Not your ordinary day at the office

My sister paints does decorative painting, faux techniques and murals. I got to work on a large mural recently - a great experience. The finished piece is about 10" high by 18' long, painted along a walk way beside a large storage barn. The fellow who commissioned it is a semi-retired builder whose specialty is building bridges. Working outside in the wonderful weather we've had lately is too cool. I hope to do this again!




Tom the cat was on site everyday to check progress. He is now immortalized in the mural!!












This little guy is awesome.
He crawled over to the paper
towels for a cushy nap, then
crawled up the mural.


He is above the dog and slightly
to the right. He was still there
when we left around 7 p.m.
I guess he digs art!

Old Fashion Fun

Last week I had a little workshop at my local branch of the library, We made simple clothespin dolls and gave them painted apple heads. The class was originally to be ages 12 and up, but as these things often go, the class ended up consisting of 7 children between the ages of 8 and 13. It was a little chaotic but fun. These were my samples:




It's a little hard to see, but the dolls have hinged legs and arms.


Each doll uses 3 clothes pins, either the flat or round type (not the spring hinges ones!). I chose to paint the dolls like apple fairies, but two off the kids painted theirs to be pumpkin heads which looked really cool. I need to get a camera for these classes!

Some people knit, some build houses!

Here is my brother's current project - he's renovating a little house for his son, Randy. The whole family is involved with Dad acting as contractor, Mom as coordinator, sister Jenn and her hub Mike providing labor along with all of Randy's buddies and main squeeze, Kelly.The grandparents have been down several times to help. The girls and I stopped by last week to check out the progress and to visit the guard kitties, Oreo and Snowflake, who are staying at the house. It's very exciting to see this sweet house take shape. It's about 900 sq. ft. now. It's going to be a comfortable place! When they took off the roof you could see the first roof and where the front half of the current house had been added. Soon a big front porch will be added - perfect for fall rocking'.



Here are the girls
trying out the tractor
used to grade the
front yard.






It's wonderful to know the history of a place, and this one is close to the heart. The house reno was started by Bob's best friend, Chris. There is a lot of history here.







Chris's grandmother used to live in the house, back when it was just a little bitty 2 room cabin. Someone added 2 more rooms and a back porch. Chris passed away earlier this year, so I guess it's a little bittersweet, but an act of love is never wasted.