OK, OK Already!

Sunrise on St. Mary's - 24 x 18" pastel on paper

I can tell everyone is getting antsy for a new painting. I've lost subscribers to my blog, and no one is emailing me anymore.

Well, here y'go. After a rather length vacation (yes, the project is finished - thank goodness!), I'm back at my easel.

The photo for this picture came from a fellow Etsy artist's blog. This picture presented some challenges. The biggest hurdle was keeping the waterfall and the surrounding rocks in a dark enough value range that the sunshine would be dominant. The original photo only had a hint of sun at the very top (and hardly any of the trees), so I had to make up the rest.

This painting is a good example of how a color can look differently depending on what it's background is. The sun highlights on the rocks to the right are actually a light orange color, but on the purple, they, too, take on a purple color - weird, huh?

I'm going to let it sit on my mantelpiece downstairs for a few days until I sign it. If you see anything that needs adjusting, let me know!

Thanks,

Pastel Guy

www.matthewweld.com - pastel paintings

www.studio206.etsy.com - handmade jewelry for sale

Oh Yeah...

It's done!

The bath/bedroom project is officially complete! Last night was our first night back in our bedroom. It felt like we had moved into a new house. It turned out so well that I am so proud of myself I can hardly stand it! I figure I spent 28 long days (divided into weekends and days off) on the project. I can understand now why Habitat for Humanity requires the future inhabitants to work on their homes. All of a sudden I have a vested interest in my abode, and and am even more proud to be its inhabitant.

The picture above is of the bamboo floor before we started moving everything back in. At first the color variation in the wood was a tad disturbing, but as the pieces started accumulating, the overall effect was very pleasing.

Now that we have moved back into the bedroom and out of the dining room, my life should return to (somewhat) normal, and I can start posting more often again. I also plan to get back into the pastel quite heavily again. It's all a matter of priorities, and now that my shelter (one of man's 'needs') is back to normal, the rest of my life can continue as before.

Until next time!
Pastel Guy
www.matthewweld.com - pastel paintings
www.studio206.etsy.com - handmade jewelry

Sorry Folks!

OK, gotta put up a couple more of the bathroom remodel project. I know the trim isn't up and all, but the floor is grouted and finished, and the plumbing back in.

Here's the vanity and the light fixture - oh, and me taking the picture from our closet. We ended up putting in 4 medicine cabinets in place of one big mirror. We had a big mirror with two medicine cabinets (one on each side), but it was a pain to shave by going from close to far and back again. Besides, now we have all kinds of storage! The glass on the top of the vanity is the stack of shelves for inside the cabinets. Needless to say, we haven't moved in yet.

I have the equipment to put in the bamboo flooring reserved for the three-day weekend coming up. Then - finally - it's move-back-in time!

Cheers!

Pastel Guy

www.matthewweld.com - pastels

www.studio206.etsy.com - handmade jewelry

Mosaic Fun

Here's a fun little toy I ran across on the Internet the other day. As I was searching for mosaic resources, I came across this site that offered premade mosaics to interior designers and builders. Having once been an interior designer (of sorts), I was immediately intrigued. Here you can use a virtual palette to create random mosaics out of square tiles. It's not what I would choose for my home, but I did have fun mixing colors. Try the Mosaic Maximizer and see for yourself!

Pastel Guy

http://www.matthewweld.com/ - pastel painting

http://www.studio206.etsy.com/ - jewelry

Some More Floor

So here's the final floor. Well, almost final. The grout isn't down yet in these pictures. But this shows all those little rectangular tiles from the old bathroom. The room in the top of the picture now also has tile in it, too. Putting down the tile was a lot like doing stained glass patterns. I enjoyed it so much that I ordered a book on Amazon about mosaic techniques. I have a grand scale design for the floor of the downstairs hallway brewing in the recesses of my brain.... I have a tendency to skip the baby steps and charge right in to the 'advanced' level projects.

My goal for this weekend is to finish the bathroom. The trim is painted and waiting to go back on. The vanity is in, the sinks put in, and the new faucets just need to have the last bit of hooking up to do. Then I do the real nailbiter and turn off the water, cut the existing pipes, and tap into them. Our goal when this project started was to have the project done for Valentine's Day. It looks as though the wood floors will be put down next weekend, with the moving in done on Presidents' Day. (I'm knocking loudly on my desk. Can't you hear it?!)

Cheers!
Pastel Guy
http://www.matthewweld.com/ - pastel paintings
http://www.studio206.etsy.com/ - handmade jewelry for sale

The Project from Hades

For the first time in oh, about three weeks, I don't feel totally burdened in the evening. I don't have any grading (this happens about twice each year in a teacher's life - at least mine), and I don't have a short project to do in my bathroom project. Therefore, here's the next installment on my project.



This photo shows the mess I created in the shower/toilet room by knocking out the tile. See those little rectagles? Remember them, because they will show up again later.

Then, in the main part of the bath,the vanity had been removed, and the plaster redone, and the flooring redone. This shows the wall before it was replastered. The hideous light fixture is now gone, and that soffitting is there to hold the new light fixture over the surface-mounted medicine cabinets that will stretch across the expanse. Turns out I actually had to make another step to cover the old light's hole in the ceiling. It was either that or redo the whole ceiling. The second step actually looks pretty cool.

Next time, I'll show you some quick photos of the tile floor with mosaic border (remember those little rectangles?), the new vanity, and the RED walls.

Until then,

Pastel Guy

http://www.matthewweld.com/ - pastels

http://www.studio206.etsy.com/ - handmade jewelry for sale

Zero is the Hero!

Humor me.

Even if you're not the artistic type (I know, there are some of you out there who are reading this), go ahead. Do it.

Just for fun, test the artistic eye within you, and take the hue test.

It's designed to see how good your eyes are at discerning color differences. This test gives you one hundred blocks in four sets, and you have to click and drag the boxes in order to put the colored squares in order. (Once you click on the site, find your country and click on it - I know it works for 'United States' at least!)

The results then let you see what colors you may have trouble seeing (or at least discerning). A score of zero is perfect. I suspect that most of you will score a zero - like me!

Pastel Guy

http://www.matthewweld.com/ - pastel paintings

http://www.studio206.etsy.com/ - handmade jewelry