paintings – Page 11 – Karla's Cottage

Happy Birthday Mom

By Karla Nathan / February 16, 2014

Today is my mom's birthday. I always miss her, but even more this time of year.

She was creative and funny. Silly and loving. Goofy and full of laughs.

(to use these two postcards yourself, click on the images to open in a larger window and save them to your computer to print)

When I visited my sisters, we looked at some of Bobbie's old family pictures. One was this of my grandma.

You are welcome to save this picture to use in your artwork if you'd like. Grandma was crafty too, as well as most of our family.

She liked to make things, so while she might think it was odd that people would want to use vintage photos of strangers in their artwork, she would probably understand the love of creating.

Mom died a few years back, and Bobbie had some photos from the funeral. I'd painted the casket for Mom, and I know she'd have been so tickled.

When I was a single mother, struggling to get by, mom took me and the boys in to live with her. We both loved seeing the first irises of spring, and bringing them in to put in vases all around her house. Painting the blooms became one of my obsessions. That made the flower become her favorite and she'd pre-ordered a big bouquet of them to be at her funeral.

She was quite the planner, the whole memorial service was lined out, payed for and planned to the tee years before she passed away. Complete with photos of her next to the casket she picked out and next to her grave plot.

The casket wasn't decorated in irises though. I sure wish she could have seen that. She'd have loved it.

There is a factory in our home town that makes caskets and hers had been ordered there. Luckily, they let me come in with my brushes for a couple of hours and embellish the top. They didn't even bat an eye at my request, either.

Bobbie also had this picture at her house, not a photo, but my original drawing of our other grandma, this one on Dad's side.

It was from a high school art class, and had been hanging at my Daddy's house since then. When he died, it stayed there with his wife. She passed away awhile back and recently, Bobbie went to get it for me. I have no way to get it in a suitcase (it's huge) so I asked her if she wanted to keep it.

She also gathered up this watercolor of a barn my dad had helped build. I think it is his brother's barn, not the family homestead. This is hanging in my sister's guest room too. Or "my room" as I call it.

I enjoyed seeing paintings hang in there, and looking through photos too. And the best part was that I was with people who share the same memories that I do.

It's great to reminisce with family.

I think that today, in honor of her birthday, I'll see if I can find some iris at the florist for my dining room. Mom would like that.

Kansas vs Maui

drawing, paintings, photography, Travel, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / February 3, 2014

Happy February! Man, what a cooooooold, brrrr-ey winter. I was so lucky to get away to Hawaii and escape the worst of it, but I still feel like I've been a human popsicle most of the season. Some of it is because of the propane shortage, the price of heating our house more than doubled, and I've been keeping careful track of thermostat settings.

Geez, I thought Hawaii was expensive. At least a vacation is a memorable, relaxing, and worthwhile way to spend too much money.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love a cozy, warm house and know it's important. But I'd sure rather pay half as much to do it.

Normally, we prepay for our gas for the entire year way back in August, to get a set price. If I'd had the foresight to do that last summer, we wouldn't be paying double now. But I'd still be cutting back and turning down the thermostat, since there is a shortage. It's scary to think of running out! Our firewood supply is low too.

Maybe we should turn the heat to a minimum, pack up and fly back to paradise, spend the money there instead of on propane!

I wish.

For now, I'll enjoy my album from Maui. I printed the finger painting water color sketches I'd done on my iPad, and used those in the book along with a few mementos and some pictures.

The ap doesn't allow a lot of detail, so printing them, and adding hand drawn elements and words with ink really gave them the punch they needed.

Here is one directly from the ap. I don't think it needs any further detail, Dorothy Rosebud's furry mess of a hairdo is bad enough without more clarification. But the shaggy layer is helping her keep warm, so it will have to stay til either spring comes or the price of propane comes down!

Doodling a day away

dogs, drawing, paintings

By Karla Nathan / January 29, 2014

Since I've been back from my vacation, I haven't had much time to play with my finger painting watercolor ap on my old iPad (still can't get it to work on iPad Air).

But one day, when there was no one home but me, I took a sloth day. A complete and total day of doing nothing. Jammies all day long, heck, I barely left my bedroom. I doodled on the ap, watched tv (3 episodes of Downton, plus a few hours more of other things I was behind on), and took naps.

