 disadvantages of having a big open floor plan two-story house is when there's a fly in the house it's a lot harder to catch because yeah the ceiling goes up pretty high. And we had Lily here and she was following the fly around trying to catch it too and that wasn't helpful. At some point we gave up and we knew it would turn up somewhere. He did. Good morning. It's Sunday morning. It's just before 10 a.m. You can tell we'd live next to the woods and it's spring. Bees are buzzing, spiders are web making. We got kind of a fairly large one in the upstairs. Well on the staircase in a corner. Yeah some allergic to arachnid venom but they don't send me screaming or anything. Husband was home so I didn't have to suck it up with a vacuum because he was kind of big. And by big I mean like big big big. Anyway husband got him. We are gonna go out this morning and run a couple of errands. It's Game of Thrones day of course. So the kids are all coming over including Gunjan, a good friend of the kids. And he's in town visiting so they're all coming over for dinner and to watch Game of Thrones and hang out. I'm taking an Etsy order to the mailbox. Yeah we'll get our week started. Three big paintings are coming along. They're not done. I need to add some contrast. Darker colors, brighter colors. I think I want to add the suggestions of trees. I double-checked with my husband. He is agreeing with me. He likes more realistic paintings. Then I like to paint but a happy compromise for him is the suggestion of trees. So we'll go with that. Anyway it's a beautiful day out. Bright blue sky. Nice and sunny. Yeah it'll be good. All right I'll be back. It's Monday morning May 6th. Don't get all excited. I've been up for a while and the contractor starts today on the outside of the house. We're having the outside of the house painted and some electrical work done and that sort of thing. As you heard just putting up the computer. Yes I'm breathing a little heavy. I had to take an allergy pill this morning. So you know I do have asthma so. Anyway I'm waiting for the contractor to get here and going through my normal morning routine while I'm waiting. It's 7 39 a.m. according to said computer. I'm gonna get my typing done and the social media thing. Check on YouTube comments and then I've got some errands to run. So I'm gonna do that. I'll take you with me and I'll be back. The exception up. So I have just my artist paints out. I have some jars. I've been mixing colors that I may want to keep for the future but I definitely want to not have to keep remixing the same color. So I put it in a jar. I make a whole bunch of it. Put it in a jar with some slow dry medium and then put the lid on and that works. And those are just jars. Obviously that's a pickle jar. I reused from downstairs and when they're empty and I don't want to make any more of that paint I can wash it out and reuse it for something some other kind of paint or something else. Another medium. Something in the art room. I got asked about the big paintings. What do I have them on and I honestly don't remember if I showed this in a video or not. I have no idea but I got some dollar store shower curtains and covered up my cubbies. There you go. Covered up all of my ephemeral cubbies are underneath there all the way down. I also draped some shower curtains over the wire shelves on the wall and the small bits bank. So everything behind the paintings is covered with plastic. And I have Velcro loops that are tacked to the canvases and where there's a spot on the shelves available the canvases are Velcroed to the shelves. Obviously this one at the center is not Velcroed to anything but it is on the other end. The center one has two straps so it's very stable. The ones on the end only have one so when I'm painting on them I usually hold one side and paint with the other side so that's that. I do think it's going to be a forest or woods inspired scene with a colorful cloudy background sky which is very typical of where I live in the Pacific Northwest so I think I'm inspired to do that so that's what I'm going to do and it's coming along very nicely. I'm not going to be able to work on much else until it is done but that's okay with me. That's it for the moment. I may make a run to Walmart today for a couple things but otherwise I'm just going to be home working on stuff. Okay so Gunnar is here. He is with the mom and pop firm of European Craftsmanship. He has that company with his sons and he is here. He's going to be power washing the house and caulking today and then going and picking up the paint and working on we have to replace the blocks that are behind some of the light fixtures because they're too small for the new fixtures so he's going to be he measured and he took down notes of what sizes he needs and he's going to go home and make them and then get them installed I think tomorrow because he's got to get that done before he can start painting so but he expects to be done with everything by Friday so that's good and we took all the lights and put them on the side yard behind the gate so he's going to be here two or three hours and then I can go so I might he doesn't need me here so I can probably go before then so anyway that's it for now I'll be back. It's just after 9am painters to get hair I should say the contractors because there are more than just painters they're doing a bunch of different stuff out outside for us yeah it's 9 0 5 a.m. anyway I got all the social media done yay for me I got my art table cleared off of the things that don't have anything to do with the three large paintings that I'm working on because I'm really not going to be able to do much up here in the art room until those are done they take too much of my attention and they require too much material so hang on a second I'm going to flip the camera so the painters outside I think he's got most of the back wall body new body color up and he's working his way around the house you can tell I don't think you're going to be able to see from here I think the lights kind of too weird the windows are all covered with paper I'll insert a picture here and it's a mom and pop