Whimsical and Custom Clay Tiles

I've been making clay tiles for about 6 years now. The first ones that I made had fish themes. Then I decided to make a whimsical house on a tile, which led to custom house tiles and my little mini clay houses.  I gave a whimsical tile to a friend of mine for her birthday several years ago. Then she bought another one from me. Then she decided she wanted to have a set of 3.  So I recently completed the final one to go with her set this week.  

New Whimsical Tile

Pictured is the final one, then the set of 3.  She plans to hang them on the wall.  Some people put them up on an easel.  

I also just finished a custom tile of a customer's house.  After remaking it once (because of cracks that developed), it finally is finished.  

The very first custom tile I created can be seen in a post (here), way back in 2008! 

So now it's back to the drawing board! Have a nice weekend! 

Beth♥

Set of 3 Whimsical Clay Tiles

Custom House Tile

Travel and Colds do not mix!

My To Do List keeps getting longer and longer and to keep up I must work everyday.  So what would keep me from playing with paint or clay or drawing? Why...of course...I come down with a cold!  I had planned a trip to visit my sister and I even packed my paint and supplies to work on a painting (for her) while she was at work. I got there and we had a good visit the first day, even though I had this tickle in my throat. No problem, I figured it was my sinuses. The next day I wake up coughing and not feeling so great. No problem, I'll just stay in and work on the painting all day.  That night I began to feel achy and still coughing and felt like I had a fever. Not good.  Not only did I not want to spread my germs to everyone, I like to be home when I'm sick. So I packed up and came home. So now I'm looking at my unfinished painting and my To Do List and still coughing.  Wishing that I could have stayed for my entire planned visit, which was going to include dinner with friends.  Wish I could be there!  But I'm sure they wouldn't appreciate it if I gave them my lovely cold.

Now to find my positive self and to work on my to do list..cough cough.

Background for Painting
on Canvas

 More pictures to come on the painting. I did this before I left on the trip and worked on it more while there. But I don't want to reveal it until I'm finished!

Beth♥

Painting...the walls

In between working on some art projects, this is what I have been painting for the past week! I have painted many, many rooms over the years.  It usually takes me a day or two to finish. This time, I had to take time off to finish other projects and to recover. I think that I have a pinched nerve in my lower back, so bending over to tape, paint, pour paint, climb the ladder and all the other work that it takes to complete this DYI project is wreaking havoc on my back!
The 'sports theme' room had a wallpaper border at the top. I tried to remove it, but it didn't want to come off very easily. After soaking, scraping and scraping and resting and scraping some more, I removed about 8 feet in the corner and 4 hours later...I decided I would try to paint over it.  After 3 coats of paint, it looked just fine. So I didn't hesitate to continue to paint over it. You can see, in the photo collage, where I started painting over the border.

This room has seen some wear and tear over the years! It was my son's bedroom for 17 years. It has had a sports theme border on the wall most of those 17 years.  I believe there were many sports played in this room! It was rough!  It doesn't look like the same room anymore.  It has a fresh coat of paint and curtains on the window.
I still have some trim to paint, but that will have to wait until my back feels a little better.  I'm glad to have it cleaned up and put back together. Hopefully it will help to sell the house soon.
Now back to the fun painting!

Beth♥

From the frozen South...

Yes, it's February. Yes, it's winter. Yes, we do have cold weather...but...

usually not for such long stretches at a time!  It is just sooo COLD!
 I love snow, but we haven't gotten more than an inch (at most) of snow.  We did, however, get quite a bit of freezing rain, sleet, maybe a few snowflakes a week ago and it is still frozen.  Today is the first day that it has gotten above freezing since last Saturday, when it was in the 60s for one day! It was a tease though. Today it has gotten up to 33.  So some of the ice is melting. But another round of freezing stuff, hopefully snow, is predicted for tomorrow.  So it will be another few days before we see a heat wave in the 40s!

I've been spending more time trying to stay warm this week.  But I have managed to get a few things accomplished with my art.  I have some custom bowls in the kiln. I have two tiles waiting to be glazed.  I am working on a custom letter doodle design similar to these two shown.  The custom one has things that are personalized for a gift. I
will show a photo of it, when it's complete.

I also have some pen and ink orders to work on, so I have a busy schedule for the rest of February.  Let's just hope that we get some thawing out weather soon.  This Southern girl needs some sunshine!

Beth♥