Painter Girl

The Importance of Having a Work Family

Do you know I have now been in business for myself for sixteen years? I just realized that at the start of this year.  I don’t often give that much thought.  The years just seem to fly by.  Of course, business-wise, there are one or two years I’d rather forget!  I did learn very early on, the importance of networking and having a good support system in place to brainstorm ideas, troubleshoot difficulties and share information.  Over the years I have belonged to a wide variety of groups: women’s business groups, Chamber of Commerce, decorative painters groups, networking groups, design groups, artists groups, etc. 

I have also been part of an online Stencilers Group for probably a good ten years now.  This group formed as a subgroup of a much larger online group when several of us became disenchanted with the politics of the larger group.  This Stencilers Group has about twenty active members now, from all over the country.  The group has evolved from avid, professional stencilers (back in the day), to a group of women who share what’s going on more in our personal lives than our work lives. I’ve met some of the members at conventions and other’s I have never met.  Whether we have met or not, this wonderful group has stayed so connected throughout the years that we all know each other very well.  Some members have retired, others have moved on to other types of work.  Although the focus has shifted to our personal lives more than our working lives, this group remains a great resource when I’m seeking input about a work project or situation. 

Now, with the presence of Facebook, I have another network of decorative painters I am “friends” with, although not friends like my Stencilers Group.  This Facebook network of like minded business friends, provides me with feedback when needed, but mostly they inspire me with postings of their recent works and enlighten me with news about products, workshops and resources.

On a local level, I am a half-hearted member of a Design Salon group, which I vow to be more active with this year, and a founding member of a small group of decorative painters who try to meet every few months to share new techniques and information. 

I’ve been thinking a lot about all of these groups lately because when you do not get up and go into an office each day for work, you really do need to cultivate a work family. And, unlike going into an office environment each day and interacting with the same group of people, when you work from your home, you have the advantage of choosing which members will belong to your work family. Recently, my good friend and fellow decorative painter, Chris Smith, lost her husband very unexpectedly.  I reached out to our local group of decorative painters to inform them of this tragic loss and they all responded with such kind words and support for Chris.  At the wake and funeral both, I saw several past and present decorative painters and designers, all who have worked with Chris over the years, there to offer support and comfort.  When I read Chris’s facebook page, I saw post after post from all her fb “friends”, the same decorative painters we both interact with from all over the country, expressing their kind words of sympathy and collectively, as an extended work family, giving her a virtual hug.  I’ve always known the importance of having a work family, but recently saw first hand, just how valuable this family truly can be. 

Living Room Project

I am well underway with this Living Room Project.  Here are two "Before" shots showing just the plain, pale yellow walls.  It's a small, one bedroom condo in a Fifty-Five Plus condo complex.  The homeowner has not moved in yet, but most of her furnishings are here.

My client sent me this piece of wallpaper and asked me if I could copy the flowers and paint them randomly scattered on the walls in her Living Room.  I took the wallpaper to Staples and enlarged the two groupings of flowers on a copier.  

I then cut a silhouette stencil for each of the groupings:
 

Using this stencil, I went around the room and just roller stenciled, in white.

So far, so good.  The only glitch was the fact that I forgot my good glasses and had to resort to digging in my backpack for a back up pair.  Sad to say, this was all I could find.  Luckily, I had on my baseball cap and that helped to keep them in place!

Next, I went around with an angle brush and just painted in this medium blue tone, looking at the wallpaper for guidance.  

And this is when I had a little accident with the blue paint.  I don't know why I am such a klutz these days, but I have spilled more paint this year than in all previous 12 years of painting - total!  I was working from a small sample sized paint jar, maybe 4 oz. of paint in the jar.
As I moved the ladder, the leg caught a bit on my drop cloth and the jar flew off, right onto my chest!  Some paint hit the wall, but 99% of it hit me and the steps of my ladder. 
Here you can see my shirt lying on a drop cloth.  Note all the blue paint on both sleeves.  My sleeves were so heavy with paint, that I had to take my shirt off and put on a sweater I had in my backpack.  When I took my shirt off, my arms were also a light blue from the paint seeping through my shirt!  I looked like a Smurf.  Remember those???  My bib overalls also took some of the paint.  Here's a shot of them, with me now in the sweater:

I wasted about 45 minutes cleaning myself and my mess up, but in the end, I did remain pretty much on schedule for the day!  I really need to order some new overalls....

My Ipod Seems To Be Controlling My Life!

I recently acquired an Ipod Shuffle.  Now, I am not one for a lot of new high tech products and up until now could only answer "What Ipod?", when asked "What's in your Ipod?" 

Because this is all still quite new to me, it's taking me a bit to get the whole system running smoothly.  First, I had to get the music on the this little thing.  The first few days, I did not have nearly enough music on there to get me through the work day, so I listened to the same series of songs a few more times than I would have liked.  After a few days of this, I added more.  Then... I discovered Podcasts.  So I added some of those.  Of course, adding all this takes some time!  I'd try to do it at night, but you know how that goes.  When you're at work, you have the best of intentions of getting x,y, and z done when you get home.  Then, you get home later than you had hoped, other priorities need to be attended to, and by the time you crawl into bed, you're exhausted with no new music/Podcasts on the damn Ipod for the next day!  When that scenario would happen, I'd try to add a few things in the a.m. before I left for work.  Of course, it took longer than I thought to download and I'd then be late for work.  One day last week, not only was I running very late for work due to this Ipod, when I finally got to work and plugged myself in... my battery was not charged so I could not even listen to anything!

This week I am trying something new and put a lot on this Ipod over the weekend.  Hopefully, there will be sufficient content/context to keep me entertained through Friday!  I really didn't think I would use the Ipod all day while I worked, but since I am on this job alone most of the time, it's been great!  I decided that a few days of a solid mix of music was fun, but I really should be using these hours a little more productively.  I have now subscribed to several NPR podcasts for variety and will add some books and perhaps try to learn Italian over the next few months.  I think I'm going to like this little Ipod once I get a good system down.  I love that it is sooo small.  Only about an inch square.  I clip it onto the side of my bib overalls and run the wires under the bib so they are not hanging down in my paint or catching on my ladder. 

The Quiet of Working Alone

Sometimes I absolutely love working alone on a job site, with no one else in the house or building.  Working uninterrupted, I get a lot done.  I normally bring a radio, but the last one I was using broke, so I've had no music to listen to lately.  Today I decided that I should get some books on tape and start listening to those while I work.  I like listening to music too, so either way, I need to buy another radio/tape deck.  When the homeowner is there, I listen to whatever music they put on, but when they are not there, I don't like to fool with their equipment. It's fun to see what type of music my clients listen too.  One time I had a client who practiced the piano every afternoon and it was as if I was being treated to a private concert! She was very good and it was truly a joy to listen to her practice session. Another client had a wonderful CD collection of Italian operas that she played for me each day!