HAND PAINTING ART ~ A BEACH SCENE MURAL FOR A NURSERY & PAINTING A PALM TREE TUTORIAL

HAND PAINTING ART ~ A BEACH SCENE MURAL FOR A NURSERY & PAINTING A PALM TREE TUTORIAL

My client asked me to paint an ocean beach scene for her new baby boy.

His name was Jackson.

  I love his name!

She asked me paint the ocean on three walls.

And, paint a sky ceiling.

And, a lighthouse.

A place to sit out of the sun.

PALM TREE TUTORIAL

Palm trees are really easy to paint.

Just draw and paint the trunk.

Draw a line for the middle of the palm tree fronds.  Place them where you want them to be.

Then, use a flat artist brush and paint lots of curved fronds.

Paint them larger at the base of the tree and smaller toward the end.

PAINTING GAYLE'S MANTEL FROM PICKLED/WHITE WASHED OAK TO BLACK DISTRESSED

PAINTING GAYLE'S MANTEL FROM PICKLED/WHITE WASHED OAK TO BLACK DISTRESSED

Gayle has such a beautiful home.
A few years back when I was painting for her, I suggested that she let me paint her pickled/white washed oak mantel black and distressed.
 I knew it would be so beautiful with her peaches and off white colors around the room.

She said "ok", so here is the finished mantel.

Isn't her living room just wonderful!!
To visit the original post and more pictures and information, visit this link:
PAINTING GAYLE'S MANTEL
Each week this is one of my most viewed posts from Internet searches and Pinterest.

"TEACH YOUR CHILD TO LOVE A HORSE AND THEY WILL NEVER HAVE MONEY TO BUY DRUGS..."

"TEACH YOUR CHILD TO LOVE A HORSE  AND THEY WILL NEVER HAVE MONEY TO BUY DRUGS..."

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COUNTRY HOME WHERE I'M PAINTING SPECIAL DISTRESSED FINISHES ON ALL OF THE CABINETS

COUNTRY HOME WHERE I'M PAINTING SPECIAL DISTRESSED FINISHES ON ALL OF THE CABINETS

Here are some pictures of the beautiful home in the country where I've been painting for several weeks. 

And, that's me painting the kitchen cabinets.  

Actually, I was sealing them today.  Two coats of sealer.

In this house, I have painted special finishes on the cabinets in 5 bathrooms, den, large laundry, kitchen and pantry.  

A whole lot of hard work!!  But, I love working with these guys.

They wanted everything to look old.

Here is the mantel over the stove (to be).  The cabinets in this kitchen are staggered and this area is taller than the other cabinets.  

My dream kitchen!

Here, I'm standing in the garage entry or I guess it might be a mudroom.

The opening on the right is the dining room and on the left is the kitchen.

The next one is the huge front door on the right and the great room on the left.

Just before the stairs, a guest bedroom on the left and office on the right.

I think this house is probably around 6,000 sq. ft.  

Mario is installing subway tile in the pantry and in the kitchen.  

This is the white granite and I'm amazed that my flash keeps picking up all of the "way deep" undertones.  This granite is actually mostly white with a very light gray here and there and a very light brown here and there.

Actually, the subway tiles are the color of the granite and that's why it is absolutely beautiful together.  

I'll be sharing more pictures of this WONDERFUL country home.

I feel privileged to get to work here.

The native bird sounds are everywhere in the tall oak trees. 

And, there are deer grazing as I'm driving into the neighborhood.

Does that sound dreamy, or what!

PAINTING & DECOUPAGING WORLD WAR II GRENADE BOXES FOR CAROLEE & FRANK

PAINTING & DECOUPAGING WORLD WAR II GRENADE BOXES FOR CAROLEE & FRANK

Carolee and Frank had these old wooden ammunition boxes in their shed.

They think they're from WWII, early 1940's.

Carolee wanted me to do something with them and I painted the red before I remembered to take pictures of "before".

I suggested that I could paint them and decoupage on them.  Carolee brought some of her favorite pictures.  I had copies made of the ones that I wanted to use.

I was careful to rub the paint off of the areas where there was print on the boxes.

Frank loves red, so I put his picture on that one.

They have horses and go on trail rides, even out of state.

I cut the pictures out with some patterned scissors I've had for a long time.

(I don't know what to call them.)

This is Carolee's Bif.  He's a rescue mule and she loves riding him, even on trail rides.  He's in his early twenties.  She said mules can live to 35 or 40 years old.

Bif only had one hoof showing in the picture, so I drew him three more.

Here's a close up of the print on the boxes.  These two say "grenades".

Carolee picked them up yesterday and was really happy with their new look.

1940's ~ a long time ago!

PAINTING BLACK DISTRESSED & BLACK TABLE FOR KATHY'S BREAKFAST ROOM

Kathy was redecorating.  

She was happy with the size of her table because it fit perfectly in her breakfast nook.

But, it was very light wood and she wanted it darker.

She and her decorator found these black chairs and she asked me to paint the table base black to match the chairs.  She had someone else restain the table top this dark oak or walnut color.

And, she asked me to very lightly distress the edges of the chairs and stain them to match the new stain color of the table top.  No distressing on the table.

They came by and picked them up last week and she sent this picture to me.

I think the set looks so smart and so nice with her wall and tile colors.

You can see her two doggies in the background.

It looks like they match the table top.  

That is really well coordinated!

