Sunday, November 2, 2014

Slot Canyon Hike





I'm not writing about painting today. I just wanted to share some of the beautiful sights we got to see this last weekend. I took the above picture from the top of a mesa over these rocks. They are called the "Tent Rocks" They're found near Lake Cochiti New Mexico. It's quite a bit off the beaten path but quite a sight!

First you hike about .5 miles to the beginning of this trail..........


Then the fun begins.....


The rocks have been formed by wind and water but mostly wind. 


The wind can be such an amazing sculptor.



Look! A tree growing sideways out of rock!


That is so cool.


You can get so close to the rock.


beautiful....


That is the trail...


Climbing the trail.


Yep the trail gets exciting..


And the top!



It was a blast to see and climb, I hope you enjoyed the pics!










Wednesday, October 1, 2014

The month of September Report and Tally (Month 12!)

Fall has made a sudden appearance in our part of the world!

It's funny how it will sneak up on you, yet fall is my favorite time of the year. I'm always relieved when the high heat of the year lessens. We look forward to raspberry picking and Honeycrisp Apples. I always mean to take a drive north into Colorado to see the amazing colors. Last year we were able to do that and this year we missed it, since there is already snow going on up there! Woops!

Next year I'm definitely planning a nice leisurely trip thru the leaves!


With all the season changes going on I have been motivated to paint fall! I tend to really be influenced by what I see around me. I'm not a logical painter at all! I paint what moves me and the different seasons have a large affect on that!

This piece is something that I do often but it's never the exact painting twice. Since it's a painting that I do in a similar way I number it on the back but it's still original and I love being able to paint the initials of whoever purchases this piece into the heart on the tree.
"Love Among the Trees" 11x14
www.stacysartstudio.etsy.com

Also this time of year we see many hot air balloons here in the southwest. I love the sound of them. There is a festival in Albuquerque, we love going to the night time event called the balloon glow. The balloons stay on the ground but are fired up and it creates a beautiful sight! I'm looking forward to going this year, I will share pictures with you when we go. Seeing the balloons every morning this time of year motivated me to add balloons to this painting.

"Balloons in the Mist" 11x14
www.stacysartstuido.etsy.com

So..My year long record keeping experiment has come to a close! I'm so excited to see how I did!

This is the final month of my report and tally.......ta da!

                                                 For the month of September (Month 12!)

                            Time spent making natural products...................................21 minutes
                            Time on researching..........................................................10 minutes
                            Time on projects...............................................................0
                            Total time spent for the month of September......................21 minutes


                           Money spent on natural cleaning products...........................$0.00
                           Money spent on projects....................................................$0.00
                           Money spent on natural hair products.................................$23.98
                           Money spent on natural soap.............................................$18.98
                           Total money spent for the month of September...................$42.96 

Which leaves me with a  savings of $219.04, I get all excited when I figure that up!!

So now the big results! How did the year work out?

I decided to average all the costs and savings so let's see what happened...............................

Drum roll please!!!!

I'm curious and excited!!!!

Here goes!

I spent a total of $671.26  on natural cleaning supplies, natural hair and body products or supplies for making them which averaged out to be around $56.00 per month.

I spent an average of 1.16 hours per month on making all of the products I make for us.

I saved a total of $2464.86! Which averaged to be about $205.00 per month!

Over this year I learned how to make more products for ourselves so I feel that next year I will spend even less than last year.  For anyone who says it takes too much time I think I proved that it hardly takes any time at all! When you look at spending about 1.16 hours a month on it. Living as chemical free as I possibly could wasn't expensive at all. In fact it saved us lots of money. I think that we are misled into believing that we have to buy all of these products when you can make most of them yourself and sadly when purchasing natural products they always cost more. My personal feeling after doing this for a year is that I would prefer to buy from small home businesses than large companies that are selling something they call natural.  I have had a lot of fun finding great businesses on etsy and have loved learning to make most things for myself.

Most of all I feel that I've found a good process for caring for our home and selves in the most chemical free way that I can and have improved especially my kiddo's health but us old folks health as well.    I hope you've enjoyed my year of record. Thanks for taking this journey with us!!    

