So, a year ago one of my co-workers commissioned me to paint a rain barrel for her. I had
painted one before for the St. James Art Show several summers ago and had sworn I'd never do it again unless I got paid. Well, now I'll never do one again for any amount of money! Well...maybe $1000, but anyone that will pay that is crazy because no paint will ever permanently stick to one of these barrels!
For the first 4 months that I had the rainbarrel, it sat in my garage untouched. I had told my co-worker that I probably would not be able to work on it immediately because I was busy getting ready for camps. Well, then I got pregnant and was nauseous for three months and broke my foot and it was 100 degrees all summer. Come fall, I finally got around to sanding, priming and base coating it, at which point we brought it inside. In the process of bringing it in from the garage, some of the base and primer got scraped, proving once again that no paint will stick to this surface! I lost all motivation and it sat in our dining room through Christmas. Then ABRAM arrived! And I thought I had been busy before! I was off on maternity leave but was so busy I didn't have time to work on the barrel until right before coming back to work. I went and stayed with Mom and Dad for a week, so while my mom played with Abram, I painted, and painted and painted.
First the brick base.
Then the mortar joints and the "well" on top.
Then started the foliage for the lillies, tulips and roses.
Dad worked on the rose foliage for me. By the end of the week, this was all we completed. So I brought the barrel home and worked on tulips for about 3 weeks straight, one hour at a time in the morning while Abram was napping. This became very tedious. I was really glad when I was able to move on to the grass, lillies and roses.
I knocked the lillies out in one weekend....they were rather difficult, but I developed a pattern and it got easier as it went. Then I finally got to the roses, the last of the flowers, and they went rather quickly. I had given myself an "end of May" deadline, so that this would be completed before camps started. And I did it! Here are some pictures from various angles.
This little hummingbird was the finishing touch!
So after a year had passed, a pregnancy, a birth, a broken foot a summer of camps, and hours of painting. It's finished and I'm $250 richer.
And this is how I really feel!
The final group of pictures is mostly Abram, of course, with a few animals thrown in there too! Funny how the subject matter of our photographs has shifted quite suddenly :)
Abram is growing by leaps and bounds. He is so long he has to wear the 6-9 month sleepers at night and many of his onesies are that size too. The outfit in this picture has been outgrown! Doesn't he look so comfortable there on Mammaw Jill's lap?
This little chair is only tolerated for short periods of time before he arches his back and gets frustrated. This was the best he'd done so far...no listing to the side and he held on to the "saddle horn" in the middle, which of course helped prevent the listing.
This is one of the only smiles I've seen when he's on his belly. He HATES belly time! He sleeps on his side most of the time, so he'll roll to his side on his own, but he won't go all the way over. When I put him on his belly he buries his face on the ground and grunts and complains until I push him back over. Oh well. He'll get it eventually. I'm in no hurry:)
He loves to sit up or stand when he's held and has started pulling his head forward when he's in his bouncy seat to see things. He'll also crane his neck and look up and behind him now to see what's going on up/back there.
Hobo gets way closer to this child than I ever thought he would...but just wait. When Abram starts moving, I don't think we'll see much of Hobo for a while. But then again, maybe he'll surprise me!
Tyson doesn't mind getting close! We took this picture because Abram's wearing the "I love my Dog" onesie that I got to tell Curtis I was pregnant. I had that onesie hidden in a drawer for almost 2 years since it took us so long to get pregnant!
He can't get enough of his fingers and toes right now. He is starting to favor his left hand I'm afraid....if he ends up a leftie, Aunt Leslie's going to have to teach him how to write!
Mammaw Jill keeps trying to make his hair curl. I don't think it's going to happen...at least not til he hits puberty. But go on and keep trying! He looks like a Kewpie Doll! haha
I'll finish this 4 act May with this almost perfect picture of our cats, Hobo, Gypsy and Joan (left to right). They have been extremely happy that I've been filling the bird feeders again. Joan seems convinced that she will be able to get out there and catch one if she just stalks hard enough.