I even dug around in my purse to find a battered protein bar so I didn't have to walk to the kitchen for food.

Everyone needs one of those days sometimes, don't they? A day that just kind of drifts away as you relax.

Later, when Sugarwings saw the fairy costume on the dress form picture, she asked me to do a drawing of a fairy in it so she could color it in. I've printed it for her so she can take it to the studio to paint on. Please don't look too closely at the fingers… it's a quickie pic for a kiddo.

During my nothing day, I was lazily looking through facebook and saw a photo of a beautiful little Bichon who lives with my friend, Holly, and decided to draw her from the picture.

Soon, my doodles turned to poodles. This is Guncle Randy's pup.

And his Bichon, Bella. Funny how different two dogs of the same breed can look. Not only the hairdo that the groomer gave them but eye and nose color too. Of course, I think my 3 dorkies look nothing alike, but when visitors come over, they can't always tell them apart.

While I was still in a canine mood, I drew Karen's elegant Satine from another FB page.

Sometimes, it can be frustrating to try to get detail on this ap. I've learned that bigger, more simple things are easier to do. Tiny details are impossible. (as proved by the fairy finger scribbles)

And also, I should just consider it cartooning, not a real painting. I keep it quick, light hearted and fun.

Hmmm, I wonder when I get another sloth day? Those are few and far between, but well worth waiting for. Although I paid for my day of doing nothing. Somehow, the old barn cat got into the office and made a horrid mess while I was busy doing nothing and not leaving my bedroom. Ugh. Double ugh.

Maui Whale, Rainbow, Dolphin, and Cloud Watching

drawing, family, paintings, Travel

By Karla Nathan / January 15, 2014

Yes, my eyes are closed, but I still love this photo of us. It was such a special evening. I swear, Hawaii is special, no matter what, but wow. This sail boating dinner cruise was perfection.

My husband's sis, Terry, treated us to a trip on the Allii Nui

I expected a nice evening, but wasn't prepared for the total luxury and deliciousness of the boat. Great food, beautiful and spacious surroundings, whales leaping up a few feet from the boat to surprise us while we ate, frosty foo foo drinks, and of course, the best company. Terry, Dale and Rich are a fine set of companions.

We took another whale watching trip earlier in the week, and saw quite a few blows, fins, waves, and splashes.

But my very favorite part were the Hawaiian Spinner Dolphins. They have pink tummies, and leap into the air while doing pirouettes. We were followed by a few of them on our way back from spying on whales. Then, on my last day at the beach, a huge flock (school, pod, bunch?) of the pink bellied cuties, swam along the shore to tell me goodbye, while showing off their jumping skills and twirls.

Both of our trips out to whale peek, were on smaller trips, with few passengers. This boat was only half full, so was the sunset cruise on the catamaran.

Seriously, though, even if we hadn't seen any whales, the scenery is so lush, it's worth the trip out on the water.

Heck, you don't have to take a boat to be surrounded by beauty. This is the land of never ending rainbows.

Here is the view off our balcony one morning. It was a partial rainbow and a gold glow across the mountains. The rainbow seemed to be so colorful that it just couldn't contain itself and had to escape from the confines of its arc.

This is looking the other way from the balcony.

Every day, I did a sketch with my Ipad ap, Hello Watercolor. I was definitely hooked on that plaything. It's such a quick and easy, no muss way to paint. My plan is to print all the images, embellish them and make a travel journal with them.

It was a lucky choice to take two iPads with me. The one I got for Christmas, that was new, fast, and held a good charge, but didn't support the watercolor ap, and the older one with the painting toy on it. My husband left his iPad in the seat pocket of the airplane, and he was able to read books and play Words with Friends on my extra one during the trip.

He also lost his prescription sunglasses in the ocean. Seems like Hawaii is expensive enough without these additional costs. And today we realized that we are missing his brand new workout pants too. Unless they are lurking in one of the suitcases that were put away, they sure aren't in the piles of laundry I finished up after getting home.

My guess is that they are hanging on the back of the bathroom door of the hotel. Oh well, at least they didn't cost as much as sunglasses.

And he is such a hunk, I couldn't be mad at him.

