Decorating My Space

Decorating my home is telling a story about who I am and where I've been. I usually don't do theme rooms. I prefer to think of my style as Shipwrecked, as in, I was washed up on a South Seas island, and my belongings are all the things I've rescued from the waves. I guess you could call it eclectic, and I find a lot of joy in decorating with my finds.

My former daughter-in-law paid big bucks for decorators to decorate for her. Her home was impressive and beautiful, but I never thought it said anything about her, except that she had the money to buy whatever was in style.

Anyway, cabin fever finally got the better of me last week, and I decided my bedroom and master bath walls had to be painted! They were a deep taupe and a great color to sell in a house. Buyers like neutral walls, but I decided they were depressing, and I was craving color and light! I had spent some time thinking about color, and then I happened to find 4 blue and yellow, cloth-covered boxes at Tuesday Morning, and the colors in those boxes were exactly what I wanted for my walls. If I'd pressed the issue, Jim probably would have agreed to find a painter to do the work, but I wanted it done yesterday, so I came home from Home Depot, paint buckets and paint rollers in hand, and told him I would do all the work, knowing full well that he'd help some. I also said I wouldn't be in a hurry, might even take a month to do it, but once I got things dismantled and strewn about, I was in a rush to get it finished; it took 3 very full days.

Our rooms have some interesting angles and insets, and I wanted to accent them, so I decided to paint most of the walls Behr Ultra Moonlit Yellow, which is pale, soft, and lemony. For a couple of insets in both rooms I picked Behr Ultra Spring Bluebell, a soft shade that looks lavender in some lights and blue in others. They're happy colors.

I spent half the time masking off woodwork with that wretched blue tape, about 70 miles of it I think. I was on the ladder more than I was on the floor, and my body kept urging me to go look at my drivers license to prove that a gal my age doesn't belong on top of a ladder! As predicted, Jim couldn't stand to see me doing it all, and he took time away from helping the shop builder and did some of the edging for me. Do I know my guy or what?

The blue covered flawlessly, in one coat; the yellow was another story. It took 3 coats, and in some places twice that many. It's not a perfect paint job, but as I painted, I saw errors in the original paint; after it's up, people only see the whole picture.

Painting walls is a gamble; you can't be sure you'll like a whole room of what you see in a paint chip, but I'm so pleased with it! It's like a new blank canvas, and I'll have fun finding treasures that drift onto my shores to finish the decorating. I want to do a couple of stencils but haven't found any yet that deserve to be on my pretty new walls. I'll let you know if I find them. Oh, and don't tell Jim, but the living room is looking sort of depressing, too; it could get a color-lift any day now; he didn't suspect a thing when I bought a 48" canvas at Michael's yesterday for the new painting I have in mind that will hang over the sofa once the walls are finished.......Hope you're having a colorful day.

Why Aren't You Painting?

This month I'm answering a few Questions in Corel Painter magazine's Q&A section, and I did this painting as an example, using only the Acrylics Captured Bristle brush, changing the Bristle settings along the way. If I had to choose just one from among all the Painter brushes it would likely be this one because it's so adaptable.

Some of my followers are wonderful artists, and we've encouraged one another often through the years. If, however, you have never painted at all, you should (and I don't often tell anyone they should do stuff) give it a try. Art isn't, or shouldn't be, reserved for the bold and artsy few. We're all creative beings; some of us just haven't gotten in touch with our creativity yet. Whether you're interested in watercolors, oils, acrylics, colored pencils or whatever, invest in a few art good art supplies. Good art supplies. For example, if you go to Wal-Mart and pick up a cheap set of watercolors, brushes and paper, you've cheapened your creativity, (and there's a world of difference in quality art supplies) but you wouldn't think twice about spending $25 on a blouse, so take the $25 to an art store and buy one large sheet of paper (that you can cut into smaller pieces for painting), a medium quality brush, and 3 tubes of medium quality paint in red, blue and yellow. You may want to buy a beginner's technique book, but these days you can find plenty of tutorials online to get you started. And of course, I'm always here put in my 2 cents worth if all that white paper gets too intimidating. If you find that you really don't enjoy doing watercolors, don't think you've wasted your money. You've dabbled in one art form that somehow will stand you in good stead for the next.

Or you might have thought about trying digital art, which is just as much fun, just as addictive, and much less messy, but the cost of Corel Painter or Adobe PhotoShop may have put you off. True, spending hundreds, even thousands, of dollars when you're not sure just how much you'll love it doesn't make a lot of sense, but here comes Ebay to the rescue! The latest version of Painter, for example, is 11, but the earlier versions, back as far as 6 or 7 have many of the same tools and brushes, and as long as they work with your computer and browser version, (be sure and check this) they're a great way to get into digital painting for a few dollars. Or there are a few graphics software programs that you can download for free, like Gimp. I haven't used it, but I've known artists who used it exclusively, and it's a good way to get started.

What words of advice would I give you?

Believe in yourself, but know that you're your own toughest critic. Don't throw away anything you paint. I promise it will look better 2 weeks or 2 months from now when you take it out again.......and if it doesn't you can always tear it into pieces and use them in a collage that you will like. Paint subjects you love, not what you think someone else would love. Set a schedule and stick with it when you first begin, whether it's 15 minutes a day or an hour 3 times a week...........and finally, show me what you've painted! There's nothing more exciting than watching someone discover his or her own creativity.

Self Portrait quick tutorial

(Click on the image to zoom in)

Here's a quickie self-portrait I did in PhotoShop this afternoon.....well, yes, it began with a photo of me, and yes, I took some liberties. I've told online friends that I'll never grow old to them as long as I can still manage PhotoShop. No, you may not see the original photo......It would spoil the illusion. I like this technique, and I'll try some more, maybe not so stern looking portraits. Actually, it looks more like my Aunt Lee, but my mom has always gotten us mixed up, so I guess it's okay.

Open a photo in PhotoShop, desaturate it, and you may need to raise the contrast a bit in order to bring out the shadow areas. If you also own Corel Painter, you may not use the brushes in PhotoShop very often, but there are some pretty nifty ones in there. Create you first transparent layer above the canvas and begin tracing in gestural strokes. Just try for the essence of the image; leave something to the imagination. Most of the outlining I did with a small Retouch brush, working in a total of 18 layers. I like to work like that because it allows a lot of freedom for changing Opacity and Blending Modes. The painterly looking strokes in shading and in the hair were done using various David Nagel brushes, which are some of my absolute favorites. Google Nagel brushes to find them for free download.

When it's looking like you want it, add a layer of painted texture, maybe a painting you've done earlier, or one you downloaded from a stock photo site. Then begin to play with Blending Modes. I used Softlight. You may also need to move the painted texture layer around to position the colours where they look best. Finally, I added Sandstone texture twice at 50% and 65% consecutively, fading both to 49%. It just looks better that way. That's a really abbreviated tutorial. If you have questions, just ask. You know I love to talk. See ya later!