helvi smith
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Waste not want not...

7/30/2010

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I finished up a canvas floor cloth.
Well.
Actually two.
I painted both sides.
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I decided to put it in front of my kitchen sink.
For now...
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I trimmed the rug and decided to use the
 trimmings....
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To make some bracelets!
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Pretty Yellow Paint

7/29/2010

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I went to the Restore-store today to see if they got any more paint in lately.
Found this can:
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I did not open the can to see exactly how pretty it is.   I love surprises - so I am looking forward to seeing what someone considers "pretty yellow."   
Maybe they just meant - pretty yellow - like - "Hey!  That paint is pretty darn YELLOW!"  
Who knows...

I painted more layers on more canvases today.
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A few of the works in progress this week.
Just a couple of days ago they looked like this:
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Time to head to Goodwill and get more working material this weekend....
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So much paint. So little canvas.

7/27/2010

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I was getting down to just about my last Goodwill pre-painted canvas and look what a friend found for me today!
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Perfect timing!
Perfect pal!
I found myself working on 12 different canvases today, and I could have used more.

I am going to have to tidy up and arrange thing better for laying out wet paintings to dry.

I am running out of horizontal space.
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Here's a couple under my work table.
These are still in progress...

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I found this rolling rack at the Goodwill outlet store for $5 and it is holding a few more '"in-progress" works that are drying.

I finally finished another floorcloth today!

I could not resist painting both sides.

Something about that blank backside and me with all that paint and such...
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This was the first side and it seems a little bland in this photo - but it has some lovely details close up.

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This side is way different from the other side.
Good thing you can't see them
 both at the same time!

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This gives you an idea of how it works on the floor....
I am not sure this is where I will use it - but ya never know!

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I am seeing RED!

7/26/2010

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I found a lot of RED paint at the Restore-store and it has been fun to have so much of such a vibrant color.

I was inspired by a photo I saw of a hand painted kimono and tried some new stuff the past couple of days.
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I liked the lines and circles.
My painting today is not exactly "like" the kimono - but I  am on the way to getting there.
(at least in MY mind...)
Here is one of my paintings from today.
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Side-by-side - they look nothing like each other, but in my mind, I was trying for a "fabric" of paint with layers underneath and a sort of patch-like material over the top.
Like a paint-quilt?
And will ya just LOOK at that stinkin' dent in the canvas that I did not notice before!
Here is the other one I worked on today...
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Here on this one, I kinda got the impression of the round designs on the kimono.

I can hardly wait to see what happens tomorrow!
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My head has been spinning around and around...

7/18/2010

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For the past seven months all I have painted are circles and circles and more circles and variations on circles.
I decided to forge ahead and paint not-circles.
Ouch!
That was not an easy thing to do.
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It was not easy not painting circles.
I wanted to paint circles all over the top of this and had two pals tell me no.
I took their advice and now it is kinda growing on me.  
This is about 8"X12" -ish.
I then decided to go bigger and paint a
 floor cloth without circles.
Ouch.
Not painting circles was still painful.
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This measures about 4' X 3' and is very subtle from a distance and quite detailed up close.
I got some great ideas from doing this that I will apply on the next floor cloth that I paint.
Then.
There was a painting that I had painted over and over and over and was still not happy about it, and it was hanging on the wall mocking me each and every minute I was in the painting studio.
It would say, "Hey, I look like crap, and it is all YOUR fault.   Bwahahaaaaa!"
Dang painting.
So today I decided to paint over it, yet again and the paint I picked did not obliterate the the last layers and then I took a sponge to wipe it all off again and something happened.
I liked that something and experimented with it and, danged if it did not all come together and make a cool painting.
Finally.
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I really like this one.
It has cool details where I rubbed away some of the paint.
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Whew!
Hard to know when a painting is done and I am certain that this one is done done and done!
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Big Paintings are for Sale

7/14/2010

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I took my two big re-purposed paintings to the store where I consign mid-century furniture and put them up for sale.  
The woman who owns the store thinks that mid-century buyers might just like some big paintings that look good with the vintage furniture she sells.
I hope so too!
The one on the left , I called, "Happy Day" because it looks like fun.  The other , I called, "All That Is" because it has everything.
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It wil be a very happy day, indeed, if this sells!
I have to go thrift store shopping soon to get more paintings to paint over.
I have a couple of ideas I want to try out...
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Good shape in bad shape.

7/13/2010

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Got this table at a garage sale a few weeks ago.  Great shape to the table - but the wood is not in good shape...
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I decided to try to paint a piece of canvas and glue it to the table top.
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Should be interesting to see how the whole process goes.   I finished putting on 5 layers of poly-acrilyc to seal the canvas and hope to cut it to shape tomorrow.
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Pink is not my favorite color.

7/11/2010

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I like most colors. 
  Most...
Pink is not my favorite color.That is a nice way of saying that I really don't like pink.   I bought a pink painting at thrift store to paint over and a funny thing happened...
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My son decided that he really liked this painting.
I don't even think it is really even a good painting, even if it was a nice color.
I have asked him several times over the past couple of months  if I could have it to paint over.
Nope - nope and nope.
However, today I was able to negotiate a hard bargain with him.
I had a canvas bag I was going to paint over and he really liked the 
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I was able to trade this canvas bag for the ugly painting.  It was not sure thing for a while - but the deal went through.
The painting is gone forever and I will post a photo of it later when it is jazzed up a bit...
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I had a pal who was cleaning out her garage and had lots of leftover house paint in fun colors and called me to see if I wanted the acrylic paint.
Of course!
I use leftover paint all the time in my paintings!
Score!
:)
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Before and After - recycled paintings

7/9/2010

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I thought it might be fun to post a few photos of what I have been up to...
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Before...

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After...

I called this one Cataract Daisy.
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Before...

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After...

I sold this one this week.    I called it "sunken treasures."
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Go Big or Go Home

7/2/2010

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I bought a canvas at Goodwill.
A very LARGE Canvas.  6'X10' 
It was handy that it was already primed with a painting that I will simply paint over.
I hope I don't go to Hell for this.
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Oh, Heck.   
Should be no problem as I don't even believe in Hell.
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Yep.
That is one BIG canvas...
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Just got started....
It will be fun to see how this ends up.
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