Tis The Night Before The Crafts Fair

'Tis before the last crafts fair, and all through the house, 

 Painted objects are everywhere, annoying my spouse. 

 Wood stockings are hanging all over the place, 

 Showing cuddly kittens, or a bright Santa face. 

 The sofa is covered with an army of gnomes 

 And other yard ornaments awaiting their homes. 

 And I in my apron, and hubby in shorts 

 Sit down to a leftover dinner of sorts. 

 When a shattering, clattering sound fills the halls, 

 Oh no, the cat knocked down the wet Christmas balls! 

 And what to my horrified eyes should appear 

 Is an unvarnished side of a painted reindeer. 

 I'll load up the trailer with decor and such

 'Cause if I don't sell plenty this time I'm in Dutch. 

 It's the very last crafts fair of this Christmas season.   

I'll do it all next year again for some reason, 

 But my thoughts, oh so cheerful, as I toil till daylight,

 "Happy Painting to all, and to all a good night!"

--Betsy Levels

Good enough

 My mother hoarded art materials.  But she would postpone painting them. She was firmly convinced that painting was a fun activity, only deserved if you had been responsible enough to complete all your chores first.  As most of us know, that very rarely happens.  

She accumulated a mountain of paints, canvases, frames, books, and every other imaginable arts and crafts plaything.  When she died, I inherited her supplies.  About half of them had never been used at all. Three shopping bags were full of dried acrylic paint from a hobby store that had been closed for a decade.

I also bought a lot of art supplies.  Apparently the hoarding gene and the postponing gene run pretty strong.  I got paints, and canvases, and other things.  I always said I was going to wait until I was "good enough" at painting to use them.  I was afraid to "waste" a "big" 16x20 canvas on an amateurish, ugly painting.  I didn't want to "mess up" expensive wood items by doing a poor job on them.   So my already considerable hoard of art supplies kept growing.  I piddled around with mini canvases and small ornaments. But I was afraid to really do anything much with most of my hoard.  I just believed I wasn't "good enough" yet.

One day I realized that I am getting old.  Fast.  And I don't want to leave my art stuff to someone else when I die. (On top if that, a third-generation hoard would take a warehouse!) I simply started actually painting.  And my gosh, how quickly it became a vital activity!  I needed that creative outlet and had never fully utilized it.  It is as necessary as eating and sleeping now.   And the plain truth of it is, if you don't  paint, you'll never be "good enough".  

I have certainly done better on some projects than others.  And you can definitely track the improvement in my art by looking at the dates of completion.  But a teacher in a workshop I took told us "practice is art".  I took that advice to heart.  I paint on anything that doesn't run away. 16x20 canvases are no longer "big". That was a real turning point and I am so glad I did it. I sell my paintings and painted objects.  I give some to friends and family.  But mostly, I keep painting.

My husband came out to see what I was doing dragging everything out of the shed to get to objects at the back.  He asked me what in the devil I was doing.  I replied "remember those big carousel horses I was going to paint when I got good enough?"  He nodded.

I said "I'm good enough." Incredible, the freedom that comes with that knowledge! Now go paint. Or sculpt. Or do whatever creative thing you've been postponing. 

Happy Painting!

betsylevels com 

Only here for the Boos

 

My house looks like Halloween.  Not because of decorating, either.  I used to love decorating for every holiday on the calendar.  I have hundreds of holiday decorations, stored carefully in totes in the attic.  I don't think I will even have time to get them down this year .  Plus, there is no place to put them!

The dining table is covered with witch hats and spooky cats.  The top of the China cabinet boasts a boxful of spooky painted

pumpkins.  The mantel, formerly a focal point of seasonal decor, now holds canvases in various sizes and stages of completion. Varnished ornaments are hanging from all the chandeliers drying.

There's even a stack of totes full of  fall and Halloween finished items in the kitchen (unfortunately, it doesn't block the view of the dishes piled in the sink).

And to top it all off, I have Thanksgiving and Christmas items started as well.  Soon they will be all over the place too.

The reason is simple.  Fall and Christmas craft fairs.  I have the last quarter of the year to make up for the limited number of sales in the previous three!  Fall and Christmas sales make up a staggering percentage of my year's income, and I have to take advantage.  I'm also including some new things...a series of Kwanzaa themed items and some Hanukah themed ones.  My husband says I am over extended. I like to call it "versatile".

