Murals on Kitchen Cabinets

Painting murals is not new to me. From my teens on up, I have painted scenes on walls, doors, commercial window displays and traveling circus trailers. (really!)
Sometime it can go faster than painting the same thing on canvas that same size. Don't ask me why. it just does.
If you have followed my "cabin in the woods" renovation you'll know that my building came with cabinets recycled from a 1950's kitchen. The wood was that hard to find solid "thwunk" type wood found in your grandma's kitchen. And it also meant it came with that dark varnished look so popular once upon a time!
I removed the doors...sanded them, then painted them...more than once, with white primer.

White doors with a mural on panel below it that I painted a few years ago

White walls, white ceilings, white cabinets. Something had to change before I started moving my art supplies into it.

I went to my computer and pulling from my folder of "random traveling photos" that I accumulate for ideas, I thought.....actually I knew what I would do if I went one of two ways-mountains. Or beach. I settled on mountains :-)

Sequence of steps

So I painted in the sky, added the clouds and then started the background. It's a whole lot easier to add the foreground after the background is completed. Otherwise you will try to paint around a tree or around the leaves and it doesn't work.....at this point I tossed the pencil and just started winging it. Take a look :-)

Adding Mountains and tree details

You can see where this is headed as I added the mountains.

At this point I had to decide what to do with the section to the far right. These cabinets are a little over 12 feet long and 4 ft high.

My plan is to add a sink under the shorter cabinets when I eventually get the water running to the studio.


You can just see where I added a white path to the far right.







Here's a closer look at the left side below

Bringing in a middle ground and foreground

A friend sent me some stunning photos of texas bluebonnets and Indian paintbrushes and I had my plan for the right hand side!

See what's been added!

DONE!

So there you have it-a soothing mountain view with birds, flowers....forgot the butterflies but hey I can add them later :-) So be brave-paint a door panel, closet doors, kitchen cabinets or anything else that strikes your fancy! And it you want to take it with you at some later date, just paint it on some lightweight plywood (birch is good) and screw it to the surface.
Go paint!

Hiking your way to Happiness

Happy New Year!

Well an entire month slipped by...rushed by...and we're already into the end of Dec. 2013. Not sure how that happened but although I missed shouting out Merry Christmas here-it was definitely on my Facebook pages and newsletters!

The rush is over and now is when I regroup, rethink, plan and relax (as much as I am capable of!)
I gave Steve his Christmas present (and the same to me) to enhance our artist rejuvenation..trekking poles! Yep- hiking poles to get us out of the studio and onto the many trails in our area.

It's been in the 30's but the freezing rains and snows across the midwest missed us and went north.

So what do you do with a new backpack and trekking poles on Christmas evening and the following day? You hike :-)

It's a good place for an artist.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The path less traveled-on a very cold day!

Blackberries and Cobbler and.... art?

juicy blackberries

It took me 30 minutes to collect 4 cups of blackberries. The old pasture was full of heavily laden bushes and the previous year I had vowed to cut trails among and around them in order to access the lush fruit.

Paths around blackberry bushes? For those of us old enough to remember Song of the South and Brer Rabbit, there is an apt line in the story where Brer Rabbit pleads with the bear "Please don't throw me in the brier patch! Please don't throw me in the brier patch!....." and the bear does, not knowing that it's the rabbit's safe hideaway.  I can tell you that IF you were able to get into these bushes, you would never get out...they were the thorns from hell and I picked them with gloves on!  I seem to have two varieties. One is now almost through producing. The other, the one with killer thorns and huge berries is in the midst of producing.

Rosie the Corgi following the path around the thorny bush

So why go to all the trouble to pick berries such as these when they are obviously a lot of trouble?

For the TASTE! How can it not be inspirational to head out on an early morning, before the summer heat sets in and, followed by happy dogs (who also like the berries!) spend a quiet hour communing with nature? I mean after all, plucking nature's free harvest is....liberating!                                                                                

Thorns from hell from a 10 ft high bush!

 But it was not just for the immediate gratification of eating the blackberries-it was for the later treat: Blackberry cobbler!

Now I confess that the image below is not mine but the cobbler is identical in looks and OH SO EASY!' What my mother used to make!

Preheat oven to 375.

4 cups black berries

1 TB lemon juice

1 cup flour (reg)

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

6 TB melted butter

Lightly grease bottom and sides of an 8 x 8 pan/baking dish

Add 4 cups blackberries, sprinkle with lemon juice (1 Tbs)

In an medium bowl, mix sugar, regular flour and one egg until mixture forms a crumbly mix. Scatter over blackberries. Dribble melted butter over flour/sugar mixture. Bake 35 minutes until brown and bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes before serving! Sure you can add ice cream or whipped cream and it is good hot or cold!

Blackberry Cobbler!

