paintings – Page 2 – Karla's Cottage

Hearts

antiques/junking, Good JuJu, Hearts, jewelry, paintings, Valentine's Day

By Karla Nathan / January 6, 2023

I'll be having lots of hearts and wings in my booth at Good JuJu. This canvas has plaster texture in a heart shape with the roses painted inside. I have a few more, not sure if I got pictures. All are unique.

And remember the jewelry trees I did for Xmas?

I loved doing that so much, I could not stop!

So, I turned my shape from a tree to a heart.

This one is a combo of the textured canvas with a button collage. And in front you can see some of my wings. They are made from a 1800s ledger and I swear, that book was one of my best ever purchases. I have sold rolled up pages from it, used it to line shelves, decopauged it onto table tops, backed collages with it, and now have made wings and hearts.

And there is still some left!

I almost didn't buy it because it was not cheap. But man, that handwriting! Wow, so pretty. I am glad I went against my cheapskate instincts and bought it anyway.

I also beat out my cheap side and decided to keep these wings that my son helped form instead of selling them.

Since my booth is chocked full of wings and hearts I doubt if one set will be missed. Heck, I’d be thrilled to have even half of the ones there sell out.

And I sure do love making them.

Painted pumpkins up close

collections, Good JuJu, paintings

By Karla Nathan / August 6, 2022

In my previous post, I mentioned that I’d been painting pumpkins for the Good Juju sale

As things tend to do with me, yep, this became another obsession.

I spent quite a few days painting one canvas after another. I’d probably still be doing that if I hadn’t had to get ready for the big family reunion that we hosted.

I was on a roll, and loving every minute of it. I was painting fat punkins, tall punkins, some on paint pour canvases, some on collage backgrounds.

Then I started stacking them.

And adding flowers.

Lots of flowers.

Sitting at my desk and doing one after another was pure joy for me. Luckily, we had to harvest our honey and peaches, then be ready for guests, because I needed to get away from these, I think I had plenty. They are all at Juju now, today is the last day of the August sale. It would be nice if I sold a few, if not, I’ll be displaying them for fall shows too.

(All are under $50, if you happen to need a pumpkin and are visiting the Old West Bottoms)

My second wall at Good Juju is ready for it’s first run

antiques/junking, Good JuJu, paintings

By Karla Nathan / August 3, 2022

This Friday and Saturday are the Good Juju sales date for August, and I am enjoying having a bit more space this go around.

Rich added the shelf up above for me. It is higher than the one on my other wall. I’d say it’s more decorative than shoppable, although the things on it are priced. Still, it’s more for atmosphere than selling.

But isn’t atmosphere part of selling? It is for me.

Here is the upper shelf on my opposite wall.

I have painted some pumpkins to add this month. It’s 100 degrees and humid here, a typical KS day in August, but not too soon to start daydreaming about cooler, autumn days, right?

Some of the pumpkins are done on pour painted canvasses.

And some have flowers.

I’ve also packed in my mushroom colony and have lots of jewelry too.

I hope it goes well, I love having a reason to make things!

Some painted shirts

family, paintings

By Karla Nathan / June 10, 2022

Way back when my boys were little, I used to hand paint tee shirts for them. Then, later on, it became a business for me and I’d sell tees and sweatshirts wholesale to local boutiques and to Silver Dollar City. After years of it, I burnt out and went on to other endeavors.

When the grandfairies came along, I painted a handful of shirts for them, but not many.

Funny, that I never took the time to create more than a couple for them. I guess that burn out ran deep.

Every once in a while, I do some as baby gifts because babies in onesies are about as cute as anything can be. I love onesies, but they can be kinda boring as a gift, so I add something personal. Like this fish for a nephew who lives by the shore.

And this pup for another nephew who has two yellow labs and a new baby. I painted a six pack of shirts as baby gifts, but forgot to take photos of the rest.

The best part was that I really had a good time doing them. Maybe the exhaustion from the year that I painted over a thousand has finally dissipated.

A lesson learned in the past, that I am remembering as I set up my Good Juju booth

antiques/junking, collections, Good JuJu, paintings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / June 1, 2022

Hmmm, now I am wondering why I spent so much time remaking my wall, when you don’t even see it. Yep, this spot is FULL.

Adding the “porch” awning allowed me to really overfill. I love that structure that Rich built for me, even if it got buried and is now hidden.

One reason that I am excited to join the Good Juju venue, is that while it is full of wonderful antiquities and awesome junk, there are also handmade items and lots of artwork.

All of my favorite things, so right up my alley!

I’ll be having hand painted furniture, vintage paper collage, old stuff, painted signs and canvases, and some jewelry.

These necklaces are my “Recycled Charms”, pendants made of bits of jewelry I have collected over the years.

This side of the door holds sterling silver with genuine stones.

If all goes well, this can be a place where I can indulge my creative whims.

While I am kinda rusty on the antique mall biz, and it’s been a while since I had a booth, I did set up my garage as a shop during Birdsong events, so I stayed, somewhat in the commerce world.

