I will be an Artist! update 3/7/19

| and so it goes

I was pretty happy being a nurse for many years but when I retired I had no plan for what comes next, then I read that anyone can be an artist so I thought I’m anyone, I  will be an artist.

IMG_4779 2

I am a woman wondering what comes next, open to new ideas, willing to exchange thoughts but confused and restless about who I am now in these later decades of my life.

Being a twice-retired person of meager resources and advanced age, I started out cheap, buying craft paints and board panels and skinny canvas. I painted flowers the ‘one stroke’ Donna Dewberry way. (she is the one who said anyone can paint) I had fun painting pretty flowers for children and sold them at school and community sales.

But lately, I have been watching u-tube videos of abstract painting and this is my new favorite way to paint.  I am a self-taught (artist) painter with help from U-Tube videos, Mr. Lang and Ms. Dewberry and  Mr.Tim Gagnon plus a heap of art how-to books  There is so much to learn, so many new ways to create art, I’ll need another life-time to learn all this , maybe next life?

By the way, this painting became an  amazing table! Resin was the perfect  finish!

sAKKWi%%S3OpyOSxwFUxiQ_mini_bbe5

sold

Update 3/7/19

Still of meager resources and even yet older, Life has moved on with me to a very new reality, an old lady on wheels. And I’m loving this new life style with GiGI my gas guzzling RV and my Smart car Babe.I’m excited to get my life in my tiny RV settled soon so I can get back to painting I’ll need to find a space, I thought perhaps I’d paint outside at the table but it is really windy here, not sure it’s always as windy as it has been here lately, maybe it calms during the summer. Other than the wind, I think this is the best place to be now, warm and snow-less.

I’m not a real neat painter but at least I won’t be messing up any one’s space other than my own, and I won’t mind cuz that’s the way I am, nothing bothers me for too long. It’s taken me awhile to come to this, it hasn’t always been easy but now is generally my way of looking at and living my life. My sloppy life style doesn’t mean I don’t care, it means I don’t care enough to let details get in the way of my peace of mind. Not everyone sees my point of view however. Live and let live please………Wow I did get off on a tangent didn’t I! Must be the fact that I’m drinking wine from the box!

Chilly in Caballo, but this week looks Promising

| and so it goes

This week looks good for getting me out of the RV

We could be in the 70’s this week and there is no talk about the wind.

I’m going to Las Cruces, an hour away, where the shopping is much improved from where I am. I’m thinking home depot! I’m getting another box of tiles to finish that ugly bathroom wall and more white paint plus try to match the green paint to touch up or even give another coat of paint to some areas that don’t look fresh. From there I’ll hit a target and wander a bit,

I’m going there maybe this week, or even tomorrow, I saw a video of the City of Rocks, it looks fascinating and it’s less than a 100 miles from here. I’ll take some photos to add here.

Not taking GIGI this trip just Babe, I need to learn a few things about her, I haven’t even put gas in yet but there’s something I must be doing something wrong, when I go to lock her it sound like it locks but the door opens and I’ve had to leave her open when I went to Walmart, need to see what I’m doing wrong, it’s probably something I’m not doing but really how complicated can it be to lock the door???

I may go by my self or maybe with a friend. Either way I need to get active, this weather and my own lazy-ness has kept me in an inert state for too long. I’m boring myself. This annoying thing on my computer, my phone and my ipad are telling me how much time I spend on the internet, like it matters. It doesn’t matter and I could just remove it, but it tells me I should get out of my head and outdoors where real life happens,

I agree.

I’m Feeling a little Lonely Tonight

| and so it goes

It happens to everyone

especially women like me.

There ‘s no fix for it.

It just goes and comes

I’m not depressed or unhappy or dissatisfied

Just a little alone

It’s my own fault, if indeed there is  fault

I look for it and want to be alone

and when I succeed in being alone

I find fault with being alone.

UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_1987Then after a few days I scold myself into action

This was my third day

Tomorrow demands action.

GG needs her own Category

| and so it goes

From now on when I write about GG, I’ll put those posts in GG category because for many readers that is what they’re here for, to learn of the trials and tribulations experienced while I give her the TLC needed to travel safely. Poco a poco GiGi is becoming less a mystery, giving me some learning experiences while we travel here and there. Right now we are stationary giving me the time and resources needed to continue this journey in safety and comfort.

