In case any of you missed yesterdays post, July is World Watercolour Month. You can find out more about this, here:- Doodlewash <—click. The challenge is to paint a watercolour a day for the month of July. Now I know I won’t be able to paint a watercolour every day, but I’m going to try my hardest to paint as many days as possible and share them on the blog here.
Yesterday was a pot of Auriculas. Today is the turn of … Petunia Pig.
Petunia is a folky sort of girl, a Gloucestershire Old Spot (a pedigree pig) – who has a love of grass and any thing she can eat in order to keep her fine figure.
Petunia, with all her brothers and sisters, and her mummy.
Aw, enough of me waffling. I shall share Petunia with you … She’s painted in watercolours, on 140lb watercolour paper, and she’s in ATC/ACEO size – so just 2.5″ x 3.5″.
July 2017 Watercolour Challenge PETUNIA PIG #WorldWatercolorGroup
No longer the baby … she’s a big girl now. 😀
Hope your Sunday was peaceful and that you found something to smile about. Have a lovely rest of your day!
About 12’ish’ years ago I made myself a paper mache bird house for the corner of my bedroom. I painted it; crackle glazed the roof; hand painted vines around it; sealed it and then I wrapped a length of Ivy around it and secured it in place. I never got to hang that bird house because when my mother saw it, she loved it so much that she claimed it for her own bedroom!
So … I made another one. That one ‘walked’ too – this time to a friend. I made another, and kept it. But word had got out and by the time I’d finished … I must have ended up making around 20 or so of these darling bird houses. I even made myself a couple more … one for my conservatory and another for my living room –it hid the CCTV camera inside it!.
Then three years ago I moved home (down-sized) and decided that I would only bring one of those little bird houses with me. So I gave two away and chose the Geranium one I’d made, to keep ….. in fact … this one ….
Yes … that’s the one. Hanging on my door, right there. ↑People who have come to my cottage where I live now, and seen it, have always commented and admired it, – but one person – … my fabulous parcel delivery lady – (who has become a friend) – said she really liked it and was trying to work out how I’d made it. Here’s a close up …
… now – to be brutally honest… it’s a little tired looking now. I mean to say … it’s actually about twelve years old and has gone through many things in its little life, so it’s not as ‘freshly made’ and perky looking as it used to be – but I love it. I love it hanging on my front door during the early summer days, welcoming people as they arrive. (The front door is under cover and very well protected – & doesn’t get any rain on it – so I knew it would be pretty safe hanging there.)
After my parcel lady had said she liked it, I said, to Mr. Cobs, that I thought I still had “a bird house waiting for painting, ‘somewhere’ – but goodness knows where!” (I still have boxes in my loft that I haven’t unpacked from the house move 3 whole years ago!!! Please don’t judge me. – I never said I was brilliant or anything near it!).
After some searching, the wonderful Mr. Cobs found it! (give that man a medal, I hear you cry!). I decided that I’d make my parcel lady a bird house as a surprise. I got to work and, for the first time ever, I made a Roses bird house. But ... I couldn’t find a little bird for the perch. I searched… I checked out florists, craft supplies … everything I could think of, but no luck. So I decided to use the only thing I had – a little resin bird, in a gentle pinky colour, to match the roses. I gave the bird house to her a couple or so weeks ago, and thought that now the surprise was ‘out of the bag’, I could share it with you.
