Out WIth the Old and In With the New: The Art on our Walls

I am happy to say that Aaron's been selling quite a few paintings as of late.

I am sad to say that I miss them when they go.

To see him making his art, the things that are inside him and who he is, and to know that people get it and like it, well, it's wonderful.

Making art makes Aaron happy.

Making art that people enjoy makes Aaron happy.

All of this makes me happy, too.

I guess it's just that even when it's for a good reason, it's still always hard to say good-bye.

The first big painting he did for us, one that hung on our walls through James' first 3 years of life, and then sold to a friend, is still missed.

It was a pair of giant Converse high tops.  (see it here)

James learned what a star was from that painting while it hung in our living room.

He still talks about it sometimes.

Then there was this painting that Aaron sold a while back.

James actually cried when he found out Aaron sold it.

We recently said goodbye to our trailer, Bambi.

Many of our friends expressed dismay that it was for sale.

"It is so you!' they said, "you can't sell it."

But Aaron took it off our walls.

Still, when Aaron got the call that it had sold, he said he felt just a little bit sick to his stomach.

It was a real favorite.

That's the hard thing about the art on our walls--it becomes a part of us, and thus, it is hard to say good-bye.

It's exciting to watch Aaron's paintings sell, and to know that people love them like we do.

But I won't say we don't miss them.

The above painting, "I Like Eich" is Aaron's newest.

I love it so much.

So, so, much.

If you are at all a fan of mid-century architecture, then you are probably familiar with the name, Joseph Eichler.

You know his houses.

And, if you are like me, you wouldn't mind living in one some day.

This painting celebrates the classic Eichler houses.

The windows, the roof lines, and the clean, modern look that makes them so special.

Eichler was not the architect, but the developer of the communities that bear his name.

But because he had an penchant for modern design, his houses all share a similar design sense.

It's one that Aaron and I, and many other people, like very much.

Aaron designed the painting and it is all painted free hand.

He is amazing like that.

It's perfect for someone who really Likes Eich!

Right now, there is only one painting, but he hopes to make prints like it soon.

Which is good news to me, because he took this painting off my kitchen wall this morning and took it to sell at Just Modern in Palm Springs.

Hopefully I'll at least get a print, right?

If you've been reading my blogs for any amount of time, you might remember some of the other paintings that we've had hanging in the house.

First there was ICE.

I loved ICE and we had it for a couple of years before Aaron thought of selling it.

He sold it ast week.

Getting this note from the new owner helped:

"Just wanted to let you know that I'm the new owner of "ICE" - just purchased it today from a shop in Palm Springs.  From the second I saw it, I loved it! "

That's the kind of thing that makes an artist's heart happy.

And his wife's heart swell with pride.

After ICE was gone, Aaron made the Bear, which he titled Promised Land.
I also loved this one.
We didn't have him up for too long.
He sold at Aaron's recent show.

I suppose the reason we love these paintings so much, aside from the fact that Aaron made them and we're his biggest fans and think everything he does is great, is that they are just a part of our life in our home.

We do a lot of living with these paintings.

See?

And now that Eich is gone, the wall in the kitchen looks awfully bare.

Good thing I know an artist who can fill it back up again.

At least for a while.

You know what they say, the cobbler's children never have shoes, the doctor's children are always sick, and the artist's home always has bare walls.

Perhaps it's time for me to commission my artist for my very own piece.
The kids want their own paintings too.
We all thought it high time Aaron make each of the kids their very own painting to keep for always.
He was going to do it for Christmas.
But in the hustle and bustle of it all, we both forgot.
I think some birthday paintings are in order.
I guess I'm going to be keeping my painter busy for a while.
That is the fun part about all this, I do love seeing what he's going to come up with next.
It's always such a good surprise.

If you're still bothering to read this blog, thanks!
I'm hopeful there will be more regular posts in the new year.
The new year is nothing but full of good hopes, right?
So, I hope I'll be seeing you soon!

