I spent yesterday doing a quick small mural job painting an image off of a crib blanket.

And when I finished that I stopped at a potential job to check it out.......about 40' of exterior wall.

This one is going to be a challenge.  The homeowner only had one thought as to what to do with it and that was an ocean and dolphins.  His home seems to be the 'go to' house in the neighborhood for kids, there were about a half dozen playing in the yard when I arrived, and you can't blame them, there were plenty of toys and a pool to keep them occupied.  The owner also did not have a budget in mind so I'll be trying to come up with a few options for him to choose from.
I am so happy that painting jobs are trickling in.....I'll be getting a phone call Tuesday afternoon from a new grandmom to be to discuss a mural for the grandchild's bedroom.  They'll be finding out on Tuesday the sex of the baby.
Oh, and I also got that second cleaning job just three blocks away so now I'm working 3 half days a week, it really helps to take the pressure off.......not to mention getting me back in shape :-)
And here's how the first of the two hippo paintings is going.  I originally had the 'garden' to the right set back further but it left too much dead space in the painting so I'm in the process of moving that forward.....actually now that I look at it I may bring both sides a bit more forward.  I still don't like all that empty space...I could have made the chair and her a little larger I think.
And of course I've more to do on her and the pool. This is 18"x 24"

 
Since these paintings are to be a potential set I suggested moving Ms Hippo from the beach.......

to poolside as shown in the sketch for the 2nd painting.......and I thought the champagne bucket made more sense poolside rather than on the beach.

Well, back at it.  Have a great Sunday everyone.

I'm getting my first iphone.  I had a very frustrating couple of days trying to get my Net10 cell phone reactivated.  I spent literally hours on the phone talking to India and it was finally decided that the sim card that was sent to me was not able to pick up the signal where I am, so they were going to send me yet another one and assign me yet a third new phone number in the past three weeks!  I couldn't take it anymore, so I started looking online at prices and phones with different carriers.  When I saw there were free iphone 3GS's available with AT&T I knew this was probably my only opportunity to ever own an iphone......not the newest/latest one but that's fine with me.  Giving up the cheaper Net10 monthly rate is going to sting a bit, but the good news is I qualified for food stamps so hopefully I'll be able to pay the higher monthly phone bill.
I interviewed for a second cleaning job yesterday but haven't heard anything yet.  It would be a good job to get, its only a couple of blocks away and the home is very tidy and will be easy to work in.......nice young family too.  I've given up the hope of finding a separate place to work on furniture that I can afford right now so I'm going to focus on pieces that are light weight and easy for me to get in and out of my apartment.  I'm starting with this piece.......

So far I've only gotten it primed, I'm not real sure what I'm going to do with it yet.  I can see it painted in a french-y gray/blue and distressed but I don't want to limit its salability so it will probably end up just white maybe with some artwork on the front, an oval with a bucolic scene?......not sure.  I'd love to get a lot of pieces together and rent that store front for a weekend that I mentioned in a previous post, but that could take time with no spare money to spend.  There are two consignment shops around the corner from me, I could try selling things that way.

I looked at a potential job yesterday.....just a small job painting a large frog in a nursery to match the crib linens.  I haven't given her a price yet, I'm going to do a couple of sketches with different options to see if I can't make the job a bit more profitable.   And a couple phoned me this morning wondering how much it would cost to just do the outline of a garden scene on their garage wall.......then they would paint it in.  I decided to just tell them my hourly rate for that job and they're thinking about it.  I'm happy that at least I'm getting calls for art work coming in.....sure glad I learned that with a Skype phone number anyone using any regular phone can call me through my computer.

I did a little more work in my sleeping area yesterday.  I found this cabinet in a local thrift shop for $39 and knew it would fit perfectly in that space.

I really liked the way the front opened.....perfect for storing linens/blankets.

I did like the shabby white finish but it just wouldn't work in that area, so I gave it a few coats of black and love the way it looks there. 

I'm standing where the bed folds down..............

