Monday, October 19, 2015

Chickadee 3

I was so excited to be able to participate in this weeks

The challenge this week was to create a picture using only 3 colors.
Those three colors could be used along with White
to make a total of 6 colors.

I decided to keep my pallet very neutral and used
Burnt Umber
Yellow Ochre
Unbleached Titanium
and
Titanium White!

Chickadee 3- oil on gesso board- 6"x 6"

Friday, October 9, 2015

Dreaming of Florence

Ahhhh... wishing I were back in Florence, Italy!

Florence- Oil on Canvas

Friday, October 2, 2015

Cottage Upgrades

Back in 2011 we purchased this adorable cottage in a nearby town!
We worked hard to transform this sweet place from
a dark knotty pine cabin look...


To something light, bright and airy!
If you want to see all the changes see:


Over the five years the outside has evolved as well! 


Above -is the photo from the real estate listing...


As soon as spring came around,
 we added some flower beds and plants.


We also added shutters to frame the front and side windows.




The following summer we painted (3 sides) of the cottage 
a tan color and the old metal awning white.
But were weren't done!



This past summer we punched up the curb appeal even more!
The white picket fence had been added the previous summer.
We decided to remove the old metal awnings 
and built a trellis in its place!
 The cottage found a new color 
- steel blue!
It was amazing how the greenish roof 
finally blended in and made sense!

Another small change we made over the past few years
was in the kitchen!


When we first bought the cottage the little kitchen looked like this!


Like the rest of the cottage- the walls and cabinets
received a facelift with new paint and hardware!


Which was a huge improvement,
but we are always up for a good project...
so when we found an antique slab of marble
at the local reuse store...


We snapped it up and had our local granite dealer 
cut and polish it for us to install!


The addition of a single bowl Ikea apron sink
completed the new look!


The choice of sink actually increased, as small as it is,
the counter space!


I love how small changes make big impacts!