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

The month of August Report and Tally (month 11)

How is everyone this month? I hope well! I wish I was on beach time! Life has once again been a bit tricky. I've used this quote before- "When something goes wrong in your life. Just yell "Plot Twist!" and move on"

Honestly? I'm getting a little tired of plot twists! Thankfully not a whole lot has changed in our lives. The kiddo has had many Dr. appointments again. Normally he gets checked out by his oncologists once a year and that leads to several other 'gists" appointments....you know the cardiologist, the pulmonogist and so on. These appts can stretch on for several months. This year however, since he's not doing as well as the oncologist would like, they wanted him back for a 6 month check up, which leads to more "gists" appointments and on it goes.

His pulmonary check up  wasn't very good and that's even with him on medication for it, so we are still waiting to see what the "gists" want to do next. As a result I haven't been able to blog much and painting has slowed down. Some may wonder if my painting in the home may cause breathing problems for the kiddo. It doesn't. The paints I use don't bother him at all. Finding a product to seal the paintings that doesn't bother him has been a little difficult. I have always applied the sealers to the paintings out of doors and let them cure in the garage away from him. However, I've finally found a sealer that I brush on that doesn't bother him. The reason my painting slows down is because I need to focus more on the kiddo and less on the canvas. He is the love of my life so it's easy to choose what is more important. I'm grateful to everyone who follows my work on etsy, facebook and google+ for their continued support even when I don't post much because of caring for my kiddo. Thankyou so very, very much!

I have been able to paint a few things tho!

This is "The Purple Mountain Range" its 11x14 and available on etsy


   https://www.etsy.com/listing/201393540/purple-mountain-castle-fantasy-art-fine?ref=pr_shop

This is "The Sentinel" its 30"x40" it will be available on etsy soon.


This is still in progress its "Sisters" because life may take sisters different directions but their roots remain attached and they have each others backs! 


That one will take quite a while to finish since there is much detail that goes into the limbs of the trees.

Oh, my signature on my paintings have always bothered me and because I was following what I thought to be proper artist protocol I've never changed it, but I finally decided to be more creative!
This is my new signature!


I'm much happier with it, I think it interferes less with the actual painting. (I still sign the back of my painting with my full name) 

That's all my art studio news for this month!

Now, onto the report and tally! We just finished month 11! I'm very excited about that, since I will finish my year long experiment in only one more month!

For the Month of August (month 11)

Time spent on making natural products..................1 hour and 43 minutes
Time researching................................................................10 minutes   
Time on projects.................................................................................0
Total time for the month of August........................1 hour and 53 minutes


Money spent on natural cleaning ingredients.................................$0.00
Money spent on projects............................................................$0.00
Money spent on natural hair products.......................................$15.99
Total money spent for the month of August..............................$15.99 

Money saved by living chemical free for the month of August (month 11 in the experiment) is $299.00! Not too bad, not too bad at all.


  

You just never know where life may take you....I've  had so much fun watching this sweet boy grow up in spite of the difficulties he has had to and continues to face. Love, prayer, laughter and imagination is what gets us thru. Thankyou everyone for your kind words and support. Painting is something I love very much and it does my heart good to know that there are people out there who enjoy my silly worlds! I started painting for this little guy to make his day happier, and somehow while trying to make him happier, he made me happier! 









Tuesday, August 5, 2014

The Months of May, June and July Report and Tally! (Months 8,9 and 10)

Hi Everyone! I know that it's been terribly long since I last  wrote a blog post! I'm so sorry! We've been really enjoying fun in the sun with our old friends! It's better to live life than to write about it right!

I'll try to catch you up on many of my projects and paintings. I've had some good results of my gardening and some disappointments as well.

Here is one of my lovely sunflowers! I've lost two thirds of what I planted but what survived has been lovely!

Today I even found a honey bee on one of them collecting pollen! That made it all worthwhile!


I finished this painting and it sold!  It's name is "If Ever Two Were One" The person who bought it is going to give it as a wedding gift. I think that's appropriate since it's a metaphor for a marriage of two people. You can see where they begin separately and then grow together until they become one.
 




Here's another  one of my Sunflowers. Isn't it huge! I love them!



I grew herbs too!