By the way, Lenscrafters shops seem to be anywhere you happen to be when glasses get lost, and they can replace them in an hour. Unless your prescription is more than a year old. Like his was, even though it was only by a few days…. But there are doctors there too. Still a quick fix, just another-gulp- $100 to shell out.

I'd hate for him to have missed any of the beauty around us. I'm glad we were able to replace the glasses.

I'll have more pics from the trip coming up. For now, I'd better start tackling all of those holiday decorations that are still dangling forlornly in my studio. They are ready to go back to their box till next year, they are looking a bit tired.

Hello Watercolor

drawing, paintings

By Karla Nathan / January 13, 2014

For Christmas, I got a new Ipad Air! I was afraid to use it till I got a cover to keep it safe, and my husband kept teasing me and calling it "My Precious" in a very Gollum sort of way.

Before I got it up and running, I was still using my old one. On that, I downloaded an app called Hello Watercolor where you can paint with your fingertips. And it reacts like REAL paint.

When I finally got brave enough to use the new Ipad, even before the case arrived from Amazon (what bravery!), I opened this app on it, excited to think about painting with it from the balcony in Hawaii.

But it didn't work. The timing was lagging and I couldn't get the sketch right.

I tried restarting, reloading, redoing, all that. I wonder if it just isn't compatible to the newer version? I'm writing this before I leave on my trip, so I am not sure yet what I'll do.

Either I need to pack art supplies, or two Ipads…. One to play with this app on and one to use for everything else. Seems decadent to me. I can't take only the older one because it is really slow to recharge. With a 6 hour flight, I hate to be left bookless, and its battery goes fast.

We are calling that older one the "Family Ipad" so the girls can use it for games. I dont' want to just give it to them, I still like to be able to call the shots and teach them rules on how to handle it so it isn't mistreated or cracked. But it will be mostly them using it, and NOT using my new one.

I like the idea of having my very own Ipad that I won't need to share, one with no smeary fingerprints on it!

But if my new case doesn't arrive for the shiny, bright, all mine Ipad Air, I'm not chancing taking it on the trip with me. It's too Precious.

Hopefully, all works out and I can paint away on my new one while watching the sunset on the ocean. I'll let you know when I get back. I'd love to have watercolor finger paint sketches to bring home and make a book out of.

Unless of course, a shark gets me….

Under the Sea mural in Jacksonville and shark attacks in Maui

hand painted signs, paintings, Travel

By Karla Nathan / January 5, 2014

While we were visiting the Guncles in Jacksonville before Christmas, we drove by the Embassy Suites on our way to the airport.

Years and years ago, I'd painted a mural around their pool, and we stopped in to see if it was still there.

It is and has held up just wonderfully!

This was a large project, but was a fast one. I'm trying to remember how long I spent on it, but since it was so long ago, I'm fuzzy on the details. But typically, something like this only took a few days or so.

In the past, I used to travel around and do lots of murals in bars, restaurants, dozens and dozens of day cares, plus in private homes. I loved doing it, and was pretty quick, in and out in a day for most jobs.

I sure am NOT that fast anymore. This painting took me weeks, but it was hanging in my garage and I could work on it in little snatches of time here and there. Plus, I was entranced by the whole theme and really enjoyed sneaking off into a fairytale forest for an afternoon getaway of painting. And it is a more finished piece than the fish picture. Painting just for the pure love of painting is diferent than painting for a client and a budget.

For the hotel painting, the background was painted blue before I got there and I was just adding fish over it.

I did use a deeper blue washed over the base color at the ocean floor.

Painting over the heavily textured walls was a challenge. Most of the creatures had to be planned to fit into the plaster pattern. I always did faces first, fitting it into the smoothest spots and working the body in around it.

Even all these years later, I remember working around that rough texture. Also trying to balance on a ladder in a planter as it kept sinking into the dirt.

And getting up my nerve to climb up the scaffolding that was perched across the pool at this end.

I'm not good with heights at all. I packed a lunch and a bottle of water and stayed up on the scaffold all day because I was too chicken to climb down. But the biggest problem with being on a scaffold for me is that once I get involved with working, I start to forget how high up I am and almost topple off the edge when I step back to take a look at the painting!

