A Planet Named Janet

Animal Stackers on the Wall, Purdy paint brushes and curtains.

noreply@blogger.com (Janvangogh) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:19:00 +0000

The Animal Stackers painting fits perfectly in this spot. My daughter is currently 6 months pregnant and they only just finished installing hardwood floors by themselves the week before I arrived. They did a really nice job.

While at my daughter's, they wanted the nursery painted. Carribean green was their color choice. It took 4 coats of paint. 1 coat of white to cover the initial wall color that had patches of green test paint all over. 1 coat of carribean green mixed with some white. Then 2 coats of carribean green itself. And 4 times to cut in along the molding and ceiling.

When we went to pick up the paint, I picked up a brush for cutting in. I just happened upon the Purdy XL Dale paintbrush. I am in love with the brush and bought a couple to bring home with me. It made cutting in sooooo easy. Even in the very corners where the molding came together.
My daughter also requested I make curtains. Unfortunately I was painting when she went to the fabric store. The white cotton, crinkly satin chocolate brown, and dark brown wide wale corduroy was a bit of a challenge to put together. Did manage to at least make them functional.

The painting on the wall is by Gary Simon. I picked it up at the Unforgettable Art fundraiser for the Alzheimers Association in Rockford last spring. The plant in the corner is a money plant. Supposedly safe to eat any part of it. The cats were eyeing it when they brought it home.

Animal stackers -- done, I think.

noreply@blogger.com (Janvangogh) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:40:00 +0000

Pending approval, I do believe I am done for the most part.

Nearing completion of Animal Stackers.

noreply@blogger.com (Janvangogh) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:31:00 +0000

Made changes again. Decided that the animals got lost on the blue diamonds in the background, so lighten them some. May end up lightening them some more, but for now I am okay with them.

Warmed up the pink in the elephant to that of the flamingo and started cleaning up the blanket. At this point I am planning on whatever pattern to include orange - maybe just a big star. Blocked in a bird on the elephant trunk, a mouse in the cheetah's paw and a chicken on top of the alligator. Yet to sketch in a frog. Planning to put it on top of the flamingo or monkey, or maybe both.

Finalizing some decisions on Animal Stackers

noreply@blogger.com (Janvangogh) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:23:00 +0000

Done painting for the day. Added spots to the cheetah and cleaned up the lines around most of the animals. Started on the elephants blanket. Got some correcting to do on the black and white border. Not sure what kind of a pattern I will use on the blanket. Also have a few more creatures to add to the stack.

Yet another change to Animal stackers

noreply@blogger.com (Janvangogh) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 03:19:00 +0000

While I liked the soft colors of the diamonds in the background in the previous progresses, I was not happy with how they went with the other colors that were developing. I thought that I needed to darken the blue. Didnt care for that. But whitening the pale cream diamonds made the difference. And you will also note that I changed the elephant to pink.

Filling in color in Animal stackers

noreply@blogger.com (Janvangogh) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 03:17:00 +0000

Filled in the colors of the monkey and flamingo. By this time I have also already started to change the giraffe to brighter colors.

Changing mind again on Animal Stackers.

noreply@blogger.com (Janvangogh) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 03:14:00 +0000

Have now changed my mind yet again and removed the clouds. Because I have put the monkey on top of the giraffe and not hanging from the tree, I felt I needed to balance the composition. So have added a flamingo on top of the meerkat's head.

Additions to Animal Stackers

noreply@blogger.com (Janvangogh) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 03:11:00 +0000

For some reason I thought I should put clouds in the background. In the process of working out the colors.

Animal Stackers yet another change

noreply@blogger.com (Janvangogh) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 03:09:00 +0000

I did not like the sky in the previous progress. So opted to make soft diamonds. I dry brushed while the diamonds were still wet and added some white if there wasnt quite enough paint.

Stackers progress

noreply@blogger.com (Janvangogh) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 21:19:00 +0000

Decided to put a blanket on the elephant so I could add some other colors to separate it from the hippopotamus. Didnt like the alligator looking off to the right on the first sketch. So traded places with him and the cheetah and make him look a bit more forward. Also decided to squeeze a zebra in between the two as I was planning to either use black & white checks in the bed or border of the elephant blanket.

