Painter Girl

Decorative Painting in Switzerland

Now that I am back from vacation, I thought I might share with you some of the photos I took, whenever I saw some decorative painting on my travels.  Now, mind you....most of my time was spent way up in the mountains, hiking, so not a lot of painting to be found there! 

Today I will feature Hotel Gletscherblick, which is located in Halisberg Goldern.  I stayed here just one night, while doing some hikes in this area. 

Some interestingly stenciled doors greeted me on one of the floors!

I wish I could say I have some information about this stenciling, but I do not.  I will write to the hotel and see what they tell me!  In the meantime, you might want to take a look at this short video and feel like you are on vacation for a few minutes.

 

 

 

Last Job Before Vacation!

I am leaving later today for a long overdue vacation.  I will be do some hiking in Switzerland with 2 good friends, as well as taking in a little music at the Montreux Jazz Festival.  I hope to come back energized and ready for some new projects.

In the meantime, I will leave you with some pictures of this last job I completed this week.  I started out with this white corner cabinet.  My client was having this painted for her Mother, who just turned 100!  The cabinet was made by my client's father, years ago.

Here is the finished cabinet. 

The entire cabinet was first given a pearl glaze.  This wonderful Trumpet Vine stencil is from the Mad Stencillist.

 

I used a smaller version of the Trumpet Vine stencil, also from the Mad Stencillist, for the corners.  The Hummingbirds are from the Stencilled Garden. 

I used one of Royal Designs scroll stencils, an all over repeat pattern, on the inside of the cabinet. This was a fun project to work on!

Lastly, I just had to show you this shower ccurtain that was in this 100 year old woman's bathroom.  How fun!  Her daughter has lovingly surrounded her with cheerful, whimsical and colorful items that automatically bring a smile to your face.

Ok, I'm off for the mountains with no (gulp) computer or cell phone!

Office Work and Consulting Time

I've been having a hard time keeping up with my blog posts lately.  The dreaded Tax Season is upon us and I'm trying my best to keep myself focused on getting my spreadsheet and receipts organized and wrapping my head around all this.  It is my very least favorite part of owning a business and always instills fear in me.  I find every excuse in the book to get up from my desk and do something else.

In the meantime, Susan and I are off to the Cape today for two consultations.  It's a lovely Spring-like day here in the Boston area, so we are excited to get out in the fresh air and do this road trip.  First, we will visit a farmhouse in Wareham, Ma to look at a kitchen floor.  This client is interested in a splatter paint technique.  Next, we will venture on to Hyannis to view a bedroom, livingroom and some furniture at a condo. 

Traveling Wunda Size

I love using this water based sizing for leafing and when I use foils. The only problem I seem to have with this product is obtaining it in the Winter months.  It cannot freeze and it is nowhere to be found in the Boston/metro Boston area, so I have to have it shipped from other sources.  That works fine during the warmer months, but now we are into Winter here in Massachusetts and the distributors of Wunda Size cannot guarantee that it will not freeze, even if shipped overnight.  I can't blame them.  Who knows where it will sit during its' travel? 

I have a dining room ceiling to silver leaf the week between Christmas and New Years and I only have a small amount of Wunda Size left. This past weekend I knew I was traveling to New York City, so decided to see where I could obtain Wunda Size there.  I found the best source to be Sepp Leaf Products, which was very close to where I was staying.  I bought 2 gallons, one for the job and one to get me through any other jobs I may have during the Winter months. 

First, let me tell you about Sepp.  It is located in a beautiful building in the heart of NYC and you are buzzed in, like a fine jewelery store.  All the leaf samples are on display, hanging on the walls, like fine pieces of art, and they are truly breath taking.  The staff is very friendly more than happy to answer any and all questions.   I could not linger because the BF was double parked out front, since we were just arriving in the city and had not yet ditched our car in a lot.  I was so thrilled to have these 2 gallons in tow, saving me further aggravation trying to figure out how I would obtain this sizing for my job.  The gallons sat proudly on the bureau in our hotel room throughout the weekend.  