GG

Chinese Painting Brushes vs GIGI Upgrades

| and so it goes

I’m practicing using the Chinese paint brushes, deciding if I want to invest in another project with it’s own implements. I like the way I can make tree trunks and branches with this brush but I don’t’ think I’ll succeed using them for flowers. I’m not a delicate painter, I need wide swoops of color, but I’m interested in watercolor, I’ve never tried using it before, thought it would be too hard as I’m not much at drawing and keeping white spaces. I never got too far in the drawing course I haven’t finished taking. And I still have painting courses I can work on.

Now that I have GIGI kind of figured out I want to spend more time learning art techniques. Much to learn, I add these photos here only to show you how much I have to learn! A little bit of wine helps release the inner muse.

  • doodles in watercolor and wine

But GIGI needs a new sink and faucet asap, well it’s not urgent it’s just old and ugly and is the first thing you see when you come in the door, after you see all the bright red colors and expect something ………clean and more modern. I am sorely tempted to go to amazon and order the sink and faucet, I see just what I want and it seems very reasonable but then I’ll need it installed and what if I get the wrong parts and how difficult would it be to install, because rv’s have different plumbing issues I’ll have to get some rv help….I wonder if they’ll take a credit card? (thinking out loud here). I may just do that, then I’ll have things on the inside looking very good ……..after I repaint some areas that need touch up or really need a second coat of a green I hope I can match……….yeah, I’ll never really be done will I. Soon to get started on the outside, soon as the weather permits, today it’s chilly but not windy, I have some issues to work on on my roof too, not leaks but some potential problems. Probably a priority.

One step at a time is boring.

k

A DAy of Wind and Fumes

| and so it goes

I think writing here has been a good step for change because of the positive feedback that I am get when I post pics of GiGi.  I hope that when I have no new photos to share my readers with stick around to read what I have to say, but if not I will still continue to write for myself trying for daily posts as a goal.

Today I’ve beeen painting walls again.  I just really hate the way this tiny bathroom looks with it’s out of style sink and useless spaces.  I can’t do much  to it but paint.  I’m thinking of adding more tiles around the inside of the door so that will fill up another terrible wall.  I don’t know what they make these wall of, anything light weight i suppose.  I may be defeating that purpose with all my tiles, my friend says soon the front wheels of the RV won’t touch the ground with all the weight of my tiles in the back. Nah!  I’ve removed a lot of heavy stuff, the wall cupboard in the bath room with the broken mirror and the fold out bed I removed plus all the curtain things, gone to give me more of what I want .

I made an impromptu mess, looks like a grade school project of the rail(?) that is separetling the loft from the cab.  It’s an ugly space that paint doesn’t take because it is somekind of plastic finish.  Tiles are too big to fit there so I thought to just add photos cut to size. Could have doone a better job, here it looks a little silly but I’ll clean it up a bit on the edges and it will be fine for now. It’s kind of dark in the space below thats why it looks odd, I could do it better.UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_200a

A New Life -Style demands…….

| and so it goes

A new life style demands change, a new mind set, new goals and maybe even a new persona.

So far I have done a few things to help me make the changes despite the odds I’m faced with. My  GIGI experience has helped me see myself from another perective. Yes, I’m an old  lady but relativly well, no major health problems health wise to worry me, I could be in better shape, I need to try to be stronger and walk more but who doesn’t? My income is small but adequate as long as I respect it and don’t spend foolishly, but……..

I need  new pants to go with my new persona, and other stuff too, poco a poco won’t do it because I’ll forget the plan and go back to old ways of seeing myself.  For the past 10-15 years I’ve was who I needed to be then, but this is now and I have a whole new opportunity to express myself in different ways, and red is my new best friend……..

Pants are here and I love them but they are very thin and need to be hand washed, no problem,  I haven’t tried them on yet because I have a huge mess in  the kitchen which leaks over into other spaces leaving little space to try on clothes.

I’m working on my kitchen space and removing  old cault, not an easy project because this is really old cault but I did it, I think it will be okay when I repace the new clean caulk.  I pulled off the paper I’d applied poorly and plan to paint white.  After cleaning this up the reality is that just cleaning it doesn’t look so bad but now I want to update the sink and faucets.  If it wasn’t so windy I would run out to get new sink and faucets, modernize my space a bit.  But it’s really ugly outside very  windy again and showers off and on. I wonder how difficult it is to do this myself  or with my friend  Robert or Becca., and how expensive.  Remove the old and install the new, I’d like to have one large sink instead of two side by side, more practical for doing any art projects where you need the space.

you know what, I think I’ll leave this project as is for now because it will be easier to paint without the sink in, this may be a several days project, that’s okay, now to put back everything I moved.

Soon it will be warm enough to get out of sweats and into  my harem pants  I should buy some fabric and try sewing these myself.  i could do that.

