Cemetery Hill on a Lazy Susan

My Lazy Susan is finished.

For the past couple of days I rushed home from work and sat down at my desk to paint. I didn't clean. Laundry is still in the hamper. I ate bread and snacks all week for I didn't go grocery shopping. Phone was left unanswered.
I just put music on and painted. I would love to come home to one of these houses. Alas, my home is an apartment in a large block of apartments but a girl can dream.

The trees are turning golden in the crisp cool air of fall. I added some tombstones around each house.

And all the houses got details going on. Wooden boards and window panes.

Some effective shadowing and a gate to the neighboring cemetery. They say those are the quietest of neighbors.

And bats are patrolling the sky in search of pesty little bugs.


I enjoyed painting it but I feel it took me way too long. If I want to do this to make a happier living and reduce my hours at the dayjob I really really need to speed things up.

It is a shame that there are only 24 hours in a day. From those 24 hours most of it is spend on sleeping and work. But I pledge, I vow that by this time next year I will work less hours at my day job and more hours in my livingroom studio. I just have to.

And now it is Saturday. Blissful Saturday. I have so many things lined up to do.... but that is for my next post.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend. Be joyful in whatever you do :)

My creative juices are flowing again.

Wow, I am feeling so very much alive. I'm seeing bright colors, and looking at people, buildings, cars etc when I cycle I see the light and shade of each thing I see. I am looking through painters eyes.

Nooooooo, I have not taking a happy pill.
No, I am not on drugs, nor did I have a drink.

Since participating in this E-course I am feeling so much wonderful energy of every "classmate", it's just bouncing of my screen. Every one of them is so damn talented, I feel very humble being apart of this amazing group.
And amazing enough, everytime I login to our private Facebook page the group seems to grow in numbers. Right now our group is 414 Flyers strong.
414 people who inspire me! From all over the world. This is an amzing experience!

Because of this I have started a new Halloween painting:

The first layer is up and also went in with some details:

Not by a long shot this is finished soon but I love it that I started it. I have had a creative block for so long, I was worried if it would ever come back.

And... because I can never work on 1 project alone I started on a new Lazy Susan as well:

I am feeling energized.

Being watched ...

Four years ago I did a creative art study and one of the classes was etching. It was a lot of fun to do and despite being with 16 students and only one press we all went home with one finished artwork. I got ink all over my hands that didn't come off for over a week. I hate having my hands get dirty or sticky or something like that (my boss was none too pleased with it either).But the end result was really nice and I really wanted to do more. But we only had the one lesson and that was that.

For the past few months this art class was going through my mind over and over again and I had so many ideas for etchings that I thought I would search the internet for a second hand press (or with my budget a third hand or even older then that) and saw an ad for a workshop for dry etching in my city. I called straight away for information and got the details on how much, where, how long etc. It was only a 40 minute bike ride from where I live, the price was really acceptable and it would be for 4 hours. Ok, sign me on I said. 3 weeks later I went over, had a really enjoyable afternoon. I took some drawings with me and one of them I etched on a small zinc plate, inked them (and did not get my hands too messy) and in the end went home with one good print.

I enjoyed that very much so I made a new appointment for a new workshop a month later. Before that time I went to a art supply shop and bought my own zinc plates, and some special thick plastic. A special etch pen I already had for mthe art class way back when. At home I made a template for a coffin and traced that on paper. I also traced it on the thick plastic and cut them out. On paper I sketched some scenes and traced them on the plastic.

On the second workshop I made prints from my etchings and took them home. Once dry I colored them in with watercolor. From the first one I had 2 good prints. I named them:

Being Watched I

and the dark blue one is

Being Watched II

And here is a pic that shows the bare etch on the left and nr II just being colored in with watercolor.

And here is another in between pics.

I have 12 more prints to color in so I'd better get busy. The next printing will be November 19th and I want to have these finished and have a large zinc plate etched before then.

Lazy Susan

Last year I went to Ikea and purchased 10 Lazy Susan's with the idea to paint them with halloween images. I started with one and only worked on it in the beginning. Then other projects got my attention and the lazy susan was left in the cupboard ....forgotton and alone. Till in the first days of March of this year I told myself to finish the thing or get rid of it (basicly I needed more space in the projects area). So I did finish it and I want to show you the finished product form start to finish:

I first selected 5 of my favorite houses and put them together on a sheet to have the details with me while I painted.

Then I sanded the top of a lazy susan and gave it a background of warm yellow and orange. I then sketched the 5 houses with more or less the same distance between them.

Next in line was to add color to the houses. I never paint the houses the original color, I like to add a personal touch. And in my mind on this block (circle) the houses have these colors.

Then I added some roofs. Very essential item to have on a house. And I decided that they'd all have a low stone wall.

I then landscaped the gardens and forests behind the houses. Also the road and steps were added.

I then added a few more coats of paint to the houses and did some more layers of landscaping... added some rocks to the walls and gave it some real lawns and some trees that really stand out.

Some more detailing to the houses, and added some fences, some pumpkins, gravestones, bats and outside lights. And voila..... one painted Lazy Susan. I still need to give it a couple of protective coats of clear varnish but when that's done.... pass the ketchup please.