Impressionists in Winter

Part of my new series featuring original acrylic paintings by the great impressionists.  Monet, Pissarro, Van Gogh, etc..  Quick and loose sketches of winter scenes of bare trees and barns and meadows.

Getting ready to list some new paintings I've been working on based on my newest winter landscape ornaments.  They are turning out so darn pretty.  ;)

Yes, I'm still listening to Christmas music but throwing in some Mozart, Blues and Dean Martin as well.  What a mix, anything for inspiration to keep that fluid paint flowing...

Raining again!

I love rainy days.  Drinking hot cocoa and listening to Christmas music (I know, it's a little early in the season) while painting Christmas ornaments for upcoming holiday shows.  We have three that are sneaking up on us and we're not quite ready.  Every day we've been working till late in the evening about 8 pm, just barely enough time to get an hour of t.v. in to relax before bed.  We're both so tired that as soon as we hit the pillow, we're zonked for the night and awaken earlier than ever, 5 am or sometimes as late as 6 am.  That's sleeping in for us these days.  Here's a few samples of my pretty snowy winter landscape Christmas balls in the impressionistic style:

Camping in the Rain

 Look at these cute guys just staring at Michael with the camera.  "Whatcha got there in your hand, Mister?"

While wandering around we saw one of Michael's Blue Heron Weather Vanes someone bought at Janet's shop (The Find) in Petaluma where Michael's things are on consignment.  What a small world.  The couple bought it just two weeks ago!  Isn't that great?  Here we were, just out for a stroll on our wet and windy camping weekend and met a couple that had recently purchased one of his items.  Kind of cool when you think that they got to meet the artist that made it, too.

Dinking Day with Don

Yesterday we spent the day dinking with our friend, Don.  Pam (his wife) flew to Tennessee to visit her cousins for the week and left him home to feed the cats.  They collect stray cats, and have ten!  Perhaps more?

Spent the day in our favorite stomping grounds, Bezerkeley.  As we're driving down some narrow side street, we sighted some amazing creations out of junk.  Stumbled upon a couple of guys that create some pretty wild art.  Here's some pictures to share.  I just love surrounding myself with creative people and gleaning ideas for new things that perhaps I never would have dreamed of.  Wow!  These guys rock.

Some finished and some works in progress.  What's even more amazing is they actually make things that run.  Genius is what they are.  Taught Mike a few things as well that he can apply to his creations.  Welding 101.
It was a very successful day and we came away with some new (old) treasures (junk) from the salvage yards for our work.

Handmade on Etsy by CharmdimSur

Two Scoops Flower Ring by CharmdimSur

And a little bird, simply lovely.

Working

Mike's up early in the morning, he's out in the garage making some cool birdhouses.  I'll be finishing up some jewelry boxes today and starting on some hand painted Christmas ornaments. 

Getting ready for our upcoming shows! 

Apple Valley

We decided to take a Sunday drive to Apple Valley.  Neither of us had been there before and had heard so many good things about it.  First stop:  Black Oak for breakfast; and what a good breakfast it was!

Arrived at Apple Valley about 10:30 with lots of traffic taking off the same exit as us.  Saw some signs for the free shuttle bus, parked the car, signed up, got our brochure and mapped out a plan.  The weather was nice and warm, birds singing,  with lots of people and vendors at each stop.  Michael bought a pretty wind chime for me with different colored shells that make a nice tinkling in the wind.

Along the way on the bus I spied a man selling tin men beside the road.  I got only a quick glimpse but saw about five of them hanging on some apparatus in a neat little row.  Wasn't sure exactly how much further to the next stop it was but we decided to go for it and hike back to purchase a tin man.  Well, we got off at our stop and walked and walked and never spotted the guy.  We walked all the way back to the stop we had first got on which was about a half mile, in the heat.  So we waited for the next bus and as we're driving along slooooowly stuck in traffic I spotted a sign beside someone's driveway:  Tin Men For Sale

So...we asked the driver to drop us off right then and there, which he so nicely did.  :)

Long story short:  Got a tin man for our yard!


See the pretty wind chime?  So pretty!

Whew! We did it!

Spent today having a garage/craft sale at our house and what a fun day it was.  Very successful in that we got rid of a lot of stuff that was not used or needed any longer and also sold some of our crafty type things.

Some memorable events that took place:

We sold a goat and blue heron and two bird houses to a very nice couple, Mike and Carmen, thank you.

A young man came riding by on his bicycle and fell in love with my cow paintings.  He rode all the way home and then called me to see if I still had them.  He rode all the way back to our house and purchased one.  He even brought a towel and a bag to wrap it in.  Such a sweetheart.  Thank you, Everett. 

Our neighbor came by and bought all four of our metal flower sculptures for her yard.  Thank you, Bep.

The cutest brother and sister (young children) came by to look at our things.  They loved my paintings, my pendants and wanted to see my stamp collection.  They are the first people that ever took an interest in wanting to see my stamp collection.  The little boy is a big stamp collector and his sister collects Hot Wheels.  Just darling.    

