Follow me as I build My Art Studio from an old construction trailer.

       My husband and I love to build and create.  I always wanted an outdoor studio especially for my art.  I've always shared my artspace with bedrooms, living rooms, spare rooms, basements and now lanais.  My art supplies usually get scattered all over the house. 

       Well, my husband suprised me one day last year and found a construction trailer a friend of ours was getting rid of and brought it home. 

 

He said " Here you go honey...your new studio!!"

Good job I can see past the facade and find the diamond in the rough!!!  That's me standing by my new studio and loving it.  I saw the possibilities as I checked the whole thing out. It needed just a little work to make it livable as a work area.......I thought!!

 

Well, when we got inside and started to take it apart we found woodrot everywhere.  We had to take off the siding and replace a lot of the sillplate around the trailer.  It was a delay we were not ready for but we replaced the wood and moved on .  I told him that I would like a couple of windows and french doors.  What a great idea he says, I have a friend who has a few windows and doors for sale.  Perfect!!!!

So we cut holes for windows and doors and added sheets of hardyboard to the outside for structure as well as texture.

 

 We added 2 windows in the front and 2 new ones on the side . we closed up a back window because it faced south and I chose to have north facing window for better light control. And we opened the existing doorway for the french doors. So far it has been a few months work as life and jobs are getting in the way.  but thats ok, we will perservere.

 

At the end of last season ( our seasons run november through may with none or not so much rain) this is where we had to stop as the rains came and we couldnt get out to do anymore. I painted the outside a bright yellow and I will have white trim.  I taped all the doors shut and all of the corners that needed edging and hoped for the best through the summer months. 

 

 It made it through the rough weather!!!!                                                                                     

This year I was able to get out in the winter months and add some trim to the windows and edges.   I cannot trim the doors yet as I need to reset the back door ( i could not find one small enough for the area needed) and the french doors are sagging due to the larger opening so we are going to make the right hand door stationary and only have the left door open.  It will still look like french doors and that is fine with me.

                                                        

                                                                                                                      

So this is where we are today.  If you notice I have some lattice work at the bottom to tidy it up and the windows are framed out.  The next thing we are going to do is add a metal roof.  My husband is amazing at creating something out of nothing, but dont tell him I said so...I dont want him to get a big head about it!! LOL  only kiddin honey:)

 

Trompe L'Oeil Curtains

Hello all,

I live on 5 acres of land on the outskirts of the Everglades of SW Florida in Naples.  I don't have any neighbors to see into my backyard and I love to wake up and see my garden, my land,and peek out at my chickens so I decided to go without curtains on my back windows.  I still wanted a curtain for decor therefore I painted curtains on my wall.  Below is the finished result. Most people walk thru the house for the first time and don't realize that they are painted and after a while even friends forget they are painted.  I do love to fool people.  The definition of the words Trompe L'Oeil comes from the french and is translated to mean, "Fools the Eye".  Although I hand painted these curtains if you're not quite ready for that there are many curtain stencils available around. 

 

I have now changed the color of my Kitchen walls so I also changed my "fabric " curtains.  I created my own fabric design.  I actually intend on creating the fabric for real on a site called www.spoonflower.com where you can upload your designs and purchase your own fabrics by the yard .   FUN STUFF!!!!!.  Technology is absolutely amazing!!!!!

 

Creating Trompe 'Oeil Art starts with knowing the item you want to paint inside and out. Take the curtains for example, I studied the folds of fabric and how it hangs over a rod. I held a bamboo rod to the wall to see how the light moves and reacts to the colors and where the shadows fall. 

 

HOW TO: Trompe L'Oeil the above Curtain.

 

When you start a Trompe L'Oeil project, draw it out first on paper to get a feel for it and the perspective you are looking for.  Practise, Practise, and Practise.    Most beginners tend to be afraid of drawing or painting on walls, but remember it's only paint and you can always paint over it and start again.

 

1. draw your bamboo rod outline on the wall in pencil

2. With liquid acrylic art paints, base coat the bamboo rod shape in a medium brown, let dry.

3. Paint a soft line of a darker brown on upper and lower edges. Sideload your brush so that one side of the brush has more paint than the other. This will create the rounded effect of the rod.

 

 ("sideloading a brush" is a technique used to apply the paint so that the side with less paint will create a softer edge, and the side with more paint will have a stronger darker edge.)

 

Remember practise makes perfect

 

4. With a lighter shade of your brown, run a soft edged line across the middle of the rod.  This gives the highlighted area and creates a more pronounced roundness to the rod. Then streak the rod a little with the medium brown to create the vertical lines found in real bamboo.