operation and he was supposed to have one of his sons up here helping him today but I guess his son is sick so he is here by himself he's making pretty good progress though for working by himself anyway it's interesting I'm not going to probably get much art done today but I'll see what I can do to talk to the camera and have it not be on so for those of you who follow me on social media you know I share my daily art practice every day on all my social media I do daily drawings sometimes they turn out sometimes they don't sometimes I'm not inspired by the word at all to create the art and that a lack of inspiration would be what I'm doing two things at once I'm grabbing garbage bags sorry a lack of inspiration would be why sometimes they don't turn out sometimes I'm just not doing a good job because I'm too tired but I do share them every day and the good the bad and the ugly if I don't share something that day it's usually because I'm just too tired to be honest and I usually catch up the next day but they're always out there for you all to see and hopefully learn from or be inspired by you know they're not wonderful like Picasso's or anything they're just daily art practice quick little sketches with pen and ink that's it so my list of social media links if you don't already follow me is always in link tree my link tree list of links which is always in the description below every single video all the time so go check it out and see what you think all right that's it I'm gonna go empty garbage cans I'll be back everybody it is Wednesday May 8th 1258 p.m. don't get excited I'm watching Mike Deacon's blog the newest one for April 29th to May 5th if you don't know who Mike Deacon is he's one of our fellow mixed media youtubers and I will link his channel in the description below you hear that noise in the background the house is being painted we all are also at some point gonna get new light fixtures put up and as part of the whole process and there's a little bit of carpentry that's being done some repairs and so yeah I'm gonna take you outside and show you just a little bit of a glimpse of the color change of the house painter is out there working and doing his thing I got a project started for a friend for her shop I have it upstairs it's covered in gesso and I think maybe I might be ready to add some more paint to the triptych I'm working on it's set for a couple of days because I wasn't sure how I wanted to move forward with it although I did know I needed to I think I know now so I may be adding a little bit of paint to that later this afternoon too and in the meantime I'm just hanging out around the house and yeah hoping the painter doesn't fall off a ladder it's really hard for me to focus when yeah there's people working on the house so it's a thing anyway that's it for now I'll be back hey guys it is Thursday morning May 9th I think 922 a.m. you know I just checked the phone to see what the date was and I've already forgotten I think it said the ninth but yeah anyway Gunnar just got here our contractor and actually I should say our contractor's dad it's a mom-and-pop operation called European Craftsmanship here in the Portland area that's two brothers and their dad I guess dad started the business anyway one son is out on vacation the other son was supposed to be helping him and he got sick with the flu or something so dad's been here painting all week by himself oh anyway he's doing a pretty good job glad he's not my dad because I'd be worried about him up on that ladder as it is I don't know Gunnar I'm still worried anyway we have a big house so he said he should be done like Saturday did I say it was Thursday or did I say it was Friday holy cow I have really had all my coffee people I swear anyway we're headed out to go run some errands I'm gonna go investigate a couple things in Sherwood there is a Walmart in Sherwood I want to have a Walmart return and so I want to check out the Sherwood Walmart turn right on to South West 131st Avenue thank you jeeps I want to check out the Sherwood Walmart I prefer shopping in Sherwood over some parts of Tigard you know it's like anything else there's good places and bad places in a quarter of a mile less attractive so anyway I'm going to go check out Sherwood and go check out the Walmart I might stop by Tuesday morning well Tuesday morning is next to Dollar Tree I might stop by Dollar Tree on my way because I need some more of the disposable shower curtains maybe I don't know we'll see how what kind of mood I'm in all right that's it I'll be back seriously I was just filming without the camera on because that's a thing again it's like the third time this week anyway it is Friday morning May 10th it is 8 21 a.m. I am here waiting for Gunnar to get here and waiting on a response to a face message before I post my social media things this morning I need to take an echo drop an Etsy order off and I need to run to Fred Meyer a different one than I went yesterday I got some display things to put on the different ledges around my house yesterday I posted in today's thoughts over in my Facebook group a life of art and self-expression that I have these just these display ledges in the house and I didn't didn't really know what to do with them and I kind of had a little bit of an idea but I got some feedback on anyway I decided to just go for it and hang on one second the shelf is still empty they didn't have any more the cans so I'm gonna go to a different Fred Meyer and hope to have one more of those tall metal cans and we'll do another grouping over there how I'm gonna get it up there exactly I ain't got no clue I'll figure it out though all right I'll be back other grouping for there and this is where the paintings are gonna go I got these metal sort of geometric decor things that I just love and they had this metal can for lack of a better word in the back in the garden department it's copper wine and it has a patina on the outside it's probably meant for a candle but it looks really great behind the round geometric ball and that spiky thing so I got one grouping for here I was pulling this down because the big canvases are done and