All of my work is done freehand, with no sketching. Which is a good thing, since I had to work around the plaster textures and fit the fish in where they went best with the rough walls.

Can you see the hidden mermaid in this closeup? I didn't remember doing that, but Guncle Randy reminded me that I hid a few in the painting. I could only find this one.

I dont' think I was as successful with the plaster problem with this birds. The one on the left has a slash across it's neck.

It meant a lot to me, that my husband turned off the highway and stopped at this hotel to take a look at the mural. These mural jobs that I used to do, maybe weren't high class paintings, but they sure were fun jobs and I was lucky enough to keep pretty busy with them. It felt good to look back at this one and not cringe, like I sometimes do with my older art.

It is far, far from perfect, but I can accept it as doing what the client wanted and be happy with the outcome. Of course, I'd like it better if I'd had a couple weeks for each wall instead of a few hours. But I'm proud of the fact that I could whip these paintings out in a short enough time to make it profitable for me to do.

All these fishies are timely for me right now. As you read this, I hope to be snorkeling. My husband and I are off to Hawaii for a visit with his dear sis, Terry and her husband.

Although, I am a bit worried about this kind of fish. Did you hear about the number of shark attacks off of Maui in 2013???? Two deaths, one near the beach we use.

Hopefully I won't be adding to those statistics. And 2014 will be a better year for swimmers in Hawaii. I'm going to be brave and not let the number of bites stop my water sport fun!

Although, I might be looking over my shoulder a bit, into the waves behind me…

Hand painted ornaments

flowers, holiday decor, paintings

By Karla Nathan / December 5, 2013

For my guests at Romantic Cottage Christmas, I painted some ornaments.

Hand painted balls used to be a huge tradition with me. I have no idea how many hundreds I've done over the years. When I was a poor, single mom, I hawked these like crazy to earn money to buy the kids' gifts.

Then, for 20 years or so, painted ornaments were gifts I did for family.

Somehow, I've gotten away from making them. A few here and there maybe, over the last few seasons, but not to the extent that I used to make them. My boys have one for each year while they were growing up, with all sorts of pictures, from snowmen, to Santas, to a picture of their first cars, but I don't think I've made any yet for the grand fairies.

Maybe I needed that little break from making these, because it sure felt good to sit at the desk and swirl roses out of pink paint onto glass balls. Ryan came by the studio while I was working on them, and seemed so pleased to see me back at it. I guess I didn't realize my family had missed them.

I'd kind of branched out into different types of holiday projects once I discovered how much I loved playing with vintage elements. But painting was my first love and I had a great day making some for my friends.

Maybe I'll get out the brushes and make a few more…

Recovering a lamp shade and some other touch ups

cottage, flowers, how-to projects, magazine pictures or articles, paintings, sewing?

By Karla Nathan / August 18, 2013

Before Fifi asked me to do a photo shoot for Romantic Country magazine, I was already on a home fix up binge. I've been making pillows, slip covers, touching up paint, rearranging and foofing. Good timing for her call!

This bench was brought in from the garden a couple years ago, so we'd have a spot to sit and put on shoes by the front door, and the baskets under it are perfect for toys and kid's shoes. But I'd never made cushions for it, I've been wrapping fabric around a cushion that didn't match and making do with that.

About ten years ago, I'd found some old, floral curtains in a dumpster (I nicknamed it the "Dumpster of Gold", there was so much beautiful bounty in it!!!). They were just the right fabric for making pillows for this bench. The top pillow is stuffed with poly fluff, but the bottom one is just a pillow case over that same cushion that I'd been wrapping around fabric before. That way, I can slip it off and wash it after muddy dogs spend time on this bench. Which they love to do. It's Twinkle's perch so she can keep an eye on the front door and protect us.

The pink rag rug was one that used to be white, but the white wasn't coming back after years of use. (I don't throw much away) It was still in decent shape, so, I dyed it, along with some stained tees and other odds and ends. Because when I have a dye pot going, I always feel the need to scrounge around the house looking for other things to dip in it.

I used the liquid Rit Dye in fuchsia, but only a 1/2 bottle along with a 1/4 bottle of tan to tone it down. I think I could have done 1/4 of pink and 1/8 of tan and been happier with the result.