And what does any of this have to do with art? Let's just say that cooking is an art so I have, in onefell swoop, captured ALL the sensory elements of art :-)

Ageless art

SO June 8 was our ART RETREAT and oh my, what a great time we had! And yes, one of our participants was a vibrant 79 years old and jumped right into the art zone with us!

Journaling is all about the journaler and what she wants to include on her various pages. So using  basic art supplies available to everyone, and incorporating some stress relieving tips and techniques, each participant spent the afternoon learning to become "one with her art."

Yep-it ain't that easy initially because we ALL want to be told what to do and especially in art-expectations are always based on one's previous art experiences and teachers! So step by step the ladies all learned to loosen up, let go and then-walla! They created.....and marveled at how easy it was after all!

Check it out! below:

See the woman in blue standing to the left and sitting and raising her hands in the air to the right? Patricia was our 79 years young student who, along with the others, reveled in the freedom of "no holds barred" art.

Each person took home the enthusiasm and techniques necessary to continue their art journey-there are a lot of pages to cover!


Our next art retreat is scheduled for Saturday July 27! Visit me on facebook to stay up to date on what's happening! www.facebook.com/MTheresaBrown or www.facebook.com/artstudentacademy 

Chickens AND bees :-)

It was not a hard decision to add bees to our menagerie. 
I've often stopped at the bee displays at State Fairs and such and as everyone else, was intrigued with the glassed displays that allow you to watch the bees in action. And our studio is surrounded by wild roses, plum trees, our gardens and an assortment of tiny, beautiful little wildflowers growing throughout our yard. The decision came after some research and phone calls and a return call from a "Bee mentor" that kicked out butts into gear and a frantic scramble for hive supplies as the packaged bees were coming (fast) sort of made the decision for us :-) And for us, it was not about the honey. Lord knows there are plenty of honey producers out there. No it was about the pollination....and then discovering that hives world wide are declining. Maybe, just maybe, our one little hive can make a difference. 

Steve heading out with sugar water to fill the bee feeders

And we know one thing-they won't starve around here!

Blooming wild plum trees

The ponies make sure there are few wild daisies in the pasture but our "borrowed" pasture next door is now lush with wild plums, blackberries and thickets of high grass. The birds at our feeders have multiplied tremendously because of nearby cover that encourages their quantities :-)

It's been a cold spring and I am not sure if the roses will begin their early May parade but every year, the old roses are stunning.

Peonies in May

The May peonies are stunning as well with large cabbage sized pink balls of petals that I hope will prove appetizing to our bees.

Seven Sisters Roses growing around the perimeter of the herb and flower garden

Our herb and flower garden is next to the hive and last year our native plants such as Rubeckia, gloriosa daisies and coriopsis were stunning. Whatever bees were here before could not stay away from them or the Monarda. So in some deep inner core, we're feeling more than our visual connection with our subjects and surroundings. It's more of being one with where we are. We live here, our art studio is here and everything basic that has connected man to the earth is here. How much more do you really need?

Add to that, our Dorking hens (an ancient Roman breed with 5 toes) just laid their first egg yesterday! Time to build the nest boxes!  

Our first egg!

 HAPPY EASTER everyone!

Visit us as www.onroadartists.com

Abstract Expressions

Artsy Journeys are all about creating random art and exploring options, mediums and ideas. I have another "job" as an artist (for many years) and that is my portraits and abstract paintings. Yes the two can co-exist beautifully.....for me the abstracts evolved in high school as I explored the brush strokes created when the brush dipped in India ink, or seeing how to make a painting "move." 

"The Race" by M Theresa Brown. Conte crayon on paper 18 x 24

And the other day, while in the attic of our studio putting away Christmas decorations, I found an early example of what I would later add back to my repertoire....this drawing on the right was created in conte art crayon and was an early effort at depicting the horse and rider in movement in 2-D format. Looking at it decades later...I like it! And I now see this particular sketch as a thumbnail to a larger work on canvas :-)

Ain't life grand? :-)

The disruption of routine as we know it and what to do...

Quirks of nature are nothing new to weather patterns but I don't think anyone expected Halloween storm Sandy to rise up from the Caribbean and wreak such destruction on the northeast US coastline.
There is a certain twinge of survivor's guilt in thinking "Wow that could have been me". 
But the undeniable truth in such circumstances, is that the world does not end.  Your life may have been forever disrupted or altered but elsewhere, people still get up in the morning and go about their daily tasks.
On such a large scale of news coverage of an event,(weather related or not) it is hard to be unaware of others' misfortunes.Unaffected? Well, the US is a big country. If a personal misfortune happens on a small or individual scale, people usually are simply unaware.

Time has a way of moving on-with or without us. Often..... well, it's all about what begins to bring your world back into focus. Art is one of those areas that encompasses so many arenas of healing...music, dance, painting, sewing....all of it good and all of it necessary in some format. And when the pull begins to happen, even just a little, you know you are on the emotional road to recovery. Art in any format, is good.