Love from,

Greta

PS.  Aaron is working on getting a website up and running where he can show some of his hand carved, linoleum block prints, paintings and hopefully silk screened and giclee prints as well.  

I'll let you know when it's operational.

Come to Aaron's Art Show

That's right!

Aaron is having a show.

I've been an art widow for the last month or so as Aaron has been in his studio every night, painting feverishly until the wee hours.

Many nights he'd come to bed after 2.

And get up the next morning and go to work.

I don't know how he did it.

But he says when he gets in a creative groove he looses all track of time and the next thing he knows is it is 3 am and he still wants to keep painting.

The hard work paid off because he has some great pieces.

His color palette is beautiful.

Aaron loves color and it shows in his work.

He is also fun.

And so is his art.

Who he is and what he loves comes out so clearly in his paintings.

I know he'd love to sell them, but I admit to being sad to see them go.

On Sunday morning he loaded up his car with all his work, and went to hang his show.

His art looked even looks good hanging out in his car.

And after a month of hardly seeing one another, that night we went on a date.
Of course we stopped by the wine bar that is hosting the show to see it all hung up.
This picture doesn't do it full justice.
It looks fabulous!
Here's a sneak peek for those of you who won't be able to make it.

 If you are a local, please consider dropping by.
The opening will be this Wednesday, Nov. 7th, from 6-10, at Art Du Vin on 4th St, in Long Beach.
Aaron will be there all evening and he'd love to see you.
I'll be there too--I got a babysitter!
(you know that is worthy of exclamation points!)

You can make a fun night of it and go out to eat at Lola's, across the street from the show.
Lola's has amazingly delicious food.
Get the mole.
You will not be disappointed.
Then walk across the street for a glass of vino, and check out some fantastic art.
If vino isn't your thing, there is a coffee shop too, so you can get an evening shot of espresso.
Really, there is something for everyone.

If you are far away and can't make the show, Aaron will have all the pieces up on his blog in the coming month.
He will also be sharing some info about prints of his pieces becoming available in the near future.
So stay tuned, people.
And come to his show!
Love from,
Greta

PS.  If you know anyone else who might like to check out Aaron's work, please share this post with them.  We'd be so grateful.

So You Want to Throw a Diorama Party? Here's How

How does one throw a  diorama party, you ask?

Turns out, a diorama party is actually one of the easier parties I have thrown.

Mostly what you need is a lot of "stuff".

We found a lot of our "stuff" at a this place. (post on it forthcoming.  it's too cool a place not to talk about at length.)

It's a place where you can find jars full of marbles, bottle caps or buttons at 5 cents a scoop.

Rolls of yarn, old record covers, and cardboard in every conceivable shape of size on available to you for pennies.

It's diorama paradise.

We walked out with a bag filled to the brim with "stuff" and I spent only $4.

On the day of the party, you'll want to lay out all your supplies.
I grouped things loosely, and wasn't too uptight about things being beautifully displayed.
(although I had to fight the urge. trust me.)
Because I knew that once artists start to create, keeping everything in pristine order can kill the creative vibe.
Here are some of the supplies we had out for building the dioramas.


Paint, brushes, small pieces of Styrofoam, string, rubber bands, markers, wood glue, tacky glue, rulers, hole punches. and staplers.

There were lots of options for sticking things together.
Besides the wood glue and tacky glue, there was duct tape, masking tape, washi tape, double stick tape and, of utmost importance, a glue gun.
But no elmer's glue.  It takes too long to dry.  Speed is important here.

Then there was a bunch of the "stuff" all jumbled together.
There were buttons, old Christmas ornaments, pictures, floral wire, Popsicle sticks, toothpicks, clothes pins, a few plastic figurines, corks, pipe cleaners, wooden skewers and wooden dowels of different sizes.
A lot of this stuff I found in the house or garage.
You'll be amazed at all the building supplies you have in your house once you start looking.

There was spray paint. 
Of course.

