What’s new between my art table from November to now? Lights so I can work even at night and during rainy days… Hooks to find scissors and ruler and paint can opener easily…. Gloss gelling (aka wood varnish) my favorite color wheel to keep paper from disintegrating… A stool for being able to work even when tired…. Life is good. Pura vida. Special thank you and tons of brownie points belong to my better half Andy. Want to see how my art table painting space looked before these upgrades? Click this sentence. Want to see a small part of my old painting studio? This video shows my old studio, the one we let go to move to Costa Rica. The easel and other things are currently in storage for my new future studio. It describes what you can expect during an art demo. You can find it by clicking on this paragraph. 2/16/2022 Making stencilsAs we set ourselves up in our new home, we throw away a lot of packaging.
I am also missing my studio, as most of it is in a Florida storage unit a few thousand miles away from Costa Rica. Between trash and missing my supplies…I look at many things with an eye to reusing and repurposing. Sooo…the packaging! I saved pieces of flat plastic because although small, they are perfect for stencils! As I love staring out at the super tall trees at our new home, the tops of these trees became a simple subject to begin my new hand cut stencil collection. To test them, I experimented, of course. Packaging here in Costa Rica is very different than in the USA. There’s a lot less packaging here. I’m on a search for a packaging that I can use for stencils that is easier to find, and larger, than the little box used here. To see some of my stencils that are in my Florida storage unit, click on through these links: Dragonflies stencil in progress How to reuse the wrappers (I used to) that were on my art drop freebies If you’d like to see some of my hand carved stamps, too, you might enjoy my Luxury Lucky Cats Collection that I’m sending via email to friends. I keep all emails a secret and you can get an inside look at my almost secret collection of Luxury Lucky Cats. 12/22/2021 Merry Christmas from Costa RicaThis is a tiny tree I brought from the USA to Costa Rica for us to enjoy this 2021 holiday season. May your Christmas be Merry and Bright. Sunshine and warmth from Costa Rica. 12/15/2021 How to Wash Clothes in Costa RicaHow to Wash Clothes in Costa Rica:
NOTE: Weather apps are very unreliable. It can be raining in the town that has the sensors, but sunny hot in your town.
NOTE: Clotheslines in full sunlight are the quickest way to dry clothing. The better clotheslines are just under roof overhangs. 22. Using clothespins, HANG clothing on clothesline. 23. MONITOR clothing until dry. CAUTION! Rain will wet clothing and delay drying. The delay can cause clothing to stay damp for days. 24. When clothing is dry to the touch, REMOVE and STORE clothing. 25. Repeat directions as often as necessary. 12/8/2021 Art Supplies Found in the WildOk, not completely in the wild, but at least in someone's garden driveway!
While visiting our neighbor Nacho, I found some rich, black, thick charcoal laying around some flower bushes. The type of charcoal that’s found in a 2x3x1 inch box in an art supply store and sells for a few dollars. The juicy charcoal that oozes blackness on paper…and smudges and brushes away easily to make grays. Nacho laughed at me for asking for his charcoal. Charcoal in Costa Rica is used as deodorant or for gardening fertilizer, not art supplies. He shrugged and offered me more charcoal. I took just what I needed. After all, I just found an almost endless supply, right across our road!!! I finally got to make the value chart I needed for class! If you happen to be in Uvita, Costa Rica, come out and see me and three more awesome artists at Dolce Uvita on Saturday, December 11th, 2021, from 10 am – 3 pm. For more info, https://dolceuvita.com |
CategoriesAll Art In The News Art Studio Cats Classes Costa Rica Painting Painting Studio Pets Sketching Drawing, painting both analog and digital, and other artsy things while living in Costa Rica.
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