5. Add bamboo growth circles 2-3 of them on each rod at uneven spacing.  Sideload the darker brown paint on your brush  and run a line perpendicular to your rod direction. giving the soft and hard side to create a growth ring as in real bamboo.

6. Add your rod holders by drawing them onto the wall then painting them your color.  What ever color you want them to be.  I chose black to go with the rest of my decor around the house.  Place the holders 'behind" the bamboo rod and the hook part "in front of" the rod. Think illusion.

7.Now we do the curtains. :) Draw your design onto your painted bamboo rod. remember that real curtains are not stuck to the rod they have substance.  look at your real curtains for comparison.

8. Base coat the entire curtain design in off white, 2 coats. let dry.

9. Add folds in fabric unevenly. Don't have the folds looking like soldiers. keep thinking soft and undulating.  Sideload brush with dark brown and run a line of paint down and along one side of the fold creating a hard dark side and a soft faded side of the fold.  This is where it gets tricky.  you have to watch where your light source is coming from and try to do the darker shades on the opposite side of the fold from the lightsource. Have a piece of fabric near you so you can check out the folds as you go along.

10. When you have your folds the way you want them. its time to put in the designs of the fabric.  I made stencils of a starfish and 2 different coral fans.  I then stencilled the 3 designs sporadically around the painted fabric.  As I came to a dark edged fold I cut the stencil design off so that it looks like the starfish or coral fan went into the fold. 

11. Next I added a dark brown ribbon on some of the outer edges to emphasize and define the fabric. Don't do all of the edges, let some of them look like they have folded behind as real fabric would.

12. Last step is to add the shadows.  Study your design in its area and put shadows on the opposite side of your painting than your lightsource. I did below my bamboo rod and to the left of my curtains on one wall and then on the other side of the room my lightsource switched sides so I did the right side. I shadowed below the bottom of my curtains as well. Shadows create the illusion that the fabric is seperated from the wall and is a very important element in Trompe L'Oeil Art.  Do the shadows in a bluer tone of your own wall color as it will create the reality you are looking for. (If you have any of your actual wall color you can take a couple of ounces of that paint, add a small amount of a dk blue acrylic paint to it to make the shadow color).

 

 

This project may take a few days to complete so dont fret if you didnt finish it in one day.  It took me 4 days to complete the 3 faux curtains I have in my kitchen.  Also if you find you've missed something or dont like an area, you can always go back and correct it.  Acrylic paint is very forgiving.

 

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to get in touch with me either by phone or email.  I'll be glad to help.

 

Happy Trompe L'Oeil-ing!!!!

 

-Linda

Painting a wood floor on concrete

          I had to take up the carpet in my spare bedroom that I was going to use as my art studio.  I didnt know what to put back down.  It stayed bare concrete for quite a while.  Eventually I decided to paint it.  I toyed over the ideas I had in my head. I wanted bamboo like my living room but I thought painting it would be more fun.  So I did.

    What do you think???  My friends didnt know I was going to do this so when they came over they first thought that we had actually put a wood floor down.  I had to tell them that it was painted. Either that or they were being very nice to my ego:)  Painting the floor was quite easy to do.

                                                               HOW TO:

     First I made sure the concrete floor was extremely clean and vacuumed very well.  Then I painted the floor with 2 coats of Kilz water based sealer. Let it dry overnite.  Then  I painted the entire floor in a tan latex house paint. let it dry overnite. I streaked the entire floor with similar browns and beiges of my real bamboo floor , creating a streaky light and darker effect.  When it was dry I then drew parallel lines every 6" across the entire floor with a sharpie. Next I drew short perpendicular lines in between the 6" lines at 3' intervals to create the effect of the 3' boards you usually buy stock wood flooring in. I offset the line each time I drew them by 1' to give the effect of the a staggered board. 

sample of staggered boards drawn on floor

Then I tweaked the lighter and darker effects to create a more pronounced definition in individual board colors.  I let the entire floor dry overnite.  The last thing I did was rolled on 5 layers of waterbased semigloss polyurethane. Let them dry between coats for a couple of hours. Let the entire floor dry for a couple of days before putting furniture on it to make sure the poly has completely dried.  It has now been nearly a year and the floor looks as good as it did when I first finished it.  except maybe for the odd few blotches of paint from my art projects. Enjoy!

Mother's Day Cards are among my latest creations.

