Karla Nathan – Page 48 – Karla's Cottage

Birthday goodness

By Karla Nathan / June 9, 2021

With puppies coming on my birthday, I have been completely absorbed in furry, cuddly fun. And I forgot to show a couple of beautiful birthday gifts that I was honored to get. I have a painting from Clover, that I am calling, “Our Lady of the Swans” and have her displayed with the Swans from Lesa’s class at our last arty gathering here before the pandemic struck.

The teeny swan was an adornment on top of this overflowing box of delight from my pal, Angie.

Not only is the old, glass box beautiful with its vintage ribbon and silk rose trim, it is filled with timeless treasures.

See what I mean? Filled to the brim with lovely packages, too pretty to open (but I did!)

There were layers of Good Stuff supplies inside that I can’t wait to use, but haven’t yet due to my fuzzy, little friends.

I did pull out some of the frothy, lace hankies to show off on a couple puppies.
This tiny, black pup took on an RBG vibe, didn’t she?

And Miss Daisy looks like a doll baby.

Speaking of dolls, my sweet grand fairy, Clover was so thoughtful to share her artwork with me. That kid has skills!

Before I know it, my time with the babies will be gone and I’ll have plenty of time for crafting. It will be heart wrenching to see them go, so it is helpful to have such delicious goodies to delve into once they are gone, to take my mind off missing them.

Puppy Time

dogs, Goldendoodle Puppies

By Karla Nathan / June 6, 2021

I promise, these guys really do have soft pillows!

But yesterday, they preferred rocks.
It was their first, big day out and they were so into being outdoor dogs, they embraced every aspect of it.

Including using the upside down fire pit as a den. They also discovered it makes a good slide while playing King of the Hill.

But the day wasn’t just about playtime. We got some work done too. Here they are working as hard as they can to master Crate Training.

I put a kennel in their sleeping area and propped the door open for them to crawl in and out. By the time I am ready to shut one in with the door closed, they won’t even notice.

Painting a cement floor entryway

cottage, dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), how-to projects, Kitchen remodel, paintings

By Karla Nathan / June 2, 2021

Years ago, I covered my steps in mosaic, on a whim. Not much planning went into it, and very little skill. My dad was ill, I was waiting to hear his diagnosis, and needed a big project where my fingers were busy, but my mind could wander. I didn’t have a design or the right supplies on hand, I just used what I had, and then had to make runs for more marbles and squares to complete what I’d started.

My dad was a lifelong gardener, and I think the abstract vine pattern just sorta formed itself while thinking of him.

Luckily, it hasn’t fallen apart, at least not too much. Even though it wasn’t done correctly. There are a few tiny cracks in some tiles, and a couple marbles popped out, and were glued back in.
The 100+ year old cement floor by it also had some issues. The paint on it had started to peel.

So I thoroughly scrubbed the floor and while I was at it, I went after the steps with a brush and vinegar and got the tiles to sparkle again. Then, I added a big scoop of plaster of Paris into some exterior latex paint and repainted the floor.

That gives the paint some “tooth” help it adhere to the cement.

I hope that it works, because I got carried away and started to paint vines on the floor to coordinate with the steps. That won’t be an easy patch job if the paint wears off, it will need a total redo.

We are not able to use rugs on the floor here because of this critter, Dorothy happily tinkles on any rug she sees, thinking I generously supplied her with a pee pad.

My design makes this into kind of a painted, pee proof rug.

Yep, I know it’s pretty busy. Especially when you add in the hand painted roses on the wall. But it is a very small space and not visible from the rest of the house.

(by the way, there is only a small window of time when the hooks are not layered four deep in jackets, backpacks, hats, leashes and more, I just did spring cleaning and the re-piling up has not yet begun)

After the vines dried, I brushed on a brown glaze and wiped it off, let that dry and coated the floor with semi gloss Polycrylic. I’d rather have used a stronger topcoat but I was worried about the odor and my baby puppies. So, I stayed with water based.