It seems like I've been on the go nonstop for the last couple of years and hadn't really had a chance to nest. Since I declared this the Summer of Whammy and took time off to simply be a grammy and enjoy my family and home, I found lots of little projects that needed tending to. Like this lamp shade that I revamped.

If you have ever covered a lamp shade, you know that with the curved shape, it's hard to smooth fabric down onto. To avoid measuring, I decided to patch work it. I took scraps of rose pattern cotton, and brushed the lamp shade with school glue, and brushed some onto the scraps too, then laid them onto the shade.

After piecing in a background of roses, I covered the seams with lace applique bits (picked up on the Enchanted Affaire bus tour in downtown LA for 25 cents each). And made a bottom trim border from some old tatting over a row of dangly beads.

Around the top, I used some trim from a vintage skirt. All the lace and trim was attached with Ultimate glue, but I'll bet fabric glue would work the same. School glue wasn't strong enough for this part.

Tah Dah! Just perfect for the Rosey Room, to go on the $4 Goodwill lamp that Aunt Sandy left behind for me when she left here.

The throw on the bed got a make over too. It was one that I thought was just lovely, but it sure fell apart fast. The top is sheer with cut velvet roses, and velvet trim. But the backing on it shredded and fell off. I saved the top because it was such perfect fabric and I always thought I'd use it someday for something.

Who knew, that I'd return it to being a throw again?

I came across the piece of fabric when I cleaned out the closet for the Studio Tour and decided I was ready to reuse it. What great timing, since soon after, Fifi made arrangements to photograph the house. And this was just what the Rosey Room needed.

All I did was buy some stretchy, crushed velvet on sale at Hancocks for $4.40 a yard, and sew it on the back. I am hoping that the stretchiness will help it last longer than the previous lining. And the crushed velvet is soft and comfy to wear over my lap as I watch TV. So, this throw will go to the living room now that the photos are done. The guest room doesn't get used often enough to keep it up there. It's so pretty and soft, I want it in the living room to snuggle under on a regular basis.

Seriously, you painted your shoes?

how to's, paintings, show and tell

By Karla Nathan / August 2, 2013

I love pretty shoes, I long for and dream of pretty shoes. But my feet don't cooperate. I have what is known as "Freds". Something more suited for stopping a prehistoric car than slipping into high heels.

Buying shoes is traumatic for me. I can shop for 6-12 months, try on hundreds, and not find a pair that fits. Or I think maybe a pair will do, bring them home and only be able to wear them once or twice before giving up. Not only are these feet hard to fit, I'm a bit picky on comfort.

Actually a LOT picky.

My feet have to feel good if I plan on feeling good myself.

My closet is full of brand new shoes only worn once. Goodwill loves me for all the new shoes I donate after purchasing them with a heart full of hope, thinking that THIS will be the pair that not only fits, but looks pretty too!

So, when these extremely comfy, 6 year old Danskos started looking too ratty to wear, I was sad. They weren't torn up, or stretched out, just stained and scuffed. I'd worn a vintage shoe clip on them that tarnished the leather and wouldn't clean off. The shoe clips kept sliding around and not staying in place, and had to go.

Plus, the sides were kind of discolored. Overall, not a good look. But they were shoes that I could walk around an amusement park for hours and still felt good!

That is a shoe worth trying to salvage.

I got out some acrylic craft paints.

The shoes were not a glossy finish, so I figured it would hold well. They are a brushed suede, which took the paint nicely. The trick was to go with colors that would blend with the original leather if scraped. Also, to go lightly, not to use a thick glob that might peel.

First step, was to clean them with an old toothbrush, including the suede sole.

After that, I painted a slightly heavy coat over the black marks with a color to match the leather. But only heavy there, not on the rest of the shoes. Then, I left it to dry.

Next, I used the same base color in a light, watered down wash, on all the leather, making sure to get around the buckle and under the straps. This was done with a small, rough, brush to work the paint down into the leather.

Over that, I did a metallic faux finish with copper and pearl.

I've been wearing them, and so far so good.

Not a pretty picture, huh? See why I call them Freds? Mr. Flintstone and I have a lot in common.

