Monday, September 15, 2008

Fun with Paint

Sitting here with a big smile on my face after watching Good Morning America on its Whistle Stop Tour in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. James Taylor and Yo-Yo Ma performing "Sweet Baby James" on the front porch of the Red Lion Inn. It just does not get any better than that!

I spent a LOT of hours finishing the paint job on the kitchen...all done! It is all gleaming with light-colored walls and glossy mouldings. I paid dearly for my idle boast the other day about not spilling a drop on the floor...when I was doing the darker color below the chair rail, I got a LOT of paint on the floor. I attribute the messy painting to my assistant. Do you know him? His first name is Mickey. His middle name is Lobe. His last name is Light. Often helps me when I am doing something I do not enjoy! But I don't care, because that floor is going away very soon, I hope. I miss my peacock blue wall, but I am getting used to the lighter color. At first I hated the darker beige on the bottom. When I applied the first coat, it looked just like the only color I did not like in the old 64-color Crayola Crayon box..."flesh." Actually, the top color is called "Shortbread," and the bottom is "Adobe Tan." In the morning light, my kitchen looks like a big butter mint. At the bottom of the picture, you can just see the top of my dog's head. She was on Squirrel Watch, her constant assignment. There was a big one hanging upside down on the bird feeder.


While DH was up in the mountains doing what he loves best in the world, and I was home doing what I do not love at all, I decided to grab a couple hours of "me" time and play with my paints and inks a bit. I tried out the new Neocolor II watercolor crayons to bring out the quilted motifs in my little pink trapunto quilt. This was so easy, and the colors are gorgeous! I did not apply any water at all, just got out my crayons and colored. It has been heat-set with an iron. I am going to love these crayons!
I also did a little experimenting. Here I randomly applied Neocolor that I did not heat-set, just ran under the faucet full strength. There is still some color remaining, and you can still see the outlines such as the flower and the stripes in the pink, but LOTS of color ran down the drain.


Here is another sample, not heat-set. On the left I had drawn some green leaves. Everything washed out. Lesson learned!


Here is a study showing the colored areas before applying water, and the same stripes of color after applying water with a fan brush. What a difference!



Today I will do a little more packing up of things for the flooring project, and then off to do a little shopping...WITH my wallet this time.

5 comments:

Vicki W said...

I think the second part of your painting day looked much more fun thant he first part - but they both look great!

Lynn Majidimehr said...

The Neocolor experiments are interesting, I've been wondering if watered down textile medium and then heat setting would make them permanent. I'll have to do some of my own experimenting soon.

Lynn Majidimehr said...

Hi Jeanne, I just nominated your blog for an award. The announcement and details are on my blog.

Susan Loftin said...

Those Neocolor crayons look like way too much fun! I'll have to try them out.
I have awarded you the "Kreativ Blogger Award". Check out my blog at http://sunrisequiltstudio.blogspot.com for the details.
Susan

Cathie said...

I guess you haven't visited my blog in a while or else you would know that we've been doing the same things lately. We're taking a break this weekend and going over to the mountains while family is her dog sitting for us. Our trip the other weekend was cancelled due to the hurricane and we are riding the Harley - so that wouldn't work!

I love the Neocolors - Fannie uses those. What a wonderful painterly effect you get with those crayons. I must try them. Your "not so fun" painting project came out wonderful. Love those colors.