A neighber came by, we were talking about the fact that we don’t have water today, they’re working on the sewer  problem…You don’t want to know, anyway he was telling me about a product to clean and wax the RV.  He probably noticed that GIGI needs care, it’s not a secret, this product washes and waxes in one step, gotta get me some of that to get started on GIGI’s renewal before the big facelift starts.

by the way included in one of the pants packages was a string bracelet I’ve been telling my sister she should make  as all the cool folks wear them. Now I do too, cool a colorful string  tired to my wrist, I like it.

til later….

An ACupuncture RX plus more Red Paint

| and so it goes

I’ve given an acupuncture treatment for painful swollen knees for a friend here in the park. I know this will help her because when I treat my own knees I feel better and can climb stairs quickly, sometimes without having to go one stair at a time. Yesterday she couldn’t bear weight, today she can.

Finally the winds have died down this morning so I’m going to town to do my errands before they start up again.

Walmart had Cadbury candies out for Easter, the Easter bunny doesn’t stop here….I don’t think so, I got a little over excited and bought a lot of mini eggs. Yum

I did some painting today in red. I painted Jose’s table, I removed the paper and it looks great, much better the plywood took the paint just fine and I sprayed a gloss finish, I’m happy with it.

I also painted the cabinets above and below the fridge black, instead of red or white or purple all colors that I tried first. I painted them black because the fridge has black edges so I think they fit in better this way, I used craft paints and will give them another coat of my good black paint tomorrow. Red and black are a favorite combination for me, and I’ve used it liberally here in GiGi.

I’ve repurposed a three tired wire basket that fell down in the ‘kitchen to use in my bathroom and spray painted it with teal to match the mirrors in my barely turnaroundable bathroom. Right now my shower is full of my supplies for my various projects which I move from here to there hoping one day I will have used them all up and I’m finished with my projects, that will never happen I know, there will always be something to fix or change and I’m good with that.

loving my red!

My old RV on my small budget doesn’t compare to those I see on the various fb pages, but I still like mine the best because it’s all about me and who I am, and who I am is a really old lady on the road wondering what the heck I’m doing and can I really tow my toad down the road? I’ll need to get a trailer for it I’m told, sounds like another expense I’ll have to plan for.

Yikes!

Privacy curtains for GiGi

| and so it goes

Not sure I’ll be able to describe how my new curtain will look but I think this RV must have come with a curtain in the cab at some time probably long ago, 1991. there are little plastic hooks all along the cab top which will close off the cab from the coach. I had already made window covers using reflexits wrong spelling I think but it is a product that looks like bubble wrap, is used for insulation , I used it to block heat in TX and now to block cold in NM. I covered the inside view with fabric so it looks nice and not so home depot looking. I have a lavender sheet that will work great just fine. I’ll make little tags to hook over the plastic hooks, the sheet is large enough to gather to make it look soft. I should probably stop and sew this now.Stop the presses! That lavender sheet didn’t work as I thought and then I remembered another Indian fabric I should use instead, it looks great! I have some photos , the area is a little dark but if I lighten the photo you miss the exuberance of the colors. I love it, it looks like a secret room back there. Remember that a class C RV is open to the cab, that is the passenger chair turned around to face inside.

After falling getting down for my loft a couple times, I decided to not take chances and so my bed is taking up the space of what would be the ugly table and benches, I don’t miss them at all. I have a small table that folds up and takes only a little space. I wish I could show you how bright and beautiful the colors in these fabrics are. I love my little space.

It may be hard to see what’s what here if you don’t know how my RV is situated, the chair that you see in the second photo is the passenger seat turned around, yes I mentioned that and my bed is there on the left covered with yet another beautiful Indian fabric that I’v e made into a quilt. my loft is above of course, So now you don’t see the steering wheel or dash. Cozy and i love it.

Sometimes I get so excited I just have to go for it!

| and so it goes

It has been suggested to me that I should only publish one post per day so people are not overwhelmed by my writings. Huh, sometimes I’m laughing at my self and want someone to laugh with me so I push the publish button not paying any attention to advice. Tonight has been like that, it may be because I’m enjoying a glass …….

(in the only wine glass left of two, I broke one yesterday I may have to get a few more because I just don’t think it’s proper to drink wine from a plastic cup, it’s the way I am.)

of Franzia refreshing white wine from the box. I like it, it goes down so smooth and makes me write very fast and with less typos. And it makes me feel a little silly which you can judge for yourself right here. Yeah, the harem pants, couldn’t wait to publish that one.

Maybe I’ll save this for tomorrow. Or not, maybe I’ll have another glass of refreshing white tomorrow and find more sillyness to write about then. yeah