I have one of those matchboxes to paint as well. It was already painted with this weird little gnome thing smoking a huge pipe. ha Not my style so I need to sand it down and repaint it. I love your little chickadee! and the dogwood looks awesome!

I love little birds especially chickadees, but have only painted them a couple of times. I love how you wrapped the design around the whole box. Your dogwood looks great, especially all the shading and highlights on the center. As always, your painting is wonderful. So what else do you have in your stash? I'm trying to use up some of mine too--I've told myself I'm not going to buy anymore until I get what I have painted--but then I see just the perfect thing at such a good price and, well you know the rest! LOL

Luvs

Wow, a new project for us to enjoy! Your match box looks great with the flower and bird painted on it. Do you plan to use this by a fireplace or a gift?

I need to go get busy and paint but had another busy day at work and I'm just tired this evening. Hope you keep paintin' and know we will keep enjoying.hehe

Punk

Thanks, yall. I don't plan to use it, my fireplace comes on with a switch or remote. Don't like gathering wood or even the smell so I chose gas. I have it listed on ETSY. I don't remember if I ever told yall, but sometimes when I want a good highlight, I use a bristle scrub brush. I roll it in my highlight color then rub it on my cloth to get out almost all of the color. Then I can scrub in the highlight color. I don't always do this but I did on the above flowers.

Luvs - my stash - I have a piece of wood I purchased in 1984 - yes 1984. I loved the design and saved it for just the right project. It has now been 26 years and I haven't painted it yet. But my mission this year is to get them all painted. I should take pictures when my studio room is cleaned up so you can see what I am talking about. Right now I am too embarrassed, it is overflowing.

I too like how you wrapped your very pretty and well painted design around the sides. It makes the picture kinda 3D.

How about if you show a before AND after picture of your studio. It will give us lots of ideas on storage and surfaces and maybe it will also encourage you to have it "photo ready" when finished. Besides.. you know we like all kinds of pictures.

How beautiful! Everything is done so well. I love dogwoods, they are a very simplistic flower but so hard to paint because the eye has less to focus eye on, your are focus perfect. And the leaves, I have base coated a scrap piece of wood and have started practicing making leaves.

I just started "cleaning" out my craft area. Don't have any wood projects but do have fabric that is the same age as my daughter, 46 (ouch) It's all going! My new rule is, buy it when I need it and only as much as I need! Think it will last more than a couple of months?

Again, beautiful and thank you for sharing!

Belle

Belle, I took a class from Mary Wiseman and loved her technique of dry brushing your highlight on over the basecoat color. Then shading with a float of your darker color. Now, when i think I might need to lighten an area or add highlight, I use this little brush - similar to a stencil brush. You can scrub on just enough color. It is a Lowe Cornell 272 Dome Round with a light green handle. I use it like a stencil brush - wiping most of the paint out of the brush but rather than holding it straight up to scrub, you hold it sideways. And the second shot is of my youngest grand daughter, Megan. They all love their teacups, hers is a demitasse which she is drinking orange juice from. And what better breakfast than one with bacon and ketchup?
{{!gwi}}
{{!gwi}}

Thank you for the information & cute pix of your GD and who is that someone who is trying to make her into an Easter Bunny with the finger/ear thing?

I recently watched a video by Patricia Rawlinson where she does all of the shading and hilighting with dry brushing and I purchased a set of brush's that are flat. But I do have some dome shaped ones as well and will try them. I really have to learn patience when dry brushing!!! I used it with the spring and Easter bunny welcome signs and it wasn't bad and gives a real softness to the area. I have been watching anything I can find on flowers and leaves and have just about jumped into the water, but I really want to practice doing leaves and petals before doing a project. And I am still looking for a group to join, haven't found one closer than Seattle & that's about 100 miles each way and that's just to far.

Belle

Hi Belle, that was one of the twins putting up the ears. They are all so close as cousins.

I found several chapters in Washington, one in Seattle, Bremerton, Tacoma, Wenatchee, and Kennewick. Are those anywhere close to you? At one time our society had over 26,000 members but we are down to 19,000 now. People just don't paint as much as they use to, and it's a shame.

I am not really good with the dome brush but I do like using it sometimes.

If you like pencils, Janelle Johnson has a 17 minute vidio on a birds nest and eggs. Fun to watch.

www.janellejohnson.com.

If I find anything else I will post it.
B

PF, I love it that you are always so good about sharing your tips and techniques with us. I'm going to try your dry brush technique for the highlights with a couple brushes I already have on hand--they look sort of similar to yours, but I think they are just really old rounds that I've hung onto! LOL I think I've used them for scrubbing on soft blushed cheeks and that's why I've kept them.

Belle, I could sure use some practice on doing good leaves too. Both PF and Punk paint wonderful leaves don't they? I think I just need to learn to do more layers of floating to get some color variance in mine.

I want to take a look at PF's Etsy shop before I get off here, so I'll chat with you all later.

Luvs

Luvs, I will be working in my painting room this weekend, and I will take those before and after pics. Then I will work up an easy leaf technique and post it. I love the technique I learned from Delane Lange years ago, it is very similar to Donna Dewberry but was around before Donna became popular. But if you really want realistic leaves you need to do several more steps. I have taken classes with so many different teachers and they all have different techniques. I took several of those techniques and paint one that fits me. Hopefully, I can get something on here by Monday.

Later

Hey gals, this has been a fun read and will be back for more later. I'm always ready to learn more. So glad all of you are keeping this going.

