Happy Halloween

I hope your ready for the ghost and goblins that will be out and about tonight.
If your out tonight travel safely and watch out for those little candy snatchers.
I'll be staying put tonight,maybe doing some painting. I spent last evening with friends at a Halloween bonfire, it was a nice night not to cold but a little windy, the warmth of the fire felt really good.
I haven't done much painting for fall, I've been working on ornaments for my shows.
But I did get one fall item done. I took a black canvas handbag and painted fall leaves on the front and back. You can do this on hand bags , jackets, tote bags ,aprons or shirts the skies the limit. I transfered the leaf design with white wax free transfer paper then base coated all the leaves in with brown , two coats drying between coats. Then your ready to paint your leaves multi colors. I used some fabric medium to do the shading and highlights and paint the veins of the leaves. When your done you can lay the piece in the sun for a while and that will heat set the paint. It's just that easy, give it a try.

It's a quick easy project that you can do in a afternoon.

Until next time Happy Haunting & Happy Painting.

Fall is in the air

Well good grief the summer has gone and now it's time for those leaves to start changing colors and the cooler temperatures. I know that I have neglected my blog terribly this summer all because I've been working on my house. I've painted wood work till I don't want to see another piece of wood work. Now my painting is on ornaments, I'm getting ready for the fall craft show season.

I just have two shows the weekend before Thanksgiving so I'm painting on my days off like there's no tomorrow.

Now that it's getting dark earlier in the evenings and it's getting cooler it's time to snuggle in and start getting ready for the holidays. I always look forward to the holidays, the rich warm colors of fall the smell of fireplaces in the evenings and the smell of cinnamon and apples reminds me of years past. Isn't it funny how a smell in the air can take you back to a time long ago and warm happy memories of making pies and craving pumpkins. I did take the time to pull out a few fall decorations and some scented candles.

Oh and I went to the County Fair a few weeks ago. You know how some things just never change well this county's fair hasn't changed a bit it's always been in the same place for the last 50 plus years and each year there are the same great sounds, sights and smells of good food. Check out some of the pictures I took while walking around that evening. Wouldn't you like to have one of those pretty quilts to snuggle down in. The Clydesdale horses preformed that Saturday evening , they are so pretty when they are all decked out in their harness's. They do like to struck their stuff for the crowds. We had beautiful warm weather that weekend and the place was packed with people.

Well I need to go prep for my tole painting class that's tomorrow morning so until next time enjoy the rest of your weekend and happy painting. Take care.

Feels Like Summer

Are you ready for Summer? I sure am , in just a few more days it will be officially SUMMER!!!

I like the long evenings when it's light long after 7pm. These are our longest day light hours of the year. It's nice to have warm days with the windows open again.

I've been painting but not the cute decorative paintings as usual but painting my house inside. Since 1962 the woodwork in this house has always been natural wood well it's time for a face lift

and a change. So all woodwork is being painted white, it's amazing how much it brightens the rooms.

Just that little touch of white paint and the rooms look so much lighter and brighter. Also I've taken out all the carpet and I'm back the oak hardwood floors, I'm thrilled at how nice the floors look after so many years of being covered with carpet.

So you see I've been busy and a with work and yard work my decorative painting has had to take a back seat the last thing I did paint was some cupcakes with a cute saying...

Everything is Better With Frosting on It.

The cupcake design was in "Painting" magazine the designer is Linda Hollander she painted them on mugs with Folk Art Enamels check em out.

It's going to be a beautiful day so find something that you enjoy doing and make it a great day.

Until next time Happy Painting

It's been a while

It's been a long time since I have taken time to update here so I think it's time to get with it. I'm so grateful that winter has moved on and things are green again, it makes my heart happy to see nice green grass and leaves back on the trees.
I've been getting a lot of spring cleaning done and trying to do some decluttering along the way.
I did do some spring time painting the watering can and tulips were part of a pattern I found in a magazine, it's a Judy Diephouse design. I'm painting the whole design from the magazine and I'll post a picture when I get it done. The azaleas are a design by Barbara Hillman the painted lace boarder was just something I added to the piece to make it stand out a little more. I've done painted lace on Christmas ornaments but I've never done it on a flat surface before I think I like the look and will try to add it in on other pieces when I can. You can find patterns for painting lace on Patty Rawlinson's site. She's very good at lace painting go check her out.

