Painting in silence.
This is an ariel photo of a Michigan lake from
this website. NOt the lake I'm working near, but probably would look similar from above.
Actually when I'm working alone (which is most of the time) I listen to NPR on my Walkman. With my cranial neurons otherwise occupied, the rest of my neurons can paint very efficiently, unhampered by conscious thought.
I enjoy company. But periodically I paint things when the homeowners are away on vacation, which makes things much easier for everyone. Homeowners don't have to put up with paint smell and the general disruption. I can leave my mess around overnight and show up for work at undoGly hours of the morning, if I want to, without having to wake normal people up.
Last Christmas/New Years I painted an entire McMansion while the homeowners were away for almost two weeks, that was great. In the process I found a diamond engagement ring behind a heavy-ass piece of furniture...they'd lost it years ago and figured it gone forever.
I just spent the last two days geting a bunch of work done before the folks got back from Thanksgiving away. They live right on a lake...I got there before it was light and watched the sun come up over the water and the swans waking up...really pretty! I want to live right on the edge of a body of water someday. The only downside I can see (apart from waterfront property anywhere being
really expensive) is duck and goose poop all over the yard. The views would make it worth the bother though.
Pedro's Big Adventure
I was going to name my little rock "Peter" which comes from the Greek word for stone. But, I already know a Peter so that would sound strange. Pedro is the Spanish form of Peter.
So here's Pedro, who valiantly made the 550 mile round trip drive to Chicago and back. He'd migrated to the edge of the bumper by the time we got home and got a little chilly, but otherwise he's fine.
Here is Pedro in Hyde Park, Chicago.
Pedro in a truck stop in Indiana.
Pedro back home in Michigan.
There's a little rock on my bumper.
I know, I know. The fabulousness and excitement in my life is hard to beat.
This little white rock has sat on my work truck bumper for weeks and weeks. I'm sure it's been there for well over 1000 miles. City, freeway, and I have a lead foot and like to take corners as fast as I can. It's not glued on or anything.
My very own pet rock. I should name it.
Holding up pretty well...
I painted this house a few years ago and just went back to do some of the interior. I was happy to see that even the windowsills on the south side of the house (horizontal surfaces exposed to sun, usually the first place paint starts failing) look practically freshly painted and perfect still. I used Graham Ceramic paint, great stuff.
Took a few pictures of the hallway, but the light is funky and it looks bright yellow. It's SW "Bagel," one of their most popular beiges.
Of course, I'm wearing a Rottweiler tshirt. :)
Tabor asked what the current popular colors are.
Hmmmm. Blue based reds (burgundys, like Sherwin Williams "Fine Wine" which I painted so much for two years I was really getting sick of it) have given way to more terracotta type colors. Even orange.
Seems I've been doing more greens - not forest (sooo late 1980s) but sage, celery, spring greens.
Various shades of taupe and beige are pretty much perennials, though I notice people choosing darker shades than days of yore.
I know color fashion and trend is huge business - not just paint, but cars, fashions, technology...I will have to do a little research. There are marketing firms who work very hard at predicting future color trends so they can paint various consumer goods the color that will get the most bang for the buck!
Art!!
Actually these are photos of the pants I was wearing today. I made the second one down my desktop wallpaper!
Back in Colorado I often picked up my paint at the Kwal-Howells factory store. There was an old guy there whose sole job was tinting huge paint orders for builders and large contractors. Hundreds and hundreds of gallons. So, his pants would get pretty interesting. When he wore out each pair, his wife cut out the interesting bits, framed them and sold them.
Ka-ching, huh!
Green paint, anyone?
Not frantically interesting photos really...but it's my painting blog, so there!
Definitely a big improvement from the off white "builder paint."
I always leave "touch-up" paint behind....usually in the original container, all neatly labelled. However I still wind up with lots of bits and bobs of leftover paint. Test quarts, remnants from my mixing custom colors on the job and winding up with over a gallon left over, primers and whites, whatever. Earlier this week I moved all the year's paint from my outside shed to my basement for winter. Somehow, over the year I've managed to accumulate about 5 gallons of variously sage-green colored interior satin.
I've given paint away on freecycle.org before. Maybe it's time to thin the herd...
This, that & oh shit.
I haven't been taking any stunningly interesting photos of recent painting endeavors. This is Jessie, who is owned by the lovely folks in a house I'm painting right now.
The oh shit part: Was painting a large house, tons and tons of new woodwork, lots of work. The owners' son's business isn't doing so well apparently and he needs money. So they decided to let him finish all the painting (he has some experience) and I got booted. Damn! That was going to be a big chunk of holiday money.
Luckily I am getting calls for other jobs, but most of them are smallish. Ah well. Work slows way down in the first few months of the year but there's always enough to keep me going.
I talked to a painter at the paint store the other day, he said most of the summer he's only been getting 25-30 hours of work every week. I've been kicking ass all summer, I guess it could be worse!
Blonde house painting joke.
From
this site, (which comes with a popup warning...one got through my blocker, even.)
A blonde decides one day that she is sick and tired of all these blond jokes, and of how all blondes are perceived as stupid, so she decides to show her husband that blondes really are smart. While her husband is off at work, she decides that she is going to paint a couple of rooms in the house.
The next day, right after her husband leaves for work, she gets down to the task at hand. Her husband arrives home at 5:30 and smells the distinctive smell of paint. He walks into the living room and finds his wife lying on the floor in a pool of sweat.
He notices that she is wearing a ski jacket and a fur coat at the same time. He rushes over and says, "Jeez, are you all right?" She slowly nods her head yes. What are you doing? he asks incredulously.
I wanted to prove that not all blonde women are dumb, she started, and I wanted to do it by painting the house. Well why do you have both a ski jacket and a fur coat on? he asked dumbfounded.
Well, she says, I was reading the directions on the paint can and it said: For best results, put on two coats.