And lots and lots of cardboard.
We had piles of cardboard, colored paper and random printouts of cool things.
Like I said, the set up for a diorama party isn't particularly pretty.
(i'm sure martha could have made it pretty.  but i have neither the staff not the unlimited budget that martha has to make anything , so i had to be cool with piles of cardboard on the ground rather than in perfect, matching containers.)

Another must have for the party is a place to plug in the glue gun.

(having more than one glue gun and lots of extra glue sticks is helpful)

It's also good to have exacto knives and a cutting mat on hand for cutting out of intricate designs.

Tape measures, a power drill, small hand saws, pliers and a screwdriver or 2 are all handy tools to have out, depending on the level of building going on at your party.
(8 year olds might not be needing the power drill.  but you never know.)
Lastly, you'll need lots of room for everyone to spread out.

And then, you step back and watch the magic happen.
Check out these artists at work.

If you're hosting an adult diorama party, you'll want to have your younger guests not be too young.

Otherwise, you'll be spending all your time helping them and not creating your own diorama.

James was the perfect age: old enough to build without assistance and old enough to be engaged by everyone else's projects.

I highly recommend doing this party with younger kids, just know that they'll need more help.

But they will really have a lot of fun.

William and Lilly have been sitting in the driveway making their own dioramas since Sunday and having a blast.

Lilly is nearly 4 and very capable of executing her own ideas with just a bit of help.

Again, much of their enjoyment comes from not micro-managing their projects and letting them spread out and make a mess.
And I think having some examples to inspire them would not be a bad thing.
Don't expect them to copy the examples--that can be a creative killer for a little kid.
Instead, show them all the different kind of magic they can make with a cardboard box and some glue.

It's really fun to see everyone's ideas coming together, but it does take time.
I opted for no end time to this party because I didn't want anyone to feel rushed.
It seemed most people needed a minimum of 3 hours to get their diorama done.
The kids got done more quickly.

Spray paint, string and a cardboard box becomes a chicken coop.

Bottle caps and cardboard become wheels and hubcaps.

This one has a fan in it that actually turns on and spins the people hanging from the top of the box.

The only limit to your diorama is your imagination!

Once everyone finished their diorama, we lined them up for pictures, voting and trophy giveaways.

Next up I'll show you how I made the trophies, and the voting ballots.

The fun doesn't stop!

Love from,

Greta

A Sticks and String Mobile

James is working on his art pin for Cub Scouts.
It's a pretty big deal.
He has 6 different art projects to complete.
One of the choices was a mobile.
We decided to make one of sticks and string.

James wanted to use sticks and as we were pondering ways to make the sticks colorful, (you know me and color!) I thought of colored string.
So we went to the craft store and picked out some embroidery thread.
Next we gathered sticks from the back yard.
Those are all the supplies you need to create this mobile.

James chose his own colors.
We did have a little color palette talk as he chose.
First he chose  a bunch of colors he liked and then we narrowed down the choices by separating them into distinct color palettes.
In the end, he decided he liked the brighter colors better than the pastels.

It took a few minutes for James to get the hang of wrapping the string around the stick.
I started it for him by tying the end around the stick.
Then we tested out different techniques for wrapping until we found the one that suited him best.

He liked holding the stick in his left hand and twirling it slowly, while holding the sting taut in his right hand and wrapping it around the stick as it twirled.
For the first few minutes it was a little frustrating.
He was impatient.
But then he found a rhythm.

And after he'd been doing it for a bit, he told me he liked it because it was so quiet and he could just think while he was wrapping the string.
He's right.
It is a very meditative activity.
And after a short while he'd done his first stick.

Before he started wrapping, he had a design in mind.
He chose his sticks and laid them out on the table.
He chose what color or colors would go on each stick.

I wasn't planning that far ahead.
I would have just randomly wrapped my sticks and then decided how they'd fit together.
But James had a vision.

