May/June 2018 Project Recap (and life as an Obliger)

Hi all! May and June were super busy months for me between my day job and my side projects. I'm finding though, that I like having lots of client projects, because if I don't have a client deadline, I'm much less likely to create art on my own. According to Gretchen Rubin's Four Tendencies quiz, that makes me an Obliger, or someone who meets outer expectations but resists inner ones. Gretchen Rubin says that the Obliger's tendency is to do things more easily for others than ourselves. Or, as she writes, Obligers "work hard not to let other people down, but they often let themselves down." Bingo! I love client projects because it forces me to do the work. I'm not sure I would paint or create as consistently without these "imposed" deadlines. That said, it's not always feasible for me to take on client work due to my regular job's workload, and I tend to have the most jobs in the spring and summer, leaving fall and winter "off" to work on my own projects.


It's definitely something I think about often in regards to writing too. I recently heard Gretchen speak on the Ask a Manager podcast about the sometimes overemphasized idea of combining your work life with your passions. I loved what Gretchen said of her vocation as a writer:  "I would be a writer even if I were not paid for it. I cannot help it, I feel compelled to do it. It is a compulsion with me to do this work."


That's how I feel about writing and art. It's the way I cope with difficult times in my life. It's the way I experience my most pure joy. It's the way I feel most "in the flow." As an Obliger, the difficulty for me lies in creating a habit around, well, creating. If I'm tasked with writing something for work, or painting something for a client, I am prompt and responsive. But if it's just me and my laptop, or me and a blank canvas, it becomes much more difficult to do the work. I sometimes think that speaks to a deeper issue, of learning to value myself and the things that bring me joy without any purpose or reason, as much as or more than I enjoy giving to others. 


Gretchen Rubin might argue though that it's not so much an issue of self-esteem or what I value, but rather an issue of accountability.  I'm hoping that by blogging about my creative process, that I can find accountability through interaction with an online community of other creatives. 


Also, as an Obliger, it's sometimes hard for me to do the work just for the sheer joy of doing it. I remember reading once in an Oprah magazine (maybe it was Martha Beck who said it), about not liking writing, but liking haven written. I think art is like that for me. I don't always enjoy the process, but I love having painted, having refinished an old piece of furniture into something new and beautiful, and I love having written.
And so, here are the things I enjoyed (and still enjoy) having done in May and June:






First up, this floral abstract, because I needed a painting for the bedroom reading nook of the home I staged in May, and had a half done canvas in my basement.





Seeing the picture again now I would have preferred 3 larger paintings, maybe with white matts, and two chairs instead of one, but I staged the entire house for just $500 (with almost $300 of that spent on one rug). So I'll take it!



Next up, these two paintings for the living room of the same home:





Again the choice came down to cost - the canvases were on sale at Tuesday morning, so I got both for around $20!


Here they are in the space:





I love how they pull out the colors of the beautiful rug (from Homegoods).


I also painted another abstract for a friend's bedroom. We took a frame off of an old painting she wasn't using anyore, and fit a new canvas within it. Here's the frame before:





And after a coat of white chalk paint and dark glaze:





The finished product:





I love how it looks in her master bedroom! I also advised her to replace her current lamps with some other lamps from her guest room that have mercury glass bases and large white drum shades. And we bought nickel pulls for her dressers. I think it's really common to want everything to match, especially when it comes to metals, but I personally love mixing metal finishes and colors - it makes everything feel like it's been accumulated over time and is a much more custom look than buying everything in the same color.





I also painted this seascape for a friend who met her husband in Florida and moved to California in June:





I've done quite a few projects for OhmFit Activewear, a shop in our Uptown area. She asked me to paint over the base of one of her moving racks in June. It was a quick two day project (just dry time in between trips to the shop). I used my favorite Benjamin Moore ADVANCE Interior Paint for a self-leveling finish.





For the same store, I refinished the top of the owner's cash wrap / desk. The wood was worn and scratched in places, but a new coat of Minwax Gel Stain in Mahogany.





Another staining project I did in June was on these hand-me-down deck chairs. The wood had worn from weather, so I sanded them down and stained them with Minwax Wood Finish Dark Walnut Oil-based Interior Stain. Here's the before:





After stain, but before polyurethane:





And in their new home on my front porch:









Other small projects include some quick edits to this cow painting (covered the word Montana with grass, and stained the frame darker), and painting the client's wedding date on this rustic door to hang in her kitchen.










And here's the door:








I also painted over some stained glass for the same homeowner. It took two thin coats of primer, and three thin coats of Benjamin Moore Aura paint in Stonington Gray (HC-170), but I love how the windows now match the farmhouse feel of the whole house!





And the after:










Last but certainly not least, I did my first pet portrait! It was a Father's Day gift for the husband of a past client. I love how it turned out!

Here's Augie, the inspiration:



And Augie in paint form:





Whew! If you've made it this far, well done! I'm tired just thinking about all of the projects I did in May and June (on top of caring for my babies and planning a Vacation Bible School for 271 kids and 150 volunteers for my day job). But as an Obliger, I'm so glad that my client projects keep me doing what I love doing - painting, creating, trying new things, and writing about the process.