If I were to buy perfectly fitting shoes, I'd need to go to the little boys department and try on size 3 triple wides. If you've ever done that, you know there aren't many pretty choices. When I was a kid, Mom bought me "corrective" shoes. Which is a code word for Butt Ugly.

As close as I can find to corrective shoes in the adult world is Easy Spirit. Sometimes an extra wide, pretty one turns up. And some European (code word, expensive) shoes fit pretty good, like the Danskos I redid. They are often wide, always well made and hold up for years.

But I have never, ever, found a lovely pair of delicate heels that my feet would enjoy. I guess that I'll be treasuring whatever fits and keeping them as good as I can for as long as I can.

A fairy play room

cottage, Dew Drop, fairies, family, Hand painted, paintings, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / July 7, 2013

Remember the canvas mural I painted for Kim's Enchanted Affaire? Instead of trying to sell it, we cut it up and are using it in the fairy grand daughter's room. I still need to touch up the vent so that it doesn't have that ghostly glow and stand out so much from the painted trees.

Sugarwings had not used her bedroom since we bought her this big girl bed. So, I never bothered to repaint it like I had originally planned. Now that the enchanted forest is part of her room, she has been happy to stay up there, so I'd better get busy and paint something in the ovals of her head and footboards.

Previously, there was a shelf all the way around the top of the room, and a sky painted above the shelf. The rest of the bedroom was left that way, my son only took the shelf down in the space where we added the canvas.

Since we lost a big section of shelf, it was a good excuse to dust and redo the rest of the shelves.

While I was at it, I tidied up the fairies hanging above the windows from sparkly white branches.

There are fairies peeking out from all sorts of vantage points around the room.

And of course, real live fairies running around the room too.

Little girls seem to like a newly redone room as much as big girls do. As soon as I finished getting it all put back together in it's new configuration, they set to tearing into every corner and exploring toys they'd over looked or forgotten about.

The canvas is stapled all the way around, but hangs a little loose. If I ever have more time….(yeah, right) I hope to tighten it up a bit, or at least steam out some wrinkles if they don't straighten out with time. I'd like to add some fairies too. Maybe portraits of the girls as fairies?

I'm not so sure I still like the closet doors painted as a fairy garden any more since it doesn't match the new scene. I'll have to do something about it.

On the other hand, the kids like it as is and it is their room. So that probably means more than my sense of continuity.

At least the ceiling was ideal for the new look, it blended in perfectly!

Of course, the room is not this tidy any more. Instead of two little fairies flitting about, it looks like it had a couple of ogres tramping through it. For dainty little cuties, they sure can trash a place. It is now knee deep in dress up clothes and who knows what else.

(the magic mirror on the wall is one that I made for Sugarwings. Here are the directions if you are interested)

Here are some pictures of the room in it's various looks over the last few years.

OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!

I just discovered that all my older photos are GONE. I'd thought I'd found most of everything from before my hard drive died, but just now realized that I don't have any photos from before 2009.

Thank goodness my life is on my blog. I can retrieve all my favorites from there. I only started taking digital photos in '07, when I began my blog, so I'm missing two years of pictures. All of my previous pictures are in print. And I'm sure that most of my faves from the missing years are printed and in albums. But still, it's disconcerting to look for a file to reuse a pic and not find it. At least I know that it's only the file that is gone, I have the photos in albums or on my blog.

durn

But look at how fast I found a couple from my blog archives.

I'll seach out some more later, after I talk to the Best Buy Geek Squad and see if they can find any other old files. This whole hard drive/wireless debacle has taken it's toll on me. Stress, stress, stress.

While my computer was down, shoppers waited so kindly and patiently for me to mail their 30% sale packages from the Boutique, that I gave them another 10% off when I finally got things mailed.

I've decided to extend the 40% off sale before I start to restock the shop. Since I haven't really kept up the poor little store since the holidays, months ago, I thought a Christmas in July Sale was fitting.

Use this link for an automatic 40% off at check out:
http://www.karlascottage.com/?code=sale

And please note that I do refunds of shipping overages after I box up the package and figure the actual cost to mail it. Sometimes, buying lots of little things make the shipping price go sky high according to the way the website calculates it, so I adjust and refund as needed.