Blue Corgi  (sold)

Flash in the Grass 11 x 14

Miniature art journal

Moonstruck 16 x 20 (sold)

Artsy Journeys tends to be more about what I personally explore  in the arts-away from the discipline of portrait painting which has paid my family's bills for many years.














I love to create portraits-every face is different. Every clients wants are different. But there is NO denying the energy and release and total absorption that comes with exploring random areas of art-experienced in it or not. No holds, no boundaries, no rules. But the main value of creating art in all its various forms?  The temporary experience of being in the ART ZONE.  It's a good place to be. Whether your art project takes 30 minutes, 2 hours or a day, the Art Zone is a private area in which everything else fades away and your mind, regardless of what has transpired around you, is absorbed in the creation of art. It's a very good place to be.

May you be there soon!

Exploring an Art Journey in a Care Facility

Think art journeys are only for the busy moms, young kids, single people or retired people? How about those in rehab or extended care facilities?
We go twice a month to such a facility and the rewards are priceless :-)
Some of these beautiful people have never painted. That's right-never! So last week we painted "Sunset in the Mountains" and for an hour they were engrossed in the Art Zone. A wonderful place to be when life has changed all around you!
Try it sometime!

I call that “liberating,” not “cheating”!

A great article from Cloth,Paper,Scissors for those of us who add or are starting to add fabric to designs! What I especially love is the comment at the very end of the article in reply to the writer's 7th grade home ec teacher telling her that using  fusible webbing was "cheating." How silly! In our art classes, we often use a template to help encourage new painters to enjoy the experience of painting. As they take more art lessons, the desire to "hand draw" their subject matter comes naturally  and without the guilt that someone is always too ready to impart! Art is fun. Let everyone enjoy it at their own level and pace :-) 

Don't Stitch, Just Press and Go When I first came to work at what was then Quilting Arts, I heard a lot about WonderUnder®. I honestly thought it was some kind of bra for about a week. Turns out (for those of you as clueless as I was), it's a brand of fusible web that holds two textiles together, instead of stitching, for quilting and other fabric art. ‘Color Composition’ fused fabric collage by Bethan Ash. The only personal experience I had with a product like this was Stitch Witchery®. I used this fusible tape in 7th grade to hem my skirts. I thought I was clever, but my home ec teacher criticized me, as she considered it “cheating.” Imagine my delight in discovering that in art quilting, fusing was not only not frowned upon, it was encouraged! Fusing fabric makes it easy to appliqué or create a fabric collage without having to stitch a million little seams. You just press your fabric into place. Well, it's almost that easy. Each fusible product works slightly differently, so it's important to read the manufacturer's instructions. And you want to match the fusible to the fabric. WonderUnder and similar products work well for cotton fabrics. MistyFuse™, a gossamer fusible with no backing paper, works best for sheer or lightweight fabrics, such as silk. In her comprehensive book Vibrant Quilt Collage: A Spontaneous Approach to Fused Art Quilts, artist and author Bethan Ash offers tips on how to get the best results from fabric fusing. Here are some I think are most helpful. Wash and iron your fabric to remove any starch before fusing—do not use fabric softener. Fuse your fabrics by ironing the rough side of the webbing to the reverse side of the fabric, using a dry hot iron (cotton setting). Evenly press from the center to the outer edges and iron for seven seconds—if unsure, follow the instructions that come with the webbing. Too much heat applied repeatedly will weaken the glue, burn it into the fabric, change the fabric color or make the fabric stiff. Also, over-fused fabric will no longer adhere to other fabrics. To protect your ironing board and iron, place a sheet of baking parchment under and on top of the fabric when fusing. Fabric that bubbles or ripples when fused will flatten out when the release (backing) paper is peeled off. Always let the fabric and webbing cool before you come to remove the release (backing) paper. Remove the release (backing) paper in one piece by first fanning with a finger and then swiping your hand between the fabric and paper. Feel for any gummy areas that the iron didn't cover and re-fuse these. If the webbing separates from the release (backing) paper, it is still usable. Just place the webbing on the fabric, put the release (backing) paper on top and fuse into place. Save the release (backing) paper—it can be fused to over and over again. Use it for assembling fused collages, storing fused scraps, protecting the ironing board, and pattern-making. You can fuse to either side of WonderUnder release (backing) paper. Cut webbing-backed fabrics webbing side up when using a rotary cutter, so the glue side does not stick to the mat and cause the fabric to fray when it is removed. It is also easier to see the areas where there is no glue. When cutting a pile of webbing-backed fabric, do not stack with the webbing sides together or the pieces may be difficult to separate. Up to three layers of backed fabric shapes can be cut out at one time. Save all your fused scraps. They are great for tiny elements and collage work. Once you have your fabric fused, you can use the series of simple hands-on exercises in Vibrant Quilt Collage to help you develop your instincts for free-cut and fused fabric collage. I call that “liberating,” not “cheating”!