So, dear reader, I present to you …. The Roses Bird House for Tweety Pie (well, no, not quite. It was for my parcel lady to be precise – but you know what I mean! lol).
the left hand side
In the photo directly above, you can see the crackle glazed roof, and the little hanging loop over to the left, at the back (top) of the roof. However – if you make a loop of wire, for something to be hung on the wall etc – try to make sure that you ‘cushion’ the wire against something – (I used a leaf on this bird house) – so that the wire doesn’t damage any painted surface or wallpaper you have on the wall.
the right hand side
It was such a delight to do a ‘blast from the past’ crafty make again. It was as if time had rewound itself and I magically found myself back in time, twelve to fourteen years ago – and crafting in ways I’d forgotten I used to do. It was a really sweet, memorable time in my craft room, and I absolutely loved it. Memories of my mother; old friends who my heart misses; our girls when they were younger; teachers at the school where I used to help out; people I’ve known but have now sadly passed on; others who I’ve lost touched with – like ships that pass in the night. So many memories, and all so precious to my heart. It kind of almost felt like a friend who I hadn’t seen for years and years, had suddenly visited me out of the blue, and we’d sat together going over old times, laughing together, remembering together. Awww, just wonderful! ❤
I hope you like the bird house as much as I do. I was kind of sad to give it away. It had bought back such wonderful memories as I crafted with it and it had left me all warm and snuggly inside. But … it was for my lovely parcel lady – so I knew it was going to a great home.
Have you crafted with paper mache at all?Would you like to? You don’t have to actually make the paper mache item – there are hundreds of ready-made paper mache things which can be bought pretty cheaply at hobby stores. You get to use your imagination to decorate them and go mad with paint effects, papers, adornments, twiddly bits and crafty joy! If you haven’t tried it yet, give it a ‘go’. You never know … you might just find out that you love it. Oh … and if you have little ones on school summer holiday/break – this is something they’ll love to do! Paint, papers, glue … even coloured magazine pages would be great to stick to the ‘object’ using PVA glue.
Thank you so much for coming to spend a few minutes with me. I’m totally thrilled that you do. Please feel free to leave comments. I love hearing from you.
Oh, before I go … Since this post is about a Home for Tweety Pie, I really should bring him in on the post:
I’ve done something crafty which is a bit different from my ‘normal’ and I hope you find this post an enjoyable read.
Where I live there are a small handful of local shops: Somewhere to buy newspapers and a few groceries; a pet store; a charity shop; and a ‘Store 21’. (That’s what it’s called). Now I love all of these shops. They’re just down the road from my home and although I don’t visit them all that often, when I do visit, I always come home with something that I’m excited about.
Last time I visited Store 21 (about a month or so ago) I picked up something in their sale. It was a little pale brown box with a hinged lid, and a clear, viewing glass window within the lid. It was really cheap – something like 99p (about $1.45 for USA folks) – and the size was perfect for the tools I use at my craft desk, over and over and over again, alllll the time.
Four different types of tweezers: 2 different needle nose tweezers; a pair of flat end tweezers; and a pair of slanted (eyebrow plucking) tweezers. A Tim Holtz pick. A paper edge ruffer upper (I have no idea what they’re really called but I like my description. lol). Eraser, pens, small scissors – and one or two other bits and pieces.
If I move onto another desk, I have to take all this junk important equipment, with me, so when I saw the little box I thought it was a great way of having everything stored in one place and easily ‘moveable’. So I bought it.
It’s worked brilliantly. I’ve loved it. But it wasn’t originally designed for this purpose. It was meant to be for spare change. It actually had the word: ‘COINS‘ in wood, attached to the front.
On Saturday I sat at my desk wondering what to make … and my eye wandered over my desk. “I wonder if I could get that ‘COINS’ off that box without damaging the box?” I thought to myself. No sooner was the thought, a deed. I took my little flat nose tweezers and gently eased the end of one side behind the ‘S’ …. “oooo, it’s coming away!” … . . . . . . {c.r.a.c.k.} … “aaah nuts. It’s broken. Ah well, I’ve started now so I’ve got to get the rest off”.… and in I went with the tweezers again … pushing, easing, moving, wiggling . . . until eventually the whole of the word had parted company with the box.
I sat back and looked at the result. (and sighed) . . . Well now it just looked sad. It was a box without a purpose. I suddenly felt really guilty about robbing it of its identity.
“Well I’m going to have to do something about you now, aren’t I!” – I told the box.