In the meanwhile, please if you're in the Northwest Louisiana area, I will be at Sunday Art in the Park at Shreveport Common, The Minden Maker's Fair, the Emerging Artist Tent at the Red River Revel, the Bossier Maker's Fair, and group exhibits at Shreveport Regional Arts Council and Bossier Arts Council all before Thanksgiving.  Y'all come see me!

But for now, back to painting.  I love to create things.  Painting has proved to be a valuable outlet for those creative compulsions.  Without it I would feel hollow. Considering what I spend on materials, I won't say it's cheaper than therapy.  But it's a lot more satisfying. And it doesn't cause a hangover.  So for now, I'm 100% here for the boos!! Now would you please not sit on the couch...I need to set some ghosts to dry there!

I'VE BEEN FRAMED!

The right frame can make a painting into a masterpiece.  My late mother taught me that.  I remember making twice yearly trips to a local frame shop for their clearance events.  We would fill her Dodge station wagon with discounted frames!  Framing days were an all-day event, as we would try her finished paintings out in various frames until each had the perfect frame to display each.  

Then we would store the rest of the frames.  She had a 12'x14' empty room that was just perfect for storing a huge number of frames. 

Unfortunately, I do not have such a room!

The old framing shop is no longer in business, but I have still managed to acquire a lot of frames for eventual use.  I haunt secondhand stores and garage sales.  I have even brought home stacks of frames I found on the curb.  I also have a good friend who owns a custom framing shop is where he sometimes has ready-made frames at very good prices. That shop, located in Shreveport, Louisiana, is King Framing on Youree Drive and he's on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/King-Framing-892377277484286/. He does exquisite custom frames too!

I used to have a walk-in closet off the master bathroom.  Now, it is the frame storage.  And the fabric storage.  And the surfaces storage.  And on and on. It is necessary to unload the whole blasted closet to get to whichever object is necessary. 

I have managed to "organize" the frames so they are grouped by similar sizes.  But the one I want always seems to know I'm coming and hide at the back of the stack.  It's a case of either unload the closet or hang by my feet from the clothes rods and pick. 

I honestly thought I had every imaginable size of frames, but when I finished a series of 3" x 9" mini seascapes, I found out I had missed a size.  So I will be spending some time improvising with the wood I have on hand (fortunately not in that closet) to frame all these.

After I put everything back in the closet, of course.

Of course, I have a few pieces nicely framed and for sale hanging at The Corner Pantry in Bossier City as well as on my websitebetsylevels.com .

Y'all check 'em out!

ABSOLUTELY THE BEST VARNISH!

As an artist and decorative painter, I have used a LOT of different varnishes. As a result, if there is a problem to be had with a varnish, I have probably experienced it.  

There the too thick varnishess.  The too thin varnishes.  The varnishes with fumes so bad you have to ventilate the whole city block. Brush marks.  Cloudy finish.  I even had one incredibly expensive varnish that discolored my projects almost immediately, leading to many Anglo Saxon words best not repeated here.

As a general rule, good varnishes are finicky and expensive.

The best varnish available...Liberty Varnish!

I hit a goldmine when Hofcraft ran a sale on Liberty Varnish.  I went ahead and ordered a bottle.  I wish I had bought it in five gallon increments!  Liberty varnish comes in gloss, satin, and matte finish.  Even in the ridiculous humidity of Louisiana I have not had any issues with it.  It doesn't run or clump.  It doesn't show nasty brush marks. It dries to the finish it says it will without clouding, even on muggy or rainy days. A very, very mild odor and water cleanup.   And it stays clear.  I ordered it the first time just because the sale price was low.  But I am very impressed with the product and have reordered several times since. And incredibly, the price is reasonable!

You can get Liberty varnish in gloss, satin, or matte finish in several sizes at Hofcraft.com.  and if you happen to be an SDP member, tell them in the comments on your order because you will get a discount. ( This is not an affiliate link at this time; I don't know if Hofcraft even does that.  If I find out they do, I'll edit the post and add one!)

SAD UPDATE:  THE PRODUCT IS NO LONGER BEING MADE.  UGH...GOT TO LOOK FOR A REPLACEMENT.

EVEN SADDER UPDATE:  HOFCRAFT.COM, WHO SOLD THE LIBERTY VARNISHES LINE, IS SHUTTING DOWN.  THE COMPANY WILL BE MISSED TERRIBLY.

