My view

I've finished these two pieces that will be going to the Rochester Art Center for their annual fundraiser in July. 

Both pieces are on 12x12" corrugated cardboard and were painted with oil.

Here's my baby.  He usually wanders in and out of my room as I paint, checking on me.

Play Food Recipes

I fully enjoyed the love of a play kitchen when I was growing up, so it's only natural that I want my boys to have the same love. (They're always raiding my kitchen cupboards so why not get them their own??) My mother gave me whatever play tupperwares that she still had, and after picking up a few more things, I now have a fairly decent play kitchen in just a few days. With the novelty of the toys, my boys have been playing with them for hours at a time. Hearing them use their imagination and tinker around makes me smile, and I'm not sure why, but this mess makes me happier than a regular-toy mess. (I made that stove out of a cardboard box in 10 minutes. Official play kitchen plans are in the works.)

I can't take all the credit for this idea, but I saw a picture of play food recipes on Pinterest with clip art, but since mine is better and cuter, I'll take credit where credit is due :P

Since my play food has been collected from Ikea, Melissa&Doug, and the thrift store, you probably won't have the same things, but take my idea and make your own.

My watercolor were already on my desk, so I decided to go all out with this project. No half-way-mama for me!

1. Decide what you want to have the recipe for. Pencil it all out. I used 4x6" note cards on the blank side. Make sure to include a picture and the name of every item.

2. Color. I used watercolors and used basic colors. Nothing too fancy.

3. After it's dry, go over the whole thing with a black, permanent pen. 

4. Erase the pencil lines. Experience has taught me not to erase over the watercolor, just the words. Even if the watercolor is dry, I've had the pigment get smeared when I try to erase over it.

Tip:  If you haven't used this pen before, do a sample on another piece of paper. And erase over it. A good permanent pen should easily go over the watercolor as well as stay on when you erase over pencil.

5. If your kids are anything like my kids, you'll need to protect the recipes so they last more than 2 minutes (true story). I used packing tape over the side with the images. You can do both sides if you'd like.

6. Punch a hole in the corner and put the recipes on a ring. Now your little cook is ready to go!

I'm considering putting these recipes up as a free download. Would you be interested?

Send me pictures if you make your own. I'd love to see them!

How to ship artwork in a crate

I sold a fairly large oil painting recently and had to ship it half-way across the country. While I had shipped smaller pieces, I was pretty clueless with how I should ship a cradled, larger painting. I got most of my instructions from this website, but it was pretty easy once you know how!

materials:
-Styrofoam pipe insulator
-masonite
-2x2" or 1x3" (I used 2x4" and could easily have gotten away with something smaller)
-bubble wrap and paper to protect the painting's surface
-screws

1. Cut a slit all the way down the pipe insulator. Fit the edge of the painting into it and cut off the extra, making sure to sufficiently cover the corners . You don't want any crushed corners!

2. Protect the surface of the painting with bubble wrap and I put an extra paper on top, just to make sure.

 3. Put the foam insulator over the bubble-wrap, and make sure to get all around the painting, overlapping on the corners. Tape the corners so they stay put.

 4. Next, we're building the crate.  Cut your 2x2" or 1x3" to fit around your insulated painting. The foam will add about 1-2 inches on each side so take that into consideration when you're planning and cutting.  Put screws into the corners, at least 2, 3+ is better for larger pieces, depending on your wood size/thickness.

 Look! All snug! You won't want your painting wiggling around while it's getting jostled in the mail.

5. Once the frame of the crate is done, screw your mastonite right onto the wooden frame. I made a mistake on mine, forgetting to take into consideration the extra height of the pipe insulation (but I did it on the width!). You should screw the masonite down securely every several inches ALL THE WAY AROUND, not just on the top and bottom like mine. Oops. I know better for next time!

 6. The customer bought a few smaller pieces as well, so I included the smaller pieces on paper in the back of the crate, in an envelope.

7. Then I screwed the top of the masonite on and wrote "To open: unscrew all the screws from this side" on the top of the crate, just to make it easier when they get the painting.

 8. All done!

For those of you unfamiliar with shipping this big, my piece was 1'x3', and the crate ended up being (let's hope I can remember...) about 18"x42" and it cost a little more than $50 to ship, including the $1 per $100 insurance.  I shipped through UPS.

Tip: Plan all the extra shipping and packaging costs into your artwork from the beginning so you don't see that big chunk come out of your profit. Good luck!

Simple Painted Vase (a mother's day gift)

materials:
-glass vase
-glass sealer
-acrylic paint
-brush
-acrylic sealant
-tape (I used masking, but I'd recommend painter's tape)

1. place the tape around the glass vase.

2. Paint a layer of your glass sealer where you are going to be painting.

3. Paint your lovely paint color. Twice.

 After one layer, you can see it too easily. Two coats is much better, as you can see.

4. After it dries, spray a layer of acrylic sealant on the paint to make it shine and give it some more protection.

5. Peel the tape off. If you had some paint bleeding under the tape, as I did (painter's tape will make this less likely), go around the edge with a blade to scrape away the unwanted tape.

6. put in some flowers and ta-daa!