       I am growing my collections of occasional and specialty cards in my Etsy store and Im having loads of fun. I'm finding that people are responding to them quite well and I have sold many of the word art husband and boyfriend cards.
     While creating these specialty cards I found out that I love the "matte photo paper" that Staples sells. It has a wonderful soft texture and a great weight for my larger cards than the smooth card stock paper I have been using.  This photo paper also gives the cards a more professional look and quality.  I will continue to use the card stock for the smaller multiple sets of cards though, as I do like the paper overall.  I also found that Staples has the better card stock paper for my notecards. It also has a smoother softer surface but still a nice weight (110lb) paper. This is good for me because I have 2 Staple Stores in Naples.  Very handy!!!
  My Mother's Day card is a text card of your love and devotion to your mother. You can add a name or more verbiage if you wish.  All of my cards are available for customizing. I hope you enjoy it as I do.

Greeting Card Art- my number one love!

I have wanted to do notecards all my life as a job.  Do you know the saying "Never let go of your Dreams"?  Well, it's true.  I am now creating note cards for a business.  I am loving it!!! This design above is called "5 Chicks on a log" and it is part of my larger series about chickens and the "What the Cluck!!"  series- which includes greeting cards as well as other items.

 

 I have T-shirts on zazzle with my

"What the Cluck!" designs.  but I digress.....

 

 

When I was younger, just first married, I was hand drawing all of my christmas cards for my friends and family-there was no computers or handy printers.  They were very primitive and not very polished but many of my family still have some of my original christmas cards.  I have now been creating them for over 30 years!!!!! I originally sent my ideas to greeting card companies all over the country only to be shot down everytime. Not one got sold. I sent them again and again, finding as many card companies as possible.  They just didnt like them.  But I still kept on creating because I knew I still wanted to be a greeting card artist.  Now I create as many cards as I can and use my computer to help design and sell them. I have over 150 designs so far and climbing.  I have the 4 webstores to prove it:)  I get such a kick out of making them.  I paint with watercolor, acrylic, colored pencil or oil and combinations of those mediums and create my artwork for cards.  I sidetracked for many years doing other areas of art but have come full circle back to greeting cards.  It is such a wave of relief to know I was on the right track all along.  I am going to look for stores in Naples and around Florida to sell my work as well. 

Nantucket Antique store- pen and ink card blank inside

I usually do a series of cards-such as my 6 set of cards showcasing Naples Fl area attractions, or my set of Country Benches- as that way I get all my ideas for that subject(s) out at one time, then I move to the next subject. They range from pen and ink drawings that are representational to comical whimsical fun art.

Daddy's Home - Father's Day card

I am having way too much fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Social media- My thoughts for today

I am beginning to become a social media fanatic.  Boy this takes up a lot of time and energy. But Im having way too much fun!!!!!!!!!!!!
 I have a pinterest acct (love it), linkedIn acct, twitter acct (never thought I would twitter), facebook, 2 email accts, Craftori acct, and my blog.  WOW!!!!

But if it gets my name out there into cyberspace and people notice me and my artwork, it is all worth it.  I sit at my computer for hours uploading to my 4 web stores and all the sites and then go back to my drawing table and draw.  And this is how I get paid and how I want to live.  Life is Great!!!!

Tempus Fugit- Time flies latin bumper sticker by WordsGalore Browse Tempus Bumper Stickers

I have a new store called "Words Galore" on zazzle.  www.zazzle.com/wordsgalore*  I have created a line of fun, political and humorous bumper stickers.  I am constantly making up new sayings and hear old sayings that I love and think..this would make a great bumper sticker! ..:)

I hope you enjoy.  One of my favorite sayings is "Tempus Fugit"  I just love the way it rolls off my tongue and of course what it means..."Time Flies"... ain't that the truth!!!

Enjoy
Linda

Found a really cool chandelier for the birds!!!

I found a really super cool chanderlier on Hometalk.com  Great site.  This was from another blogger

 

 http://homeiswheretheboatis.wordpress.com/2013/02/18/for-the-birds-repurposed-chandelier-feeder/

 

great and interesting site that shows off all kinds of garden art.  I must try this and then upload my version.:)

 

 

http://www.hometalk.com/search?filter=chandelier+for+birds#1023857/from-chandelier-to-birdelier?&_suid=136154600057709999937094890694

 

see you soon.

CHICKEN UPDATE

Hi Everyone, I wanted to keep you up to date on our growing family of chickens.

 

As you may remember, last March John and I decided try our hand at raising chickens and we bought a dozen. They are all grown up now. I had no idea they would be so much fun. We bought 8 Barred Plymouth Rock Hens, 3 Rhode Island Red Hens and a Welsummer.