And while you're online,  would love to have you go to my art site, betsylevels.com,  and buy some of my art and/gift items! I need money for more varnish!

Yes. It's Art!

 

YES

It's

Art!

I started out as as decorative painter.  My late mother was a decorative painter.  She was, in fact, very active in the Society of Decorative Painters. (Back then, in the tole wave of the early '70's it was known as the National Society of Tole and Decorative Painters)  She jumped into it with both feet.  She had never picked up a paintbrush in her life, but suddenly was painting everything.  She went to conventions all over the country and took classes from some of the best known folk artists in the field.  But she said we couldn't consider it real art.

I call B S.

I know it's not original art if you use someone else's pattern.  But that's one of the many ways you learn new skills and techniques.  Fine artists use paints--decorative painters use paints.  Fine artists use paintbrushes--decorative painters use paintbrushes.  Fine artists study color theory--decorative painters study color theory.  And value.  And composition.  And on down the list of the multitude of things painters learn over the years.

Hey, Leonardo DaVinci and Michelangelo, and all the old masters started out as apprentices and had to paint from patterns in the style of their teacher to start with.  They learned from it and went on to develop their skills and create original works.  And that was real art folks--about as real as it gets!

And so what if some of this art is painted on functional objects!  People have been creating art to embellish the things around them in their daily lives since back when cavemen painted bison on their cave walls!  That too, folks, was real art!  Have YOU ever tried to depict a buffalo on a stone wall using charred wood and rock dust?

I know not everyone is going to like or appreciate everyone else's work (each to his own taste, said the cat as he licked his behind).  But anyone who is putting their own original work into a representation for others to see is creating art, whether they learned it from years of expensive art school or "The Joy of Painting".  It isn't how you learn, it's that you learn.  And then you do it.  

I learned a world of different things from years of involvement with the Society of Decorative Painters.  I was active in our local chapter until it folded.  My daughters and my granddaughter all attended some of our chapter paint-ins, although the grandbaby was still a toddler.  I remarked then that she made four generations of our family with the Society of Decorative Painters.  She is four now, and paints with me frequently--she has created her own "Unicorn Flamingo", and painted a lovely floral using the stump end of a celery stalk.

  She is learning to experiment with a wide variety of techniques at an early age.  And she proudly  calls herself an artist.  That tickles me to no end.  

If you have always wanted to learn to paint, there are a lot of tutorials on YouTube and other sources.  I would recommend you check out the Society of Decorative Painters and their recently launched Decorative Painters Academy.  You can learn a lot there and make friends with a lot of other creatives.  There are local chapters all over United States and the whole world now, and also a virtual chapter forming.  I have found it to be a great experience for many years and would not be creating original paintings right now without it.

As always, I'd sure like to sell some of my painted items, as seen here:

Smooching Flamingoes

The Coolest Flamingo to Ever Wear Shades

betsylevels.com

  

Party Animal--NOT!

 

Everyone has told me I should offer painting parties as a way to supplement my starving artist's income.  

I have put in hours online, researching how to put paint parties together.  All the details...games, icebreaker activities, themes, checklists, you name it.  There are worlds of great information out there for anyone that is interested.  It is supposed to be a great way to monetize your painting skills. I'm putting all of it aside. Why?

I don't like parties.

Actually, I detest them.  My people skills can best be measured in negative numbers.  I don't enjoy chit-chat.  I get bored with games before they have even begun.  I was brought up with the maxim that "small talk is poorly disguised warfare".  At parties, I am usually the person taking a stroll in the gardens--the whole time.  Subjecting myself to being the focal point of a social evening would be absolute misery no matter what the pay rate.

I just want to paint!

Don't get me wrong, I would love to make some quick money.  But I make art because that is what I love to do.  It isn't a hobby, or a pastime.  It's a deep, inborn need to create something in some form or other.  It is more than just "fun". It is fulfillment on a soul-deep level.  And turning it into self-torture for a few dollars just isn't on the table any more. 

If you are set on doing painting parties, here are just a few of the tons of tip sites out there:

https://thepalettemuse.com/host-paint-party/

https://www.wikihow.com/Throw-a-Paint-Party#step-id-02

https://social-artworking.com/host-your-own-party

I'll skip the party.  I'd rather stay home and paint.

But if you make some money doing a party, I would appreciate it immensely if you would drop in at my website and buy some of my art or gift items!

betsylevels.com