Free Rein Art and Design

Bringing it Back One More Time...

2010-08-01T19:15:00.000-07:00

My apologies to those that once subscribed to this blog for the 25 entries today to your dashboard....I am once again bringing back my art blog from the dead...it's that "branding thing." I've been told more than once by my customers that they are now confused...are you Free Rein or ranch dressing? I am both but separately, I suppose.

....So here in blogland I will keep it separate once again as best I can. All art here at Free Rein and all vintage/junky goodness at ranch dressing.

Things here are a mess and outdated so you will see weirdness here for a while until I can dedicate some time for updating my sidebar and banner. For now I have only imported some art posts that I slipped in at ranch dressing.

I'm still showing a handful of followers so I hope you will continue to hang with me as I have lots of new things lined up for the fall. In the meantime I hope you are having a wonderful summer!

Ornaments aren't just for Christmas

2010-07-26T22:04:00.000-07:00

I painted this handsome fella Saturday afternoon. I love painting on such a variety of canvases...and this is one of my favorites. I love the way the acrylics work on frosted glass...or maybe it's just the contrast of the detail against the soft white.

Anyway, he's headed to Oklahoma as a gift to the owner of this gorgeous stallion. Shhhhhhhh! It's a surprise.

My ornaments are hand painted 3 1/4" frosted glass and come with a ribbon and a paper covered gift/storage box. I work from photographs showing up close details of my customer's animals and do not only horses but dogs and cats as well. I''m up for painting pigs, turtles, hamsters...whatever...just send me a good photo.

The turnaround time is about 4 weeks. They are available year round but if you want one by Christmas the deadline to order is Nov. 5. That sounds like a long time off, but we all know how quickly dates slip up on us.


Hand painted ornament with faux ostrich/pink paisley gift box ©2010 Angie Nelson

For complete order details click here Pet Portrait Ornaments. It would be my pleasure to paint a mini portrait of your sweet horse or favorite pet.

Talk to you soon.

Worktable Wednesday

2010-06-23T13:14:00.000-07:00

If you are a follower you know what my worktable "really" looks like these days...but I actually finished a commissioned floorcloth last week...Benadryl and all. If you are a Face Book fan you've already seen it there.

Normally, I don't show commission work online because of piracy. My clients pay me to design and paint something specifically for them and it really hurts us all when a knock off shows up on ebay for mere pennies...yep it's really happened.

Anyhoo...this one was commissioned by a woman that is donating it to an auction that will benefit breast cancer and the more people that see it the better. It will be part of the silent auction at the Rally for the Cure - Golf Tournament at the Old North State Club July 14th, 2010.

She called me in May and said she wanted a floorcloth with a woman in pink on a golf course and that she liked the gate there and would like to include something from that......

So this is what we ended up with.... Stylized gal and stylized trees with an argyle border to coordinate with her pink sweater. The emblems in the corners are from the sign at the gate with the club's logo. Very "cutsie". Lots of fun.

Live, Laugh, and Do whatever it is you love!

Where Bloggers Create Party...Welcome to my Studio

2010-06-20T17:58:00.000-07:00

I'm always a day late and at least a dollar short...and here I am again late for the party I've been looking forward to. Not my birthday party which was last night and lots of fun by the way...but the Where Bloggers Create Party sponsored by My Desert Cottage. To visit all the participants follow the link and look on the sidebar for the "Party Guests"

There are never good excuses for being late but always lots of reasons. On Friday which was my 50th birthday I had planned to finish up work in the studio around noon and take the afternoon to do some fun stuff for myself and write this post. Well, I ended up spending the day in a Benadryl funk and in and out of consciousness. I got stung by a wasp on Thursday and by Friday morning was absolutely miserable...swollen, red, blistery and itchy like you can't imagine. I didn't even celebrate my birthday until yesterday....anyway...I am now much better and ready to party!

My studio, as some of you that follow, may have guessed, is in complete chaos as I write. I've mentioned it in many posts recently that it looks like a hurricane blew through. When I signed up to participate in the party, I thought I could show you old photos and you'd never know the difference...but, that just isn't right! I will show a few old and a few current.

This post will serve two purposes....1. the blogger party. 2. the before pictures for our renovations that are soon to start.

My husband built the studio in late 1991 and I began working in there full time in January 1992. I had the upstairs portion and he had the downstairs. This is what it looked like last summer. This summer it will get railing and a board ramp like I showed in a previous post. And be updated with white trim and red screen doors. The garden in front will also be replanted with delicious smelling herbs like scented geranium and lavender.

The studio has served me well as my floorcloth studio and as space for art classes over the last 18 years. You can imagine the beating it has taken with all the hauling of materials up and down stairs and kids regularly running in and out.

I have had the same white walls and stenciled wild horse border since day one...ugh! My tastes have matured quite a bit but I just haven't had the time to make any changes until now. I'm going back with white walls but the border will bite the dust by the end of this week I hope.

So here's where I am today....working simultaneously on floorcloth commissions, making items for the shop that will open in September, and renovating the studio upstairs and down.

WARNING: THIS IS NOT GOING TO WIN AN AWARD FOR PRETTY! Maybe next year...

You will be greeted by one of our sweet dogs upon arrival. This is Ada. She usually comes in for the day unless she's shedding...like now. By July we will be good to go again. Bless her heart, she just doesn't understand I can't have black dog hair in the finish coats of my floorcloths.

Welcome

As you walk in the stairs are immediately to the right...this is one of the first floorcloths I designed 20 years ago. The one on the floor is maybe 10 or so years old and yes that's dirt! I know I should be ashamed!

You see my office in the corner when you arrive at the top of the stairs. I've taken out the giant old Gateway computer and rarely ever take my laptop up there. We've also taken out our land line and it's actually been quite liberating to go unconnected while I'm working. I'm in the process of finishing a small floorcloth and once it's delivered I will stack as much as I can on the work table and begin painting the walls and ceiling this week. I've already unloaded some shelves.

This is my inspiration board where I have been accumulating ideas for my shop for the last couple of years...it has spilled over into a folder now but I leave the original things up to remind me that dreams come true and start with an idea or two. The custom boots have always been inspiring to my floorcloth designs...and too I am giving myself a pair sometime this year to celebrate being 50.

The corner where I keep my paint...outgrew it quickly so I also have a cabinet just for acrylics and specialty products. Another one of my first designs..."1840"

Multiple projects going on here...finished projects and loads of supplies underneath...You just don't know how much I am looking forward to opening the shop and having order back in my studio.

More finished projects and more stuff literally stuffed under the table, in boxes, drawers and cabinets.

I look forward to the day when I have floorspace again to paint large floorcloths...My worktable is 8' x 8' and my available floor space used to accommodate room size rugs. It will be so wonderful to have that much space when most of this stuff goes downstairs into Ranch Dressing.

So, this is my studio where I create. I hope you will come back in September to see the finished shop and renovated studio. I apologize for the length...when I haven't written for a while I tend to ramble. Now, I'm off to visit the other bloggers that create and look forward to seeing the beautiful places they work and live.

My Newest Addiction

2010-05-03T13:47:00.000-07:00

I have always loved the beautiful scrap booking papers and all the embellishments to go with them...but I don't scrapbook. For years I have wondered what I could do with them and now I've found my solution. These little boxes are so addictive. I made these last Thursday morning in just a couple of hours. If I'd have had more supplies I'd have kept going.

The possibilities are endless with the combination of paint, papers and all sorts of embellishments. The top is faux painted while the bottom is paper covered. This size makes a nice gift box for jewelry and as a keepsake.

The same combo of paint and paper with velvet ribbon trim.

This one is for dreams and wishes...or anything else you want to keep inside.

Back view

Top View

Stay tuned...More to come

From This to That

2010-03-15T14:26:00.000-07:00

No, it's not a parade float....

This is one of the re-styled tables that started as one of the - probably homemade - pieces that I found in the trailer. They were in the yard sale collection for a few days until they began to show their potential as night stands for the twin beds that I already have ready to go into the shop.

Not a bad little table...here just painted black.

They have beaded fronts and sides....nice but too plain... for me.

To the beaded sections I decoupaged images of vintage cowboy/cowgirl art tiles

Added a few jewels... to catch a little light.

Came up with a swirl design for the corners on each level...

Had thought I may paint them red until the white transfer paper left a silvery looking swirl over the black paint...

This is the best silver paint...one coat...very shiny.

Measured and cut all the fringe by hand...

Added feet so that all the fringe could be the same length...added fringe and nickle studs.

Any idea what the feet are made from?

The ends from player piano rolls. I found boxes of them in the container but unfortunately some were so old and fragile that they've fallen apart and the only parts savable were the ends...but how perfect they are as feet for re-styling the little night stands.

Top View

And then there were two.

They will be available in the shop at our first open house. Stay tuned...

February Give Away from Free Rein Studio

2010-02-03T11:55:00.000-08:00

We have been enjoying our first snow of 2010...in fact it is our first snow in a few years that we could actually get out and play in. No ice for once, but now after 4 full days our driveways are compacted to the point that it is treacherous to walk on. My trip to the barn yesterday and today was dicey to say the least, but today the temps will reach almost 50 so I am hoping a lot of the slick stuff will melt.

house, studio and barn

It has been so beautiful, especially with the full moon over the weekend. It's so odd here to look out at night and see so much white and then get up in the morning and see farther out into the woods and hills because of all the snow on the ground making a contrast between the ground and trees. I love winter. It won't be long until all the surrounding trees are green again and will close in around us making our little farm seem smaller and contained to only what I can see up to the tree line.

A Peek at God's Artistry

creek on the back of our property

thought this was interesting

and thought this was pretty

icicles on one of our many, many Randolph County rocks

moo

our sweet Chico after a good roll

and back to business...our Give Away for February is not anything with hearts or lace or pink or chocolate but it is something you can use to sit your mug of hot chocolate on this month or your glass of lemonade when it warms up and we are wishing for cold weather again.

Below is a picture of a pair of coasters from Free Rein Art & Design, my art studio. The art is inspired by tipi art from a Hugging Bear design. I have adapted it to my square coaster and square and rectangular floorcloths by squaring off his legs. My 6 year old nephew just yesterday, was laughing at the funny little bears lying on my coffee table and told me that real bears could not bend their arms and legs like that. Out of the mouth of babes!

To enter the contest to win a pair of hugging bear coasters simply leave a comment here and tell me what's wrong with this picture. My niece, the sister of my little critic I spoke of above also noticed something peculiar with the pair. In my haste, I hadn't noticed and have been displaying the photo on my websites. lol.

If you are the winner of the coasters, I will custom paint these in a colorway of your choosing or will let you choose another design, also to your color preference.

The coasters are hand painted onto heavy weight canvas and applied to a cork backing. They are finished with 5 coats of acrylic poly for protection. They have my artist mark instead of signature on the front with the date, and will arrive with a certificate of authenticity. The prize is a $35 value.

The contest will be open until the 23rd of February and the winner announced the 24th.

Good luck to all.

Starting from Scratch...literally.

2010-01-12T15:14:00.000-08:00

In my last post I mentioned a little reproduction project I was beginning. My customer recently purchased a piece of property with the old house still standing and in fairly good condition. The property and house was not only chosen for the family to use for family get-togethers, but also for it's historical value. The first owners inhabited it in the 1800's and the Mr. was a coffin maker. It remained in the family down through the generations and much of it's history was recorded and passed down as well. The new owner was fortunate to be able to work with the local museum and dig out loads of information.

My job was to take copies of 3 open pages of Mr. Workman's ledger and reproduce these so they can be framed with other artifacts from the business and home...to be hung in the old homeplace.

I have worked with this customer's wife for more than 10 years making things look old, usually with paint. Paper was a challenge, but like most projects, "it" eventually came to me and it worked. Here's what I did...

I took his copy and scanned it to my computer.

My first thought was that I could get the old paper look with photo shop...

...and it really wasn't too far off printed onto beige cardstock that I already had. My first idea was to use watercolor to age it, but it wasn't as realistic as I'd imagined. I also thought I could use my caligraphy pens to trace over the original script. They too, couldn't give me the look I needed. So...that's when I headed out for parchment paper and a dip pen.

Learning to use the pen was fun. My son picked it up while I was cooking supper one night and scribbled his name as good or better than I was doing. Why didn't I think of this when we were homeschooling?

When I had decided my penmanship looked better than chicken scratch, I made many attempts to copy the documents. Just like the old days of Junior High term papers...if you make a mistake in ink, you must start over. But, all in all, the dip pen worked perfectly to duplicate the ink pattern of both thick and thin areas of ink in each word. It's much darker I'm sure than the original, but since it will be behind glass it will make reading easy for observers.

Finally, in the last few minutes of the inking "it" came to me from where ever it is that "it" always does, that I could use colored pencils to age the paper more and to mark the lines on the paper. It was the easiest part of the entire process...except for the ink spills, finger prints and misspelled words...hey, they were on the original.

page 1

page 2

page 3

And finally, it was finished, and in the mail. I have already learned something new this year and have a little more experience in making something new look old.

Just my two cents....

What have you learned already this year?

Taking it Slower

2009-12-07T10:23:00.000-08:00

My first post since we rolled into December...and here it is the 7th already. My confession for today is that I haven't started decorating for Christmas yet. This, for a designer is probably considered as sin...but, I have reasons.

Today is the first day in over 2 weeks that I haven't felt bad, in fact, today I feel like a million dollars compared to yesterday. I'm finally over the hump and it feels miraculous.

I did what so many other women are guilty of and we need to stop! I ignored red flag after red flag that I was getting sick, but I kept on working to the point that I finally crashed and could not function. By the time I drug myself to my doctor he was ready to put me in the hospital. That scared me to the point of deciding to be a good patient and go home and take my meds and rest...but not without a shot in the hiney to go.

I have much catching up to do this week such as groceries, shopping for the angel tree, some decorating for Christmas here and finishing up an order. Naps will be a priority! I am taking no chances on a relapse!

Take care people! Life is a gift. Health is a priority.

Talk to you soon.

Auction for a Good Cause

2009-11-28T11:54:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I know we did and are so blessed by family and friends along with a warm home and abundance in so many ways.

I want to send you today to my art blog for a link to a charity, Stolen Horse International, that is based here in NC but is a national help to our horse friends and families. This is the time of year for their annual fundraising auction and you can not only help support thier mission but get a start on your shopping for the horse loving friend or family member on your Christmas list.

We have donated a hand painted cookie plate shown here and there are dozens more incredible items to choose from. See you there!