There's some Lavender, Mint, Thyme and Oregano. (and no I didn't grow the corks!) I've been collecting corks where ever I can find them for several years. I don't know why I just like them!


I turned some of the mint into tea! It's very cool when you can use what you've grown.

As far as projects go....Since we had been living in our camper The Tardis when we moved into a house again everything that was in The Tardis moved into the house so... it left the poor Tardis quite lonely and empty. As you've followed along you saw that I was furnishing our home as I went along by doing almost all secondhand and repainting things but now the house is about finished and I've moved my projects onto our beloved Tardis. I'm partially finished with refurbishing the walls with pretty fabric.


I'm also going to be trimming all the edges but haven't got that far yet. I have found a fun little mirror for the bathroom. It was only $4.00 at goodwill but I didn't like the finish, I liked the shape so here's this project.


I just took white paint and watered it down, worked it into all the crevices with a dry brush, then brushed on an artist paint varnish. This is what it looks like now.


Then I found this fabulous shower curtain at another of my hidden treasure stores I love to haunt.


I just love it! We're hoping to take The Tardis on a trip later this year so I hope I can finish it soon.

I have a few more projects to catch you up on but I'll save them for a later post. For now however I need to catch up on the report and tally that I've been keeping about living chemically free and I missed  a few months of reporting! I can't believe it! We'll catch up now. We are still living chemically free, it gets easier and easier as we continue to do so.

For the Month of May (Month 8)

Time spent on making natural products......1 hour and 20 minutes
Time on projects.......................................................30 minutes
Total time for the month of May...............1 hour and 50 minutes



Money spent on natural cleaning ingredients..................$19.68
Money spent on projects...............................................$6.00
Money spent on natural hair products...........................$14.00
Money spent on natural soap.......................................$16.00
Total money spent for the month of May......................$55.68

Money saved by living chemical free for the month of May (Month 8 in the experiment)
is $195.32 Money saved by doing projects for the month of May is about $35.00.


Now for the month of  June (month 9)

Time spent on  making natural products..............53 minutes
Time on Projects....................................................4 hours
Total time for the month of June......4 hours and 53 minutes

Money spent on natural cleaning ingredients..........$38.81 
Money spent on projects......................................$51.99
Money spent on natural hair products...................$13.99
Total money spent for the month of June...............$104.79

Money saved for the month of June (Month 9 in the experiment) is $203.20 Money saved by doing a project for the month of June is about $400.00.

And finally for the month of July (month 10)

Time spent on making natural products............2 minutes
Time on projects..........................................20 minutes
Total time for the month of July.....................22 minutes

Money spent on natural cleaning ingredients........$11.73
Money spent on projects.....................................$0.00
Money spent on natural hair products..................$0.00
Total money spent for the month of July..............$11.73

Money saved for the month of July (month 10 in the experiment) is $276.00. Money saved by doing a project for the month of June is about $20.00

Not too bad! Not too bad at all. We're getting very close to the end of the year of this project and after doing this for about 3 years now, I've really enjoyed keeping actual track of everything this year. It's much easier than you think. When you first start it does seem overwhelming but it isn't bad at all. It takes very little time and saves alot of money. I love living this way and I'm very happy that I can provide a safe home for my kiddo!

1999

2013


He keeps growing up on me! We wish you a happy, healthy chemical free week! I will keep posting in this blog, there will be more projects and more paintings coming your way! I hope everyone has had a wonderful summer!






Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Art Studio Project!

not available
I hope everyone has had a lovely week!

You probably noticed that there was a little bit there that I wasn't painting. Well, I was working on a project for my art studio! It was very exciting! But, first here's the second piece of a four piece commission I've been working on! I'm pleased to have this one finished and now I'm working on the third one. Of course I'm also working on a few other things at the same time.

I've been working on a new curly tree.... I love curly trees.........



Ok so here is the project I was doing! I've had my art studio things all over my house. In drawers, closets, on top of desks and tables. It was starting to become a bit chaotic like! And as all of you know I don't deal well with chaos! Messy I can deal with, disorganized I'm good but chaos well that's just too much! It began looking like this. 