Punk

PF, I have a video of Delane's--her roses of course. But on the tape, she does a stroke leaf that may be what you are talking about. The difference I saw between her's and DD's was that she did not turn the brush around so both edges of the leaf were dark on the outside. She made both strokes holding the brush the same so the 2nd stroke actually made the vein in the middle of the leaf. Gosh, it's hard to describe things in words isn't it? LOL

Yes, I'm aware that stroke painting was around long before DD came along--but DD was just able to turn it into a sort of "gimmick" that caught everyone's attention and her advertising and marketing strategies sure paid off for her, didn't they? I would imagine that she might have ticked off a few of the established painters in the beginning, but I also imagine even they were later appreciative of the fact that her "One Stroke" campaign sure got allot of people interested in painting.

I loved it in the late 80's, early 90's when there were so many cute painting shops around and you could buy supplies, take classes, or just see some of the finished projects and they made you want to make one too! Now they are almost all gone, and even Michael's here has done away with their painting book section! I asked where they moved it, and they said "Oh, we took it out to make room for more beads". Now if I want a book, it's either order online--or watch for older ones to show up at the TS. This area had allot of painters back in the day--and I keep thinking several of them may be getting "too old" to still be painting and might be getting rid of their stash of books, so I always look for them. (Not that I NEED more--but I just love looking through them and admiring all the designs) ;o) Did you read Anj's post about finding stacks of painting books at one of the TS she went to this week--she bought lots of books for only 25 cents each!

I've kept the rose worksheet you made for us and have tried to follow it. My biggest problem is that since I learned the DD rose first--that one just keeps "popping" out of my brush strokes! LOL I'd love a step by step worksheet on how you do your leaves. I have read some of the books where the artist did multiple layers of floats to get the realistic effect--I just don't have the patience to do all the mixes and layers I guess, I prefer just the "suggestion" of a leaf most of the time because that's so much easier and "atainable" for me. (Big sigh)

This is fun chatting about painting.

Luvs

Hi Luvs, the video of Delane's rose sounds like the one I have. The one good thing about decorative painting is that there are so many techniques out there, you just have to find one and make it your on.

The leaf I am referring to has a basecoat color, scrubbed in highlights and a shading color. May be a little more time consuming, but not much, and you have a very realistic leaf. I love the quick and easy leaves and have been painting them forever, but there are times when I want a prettier leaf. You are such a good painter I don't think you will have any problems with it.

I am still cleaning my painting room - wow, I never knew I had so much "stuff". I am rearranging the shelves and trying to put things that need to be painted where I can see them, otherwise, out of sight, out of mind.

My grand daughters are sick so I may be babysitting this week and may not get a lot done - but I have plenty of time. Just wish it would get warm again so I could open the windows. We are having an unusally cold winter, normally this time of the year the temps would be in the 70's but we didn't even make 60 today.

Later

Love your Dogwood and Chickadee, you did an awesome job. You shouldn't have any trouble selling it. I can say that dry brushing is a great way to shade and highlight. It's a great way to teach someone new to painting to do both because it makes it so easy.

"I have a piece of wood I purchased in 1984 - yes 1984. I loved the design and saved it for just the right project. It has now been 26 years and I haven't painted it yet".

I can sure relate to that statement. I have so many surfaces in my stash that I've collected over the years I'll never get around to painting them all, my DH just rolls his eyes when he steps into my studio area. He even built me some floor to ceiling shelves to help me out with storage and they were full as soon as he finished them. LOL The good thing is I have a lot of both common and unusual surfaces and they have all been thrift store or clearance finds so the cost has been minimal. The good thing about having a large stash is that you are never without the right surface when you decide to do a project, at least that's what I keep telling myself. LOL

WoW! One of the reasons I like this forum so much is the exchange of information. Thank You for the site.

I have really been doing the online site stuff and some blogs, didn't know you could find so much information and so many video clips. Just watched Trudy Beard do a leaf and she did about 5 or 6 color steps and the leaf looks so great. I just need practice and I need to stop being so critical about what I do. I really want to paint two panels for our bedroom. I need to add some color to both side of the bed.

I haven't done anything but acrylics for more years than I would like to think about. My friend in Spokane gave me a really beautiful wood case that when you open it up you have 4 shelves containing colored pencils, watercolors, charcoal, pastels, acrylics and oils. Only a few of the acrylic tubes have been used. So I really need to do some sketching and see if I can bring back old skills or develop new ones.

Gonna go put these swollen feet up for a few.

Belle

Belle....I'm in Seattle and the closest chapters to me are still a good hr away from where I live, one going north, and one going south. I am not interested in spending 2 hours in my car. On a good note, this is the year the Tole Liners (the chapter to the north of me) sponsors their semi-annual painting convention. It is Sept 22-26 at SeaTac less then 10 minutes from my house! I went to the last one and saw a lot of great demos. This year there are even more of my favorite artists attending.

Where can I purchase the matchbox to paint your picture and more. I live in an area of people with fireplaces in their homes and I think that it would be a hit. Thanks loads Regards Connie

The chickadee and dogwood are beautiful. I am looking forward to your worksheet on leaves. Thank you for sharing.

Marylee

You did a terrific job on the pink dogwood and chickadee! I have both in my yard and enjoy looking at them. I love the softness you evoke in your paintings.

Love the pic of GD too!

Does anyone remember Priscilla Hauser? She did/does a lot of tole painting.

Calirose, I think Priscilla Hauser has been called "the Queen of Tole Painting". She produced so many books, appeared on so many craft shows, and taught so many classes--and you know what? I think she still does! I used to see her sometimes on the old Carol Duvall show and she was always full of smiles and encouragement and eager to show everyone how easily they could paint.

Luvs

I have always been a fan of P. Hauser and have almost ALL of her books, some date way back. It's fun to look through those first books to see how far both she and decorative painting have come. She WAS the first woman of Tole Painting and as far as I'm concerned she still is. :-)
and yes...she still teaches.