 



16 week old Barred Plymouth Rock Hen

same chicken approx 11 months old

 So my young chickens have all grown up and I'm having so much fun with them.  They follow us around the yard. mainly because we always feed them!!!  they see us as the lunch truck and do a flying run over to wherever we are!!!  Hilarious.  It doesn't matter where we go on our 5 acres of land, if the chickens are out of the coop, they will find us and hang around. I love it.



My Welsummer Rooster

As they were growing up we found out that one of the chickens, The Welsummer, was a rooster. Beautiful he was. I originally called her Gertrude but when I found out she was a he I renamed him Graham.  Bummer, I loved that bird, but he had to go.  We gave him to friends of ours who own Golden Gate Nursery in town and they gave him to a farmer . Not sure if he became dinner.  We know we are not mentally ready or prepared for a rooster to fertilize the eggs and give us chicks. We need another coop and an area for the hatchlings and more knowledge.  We have read many books, articles and magazines about raising chickens and decided to try it the easy way for now and not deal with roosters and chicks.  Before Graham left though he was like a randy teenage boy, wanting to "you know what" to all the girls!!! 



a Rhode Island Red Hen

We were going along in life with our 11 chickens when one of our friends asked if we would like to buy her chickens.  We didnt really want anymore as we figured that 11 chickens x250 eggs a year was good enough for us, so we declined her offer.  A week later she called back and asked if we would please take the chickens as she lost 4 of the 9 to a racoon over the weekend.  Oh man, my heart went out to her and we decided to take the chickens. She gave us 4 Barred Plymouth Rock Hens and a Rhode Island Red.  We told her she can come and visit them anytime she wanted too.  Well, we slowly introduced the new 5 chickens to our brood, the new ones are only about 14 weeks old, so the older chickens were not very nice to them.  But they have been with us now for a few months and they have all found their social status.  BUT, guess what... one of the new flock is a damn ROOSTER!!!!  We realized as the new Rhode Island Red starting growing up the SHE is a HE. Now we are back in the same position. He will have to go.  BUT he is so beautiful, its really a shame.  With everything we have going on right now we can't keep him. One day we will keep a rooster.                                                                

 




our young Rhode Island Red Rooster

Now he is the Randy Teenager trying to mount all the Hens.  BUT again learning as we go, the older Hens will have nothing to do with him. When he does "get" a girl, the older hens run over to him and peck him off her then chase him around the yard. The girls become quite adamant that he stay away from them. They get mad. They even ruffle their feathers and fight back to make him go away. I didnt know they did that.  It is the funniest thing to watch. So pretty soon we will have to get rid of this rooster. It is a shame as he also is a beautfiul bird.

One fact I thought interesting about chickens is that most of the chicken meat you purchase at the grocer stores are roosters. It seems they are only good for one thing.  And seeing as 1 rooster can service 10 hens, I can see why an abundance of roosters go to market!! .

Have a great day:)

Linda.





homeroad: Love-ly Pillows

homeroad: Love-ly Pillows: I   love  pillows! And what a great  Valentine  for someone... I posted about these pillows back in 2011...  They were a favori...

Coffee Drive for Charity

Hi friends
I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentines Day.  It was a good one for me too.  Love my husband very much :)

 

As most of you know I am not only an artist I am also an Organo Gold Distributor.  I love the healthy beverages that we have.  They not only taste great, but they are good for you too.

 

  I am now throught April 30th running a personal campaign to raise money for non-profit organizations.  I want to sell 100 boxes of coffee products and give my profit to "The Shelter for Abused Women and Children" in Naples Fl.  They have a wonderful organization that help women and children in need. 

http://www.naplesshelter.org/ 

 

Please would you help me support them by buying a box or 2 of coffee?  go to www.lindafraine.organogold.com and purchase a box to help this organization. 

 

 It is unfortunate that we need organizations like this in this world.  I know many people who are glad that they exist.

 

I will be doing 3 charities this year and giving what I can to organizations that I admire. Let me know what you think about this. It is a new venture to me.

New Greeting Cards in my Webstores

I was having so much fun with my husbands birthday card I decided to put it on Etsy and see what happened. Well...I sold 2 of them right away.  I decided to tweak the design for Valentines Day and WOW I sold 4!! in 3 days.  Having fun here.

Happy Valentines Day

 

Im liking theses card designs. I just designed 2 more and have a whole lot of them to do yet. So stay tuned for the new ones.

 

 

Happy Birthday to your Love


You can go to my Etsy Store and purchase these as of 2-12-2013.  These are brand new and are not up for sale until tomorrow.

Stay tuned for Mothers Day, Fathers Day and more.......

gotta keep it fresh!!!!