And that was just one corner of the place, so....I had this idea. I've noticed that there are quite a few old tv cabinets available in used stores lately. Since everyone is buying flat screen tv's they've been getting rid of their cabinets. I thought that one of those could work as a good storage device for canvasses. They have to be stored a certain way to keep them safe and I thought a tv cabinet might be just the thing.....

Then I found this rather large tv cabinet.... for 39.99!


Ok so I have this problem..I get too excited about the project and forget to take a before picture!
I didn't remember to take a picture before I had it torn down and off of the truck.


It had big doors across the front. Since it was very, very, very heavy in order for the kiddo and I to get it off of the truck I had to get up there and tear it down on the truck so that we could get it off without injuring ourselves!
Then we were able to haul it inside.


And of course......it couldn't stay this way so I added lace to the back on the one door I decided to keep on it.


I of course painted it!


I'ts perfect storage.

More storage.



Here it is all finished!



I love it!


This project cost a little more than most of my projects. It started at 39.99 that plus some lace and paint it ended up at about $50.00. It took about 4 hours of work to complete. It's just perfect. It holds all of my canvasses safely, along with sketch books, paperwork, greeting cards, business cards etc. Now I have everything all organized and chaos has left town for now! I will be adding different drawer pulls eventually as well.  I was also working on a costume for comic con but I'll save that for another post!

In the meantime I wish all of you a very happy week! Enjoy some fun in the sun! I'm off to paint some more!

  
  




Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Snickers has an announcement!

not available
The last few weeks have been quite busy. I picked up the brush and couldn't put it down! I had too many things in my head that just had to get onto canvas. This piece on the right is the pinkest thing I've ever done. It's headed for a baby girls nursery. So very springy and girly don't you think?

Summer has arrived here in our part of the world. It remained cold for sometime, but now it has turned hot, so I believe summer is here to stay. I hope you all have lovely plans for your break from the cold. We have a few things lined up to do.

Here are the pieces that I've finished in the last few weeks. I hope you enjoy all my worlds of late.

                This piece is a part of a 4 piece group that I hope I will be able to complete!

not available

         I love this particular quote so I got the idea to paint it onto one of my mountain scenes...... You can find it in my etsy store.
                                                                     

available at www.stacysartstudio.etsy.com

Lastly I finished this piece. I was a bit frightened to try to add the tea party but it turned out well!

not available

                                         It started out frightening but turned out to be fun!

not available


I'm working on a few more pieces and if you follow me on google+ or facebook you can watch how they move along.  My garden is growing well. It will be a challenge to keep it healthy thru the hot summer months but I'll do my best and share the results with you. I know that next year I will be planting more of the sugar snap peas. They grew well and were just beautiful. They are an early crop so they are almost finished now, since the sun is bearing down on them. Here is a lovely bowl full we will be able to enjoy this evening!


Also we have come to the end of yet another month so I get to add up the results of month 8 in my experiment! Here are the totals once again.

Time spent on making natural products........1 hour and 19 minutes
Time on projects.................................................................none 
Time on the garden..........................................................6 hours
Total time this month.................................7 hours and 19 minutes

Money spent on natural cleaning ingredients........................19.68
Money spent on projects.....................................................none
Money spent on natural hair products................................14.00
Money spent on natural soaps...........................................16.00
Total money spent this month...........................................49.68

That leaves me with a savings of 183.32 for the 8th month of my experiment! Now I bet you've been wondering where all my savings go? Well, for one it goes toward groceries and I was able to purchase a freezer this year! Then hopefully by the end of this year I can begin to actually put some of my savings into a savings account!(doubtful!) Also keep in mind that I don't really have room in the budget for what it would cost if I just bought it outright so I don't actually get to put it into our pockets, however it does help tremendously by making my own natural products. 

This past month I didn't do any projects but I have a couple in mind. I would like to try to build my own shutters for my bedroom and living room windows.Hopefully I can get started on that sometime this summer. I hope to build a shelf unit for all of our books still hanging around in storage!(that might be a winter project)  I'm also looking for some kind of cool cabinet to safely store my many paintings! I have so many more painting ideas floating in my head that there are many canvases yet to come!   

Finally, Snickers has an announcement.


On Friday June 6th I'm going to have another give away! Just watch my Stacys Art Studio facebook page for details! Have a really happy day everyone!