I’m hoping I’m just a little rusty, not completely out of it.

No matter how long I’ve been away, there is one rule that will never leave me- I will NOT willy nilly buy things just because I think they will sell. I’ll only offer goods in my booth that I would want for myself, in my own home, and stay with my own sense of style.

For one thing, you never know what you’ll get stuck with, so I have things I like just in case they do end up at my own home later on. My house is furnished right now with leftovers that did not sell.

Also, with a small spot, I need to be able to coordinate the items and have a flow. Although I do have to admit, that I’ve packed so much into this little corner that the flow could look more like a log jam, huh?

I feel like everything I add to the spot should give me a little tug, one that says, “Hey, don’t sell that! Think how great it would look on my living room wall! Or in the studio! Or hey- I can make something with that!”

Please wish me luck, it might take me a while to find my niche at this mall. For now, I’m throwing all my faves into the spot and seeing how it goes.

A new look for the office

cottage, dogs, family, paintings, redos

By Karla Nathan / January 24, 2022

We finished the transformation of Rich’s office. Well, almost. We need a different sofa.

And for right now, the little nook that he is using as a computer area is just a board screwed to the wall, not a desk or table.

The rest of the room is all done, and everyone is enjoying the pool/ping pong table.

Most of the workout equipment is in the spot where all of the file cabinets and desks used to be.

The treadmill is behind the seating area, facing the tv, and there is room for an exercise bike next to it.

The walls are freshly painted and patched.

I filled the knotholes in the barn wood window sills with turquoise chips and clear coated the wood. After years of sunshine pouring in, they were cracking and dull.

We added new blinds and lighting, my son replaced the flooring.

The newly framed “ancestor” pictures hang below a sign pulled from the wreckage of the gas station Rich’s grandfather owned.

Some of these family photos were updated and reframed. I still need to get a few others up there. I think I have room for four more, a smaller one on each side of the bottom and top rows.

I have wanted that carpet gone for years, and am very pleased with the new, cleaned up version of the room! All of the hard parts are done, now I get to go furniture shopping for a new couch.

A pet portrait

dogs, paintings

By Karla Nathan / December 7, 2021

This is a sweet girl that I painted for a friend.

I have enjoyed doing more paintings this fall and hope to continue the trend into the new year.

Pink Roses Galore

flowers, Painting with thread, paintings

By Karla Nathan / November 4, 2021

I’ve been on a pink roses kick. This one was done this week.
(The rose on the left side, second row down needs work, huh? A bit wonky)

Here is a close up. I like the layers and depth in this one. It’s a little different than the others I painted before my trip.

This shirt got an embroidered rose. But not pink!

I didn’t get a final picture before giving it away, this is a “during” photo. You can see the drawing, done in water washable marker, but as I work on these things, I don’t always follow my sketches, so it turned out a bit different.

I can’t remember if I showed you some of the other paintings.

As you can tell, they all kinda look alike. I showed one to Kia and she said, “Didn’t you just paint that one last week?”

Rock Chalk

paintings

By Karla Nathan / August 2, 2021

Years and years ago, I painted a couple of “Jayhawks on Parade” as part of a fundraiser involving the local collage mascot. Here is one of them, a peacock. Mugs, books, shirts and other stuff were sold with the pictures of the birds too. This is a coffee cup I’d give to my MIL, that was recently returned when she moved into a healthcare facility. This mug gave me a big smile. I’d done the painting part and participated in the mosaic with good friends.

A whole box of stuff came back, including a painting I will not show that makes me want to apologize to anyone I’d gifted artwork to in the past.

Oh my.

Somethings you just don’t want to revisit, do you? At the time, I must’ve liked it, but with hindsight, I realize it was a mistake.

Much as a lot of things from the 80s for me! Let’s not talk about that big headed perm. Some things, like that badly done watercolor should stay in the past.

Summer Style

cottage, paintings

By Karla Nathan / July 14, 2021

We may live far from the ocean here in the middle of Kansas, but I still need some beachy-ness in my surroundings.

This carnival glass bowl was picked up for $3 on an antiquing jaunt with pals. It felt very oceany to me, so I filled it with shells and a matching candle. Everything sat a bit too wonky, so I removed it all and added moss inside before arranging the shells again.

That helped.

Of course, I didn’t do a before photo of this junky, old tray I had. It had been used to hold kid’s supplies in the studio and was splattered a lot of different colors. So, I painted it white, then drizzled on some beach tones and swirled them about. While the paint was still wet, I sprinkled in some sand and a little hint of glitter.

Typically, I can’t keep anything displayed on this coffee table because Sugarwings takes over that area in the living room and she fills the space up with her own assortment of doodads and accessories. But she is visiting her dad for a few weeks, so I went for it and sat out my tray of pretties.

There are multiple layers of varnish over my swirly paint, so later on when the teen returns and I lose my window of decorating time, the tray can actually be functional to use in the kitchen.