The Back Story

Friday, September 29, 2017

Painted Chicken Coop

I've been painting a wood panel that'll be
attached to the chicken coop 
my husband Bob measuring in 
the picture below. 

There's just no way I could paint it 
on location, so this is the solution we
came up with. It'll actually add
additional support to the structure,
as well as making it pretty. 


I'm going to call this first
panel finished. 


Fortunately the biggest panel is
behind me. 

That said, I have four more ahead of 
me that I want to finish by Monday!

Lord help me!

Terri

Thursday, September 21, 2017

Picnic Table No. 2

I'm happy to say I finished the second picnic table
for Aimee's Animal Farm Sanctuary
and thought I'd share some pictures of it with you. 

Unlike the first picnic table, this one
started out painted in a solid red color. 

It'd been placed in a part of the yard that gets
watered by irrigation, which means it was regularly 
sitting in water for extended periods of time. 

The legs were all rotted and my handy 
husband needed to replace those before
I could get started. 

As you can see, my palette colors were gray, blue,
green, and purple tones. It wasn't a typical 
palette for me, but I like the way it turned out. 

      

You can see a tiny part of the first table
I did in the background. 

My intent was for them to compliment
one other in style, without being too matchy-matchy. 


Now, I've got to get back
to the chicken coop panels I'm painting. 

More on that later. 

Thanks for visiting!

Terri

Thursday, September 14, 2017

My Painting Process

 There's a local PBS show I watch
from time to time called Books & Company. 

The host of the show interviews a particular
author and inquires about his or her book 
and their personal process
of writing and developing their stories. 

I love hearing about the different ways
they go about it. 

I know many artists travel similar unique
paths to end up with their finished pieces. 

Those kinds of things fascinate me, whether
it be an artist of the word, paint brush, 
or musical instrument.

Today I'll briefly share one of the ways
I go about painting my pieces by
sharing some of my works in progress in
the earliest stages. 

I'm working on a dog house and another
picnic table. One's in my family room,
and the other's in the garage, so the pictures
aren't the greatest, (thanks to poor lighting)
 but you'll get the gist. 

Before I start any piece I pray. 
I ask God to bless the work of my hands
and to guide and lead me as I create the design
and paint the piece. I ask that it'll be a blessing
to whomever it ends up going to. 

After that, I don't worry about it how I'm going 
to proceed, I just start with one element and
let the design flow from there. 


I always use one color (usually a dark one)
to get my basic design down. 


This is what I call free hand folk art. 

I have had to be more precise in the past
with a design image, and in that case
I'll draw it out on transparencies and
use the overhead projector to complete 
the design that way. 


I did the base design in the following picture
and started in with my first color. 

That's what I usually do. Then I'll 
go back with one color at a time and
continually add to the design until it feels and 
looks done to me (which can take a while). 

My husband always says, when he's dizzy,
he knows I'm finished. 


I'll be sure to post the finished
pieces, (hopefully in better lighting)
so you can see how they turned out. 

Until then, may God bless the work of your hands. 

Terri

Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Painted Picnic Table

Imagine painting in an enclosed garage
without air conditioning and the temperature 
is over 105 degrees.

I had to keep the garage door shut because
it's monsoon season, and that means mosquitoes. 

Did I mention mosquitoes love me?

The affection isn't mutual. 

Although the working conditions weren't ideal,
I was in the zone and loving every minute of it. 

I made sure my glass of ice water was filled
and I was staying hydrated. 

It took me a solid 3 1/2 days to finish
and I'm pleased with the results. 


Delivery day was yesterday
and I'm so happy the dear
lady I painted it for loved it. 



Oh, to make a living at painting. . .

That'd be my dream. 


Terri