Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Christmas And The Upcoming 30 Day Challenge


Christmas was a little different this year inside our CiCi Blue. With our Norcold fridge dying then resurrecting, then dying again, only to resurrect, we bought a small floor fridge. It was perfect for our tiny tree.  Last season we carefully put away our inside decorations. Note to self, write down where you put things in the basement!! You would think we could have found everything but they chose to hide from us this year,so it became a simple Christmas holiday! We do have a string of lights on the front of the coach that change colors, so that it quite festive!

We had our Christmas dinner at the rec hall with our park friends, and our good friend Lou who came up for the occasion. Diane and Paul, our French Canadian friends actually at another campground further south now, came back for dinner with us.  Lots of conversation and laughter.  A perfect day!

On the art scene things are getting serious inside CiCi... I am finishing commissions and starting more, plus I have signed up for a 30 paintings in 30 days challenge. Yes, literally chaining myself to the chair! So, here's what I plan!!

                                              The Plan For The 30 Day Challenge

A few years ago I did two series. The eyes,(Soul) of the dog and the infamous nose!  I asked people to send their dogs nose,or eyes to me and I painted them.  If they wanted to purchase they could but there was no pressure to do so, I just needed models.

This time, I ask again. The face, the body, whatever someone fancies to see their pet become immortalized in oil.

I will be working on 8" x 10" stretched canvas and they will be selling for $100.00 and free shipping. (All proceeds go to the "Get CiCI Blue up and Running Again" campaign. ) If you are interested please email me HERE. I will start posting the paintings daily here and there will be a link to my etsy shop for purchase.

I CAN do this!!! :-)


The Studio (inside) Small but remember, no excuses! Just do it. 


Just look at this face, He's one of 4 Labs on the canvas. I sectioned him off in photoshop and since Santa brought us a new printer, yes, (the old one died. Must be something going around in the coach! ), I print the image larger so I can get good detail.


Working more on this precious face today along with the other three!





Another finished piece. Sassie was here at the campground last year. She's with my Muse Sophie now so of course I had to paint her.


And here is Lola's "love" interest for afar! Mr. Gus has that low, low woof like hers and when she hears it you can see hearts flying all around her head! 


"Lolaaaaa....I love you tooooo" Wooooof.

Where else but with RV'ers.  Love, fleeting but lasting friendships and tons of drama!!!

Have a great day, my brushes are beckoning!!

Warmly,
Sheila

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

So Much To Do As Time Flies

A week til Christmas then the New Year. I need to find a slow it down button. The owners are arriving for the holidays so we have been cleaning this, painting that, plus doing Christmas decorations through out the park and the Rec hall.  As I look at the title of this blog, Living the Artists Dream, I hear myself say, really Sheila??  So, I just signed up to do a 30 day painting challenge! 30 paintings in 30 Days starting January 1st! Time to get back to my dream!!


Let's see, what has been happening. Our neighbors, Paul and Diane, from Canada, and our happy hour group decided to take a trip to the Brevard Zoo.  What a fun day!


There is an aviary and you can purchase nectar in cups and proceed into the "inner Sanctum" so to speak. There you are swarmed by these colorful birds, and sometimes they fight, to get the nectar. It's really a fun experience as long as you are not afraid of getting their toenails dug into you or wings in your face. Once was fine for me!


My granddaughter asked me if I would paint a small piece on copper as a gift from her to her friend for Christmas. They are both dancers so I was able to get this done and shipped. Whew. I painted a small square piece for Kelsey a few years ago as a gift for her first solo dance at her recital.

Now I could show you the pile of unfinished paintings I need to accomplish. (Can you hear my frustration today...sigh) Roger is being supportive by saying, " No excuses, just do it!!!" My little cheering squad.  So that's my afternoon plan!

So, RV news. Our fridge has been dying, reviving, dying, reviving...you get the picture. Our rv guys, yes a new group, came up the other day to put in new gaskets for our a/c.  They also checked our steps and are putting in to our warranty for a new motor. We were denied new steps because of rust but I'm sure they will allow for a motor. We asked about our refrigerator and he told us that the ammonia wasn't running through all the time because of age and debris.  Our option was to replace it with the same kind, a Norcold double door rv fridge, ($4000.00) or buy a residential refrigerator. Less money and no propane. All electric.  We are covered with our warranty, but with depreciation, we would never be able to swing for a new Norcold or want to. Our neighbors have the residential fridge with the freezer on the bottom. Oh yes, I was excited to think we may get that!!

I asked how they would do it and they told us they would either take out the front window and pull the old out and new in or through a side window. It should be quite a show. I then said that we were going to pull the rug up, oh, forgot to mention that, and put in plank vinyl boards. They said, oh...we do that too!!!! I am so doing the happy dance here right now. Our rug is beyond disgusting. Three dogs, rain, grass and mud, us. Beige rugs are crazy. So we went to Home Depot and looked at a heavier vinyl called, "Allure". Perfect for our "Allure" Country Coach. We were first thinking the tiles and doing it ourselves but after doing some research and seeing there was a possibility of tiles popping up here and there, (us doing it), we decided the heavier floating floor and Rons RV repair doing it. Color??? The lighter wood look or one to match our cabinets. I love that we don't have to go somewhere else and they can do it all right here in our space!!

So, a lot for the new year!!! I better be painting right?!! 

So, have a great day, signed up for a months worth of Internet service, so you'll be hearing from me more often now. I'll let you know in a few days about the 30 in 30 days paintings.!!

Warmly,
Sheila