New stackers

noreply@blogger.com (Janvangogh) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:51:00 +0000

My daughter asked me to do a painting like the Animal Stackers painting I had done before for the nursery. But she wanted some different animals.

Just getting started. It is going to be approx 12x33. Not sure I like the alligator looking off the canvas. So will probably turn him around somehow.

With the recent saturation of the Christmas song about a hippopotamus I am not sure why I havent done a painting of one before this. So will probably make this one available as a print or giclee once it is completed.

Dining room curtains and light fixture

noreply@blogger.com (Janvangogh) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:35:00 +0000

More curtains from Walmart panels.

Because the shorter panels are a vertical stripe, I decided to run the stripes horizontally at the bottom for contrast -- not likely that I would be able to match up the stripes otherwise to extend the length. This way, I only had to buy two extra panels instead of double the amount for the living room. Each of the tab panels cost $13. So I thought that was not too bad a deal.

I am not sure I have them high enough. So plan to do that by either by raising the bracket, running a stitch along the top of the tab pocket, or maybe just sew up a scarf so it is all closer to the ceiling.

My husband also installed the new lighting fixture from Costco. It only cost $75. Have seen similar ones at Home Depot and Lowes for twice that. It probably could be hung a little higher, but better to start out too low than too high. Will just need to remove a few chain links to do that.

I find you attractive -- New Innocent Spam

noreply@blogger.com (Janvangogh) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:53:00 +0000

Been thinking it has been awhile since the last Innocent Spam. This one was pretty simple.

For those of you who are new readers, Innocent Spam are drawings inspired from my email spam folder -- Wouldnt it be nice if all spam were innocent? The complete series is on my website.

Just bought a rug.

noreply@blogger.com (Janvangogh) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 13:54:00 +0000

I just bought this rug from Overstock.com

Rugs are 15% off plus I had a 10% off Omail coupon.

Day 5 progress -- Loper tradition painting class

noreply@blogger.com (Janvangogh) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 20:08:00 +0000

Progress from today's class.

Focused on correcting things. Below is a photo from last week for comparison. Today's image looks brighter than last week. I dont attribute that to changes in the painting as much as just different lighting.

I think I worked on everything except for the small pitcher to the left.

Next week we start with a live model, who will only be there for 3 sessions due to scheduling. Then back to tweaking the still lifes for the last two weeks.

Living room curtains

noreply@blogger.com (Janvangogh) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 17:55:00 +0000

"Finished" the curtains for the living room the other day.

They are almost 9 feet long and are a bit more spruce green than appears in the photo. Found them at Walmart of all places. No, not 9 foot ones, but standard 7 foot ones. I bought an extra set and cut off the bottom end with the stripes and sewed them to the bottom each panel -- you can tell by the wider brown stripe in the middle of the stripes.

I was going to have just the panels on either side, but they kept on slipping back to the middle because the curtain rod was too small. So it was either get a new rod -- which I was really hesitant to do cause I HATE to put up hardware --, get or create tiebacks, come up with some sort of stopper to put on the curtain rod to hold them back, or create some valances to put between. Seeing as I had all those extra panels that I had scavenged the bottoms from, I thought that the valances would be the easiest thing to do.

Day 4 progress Loper class

noreply@blogger.com (Janvangogh) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 16:21:00 +0000

Progress from yesterday's class. Worked on the pitcher and the background.

Got the canvas covered. Also put in the dark lines

Now my challenge is going to be to fix it. I need to find the lightest light. The darkest dark is just inside the lip of the pitcher. I see that I need to adjust some of the other darks in the background. If you look at the photo below, you will see just how much darker the inside of the lip of the pitcher is compared to the "black" dress on the image in the tray in the background.

I also need to warm up the cloth below the glass grapes. As you can see in the pitcher photo, the green of the glass is much more intense and cooler that the cloth.

Kims Magic Pop and Whipped Cream

noreply@blogger.com (Janvangogh) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 19:38:00 +0000

My new favorite treat. Kim's Magic Pop snack cakes and whipped cream. I dont want to know how many calories are in the whipped cream. After all, there are only 15 in the snack cake so that means there must be no calories in the whipped cream.

BTW, a plate really isnt necessary. It is best eaten with broken pieces of another snack cake which are used to smooth out the whipped cream.

Day Three - Loper Tradition Class

noreply@blogger.com (Janvangogh) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:15:00 +0000

Progress on day three.

