People want to have happy bright colors in their homes.  Many families have red or yellow walls. Red is a fun color as long as it isn’t over done; that is, try to use it sparingly.

I try to follow this theme of color in my paintings.  Here is a  sample of these paintings including a pillow recently painted using a gold pillow with an ibis painted on it.  People love Florida birds.  They are fun to paint and people love their unique colors.

WELL, IT FINALLY HAPPENED.  Our unit was rented to a couple who are going to use it as a boutique.  We had to move out!  Luckily, there was one small unit which was still not being rented.  So we were allowed to move into it for now.  WHAT A BLESSING!

The move was difficult because the new unit was used as a storage space for a special event at the Esplanade.  Chairs, supplies, food, drink, tables, etc. were being stored in the new space at the time we expected to move into it.  So we had to work around this problem.  The space was measured and one of the artist’s spouses who is experienced in Auto CAD worked to plan the layout of the studio so that each artist had equal space to show their work.  This was a big help.

The new studio is cozy and we are adjusting to our limited quarters.  We are lucky though to continue to have a studio.  Just how long we aren’t sure!

Here you can see the dark waves , the clouds, sun and reflection in the water starting to form.  Having started to paint at the top and moving down, the sky’s clouds and colors are coming along nicely.  Now I need to concentrate on the waves.

Go to the next blog to see the final painting.