Thats the tiny bathroom straight ahead and on the right is the closet next to the bed ............

A studio apartment becomes a one bedroom apartment ;-)  I love my tiny little bedroom!

Things are still slow as far as work goes,  tomorrow I go interview for food stamps.  I'm actually enjoying the one cleaning job I've managed to get, I think because they need more than just cleaning, they also need help getting organized.  I'm proud to say I've actually inspired them to get a lot done on their own......I also like the couple very much.

I had one art job this past weekend, a first for me..........painting a pinball machine.  The game is called Orbiter 1 and this bit of design I painted on both sides is from part of the backboard artwork in the machine.  I need to go back on Wednesday to do some lettering on the sides of the top backboard piece.

The bed is finally done.....don't fault me on the design, it wasn't mine.  Sometimes its really hard to give people what they want.

Today is post office and laundry and rest.

Here's how the castle bed is coming after two days.  Over on the right bottom will be a raccoon and to the left of him are the beginnings of a couple of hedgehogs.  The client wanted the squirrel 'up' so this is the first time a small tree has been incorporated into the design.  I'll go in tomorrow to finish this up.....add some butterflies, ladybugs a few more flowers on the other vines and a center piece of birds and garland on the front top.

How wonderful!  Two paintings selling on ebay!  The radish/salt shaker and Mr Pelican....fabulous. 

I've also got a few days of work, I'm painting one of those kids castle beds  (example below)

and I've got a new cleaning client to start this week.  There's nothing like being able to pay your rent and bills to lift your spirits.

Mr. Pelican is back on ebay, sometimes it seems I can't give my work away.  Anyway, I started the bidding at $100.
                                           
  Its one of my favorite paintings.

I answered an ad on Craigslist this morning for a position that involved teaching art to seniors.  Although I didn't qualify because of 'no formal art training' and a lack of knowledge in 'art history' some of you may.  They have several locations here in the northeast and this is the website where you can get more information www.edu-tainers.com. Good Luck!  

I'm still waiting for input on the last sketch I did so meanwhile I'm going to post a couple of my small paintings on ebay and I'll put links to the auction here in case anyone's interested ;-)  This will be one of them.....

 

I worked on a third sketch (of four) today.......no picture yet.  Then took a break and did a little extra painting on my bed........painted the wood above and below the 'doors' and then added a bit of decoration.

I'm not sure about this new blog design....why do some pictures center and others don't?

Its a cloudy rainy day today, no money to spend, no where to go.  So I decided to do a re-do on the plywood that holds my bed.  And notice below I finally got rid of the clothes rod and moved the shelf down.  I still have some patching and painting to do where I removed the old shelves.....need to find a ladder first.  Oh and I brought the bed forward to the edge of the alcove, it looks more like it belongs there now.

I used brown, black and white all on my brush at the same time and just quickly covered the board.

 

Then I mixed up a dirty light blue color, put that over it and used a graining tool to get a distressed look. A little trompe l'oeil ...........perfect.

Once I can afford to get some great baskets for on top and below I think that area will look really nice.

The pet portrait is done...
 

 as is the second sketch for a larger painting after some requested changes.....

I am having to make adjustments to the pet portrait.......needed to be darker and no red ball (done)..
And I have to remove the tag on his chest and add foliage on the left.

I have to laugh....I had such high hopes before moving, seemed there were so many options and the near certainty of a steady job. None of that is true today and to add to the stress the Net 10 wireless website is on the blink and won't take my ccard to buy more minutes, my airtime due to run out tomorrow. So I called to buy the airtime over the phone, just before finishing up with the service person the phone went dead. Now it says I'm out of airtime.....so I can't call for the minutes and I can't buy them online.....and they shut me down a day early.........damn!
I did do another silly/fun sketch today. Same model, different setting.

Waiting for possible color correction on the coat and final approval so I can get this sent off to its owner.
Today I'll be working on some more silly/fun animal designs.

Working on some sketches for some silly fun paintings.....sketch one....