Worked mainly on the left side and the bottom. I am not happy with how much pthalo green I am using. Think next week I will work to warm up the green cloth. Also very frustrated with the pitcher. The colors kept on changing. Arrgh.

Here is a better photo of the still life I am painting from.

Another photo of Bonnie. Plus Tom, who has been in other classes with me.

I told Bonnie that I had posted her photo on my blog from last week. Obviously she did not kill me.

Day Two -- Loper Class

noreply@blogger.com (Janvangogh) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 18:10:00 +0000

Progress on the second day of class.

Last week I mentioned I might paint the base color of each item, its predominant complimentary color. I didnt really choose that color too carefully, but definitely wanted it to be on the other side of the color wheel from the main colors. I worked mainly on the glass grapes and the apple. Kind of liking the effect. Still not happy with how sometimes the paint can be too transparent -- especially when trying to cover with a complimentary color -- as it looks a little on the brown side. Guess I will correct that in the coming weeks.

I have been taking classes with Al for over a year now. Every class has new students and a couple of the students have been in other classes with me. Bonnie is one who has been painting with Al for a long time. I am the only one who takes photos of my progress, so Bonnie had to get in on this photo.

She will probably shoot me when I tell her I posted her photo on my blog.

Bathroom valance

noreply@blogger.com (Janvangogh) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:00:00 +0000

Have been on a quest to find valances for my bathroom windows. I struggled to find any that would go with the Glidden Dapper Tan that I had painted on the walls. It tended to look like an antique peachy tan. When I couldnt find anything to make, I thought, why not paint some white valances with the paint from the wall? But then I didnt find white valances I liked.

Then I decided I could see some using linens. Was hoping to find a bedskirt as it would be pre-hemmed. But didnt find one I could use. Ended up finding one shower curtain at TJMaxx.

It even has colors that can be found in the Bernard Buffet print I have in the room. I am planning to put a white mat on it to help it stand out a bit from the wall.

I used to sew quite alot in the past. But only do it now if absolutely necessary. I added a couple of pleats which are a bit hard to distinguish in the photo. Not completely happy with them. But for now, they are good enough.

Back to class

noreply@blogger.com (Janvangogh) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 20:31:00 +0000

At the last minute Wednesday night, I decided I would return to Al Staszesky's Loper Tradition painting class at the Delaware Art Museum in Wilmington. Our grandchild will be born the first part of next year, so figured I might not have as much time to take classes then.

There were three still life set ups to chose from and I decided on this one. The photo is blurry as it was taken a bit farther away.

If you have been following my painting progress in the past, note that I decided to go with a white background and outlined the objects with a dark paint. Using acrylics again. I am not sure I like the white base and am contemplating filling in each object with the compliment to its predominant color as a base color. I decided to use up the paints on my palette at the end of the class and kind of fill in the objects.

I chose this still life because I didnt want to deal with a "white" backdrop. Well, I struggled with the "black" in the image in the background on the tray. I definitely need to get back in the grove of painting this way. The darkest dark is in the inside lip of the pitcher. So I need to take that into account when I go back and work on that "black".

What a lucky little girl

noreply@blogger.com (Janvangogh) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 12:00:00 +0000

From MLB.com

Phillies dad a hit with parents all over.

Every time I watch the video, all I can say is what a lucky little girl Emily Monforto is to have such a loving parent.

Kim's Magic Pop

noreply@blogger.com (Janvangogh) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 19:56:00 +0000

I have become a fan of Kim's Magic Pop snacks.

They make and carry them at the ShopRite store where I grocery shop. They have a machine out on the grocery store floor that at first glance looks like it could be some sort of popcorn machine. I havent watched the whole process, but each pop comes off the end of the machine with a loud pop. You can see one in action in this video.

They are not unlike a rice cake, but flatter and larger. The plain ones have a slightly sweetened taste. I see on this website that they are also made in other flavors like ginseng and green tea.

I bought them thinking they would be nice to have with fresh fruit. But have discovered they are REALLY GOOD with whipped cream. Who needs the calories of the puff part of a cream puff -- its the cream we want and these are only 15 calories each!

Thinking about these rugs.

noreply@blogger.com (Janvangogh) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:25:00 +0000

Contemplating this rug or this rug from Overstock.com for my bedroom.