Altogether, we're so very pleased with how the day turned out.  The weather co-operated as well, it was sunshiny warm.

  This was taken a couple of weeks ago in Tomales Bay.  These two were so cute with their new goats and we feel so happy and blessed when people fall in love with our things we've created and give them a good home.  That's how we feel about today, happy our things have found new homes and nice people to enjoy them.

An unlikely marriage

Here is an old box I found at a sale recently.  I took off the hardware, sanded it down and really wasn't certain what to do with it, just thought it a cool old box to store stuff.  Then, Michael and I were at an estate sale recently and found these antique legs.  The first thing that came to my mind was they'd help make my box a most perfect table.  Voila!  Here it is.  I've painted the box to go with the legs and hand painted a Fleur-de-lis and some swirly designs of my own around the edges.  Gilded the edges to match the legs and found a nice little latch for the table at the salvage yard in Berkeley.

Very happy with how this turned out and will make a nice storage table for a sewing or craft room.  A bedside table or even an end sofa table.

Big Big Day -New Treasures!

One of Mike's customers, Frank, invited us to come and search through his old barns, two of them, to look for old things, whatever we're interested in.  A little history about Frank.  He told me that he's lived on this same farm since he was three years old in 1939.  His family was in the grape growing business.  Wow!  What roots! 

When he opened up the barn doors and we saw what was inside, it was incredible.  I felt like those two guys on that t.v. show, American Pickers!  Stuff was piled on each other, everything jumbled up high we had to climb on who knows what to get a look at things.  We didn't plan very well because neither of us brought a flashlight. 

We came away with tons of old crates from the farm he had, an old lamp, a very old and needs some tender lovin' love seat that was his grandmother's, bunches of knick knacks, dishes, an old stool, an old dart board that needs some work, etc..

On top of all that, Frank picked some apples and tomatoes from his garden for us.  What a dear man he is.  I only wish that we could have met his wife.  She pulled up as we were heading down the driveway.  He did invite us to come back to get more whenever we want.  In fact he's holding onto some old cherry picking signs that wouldn't fit in the truck because we just had too much. 

Next time we go, I'm going to bring my camera and get a snapshot of Frank for you!  ;-)

Camping at Laguna Seca Raceway

Our first time camping at Laguna Seca Raceway.  On Friday night it was a little noisy upon arrival with the few race cars going round and round the track, vroom vroom!  They must quit after 5 pm because it suddenly got quiet.  We had grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner, played cards and watched a movie.  Saturday morning we got an early start and hit some yard sales and thrift stores in Monterey then headed to Carmel by the Sea.  Had a wonderful day browsing shops and even several yard sales on Dolores Street.  Grabbed a deli sandwich and parked at the beach to eat them in the truck, a little too chilly to sit on the beach.  After satisfying ourselves we got out our bikes and rode around town snapping pictures of the pretty gates.  Here's a picture of old truck with a red door I spied that one day might paint a picture of, a gorgeous little tree with bright red leaves and a shot I captured of Michael riding down one of Carmel's lovely streets.   

   After all that, we said goodbye to Carmel by the Sea and drove to Del Monte Center to take in a new movie with Michael Douglas, Wall Street.  A very nice getaway weekend!

Stuff

Boy oh boy, the tacos were delicious as usual, this time I had the fresh Alaskan Salmon.  Yum!
http://finsmarket.com/

I just love this face mask made of leather.  Imagine the hours that must have gone into making this and don't you just wonder who made it and was it modeled after someone they knew?  I think she's lovely.

Spending on average four hours or more in front of the computer working on my new job.  Trying to remember to get up frequently for breaks, stretches, water and snacks, although there's not much in the house in the way of snacks.  Cupboards are as bare as Old Mother Hubbard and at times I feel like an Old Mother Hubbard, knees creaking when I stand up.  Crack, creak, crack.

Almost noon, Michael should be home in a bit.  Then we're heading up to Sacramento to visit my mother, meet our friends for an early dinner at our very favorite place to eat of course.  Fins!  Fish tacos, I might add, the BEST fish tacos you'll ever eat.  If you're ever in Sacramento, you'll want to go have some fresh fish tacos.  Whatever kind of fish you ask for, yes, you can get any kind of fish you want, all fresh, just be sure to order the fish grilled.  You're mouth will water when you take your first bite and you will be back to Fins again after that first bite of love, yes, love.  Guaranteed.

Here's our latest find and treasure, a vintage neon Coors beer sign.  How cool is that?

A long day in the truck.

Let me begin by saying that we got off to a great start this morning.  Michael went on a bike ride while I got some computer work done.  Step one: Check.  After grabbing a banana, we headed out on our Sunday adventure, the both of us excited and anticipating the day ahead.  First stop, Napa.  Spent about an hour at one antique shop, then headed to Sonoma for more treasure hunting.