Have you tried the David Jansen Decorative Designs with the Heritage MultiMedia paints?

I have a few of the DVD's / patterns looking forward to trying them. I've been working so long trying to make everything nice and smooth for shading and dry brushing and the Jansen technique wants me to leave lines an ridges in the paint to make it look painterly. I hope I can do it...lol, seriously I'll have to work on that I'm sure.

Well until next time happy painting y'all.

Good Sunday Morning

Mother Nature decided to see how much snow and ice she could dump on the southern half of the county the last few days and boy she did a good job putting down some snow here. It started yesterday about 7am and ended just about 7 last night. And now I'm stuck with a foot of snow that I really didn't need...LOL. But at least it's not ice and we still have the power on. Who knows how long in will be before those without power will be back to normal.

I guess it's a good time to work on some projects that I've had in mind.

I have a Fan page on Facebook now. Yeah little ol' me with a Fan page who would have thought it.

I'm having a good time meeting others that paint and looking at all their beautiful work.

I've added some links for sites that I buy paint supplies from and some that I've just learned about from other artist. There are a few that are having good sales right now so if you need some new brushes or your getting low on some of the DecoArt colors it's a good time to shop. The next time your on Facebook just type Joyces Tole Painting in search and become a fan. If you have a painting related Fan page I'll Fan you right back. So stop by you never know what you'll find or who you'll run into on Facebook.

Enjoy your Sunday, stay warm and Happy Painting.

So here we are at the beginning of another year. Strange how the years past by so fast now. When we were kids it seemed the year dragged on forever. I think back over the year and all the things that have happened and the changes that have taken place, some not for the better it seems. I wonder what is in store for me, my friends and this country in 2010. Know that I wish you the best of everything and hope that the changes in your lives are only changes for the very best that life has to offer.

Could it get any colder??? Really this bitter cold weather is so uncalled for. I know, I know everyone says we need it cold to kill the germs. Well I would rather it be warmer and I'll use my Lysol to kill the germs...LOL I'm a summer time girl ,anything under 80 degrees is chilly. That's why I have a picture of the beach here today, Aww, warm weather and flip flops and a margarita. Now that's the good life.

Now that winter has set in the next three months are a good time to bring out the paints and find a great pattern to paint that will help pass the time during these long evenings.

Maybe you would like to have something different to hang in your kitchen well paint something yourself to decorate your surroundings. There are still some painting magazines out there with really great patterns from so many different artist I bet your sure to find something you will like. I have a few things left over from last year that I plan to finish, you know how it is your working on a piece and someone comes along needing something right now so you put what your doing on the back burner and plan to get back to it but it doesn't always happen that way. So I'll take care of a few UFO's then move on to other things I have in mind to paint.

Until next time Happy New Year and Happy Painting.

Time To Get That Tree Up

My tree is up and the lights are on it and I'm worn right smack out. Getting all the parts for this tree inside from storage and getting it put together and lights on it ranks right up there with wrestling a bear....LOL. But it's so worth it when it's all done I love the soft glow of the Christmas lights. I think the lights are one of my most favorite things of the season.

This year I have a few new ornaments to add to my tree. The first pic. is a little wooden ornament that I painted white and sponged a little blue on to make it look frosty. The second one is paper mache that I got at a craft store and painted blue I added the snowman face and snow flakes to make the body. And the last one I painted the glass icicle the added texture snow and glitter, that doesn't show up very well in my pic. I'll post more ornaments later. If you have painted ornaments for this Christmas I would like to see what everyone else has come up with let me know in a comment where I can see your ornaments. Time to go rest after a long afternoon of tree wrestling...LOL

Until next time happy painting.