Fingers crossed that the paint lasts a few years!

Puppy Portraits

dogs, Goldendoodle Puppies, paintings

By Karla Nathan / May 30, 2021

Last year, when Honey had 8, look-a-like pups, I did diagrams of them so I could learn their markings and try to figure out how to tell them apart.
The diagrams were used for watercolor paintings and I ended up putting them into their puppy books. I didn’t have time to do Sugar’s litter then because, well, 16 pups kept me hopping.

All 16 got baby books, and I am doing that again for the latest litter. I also thought it would be nice to paint the little guys, but 9 pups is still quite a few to do, so I found a shortcut, with my friend, Beth’s help.

When I did the previous paintings, I’d posted a picture of one of the drawings on Instagram. Beth saved the photo and printed multiples for me on watercolor paper. Ta-dah! What a great shortcut! I was able to start painting the drawings with help from photos I’d taken of the dog’s markings.

I used acrylics instead of watercolor, so I could make adjustments and cover up lines when needed to change the pup’s appearance a bit. Basically, they look a lot as tiny babies, but there are more differences than just color and markings. This little black one has a more narrow face and was thinner.

Four done, five to go. It is nice to have the drawings on my art table, ready to work on when I get a chance. It’s a slight cheat, but hey, it’s a copy of my own drawing, so not a big cheat, right?

I’ll leave you with some of the latest pictures of my babies. We still have four boys available if you are looking for a new family member.

He cared so much about things that made me happy

celebrations, family, Hearts, Ryan

By Karla Nathan / May 26, 2021

We had lovely remembrance moments for Ryan. On Sunday, some exceptionally wonderful friends brought over dinner and wine.

We sat on the patio, and we all cuddled pups before I spread some ashes on the Uncle Tree and gave an egoogley (Zoolander for eulogy).

The Sugarbabies thought the get together was all about them.

Well, typically, everything is. But my pals were very kind and considerate about honoring Ryan.

It was a small, but meaningful group.

Ryan’s legal time of death is the 24th, but we feel like he died the night of the 23rd, so we did something both days for him.

On Monday, we tried to get as many of the family as we could together for a walk on Ryan’s favorite trail, dinner at a place he loved, and squeezed in between all of that, an 8th grade concert.

The day we found him, we had planned a big, family walk on the trails he loved.

But that didn’t happen.

We took a walk there a year later in his honor, and I brought some ashes to sprinkle. I wasn’t sure where I would do it, until I saw this perfectly mossy heart!

I can almost hear the excitement in his voice, if he’d been with me when I found it. He cared so much about things that made me happy. We often took time to stop and exclaim over tidbits that I found, or just to watch the red wing black birds in the pond.

“He cared so much about things that made me happy.”

That sums up a lot about Ry Guy. I was beyond blessed to have a person in my world who wanted me to smile.

One year today. No words

family, Ryan

By Karla Nathan / May 24, 2021

Part two, old art pictures

paintings

By Karla Nathan / May 20, 2021

While flipping through my scrapbook of old artwork, I came across some pieces from years ago that I thought I’d share. There were even some of the actual originals in the book like this one. It was a sketch for a series of hand painted tee shirts I did for Silver Dollar City. I should take it out and pop it into a frame.

These are all pictures taken of the album, so the quality isn’t great.

Mostly, I painted a lot of flowers, especially iris.

But there was an assortment of subjects in the book.

Even a few not so great portraits.

And some meaningful ones.

It’s funny how few I remember doing, or know what happened to.

Recently a friend posted this photo of a painting she got from me ages ago. It was so nice to see and to hear that she still had it hanging.

Then, another friend posted this one. It felt good to see them.

Pictures from the past

paintings

By Karla Nathan / May 18, 2021

The other day, I had an idea for a thank you card, but needed a photo I remembered being in an album. I thought I’d search through the books to find it to use. While doing that, I came across some other pictures I thought I’d share.

There are multiple scrapbooks of my previous work.

I used to do a lot of murals, and tried to keep a record of them all.