While still in Sonoma, thank goodness we didn't get too far, Michael realized that he forgot to pack the wine racks for Mary in Tomales Bay.  Mary, owner of The Continental Hotel in Tomales Bay, bought some wine racks for her home, and the whole purpose of this trip was to deliver them to her.  So....we had to drive all the way back home to get them and drive all the way back.  That whole section of our day wasted a little over 2 hours.  Oh well, we made the most of it and still got back in time to Sebastopol to get some more shopping in.  I won't mention the other thing that happened between Napa and realizing that we forgot the wine racks.  It's too depressing to think about.  It's not anything really bad, just something we bought had broken on making it's way to the truck.  Life will go on... 

We did spend a little time with our friends, Ken and Cindy.  Cindy gave us some blackberry jam (yum!) that she made.  I think I'll just have to have a peanut butter and blackberry jam sandwich tomorrow for lunch.

The beginning of a coffee table Mike is going to make: an old pile of wood and a pair of train car axles:

Moving Day

Cathy (Michael's sister) is getting married!  Drove to Alameda to help with her last day of moving and came home with a bunch of stuff to sell, some to keep.  As if we didn't have our truck loaded down enough, we just had to stop off at Urban Ore in Berkeley, one of our absolutely favorite spots to grab recycled things to put to good use.  Did we find more?  Of course!  Some old knobs and knick knacks to use on our mirrored project currently in progress.  Then, driving down San Pablo, what do I spy but an antique store with a gigantic SALE sign in front.  SCREECH!  Find a parking spot double quick!  Found some nice little treasures; more vintage cards for poker pendants, a vintage silver cup made in Spain, and a cute little vintage glass bowl with tin lid.  The owner was very nice, came out to the truck and purchased some of Cathy's things we were loaded down with which was very nice to get some of it out of the way.  Hope to stop off at his shop next time we're in Berkeley.

Here's a picture of our truck when we got home:

  Tomorrow:  Off to Petaluma and beyond for more hunting of treasures...

Big Find!!

Got these last week (very good price) at an antique estate sale.  I'm so psyched about these fabulous finds.  The mannequin had a big (as in BIG) hole in her back along with a bunch of cracks, which I patched up fine with drywall repair tape and some FixAll.  Had some fun mixing paints for the skin tones.  She looks 100% better and I love her.  The hand just needed a stand, which I made for it as well and painted black.  Love those wrinkles, just in time for Halloween.  Creepy and spooky.  Reminds me of Thing from the Adams Family. 

Wednesday Activities

1.  Went to the gym to get my workout in, showered, changed into my messy (paint splashed) work clothes.
2.  Dropped off another shipment.  Yeah!
3.  Came home, grabbed a slice of last night's leftover pizza from Mary's Pizza Shack.  Yum!
4.  Worked on the new wine racks, got those painted and ready for step two.  Worked on two jewelry boxes.  Worked on a new (old) knick knack shelf that I'm refinishing, got it painted and ready for step two.  Came in the house to grab a snack and some more water, I'm hungry and thirsty.  It's now 3pm and where did the day go?  It's time to glue the silver bails onto the very cool pendants that I recently made and can not wait to start listing  on honeystreasures.etsy.com.  They are amongst my favorite and plan on wearing one Queen of Hearts to play cards Friday night. 

...After the gluing is done, I'm back outside (working under the umbrella that Michael put up for me to stay cool) on the previous things mentioned; the step two parts.   Dinner at our friend, BeBee's house tonight.  Pizza again.  Looking forward to seeing her.


5.  Back to work, break over.

Swap Meet in Tomales Bay

Yesterday we spent the day in Tomales Bay at the annual swap meet selling our wares.  The weather was not co-operating with what all the vendors had had in mind.  It was a continual drizzle all morning and into the afternoon, but who's complaining?  Not I.

Our very dear friends drove all the way from Sacramento to hang out with us and we made new acquaintances, sold a bunch of goats, a weather vane, a wine rack and a few other things.  All in all, it was a wonderful day.  Afterward, the four of us drove over to Occidental to our other friends, Ken and Cindy's, house for a little visit and to see their place amongst the vineyards.  How beautiful.  Next time we go, I'll have to get some pictures and post them for you to see.

Cindy showed us a lamp shade that she redesigned and decorated using some paint and shards of broken up glass.  Very cool lady and so creative.  

Here's a sampling of our happy customers and our happy goats who now have a new home:

A new beginning...

Passionate about life is the best way to describe mine and Michael's relationship and our involvement in everything we do.  We never do anything half way and jump in with both feet whenever a new idea gets into one of our crazy heads.

After years of creating things for ourselves to enjoy in our own home, we decided to start a business selling our creations and finds.   We decided that this might be easier for all of us if we have a blog for anyone that might be curious to follow and catch a glimpse of what we're about and our activities! Thank you, as always, for your interest. 

Anyhow, I started this blog to tell you a little bit about what we do, where we go and family, stories, etc..

Michael and Lisa