Have a great day. Hugs  Linda

daily update

I having a great time working on my Zazzle store and Etsy store.  I just uploaded a few Valentines cards and I am working on new products for both stores.  I just got an order on Etsy to draw 5 chickens for a client who is going to use the drawing in their wedding invitaitons.  COOL!!!  love to see people create such personal items. I let you see it when its done.

My new Valentine Cards on Zazzle

Check out my new Valentine Cards at my zazzle and etsy stores.

 

Enjoy!

New Zazzle products

www.zazzle.com/linsartwork

Check out new products at my zazzle store.  This is a great place to get unique and artsy products you wont find in stores.  If you see something that you would like but not on the item you want, let me know and I will create it for you.  Zazzle is a POD-print on demand company and has over 250 items to put images on.  1000's of designs to choose from.  Although I hope you like mine:)   My chicken art seems to be popular.  make sure you check for new additions to my collection. Enjoy!!!!

Playful T Shirts

 

 

Buff Orpington- "I'd rather play with my Chickens"      and Blue and Yellow Macaw 

 

 

"I'd rather play with my Rooster" Bag                 and a Budgy T Shirt

Mercury Glass DIY

 

Mercury Glass is an absolute favorite of mine. I love the aged look. And I love the fact that everything old becomes new again after a fashion.  I have always wanted to know how you can create it,  being a DIY kind of person. I found some interesting blogs and sites that told me how. 

 

 

 

What is Mercury Glass you say????

According to what I found out "mercury glass" is also known as "silver glass" because the original process created in the 1800's used a silver nitrate solution in a double sided blown glass item that was then sealed. This created a mirrored effect on the piece.  (And  I always thought it meant they used actual mercury sandwiched between the glass.)  Nowadays they, and us DIYers, just used the mirror glass paint to create the effect.  much simpler.  But I will collect original mercury glass as there are still some pieces to find in antiques stores for a price.

 

 

This is what I found out about how to DIY it.......

 

You can only use Krylon's "mirror glass" paint as other shiny or metallic paints are not for creating a mirrored effect. I found that Michael's Stores do not carry it anymore, neither does Home Depot, but I found it at Walmart. 

 All you do is spray the inside of the object with short bursts of the paint.  Continously shake the can. Try to keep it an even spray, but no worries if you dont as the uneveness enhances the aged effect.  I spray my pieces about 7 layers. Let it dry between layers. you can do more or less, its your project.  Then when its completely dry, spray or drip vinegar onto the painted surface as much or as little as you want.  Let that stand for a few minutes. Then gently wipe it off.  I found the edge of a paper towel work best for small areas. You can also rub off areas with your dry fingers to give it a worn look. and Thats it!!!!  Simple.   And so beautiful. 

 

I bought a few glass votive candle holders to experiment on and I love the way they turned out. I found the Dollar Stores have a great selection of glass vases and candle holders that you can create beautiful mercury glass effects on for a few pennies a piece. Or you can use any glass item you have in your home already that you can paint on the inside.  The photos above are 6 votive candle holders I found at the Dollar Store. The paint itself is about $8 a can, so for $14 I have 6 beautiful mercury glass votive holders. I did find that the paint does not go on as well as I thought it would on smaller items. I had to spray more times at short bursts than told, as the spray from the paint blasted the paint off the surface a little easier than thought it would.  But I accomplished my look after finessing with the paint.  It all turned out good in the end. 

Happy New Year to All

I hope everyone had a great New Year.  It's good to be back to work.  I have opened a 2nd Etsy store called Christmas Everlasting.http://www.christmaseverlasting.etsy.com  It will showcase and sell my original Christmas woodcuts, ornaments  and patterns of my favorite christmas art for you to create.  This is something that I have wanted to do for many years and now have the opportunity to do it.

View more gifts at Zazzle.

Merry Christmas to all

 

Merry Christmas to all my Family and Friends, May we all find Comfort and Joy.

 

Our Christmas tree for 2012

 

 

 

Twinkle lights just seem to appear in my yard this time of year.

 

MY LOVE TO ALL.......

Life takes me on all types of journeys.  As one of my favorite saying goes.......
..........LIFE IS A JOURNEY NOT A GUIDED TOUR!..........But I always come back to the art.  Still selling coffee though.
WELL to update you, I have a new online store at ZAZZLE.COM.  www.zazzle.com/linsartwork   Go check it out.  Products for everyone.  T-Shirts, Sweatshirts, Greeting cards,electronic covers, and a whole lot more....Go and see. tap on the Mother's Day Box and see.