Painted Red Hat Ornaments

At our last Red Hat Ladies' luncheon, one member pulled out a plastic bag full of cleaned and de-labled CAT FOOD CANS.  An environmentalist before most of us, Mary challenged us to create Christmas ornaments for the tree our group is sponsoring this season.  I jumped at the chance and grabbed a few.

Paint a Tea Kettle for Succulents

I live alone...well, with my dog, BC.  I'm only in my 60's but still find myself forgetting things from time to time. I don't think it's early Alz; but as I age and add new tidbits to my brain, I get rid of some old (particularly political).

One thing which many people can probably relate to is forgetting the kettle's on the stove. Turn it on and let it boil away because the whistle's long gone. I returned to my RV after 1-1/2 hours to find BC panting and my place hot and steamy.

Renovating a 1992 Winnebago Warrior: Turn the Sofa into a Daybed with Storage

The original brochure

This is my full-time home and I simply adore it.  It is also my third RV, so  learning how to make a comfortable space for BC and me has been an ongoing process.  As a Starving Artist I work on a tight budget so my ideas may be off-the-cuff; but glance through and you may like one or two. 

My late husband was European and we envisioned traveling the U.S. in just such a vehicle; but that didn't work out as planned so I'm doing it on my own.  I'm not too savvy when it comes to mechanical things but I'm pretty good with a paintbrush and resourceful out of necessity. This Micro-Mini Warrior is 7 feet wide by 21 feet long by just under 10 feet high.

Littlest Pet Shop of Horrors

Super Hero Cat (before)

"Oh, before I forget, could you please paint a little toy which Chloe's Grandfather and I bought for her birthday? Some fellow wanted $10,000 on ebay for his Littlest Pet Shop Superhero Cat, but forget it; this was $25, and we're hoping you can paint a little mask?

"Shure," I slurred as I slurped my Margarita, never having heard of the Littlest Pet Shop.  Out from Grandma's bag came this mini- kitty. not more than 2" tall (left).

Actual LPS Hero Cat

"What's it supposed to look like?  Never mind; I'll look online."  After all, I'm a (sic) professional artist; how hard could it be?  A black marker mask and... quite frankly I don't remember the rest of our Gal-Pal lunch.

By the time Grandma came to pick up the finished product I wanted to shove it down her throat.  Not even the eye colors were the same, and the head wobbles like those dashboard figurines.

Chloe's Super Hero Cat

"No wonder people are charging 50 bucks to hand-paint these things.  If I was going to charge it would be four times that! The damned head..."

"Comes off," she offered too late. Murder was in my heart, but I laughed and told her I did it for CHLOE, who I understand now carries it everywhere.

Assuming the toy would be handled often, I wanted to do my best to keep the paint from wearing off quickly. After cleaning the cat with a bit of denatured alcohol, I first primed the areas I would be adding paint.  (The clear primer looks hazy when dry, so I couldn't paint the entire toy. As a reminder, paint needs 'tooth' to adhere, and the toy plastic was slick.)

With tiny brushes and often stacking two pairs of eyeglasses, I kept repeating, "for Chloe, for Chloe," like a mantra, in case reincarnation is true.  I searched for photos of the back, or top, of the toy, but in the end I had to make it up. Bit of varnish for protection and Voila!

"I hope you and Grandpa aren't going to try passing this off as the Real Deal?  Shame on you!"

No, no, she laughed; Chloe would know the truth.  This has got to be one of the biggest Pain-in-the-Youknowwhat commission I've ever worked on, but in the end I thought it was cute and Chloe loves it, and that's all that really matters.

Goldilocks's Painted Bath

Original design
Roberta Gordon-Smith

I moved into my 21-foot Winnebago Warrior late last fall.  It's my third RV-home in 5 years. My first was a 16-foot Layton travel trailer, which I discovered I couldn't safely tow because of poor depth perception. I traded it for a 33-foot Bounder motorhome; a beast, but a roomy beast.  I anticipated lengthy visits from Mom in 'Jersey, but she can no longer travel so I must go to her.

Third time's proving a charm. In my continuing effort to turn these sow's ears into silk purses, I began with my tiny bathroom.  I figured if I could no longer live in the tropics at least I could pretend while taking care of business.

1992 Winnebago Warrior

This post is not a detailed how-to but what is possible. I taught myself to paint in my late '30s (now 59-and-holding, with arthritic hands), so first thing to do is get rid of the idea that you can't paint this-or-that.  Sure you can.  As any artist worth their salt will tell you, some of our best work comes out of "Oops!"

El Muelle, la Parguera, PR
My first paid commission

Following 9/11, earning a living as an artist in Puerto Rico required inventiveness, so I painted anything I could find on an island without second-hand shops to speak of.  When the supermarket owner asked if I could paint a grapevine on the wall outside his new liquor department I said YES without having ever painted a grape.  You get better at things.

Ruff Life 2008
Took 9 years to
finally paint her hull

Teaching also helped keep me afloat.  My painting classes were centered around tried-and-true methods from my School of Hard Knocks, and I practiced on any surface I could find on 33-foot trawler Ruff Life, my midlife crisis home. It wasn't until I ordered 10 books for $1.00 that I found three fabulous muralist/decorative artists and their Book Club entries: