"PAINT LIKE DEGAS"

A few months ago I found this book on the shelves at Barnes and Noble.  It's filled with exercises designed to get you thinking about Edgar Degas' style and trying your hand at it.  It's a beautiful little book and, as the cover suggests, speaks to the use of pastels.  However, pastels aren't a direction I want to go right now.

So, I used my watercolors instead and went forward 

with three ballerinas wearing saucy, rosy-red tutus. 

"Anticiption" 

Available in my Etsy shop here.

Below, I cropped out the watercolor to make a square image, 

ready for matting and framing as an enlarged print of the original.

Thanks for looking!

AN ANTIQUE DRESS FORM AND A TUTU

By now, anyone who checks my blog regularly has read numerous posts involving my friend Jan, from McKinney, Texas.  One tradition Jan and I have always had, is to exchange gifts when we visit each other.  The last time Jan came to Wisconsin, her gift to me was this beautiful, antique dress form - complete with stand!    You can read all about how it works here.  

Here she is!

So, I decided she needed some clothing.  She stands in my pink guest room - the one with the tutu painting I did last summer.   

Therefore, I figured she should have a tutu too - and not all clothing is made of fabric!   I used two packages of tissue paper - pink, and white.  After folding a long narrow waistband, I just hand-gathered lots and lots of strips of tissue paper and hot glued them onto the waistband.  I made a pink layer first, and then topped it with a shorter, white layer.  

 Then I put another folded tissue waistband over the hot glue and gathers, and rolled some tissue roses to embellish the band.

 I was going to make a top to the tutu - but I kind of like her just the way she is!

She's the perfect ruffled addition to a very feminine room!

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A TUTU AND A HEADBOARD

A couple months ago I had a post showing all the changes I had made to our pink guest room.  At that time, I still needed a headboard and some finishing touches.  Well, that room is now complete!  The bed now has a headboard made from an old door, and I did a new painting to grace the wall.  

I had a wonderful time raising two great sons and had a lot of fun decorating their rooms as babies and young boys.  I remember the blue sailboat wallpaper I had in my first son's room.  I was so proud of that - my first attempt at wallpaper (even though we could only afford enough to cover one of the walls)! Then as they got older they did their own thing.  

They never wanted a pink bedroom nor had any interest in tutus - imagine that!  However, I grew up in a pink bedroom and always wanted one in my own house someday.  So here it is, complete!

  

My oldest son and his wife just stayed in this room a few weeks ago - tutu and all!  

And even he agreed . . . it's a very romantic room!

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