In case you did not hear, there was a blizzard in NYC over the weekend, so by the time we were to depart on Sunday we were faced with some travel challenges.  I was taking the train back to Boston, while the BF was continuing on to Montreal to pick up his daughter at McGill.  Being very protective of my Wunda Size, I decided I would put 1 gallon in my suitcase and the other would travel to Montreal in the car, with strict instructions that it must not be left in the car! I originally packed both of the gallons in my suitcase and was having my clothes go via Montreal, but I could not lift the suitcase with the 2 gallons over my head and knew I would have to do this on the train.  (Even the one gallon in the suitcase was a struggle, but some nice man gave me a hand.)  Due to the storm, I had to wait 4 hrs for my train to leave Penn Station.  Like everyone else in the station, I had to use my suitcase for a seat and found my gallon of Wunda Size made for a sturdy platform!  I was a bit worried that it would open and I'd have one heck of a mess in my suitcase, but I put it in a plastic bag first and luckily, no unhappy incident occurred, other than a permanent dent from my butt sitting on it for so long!

Susan Siefer and I will be on the ceiling job shortly with lots of pics to show. :-)

Commuting

Last week, because I was working in Boston, and did not have Stacy with me to share the cost of the expensive parking ($22/day), I took the "T" (Boston's commuter rail) all but the first day.  All the parking in my client's area is Residential Permit Parking only.  It's a $40 ticket if you park in a residential space illegally.  I had to drive in the first day so I could bring all my supplies, but for the remainder of the week, I took the "T".   I drive to the station and park my car there for $7.  The round trip fare costs an additional $4, so it is half the price of driving into the city.

What's really nice about this type of commuting is that I can actually sit down and catch up on a little reading on my way in to work.  My cell phone does not work here, so I have some time to just relax!  During the week, I was able to plan my Thanksgiving recipes from some magazines I brought with me, and pick out some classes I want to take this Winter, from a local adult education catalog.  Normally, when I'm in my car driving to a job site, I'm on my cell phone, checking in with clients, whomever I'm working with that day, my daughter, friends, etc., so this was a nice change of pace!

When I exit my "T" stop at Park Street, I have about a 10 minute walk to my client's home.  The walk is really quite beautiful.  As I cut through the Boston Common, I can see the State House to my right.

To my left I have a great view of Frog Pond, which just opened for public ice skating last week.

I continue my walk up this hill and then down 2 side streets, filled with historical buildings.  There are still a few tourists out and about, but not nearly as many as there were during the warmer months.  I always see them with their maps out, cameras in tow.  I also sometimes run into a guided walking tour and catch bits of the tour guides narrations.  It's really a nice way to start the day.

One very sad event occurred on my return trip home one day last week.  The Boston Common is one of the places in the city where you will always see quite a few homeless people.  As I entered the subway station to go home, a man and his young son, who looked to be about 7 or 8 years old, stood just inside the doorway with a sign that read, "Homeless father and son.  Please help us."  The weather had just turned very cold last week.  The young boy was huddled against his Dad.  While it is common to see many homeless men and women wandering about the Common and subway stations, you rarely see a child.  I had only a $10 bill on me and knew I would need $7 to claim my car when I got to the end of my stop.  I thought about that little boy all the way home.  The next day I packed some extra treats in a bag and a left over helicopter kit from one of my Mad Science classes.  I was hoping I'd see this little boy again and now would have something to give him.  I have not seen him yet, but will continue to carry this little packet for him, just in case.   Sometimes the contrast from the well appointed homes I so often am privileged to work in, to the homeless people on the streets is just a little too great.  During this season of Thanksgiving let's all remember those who are not so fortunate to have a warm home and loving family and friends.

An Extra Pair Of Hands

Monday I helped out a lovely and very talented decorative painter, Susan Siefer of
MadPatter Production.  Susan is working in an absolutely stunning home that has enormous rooms with a lot of architectural detail.  She has just begun leaving her mark in this home with her beautiful finishes.  Susan asked if I would lend her a hand installing a large modello in the dining room.  We had only met very briefly, a few years ago, at a fundraiser, but I am so glad she remembered me!

Here's Susan burnishing the modello, which was custom ordered from Modello Designs.

We first cut the modello in half and applied one side to the ceiling.  We struggled with that a bit too much, so decided to cut the 2nd half, in half again.  That proved much easier!

A rare photo of me working, since I so often work alone and no one's snapping my picture!  Susan had already done a beautiful Lusterstone finish on the ceiling.

I only spent about 2 hours with Susan, since she just needed my help to get this design up.  It was so much fun working with Susan and getting to know her that I hope we will have another project to work on together again soon!

After I left, Susan was able to get quite a bit done.  Here she has almost all of her gold layer done.
 
She returned the next day to add some black and remove the modello. She will shoot this job again, once the lighting is installed and the furniture is put back. Great job, Susan!