It had been a long time since I’d looked through these and it took a while to even find the books. I finally remembered tucking them into a hidey hole cabinet in the guest room wall.

Flipping through page after page, I was impressed by my prolific production!

Here are a few pictures that I took of the photos in the album.

I wish I’d had a good camera back when I took the originals, but I am glad that I have the photos that I do and that I took time to create an album to have now.

Some, I barely remember. I had to think about this one, then recalled it was a basement laundry room in a KU apartment building.

And this was at a snack bar in Florida by a tennis court. I had some fun jobs! And was lucky that the people who hired me let me come up with my own design and trusted my ideas.

I also had a job painting a chain of daycare centers across the Midwest. I used to do four to five rooms in one day. Each room had its own theme and no two ever came out the same even though I repeated the themes a dozen times.

The daycare murals were done lightening fast because I was on a tight schedule, and not paid much per painting. They aren’t as detailed as some of the other work, but were quick, colorful, and fun.

The book had some watercolors in it that I’d forgotten about too. I’ll, show some of those next time.

(By the way, I still can’t find the photo that started the search!)

I ❤️ Puppies

dogs, Goldendoodle Puppies

By Karla Nathan / May 15, 2021

Ta-dah! A puppy heart!

And a puppy Oreo?

We got carried away.

Beth, Karla, and I started out with line ups, trying to pet sleepy puppies into oblivion so they could be placed in a row and not wriggle around waking each other up and messing with our design.

First was just the girls.

Then the boys.

And then, ALL of the babies were put in a row. That is an accomplishment.

I was pretty pleased with the heart, too.

Afterwards, we tucked them back into their nest and left them to snuggle up on their own.

Karla looked over and noticed they had formed a heart all by themselves!

I said that they are very smart dogs and learned tricks quickly. Plus, they had excellent trainers.

The importance of finding time to create and just enjoy yourself

Corona virus, dogs, Goldendoodle Puppies, paintings

By Karla Nathan / May 12, 2021

Sugar’s puppies have been so easy to are for, that apart from keeping Shuggie fed and getting some cuddle time with the babies, I have been pretty much free.

They don’t keep me up at night, she keeps them perfectly cared for.

There has even been time to get the baby books done and completely updated. One litter at a time, is certainly the way to go! I was frazzled and exhausted last fall with two at once.

Plus, Honey tends to lay on or step on her babies and I was constantly responding to terrified squeaks from puppies in danger. Sugar is very gentle and these little sweeties have been a pure joy to have around.

In addition to the last round of pups needing more care, it was in the middle of a major puppy shortage and I was getting dozens of applications for a baby every day. I was overwhelmed and not ready for such a huge response.

That made me decide to slow things down with these guys. I haven’t actively marketed them yet. I wanted a week of enjoying them as newborns and learning to tell them apart from each other before FaceTiming so many people a day, it is nice just to be with them, not try to sell them.

It has been an ideal interlude, a time to relax and just be happy to have these new, little lives to love.

And I have had time to host some paint pour parties. The paintings above are all done by the participants.

This is one of mine.

So is this one. Acrylic pouring is such a relaxing craft.

Typically, when I paint, I get too detailed, like in the rose behind these landscapes. I decided to try pours to loosen up and get more abstract. It’s not only been good for my style, it has been good for my soul.

Following the paint as it swirls and glides around the canvas can be rewarding and zen like.

Watching family and friends create is every bit as refreshing as doing it myself. I love sharing the technique and watching their colors slide around to form arty creations. Fin and I did this one together.

My friend, Shanna did these two.

Friends are coming by today to see the pups and have a craft date. Soon the puppies will become more demanding, I’ll be training and caring for them more each day. I’ll be finding their new homes, interviewing families too. And I love doing that.

But this last week, when they are all still just mine, not anyone else’s? It has been just what I needed. And thank you to everyone who came for a craft day or to paint with me in the last couple of weeks, I sure have enjoyed it.

Author name: Karla Nathan