I should say that at this point I was at a loss at what to do with the little (sad-looking) box.
Napkin it?No.
Cover it with decorative tissue paper?No.
Turn it into something amazing with some Graphic 45 papers and some paper flowers & adornments?No.
I knew there was only one option .. paint it.
I decided on folksy/country-style – (which has always been my favourite to be honest) – so, that decided – I thought I’d keep it simple because the box was too small for anything fancy.
I totally forgot to take a photograph of the box before I began this ‘change’, but I did remember just after I applied a coat of Gesso, so here I am, offering you a sequence of photos, with captions, on:-
. . . The Doing Up of the Little Bitty Box.
The broken ‘COINS’. I’m showing you the inside of the box so that you can see what the colour originally was before I began throwing paint around.All that junk … {cough} I mean the important equipment you see up in that corner there … that’s all the stuff which lives in the Little Bitty Box.The Gesso attacked the poor defenceless Little Bitty Box and made it ‘white’ (ish)So … what are you going to paint on this box then?Want to see a bit more of the madness on my desk? (And this is just one of four desks I have in my craft room. I love this one … It’s deep and loooong)Oooooo errr! Cream paint on top of the Gesso. Red paint around the tops and bottom of the box. Green paint up the corners. What’s next I wonder?Well who would have guessed that this dope would have put checker board pattern on this little box? Does she not know that she has stupid fingers and can’t draw a straight line, let alone paint one!Ok .. done the front and one side and it doesn’t look tooooo bad …. but she’s got two other sides to go. This is a car crash waiting to happen. Any second now she’s going to drop that paint brush and paint will go everywhere!. {snigger}Time to do the back …Well knock me down with a feather. She’s done it! checker board on all four sides!But wait a minute …. what’s she up to? What on earth is that blob all about?What on earth is that? Is it a cloud? A marshmallow? Cotton wool ball?Ohhh … it’s a folksy country-style Sheep! I wonder why she decided on a sheep?She’s stuck bits of sticky backed felt to the bottom of the box so that it doesn’t scratch her glass mats.Finally …. in its rightful place, with all those tools tucked snug inside it. That little bitty box has lived in that space since the day it came home. Works perfectly!
The sheep? … I painted that because there are these teeny-weeny sheep all around my craft room. Hidden in little spots. (There’s even one which glows in the dark). They’re not ‘my‘ sheep. They belonged to my daughter who collected little sheep, anywhere she found them, when she was younger, and now, (that she’s ‘grown up’) they’ve all gathered in my craft room and are keeping me company. They make me smile. Apart from the glow in the dark one. He totally freaks me out when I turn the light off at night-time, and glance around the room to see if there are any ‘standby’ lights still on, in case I’ve forgotten to turn something off. (normally the printer). There he stands … glowing like a tiny green fluffy cloud with a black face and green glowing smiley eyes. FREAKY is an understatement!
Aw .. but anyhooo ….Thank you so much for coming and spending a bit of fun time with me and my little bitty box.(Yes I really do call it that). I have to admit that it’s left me feeling that I want to paint something else now! I know that ‘painting’ is a bit of a ‘different from the normal’ type of thing for me to be posting on my blog, … but I hope you’ve had a smile at the pictures and their captions. ‘Make room for some fun in your life’ is my motto … and there’s ALWAYS room for fun!
I love to hear from you so please feel free to tap a comment out on your keyboard. I love to get to know everyone who’s visiting. I don’t always comment back, because I like to think that your comment will show up over to the right here (in the last ten comments section) and give you some free advertising for your own blog. If I comment, then it puts my comments over there → – and you don’t need to see my comments … you need other visitors to see yours so that they come and have a look around your blog. But … I read every single comment without fail, and I do respond if there is a question you want to ask. So ask away and I promise to reply to questions.
But anyway, for now … I wish you an excellent day!
The Art of Cobwebs 