Bex Hall

Exploring Creativity

Bex Hall > The 100 Day Project

The 100 Day Project

Painting on furniture instead of paper

Weekend shift to repurposing a ladder into a shelf

This weekend brings a shift to painting furniture of sorts. I’m creating a shelf with an old wooden ladder and four boards for my antique shop. The shelves will be level when it’s finished. 😊

Painted the base coat last night and used tiny plastic triangles to support the wet side of the boards while finishing the opposite side. Those triangles are simple but brilliant.

Next, I’ll add subtle shades of pink, yellow, sage, and blue to individual boards, then sand each for a distressed effect.

The goal is to complement the painted shutters I’ll also use in the shop beside the shelf.

I’ll post progress photos tomorrow.

Until then, xoxo

If you change the way you look at things,

the things you look at change.

Seven years have passed since a visit to North Judson, Indiana, yet the images of the trees there are as neatly planted in my memories as they are in the ground.

No signs revealed the history of the area. The cabin rental owner didn’t know. I couldn’t find an explanation why the pine trees grew in such an orderly fashion. 

Probably a long gone paper mill or a defunct Christmas tree farm, I may never know. Whatever the previous purpose, the trees still stand in their dutiful rows.

But that’s the thing — you don’t see the rows unless you stand at a certain angle. From the cabin’s front porch, the woods look like any other, but move to the road and the trees are single file. Walk within the forest and the randomness isn’t as clear. Look up and see a protective canopy, a circle of shelter, softened with kitten whisker needles.

What’s your perspective today? 😊

If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”

— Wayne Dyer

Practice does not make perfect

It makes improvement

I love a loose, flowy watercolor style but don’t have much experience, so I emulated an artist whose work I admire.

It was difficult to make the first strokes. How much water do I add? Which brush do I use? How do I correct muddy colors? What if it looks horrible?

“It is impossible to get better and look good at the same time. Give yourself permission to be a beginner. By being willing to be a bad artist, you have a chance to be an artist, and perhaps, over time, a very good one.” 

I keep Julia Cameron’s quote tacked on my board where I can see it. I just need to remember to LOOK at it, read it, take it in.

Because when I do, I find the courage to try again, to practice. My third attempt shows improvement over my first one. I’ll take that as a win.

Cheers!

Don’t know what to paint next?

Look out the window.

I watched the morning sky go from pink and blue to peach and purple, then blue with some white clouds.

So I painted my versions of these on scrap paper with watercolors.

It’s not a finished “thing,” there’s no plan or goal, but it’s enough. 

It’s enough I filled the cups with water, scrounged for scrap paper, and pulled out the pans of watercolor.

Today I give myself grace for not knowing what to do next. 😊

Frustration leads to learning

If you keep going

Another class, this one called Galaxy Night Sky.

I used a cardboard round for my first attempt just to get a feel for the color blending. Felt okay, so I moved to what Strathmore calls their “best” watercolor paper. I taped a circle and made a light wash. As the colors blended, the paper pilled up. Bad.

Setting that aside, I tried a canvas, just to see. Didn’t care for that either. The strokes really showed.

Finally, I used a square of inexpensive, off brand watercolor paper, and it held up! 

Instead of using paint for the trees, I used a Micron .005 pen. 

Living and learning.

Onward.

😊