He found it difficult to make the string lie flat over the bumps and knots on the sticks.
And since he didn't like the bumpy look, he opted to leave the knots uncovered.
That is an aesthetic decision left up to the artist.

James worked on wrapping his sticks at 2 different sittings.
When he was done, he laid them out and I helped him tie them together.
He wanted them tied with white string.
It was a big of a trick to get them to balance just right.
That was part of the design process--figuring out the weight of the sticks and how they would balance each other.
He did a pretty good job of it.

And he was proud of how it turned out.
It's a real mobile!

I like the juxtaposition of the brown sticks and bright colored string.
Aaron likes it because it looks "boy scouty".

But mostly I like it because I like working on art projects with my boy.
Ones that are simple and still beautiful.
And you can bet I'll be wrapping some sticks of my own real soon.

Here's a funny thing about this project.

I really thought it was original.

Not that I was the only person who had thought of wrapping string around twigs,  but I really hadn't seen it anywhere else.

It was a new idea to me.

But then, like the next day, I saw this, on a friend's Pinterest board.

There was this one too.

And I had to laugh.

Guess it wasn't such a new idea after all.

But we're still very happy with our mobile.

Next we're tackling collage.

We'll be studying it and creating it in the form of mosaic.

I can't wait!

I have some amazing garage sale finds to show you from this weekend.

I haven't been garage saling in ages, but decided to try one that sounded good.

It was.

Oh my, how good it was.

Check back sooon to see my treasures.

Love from,

Greta

Nauticual Paint By Numbers

Well, here they are!
What do you think?

I'm in love.
They make me happy each time I look at them.
I know you may be asking, "paint by number?  Really?"
Yes, really.
I'm not afraid to be low-brow.

Here's the corner that was damaged on the big painting.
Before Aaron fixed it, it was warped and coming out of the frame.
It seemed beyond repair, which is why I passed it up originally.
But my man worked his magic.
To fix it, he used wood glue to attach the picture to a new, stiff piece of mat board.  (you can find it at any art/craft store)
After attaching the mat board to the back of the picture, he placed it, picture side down, on a table and weighted it down with some dumbbell weights. (but you could use anything heavy)
He let it sit that way over night and in the morning, tada!
You can hardly tell it was damaged.

For the frame, I spray painted it with Valspar, Exotic Sea in gloss.
I got it at Loew's.
It is a really great turquoise color.
I know, because I've been looking for one for a while.
It is the same color I used on our bedside tables.
I didn't sand the frame, just primed it with gray primer, and 2 coats of the turquoise.
I am so happy with how it turned out.
And in case you didn't see it the first time, here's how it looked before the paint job.

These are our little, ship paint by numbers.

I love them because they were my grandfather's.

I called him Dziadi.  

That's grandfather in Polish and the same thing my kids call my Dad.

My Dziadzi had an incredible collection of random things all over his garage, workshop and backyard.
Plastic fruit, ceramic animals, crazy art, exercise equipment, you name it, he had it out there.

It was paradise when were kids.

After he passed away, my aunt and grandma began to slowly clear out the many, many, many pictures, figurines and chotchkies he had.

I asked if I could keep some to remember both him and my dear childhood memories.

These pictures, from his workshop, were some of the things I saved.

They may have been painted by my dad, or one of his siblings.

He doesn't remember.

But there was quite a bit of art made by my dad, his 3 sisters and 1 brother, so maybe these were some.

Either way, I love to look at the pictures on my wall and remember my Dziadzi.

The worn frames Aaron re-made for them fit perfectly.
They needed something with a patina.

We hung them on that big, blank wall in our dining room.
Aaron said it's a very...eclectic....room.
It is.
And I like it that way.

Here's to thrift store treasures, rescued family heirlooms, re-using old things and spray paint!

Love from,

Greta

PS. And 3 things means it's officially a collection, right?  

So, now I'll add paint by numbers to The List. 

I'd love more.

Paint by numbers and collections.

One of these days I'll have to walk around here and document each of my collections.

I have a lot.