HAND PAINTED BLACK & WHITE CHECKERED KNOBS FOR SUSAN & TUTORIAL

HAND PAINTED BLACK & WHITE CHECKERED KNOBS FOR SUSAN & TUTORIAL

Isn't the Internet amazing!!
Susan in Pennsylvania was searching the web for knobs for her kitchen cabinets.  She (herself) is getting ready to paint her kitchen cabinets black and she wanted knobs that were different.  She found some black and white checkered knobs online, but they were very expensive.
She needed close to 20 for her kitchen.

While searching, she came across my blog and emailed me to see if I would paint some sample knobs for her.  She found unfinished wooden knobs online and mailed them to me.
She also told me how she wanted them painted.
Since she had options of sizes and shapes, I suggested that she use the wider ones.
  Also, I suggested that she could put round ones on the top cabinets and square ones on the bottom cabinets, or vice versa.  I love the idea of black and white on black cabinets.

TUTORIAL

These knobs were wooden and I used craft paint for colors.

First step:  I usually use a primer on bare wood before painting.

 I painted  two coats of white.  Then, with a small brush I painted checks a soft browny yellow.  Next, with the same small brush, I painted uneven black checks over the yellow.

Now, I was just painting samples.  If I were painting them for her cabinets, I would make a little check stencil, so the checks would be more even.

Around the edges I used a metallic gold paint.

Last, I sealed them with a clear sealer.  The two bottom knobs are sealed with a satin and the top round one is sealed with a dull sealer.  I like the dull sealer better than the shiny.

I suggested that if she wanted me to paint the rest of them for her I would be very glad to. 

 But, she could do it herself if she wanted to try.  She said she thought she might give it a try.

I know she can do it and you can, too.  

These would be so cute on furniture or a board to hang your coat or dog leashes.  

The possibilities are endless and 

YOU DID IT!!

PAINTING A WHITE DISTRESSED FINISH ON BATH CABINETS & TUTORIAL~ HAVE YOU EVER SEEN WHITE GRANITE?

PAINTING A WHITE DISTRESSED FINISH ON BATH CABINETS & TUTORIAL~HAVE YOU EVER SEEN WHITE GRANITE?

In this beautiful country home where I'm working right now, they chose different shades of gray green for everything.  They gave me a color chart and the first five colors on that chart are the colors they used throughout the house. 

Also, they wanted all of the cabinets in the house to look old.  

That means I'm painting and distressing cabinets in five bathrooms, den, large laundry, large kitchen and large pantry. 

 (I feel like I'll NEVER finish all of these cabinets!! :)

This is the master bath, her side of the bathroom.

To save time, they had their other painter prime eveything for me and that really does make the job go a lot faster.
They wanted white cabinets.

I used the lightest greeny off white at the top of the color card and painted and distressed over the tan color.  That looked a little too white for my client.

So, I used the second color just under the white on the chart and used it as a glaze over the white.

I watered it down, painted on and wiped off with a rag.  It's a subtle difference, but you can see the glaze on top of the first white color.  Last, two coats of water based sealer.

It looks really, really, really nice!

Now, have you ever seen white granite??  I've worked in many homes through the years and can't ever remember seeing white granite.  If I ever did see it, I might have thought it was marble.  They installed the first granite after I had left for the day and when I walked in the next morning, my mouth fell open, omgosh!!  It looked so, so beautiful.  It's been really cloudy outside and not much lighting inside, yet.  So, my camera flash picked up all of the undertones flowing through the white granite.  But, without my camera flash, it looks white and a very light touch of gray and some light brown.  The gray and brown tie in beautifully with the distressing and glazing colors.

I'm telling you, it's beautiful!! 

This is a better picture of what it looks like, but even whiter without the camera flash.

Here is another picture of the finished cabinets.

I'll be taking lots more pictures and maybe everything will show up better once the sun comes out for a while.

It's been really, really cloudy and dizzly here, but you will not hear a complaint from me.  I remember the horrible drought we've been in and how hot the summers can be.

Another view of the granite. 

 I'm used to all of the darker colored granite and wonder what region of the world this came from that it would flow these colors.

There are deer out in the country where I'm working.  One walked past the window of the room where I was painting and turned and looked at me.  She was beautiful.  Before I could get my camera, she walked on.

More pictures coming as soon as there's something to show you and more light to take pictures.

PAINTING A BEAUTIFUL CEILING MEDALLION WITH THE WALL COLOR

PAINTING A BEAUTIFUL CEILING MEDALLION WITH THE WALL COLOR

For the past couple of weeks I've been working in the most beautiful home under construction.

The owners asked me to paint a special finish on alllll of the cabinets in the whole house.  They want everything to look old.  I think they said they are wanting it to look like a lodge. 

Yesterday I got permission to take pictures of anything I want, but I can't say where it is or who it belongs to.  I do understand that!  So, I'll be sharing lots of pictures with you.  It's one of my favorite homes EVER!

They got this beautiful large ceiling medallion for the dining room and said maybe I could paint it to match the cabinets nearby.  I said, I'll be glad to do that but let me show you how it will look if I paint it with the wall color.

It was already white.  I used the wall color and painted on and used a rag to wipe off some areas.  Then, I painted the swirly scrollie areas more solid to contrast and set off the lighter wiped areas.

Because the paint was an eggshell sheen, it did not need to be sealed.

My clients were very happy with the way it looked with the wall color. 

It really does look so nice!

I love all of the colors they're using in this house.  They're gray greens and greeny off whites.  

This house is out in the country and these colors look so beautiful with the beautiful nature scenes you can see from their very large windows.