2012 Sketchbook Project, Gardening, and Fall Season Art Exhibits

Sketchbook Project

I just received my blank Sketchbook for the 2012 Sketchbook Project- I am so excited. When I have it finished I will photograph the pages and post here before sending it off for display and archiving in the 2012 show! To my artist friends: are you participating in this? Let me know! I would love to see your books as well!















Cucumbers in the garden!



Poblamo Peppers
















I have a small garden that is winding down somewhat.... this is a lonely cucumber that managed to hang itself off of an empty planter stand in my garden. There are a few more flowers so we shall see if I get to have any more cucumber salad! And on the right is a pot of Poblamo chili peppers- so yummy on top of pizzas and in salsas!

Last night my husband Bruce and I went downtown to the Gallery at Avalon's beautiful "Dresses" Exhibit and The City Art Factory's opening season show and then ended up at The Dessert Lady Restaurant for a PMS Martini and a bite to eat! SOOOO yummy! We are going to go back for sure!

Glass Painting

Lamp shade color before

Baking after painting!

Finished chandelier lamp shade

I had a project on my "To Do List" and I finally am 99% finished with it!

The light fixtures that came with this house when we bought it, as you can see from the sconce example on the left - they are all your normal big box variety and the shades themselves are BORING and cool white. I definitely am not a fan!

 So I got myself up to the craft store and bought 4 colors of  FolkArt craft acrylic enamels specifically for painting on glass.

 I first washed and cleaned the shade and then cleaned it again with rubbing alcohol and a cloth.

After it was dry I went to town dripping and painting. I made the clear swirls with the paint brush dipped in alcohol so that the light would shine through in areas-- this paint is opaque.

The I let the shade dry for one hour and then slipped it into a cold oven on top of a large sheet of aluminium foil. I turned the heat on to 350 degrees and as soon as the temp got up to 350 degrees I set the timer for 30 minutes. Then I turned the oven off and left the shade in the oven over night to cool down. The result is a nice hard as a rock permanent design on my lampshade. From the finished third picture you can see that I still need to paint the finial piece to complete it.

In this case I wanted to paint the outside of the shade for more of a textured effect  but you can paint the inside instead. I believe that the acrylics can be watered down slightly as well if you are looking for a more stained glass effect.  I have some more lamp shades to do and I am considering the large chandelier over the dining room table too :) So much fun and now its one of a kind!

I Won!

 I won a bulking dummy book in a raffle on the website Craftside --a wonderful site I found while surfing one day.

 What is a bulking dummy book?

A dummy book is a small model of a book. It has no content except for page numbers and optional hand written information.  Here is Craftside's explanation of what it is: "Let me explain what bulking dummies are. When a book is in development, a sample is made with the paper in the size, finish type (matte or shiny) and hard or soft cover before it's printed so the designers can get a feel for the book. They are all different and could, as you can see, contain writing or be an actual printed cover with the inside blank. ..."  So what am I gonna do with mine? -- Make an artist journal of course!! Stay tuned!