Participaction!

I really do luv to PLAY around.  Especially with pigment, and pastes, mixed media products and  pieces of ephemera and, and, and!   It is all about Participaction!

 I did think about a lovely photo shoot with  ALL my favourite play things but it will take far too long to put my play things back from where I would eventually find everything.  It is also spring and today, for the next few hours the weather forecasters are claiming it'll be warm and dry.  There are all kinds of dire predictions of ugly weather for the rest of this May long weekend.  :O

I'm not known for my practicality but the question begs to be asked-  What is the purpose of playing?

pause

I am back to my personal space.  I need to play/make things for my home, my family and for me.

The twice-weekly letter from Robert and Sara Genn kinda clarified this important point for me.

"Here's a creative method surprisingly and often overlooked as we go about and busy ourselves in art-making. Take a look around your own home and family and see what might be needed. Find a wall or a space that can be filled with something you, yourself, would rather like to see. Take a look around your home and family and find something that is worthy of another look and perhaps a rendering for your own joy.

"Love something -- serve it" might seem like an outworn sentiment but it's often the very basis of great art and artistic evolvement."

And that will be the plan- no plan.  Just find the next thing that I'd like to play with and have me some participaction!

capital P for PAINT

Nothing like a few giggles, some "shake it all about" and lots of 'good ideas' to get motivated!

Not many posts but I am actually busy.  I am/was down in the depths cleaning and purging the laundry corner.  I am throwing anything that isn't being used right now away.  I will take my sink out to the workroom in the barn and make a spot for hanging clothes.  We have a shortage of hanging space in this old house.

 I also organized the paint section and I'm horrified by all the unopened gallons.  I think I'll use some on the plywood walls in the basement to freshen things.  I even have some old floor paint.

Yesterday I went to get Eliana and we toured a home reno store and got some fabric at Ikea to cover my seasonal accessories in the basement.  We also got some better paint paper.  It needs to be good stuff to stand up to my little artist's thick and juicy expectations.  lol

I seem to be restless as I decided to use some of that paint in the kitchen.  Not wanting to have a helper to sort more in the basement, I started stripping wallpaper in the kitchen. With one tiny section done I wondered what the jelly cupboard might look like in a more neutral colour than the original country blue.   ;) ;)

Eliana was game!   I hope I'm not encouraging ADD tendencies! eek!  But that wall paper is gonna be a bear!  :(

She thought she should be higher.  This girl is gonna move up in the world!  ;)

She reached the top finally as she tackled the back.

This is chalk paint and I used Pure White just because I wanted the inside white and a bit of a primer before the final outer coat.  So this was fast and easy.

Now my helper is onto ink and stamping so I just might be able to get that last bit of colour on the outside of the jelly cupboard.  Shhh!  She may not notice I have slipped away and I think dealing with her mess creativity in the playroom might be worth making own mess  creativity in the kitchen. 

oops!  She's arrived with her supplies to be closer.  Hmm, I shall paint and post pictures another day!

Adding to my stash

I do believe I just may have some useful stuff to stack in the fabric shelves!

I laid out fabric and paint on my large cutting table.  I kinda had a few thoughts but not a real plan.

I started laying down masks and stencils and sprayed away in various areas.

Then I began to add the stamps.  I saw that I wanted the stamps and even the stencils under the spray drift and I also quickly realized I did better on the large pieces of fabric.  So I went back and did the areas that had been covered by smaller chunks of cloth.

I let the first attempt dry and repositioned the white cotton fabric and began to lay down the larger motifs in an all over way to get good random coverage.  Then I misted this with water and did some spraying.

 This is the earlier attempt and was necessary so I could begin to figure what works best for me. The stamps are definitely better with two layers of foam.  I have several questions that I will need to find some answers for.  Should I work dry or wet  is an important one.

This is the whole piece of white cotton.  I had started on the far right side.  Then I removed the overlapping fabric for the off centred section. The near left side is the last bit of experimenting that I did.

Now if this is the kind of fabric I would use for something like borders what would supporting fabrics look like?  What if I did some small pieces of fabric for the actual blocks themselves?  hmmmm 

Five by twelve

Amazingly, I got my five things done by lunch time! Must be a first. Of course that now gives me lots of time to worry! More on that later.

I have computer time in the morning and I realized I could do some altered page prep while some of the sites load. Multi tasking.

I wanted to try using a doily as a stencil. I definitely need more practice.

Then I gathered up my various cans of spray paint and sorted through the old paint cans in the basement. Threw out two, set aside two and felt fabulous to have started to edit my paint department. I will never save paint cans again. I'll pour the extra into plastic peanut butter jars and label. Better than rusty lids and painted labeling. sheesh

I have some paint from the laundry area. Possibly the tables.

I have 1 can of spray paint and got 4 on sale yesterday- celery. Should do the 2 chairs.

I have a yellow for the high chair but I may hold out for a gold. Hmm, maybe I need to look to see if there is any sunshine room paint left.

I do have a darker yellow for the shelf.

And I have some bathroom paint left for the bench. I also want to learn to antique/distress and I have some paste wax to experiment with.

Now I've warned my rooster I need a place to try spray painting again so hopefully he'll come up with a good idea. Shoot! Seems like all the DIY Bloggers all do it, so why can't I???

So with big ideas on my mind I...

... did get on the mower and cut grass. The old garden is now grass but you can see where the new pasture will be for the sheep. So I gained some grass but I also lost some grass. That fluffy stuff is foxtail barley and not very edible. But the grass is pretty brown right now so at this point it is all one level and done!

My rooster is beginning to catch on to landscaping and now has opinions. :( He wanted a stately tree in the centre of the old garden. ??? We do need to break up the wind so what the hey, go for it!

Dear grandson and I forgot to shut a gate and this is what the sheep thought a feature tree should look like! Hopefully it'll bounce right back and bush out like that big willow in the background.

But the bad news is that while I was dreaming of my painted furniture I chewed up and did not spit out a 50 foot real rubber water hose. oops! He who keeps the books is going to be entering my transgression on the debit side of the ledger! ;^)

Making Hay while the sun shines...

Finally we are off and running. Well, my farmer is. My lawnmower broke a belt and it isn't a good time to ask for a repair! ;^) The grandson got a few rounds with his Grand Farmer.

Raking the cut swaths together is a fun and fast jobs for new young farmers!

So while the hay is growing on my lawn I worked a bit on the beds. This morning there is a fog and the humidex readings are gonna be up there.


The focus for the week is PAINT. There are a few secondary things that I can possibly incorporate or slot in as alternatives should the weather predictions prove true.

I shall be plunking the new shrubs in first thing and checking out the shade available at the coop. I need to sort old/new, clean/unreadable, outside/inside paint cans and a jumbled box of supplies which is part of the secondary 'clean the basement' job. I need to just start. What is it about new projects that makes me hesitate? ss (slight smile) I seem to have no problem leaping into new quilt ideas and slashing up perfectly good yardage into slivers to do it! LOL Another secondary job is the baby quilts and I had no problem starting the 2 extra ones!

It is only paint, it is Only paint, it is only Paint. And washable at that!