I just painted all the edges and you can see them back behind me well maybe you can there we go there's two on the drying rack they barely fit and they're hanging over the edge so nobody sneeze over there and then one on my table takes up the whole table it's propped up on some paint cans of paint and I was taking them down to do that to paint the edges I usually don't frame my art necessarily it's expensive to be honest and I like the way the stretch canvas looks with just the painted edge hanging on the wall sometimes I'll write a blessing or other just random words I'm inspired to write around the edge of the canvas I actually have one behind me that one that I did that on you can maybe kind of see around the edge of the canvas there's some writing anyway I was taking down the setup I got asked a lot how do I have a setup do I have it on easels no so these are dollar store shower curtains and they are just clipped to this wire shelf I have three these wire shelves hanging on the wall they're clipped to the wall with binder clips and then I have two of them there and then two of them additional ones you see that they're taped to the cubes and then the top of the cubes gives me a place to rest the bottom of the canvas on and I have velcro straps on the back of the canvases to attach it to the wire shelving and that gives me a safe place to paint on the canvases I don't have to worry too much about dripping and getting stuff on the furniture but it gives me a place to work on big canvas so bonus so anyway I attached the strips of velcro to the back of the canvas with little tack one on each side so there you have it I'm gonna do it sturdy to blah blah blah blah I'm gonna do a studio tour soon so if you're interested in that keep your eyes out I ironically enough was asked do you have a studio tour on your YouTube channel by my little sister I don't know what she's doing with it who she showed she's probably sharing it with a friend but which is fine anyway that was when I realized I never really did a proper tour so yeah it'll be a bit video by itself anyway that's it for the moment I'm gonna put all my shower curtains away and clean up my mess and get back to it okay so I had a little chat with the painter that worked the contractor gunner and he may not get to the doors until tomorrow but he's gonna make sure all of his tools and things are picked up from the backyard we have an inner gate we can close so that Lily can still go back there to do her do her business and we don't have to walk her every five minutes and then when he comes tomorrow he's probably coming tomorrow he may be able to finish tomorrow he may not be able to finish till Monday but anyway when he comes tomorrow while he's there working in the back we'll just create her for a while and yeah I think that'll be good I got the Etsy order dropped off it at McCann's and now I'm gonna head over to Fred Meyer the one into Wallatin to see if they have some more that metal decor that I want for the other space and pick up some more canned water canned sparkling water and maybe some vegetables because I don't think we have anything but lettuce and pico de gallo and that's not going to cut it for the weekend so we're gonna do that take care of it in 1.1 miles I'll be back watching Lily this weekend so I need to speak to gunner before I leave and see if he can finish the back of the house and clean up the back of the house before three o'clock today and that way I can close the side gate and she can going out to the back to go potty and whatnot and I don't have to we don't have to walk her every five minutes because that's gonna get old so I need to talk to him about that and hopefully he's gonna be done tomorrow as planned because all the way like him he's a very nice man I don't want to do the um out of my normal routine thing very well I don't do people in my house well I don't yeah it's just difficult for me so he's a very nice man and he's been doing a great job and will probably be using his company again but yeah I just need the job to be done just yeah all right I'm going to do the social media thing and I'll be back good afternoon it's one something pm Saturday May 11th 107 something like that anyway don't get all excited I looked at the clock I'm out walking Lily uh the painters painter is still working on the house today and tomorrow he needs to be done by tomorrow he said I have another job to go to so he's trying hard to finish Lily sit sit good girl so anyway the doors are being painted today um itchy nose sorry um also some of the trims being touched up cleanup is starting and then he's got to put up the new outdoor lights and replace the blocks behind the lights um before he's done and one side of the house needs another coat of paint so yeah he's going to go take a break late afternoon he's been doing that because it gets really hot which is fine I use the break to go clean up yeah so we're going to do that but Lily's been crated today because all the doors are wide open so I needed to take her for a w al k as my friend Mike Deacon would have said I'm sorry about the background traffic it is Saturday afternoon and there's cars out on the road because you know it's a thing all right I'll be back Saturday evening I got no clue what time it is I don't see I don't know 7 54 p.m uh it's been a crazy day been a crazy week hear that the contractor is still here yes I said it's 7 54 p.m he is getting the final touches of paint on that wall over there he's going to come back in the morning he's got to do some touch ups and um install the new lights and power wash and yeah just finish up things say hi Fred and there's Lily we're babysitting Lily this weekend at the same time because you know we don't have enough going on anyway we hope you've had a good week it's been interesting for us and um don't forget to like share and subscribe if you'd like to follow me on social media or support the free content click on the link tree uh list of links you'll find a whole bunch of stuff over there and above all go out and have a great day do something nice for yourself because you deserve it and I'll see you later bye guys