Barbara Pagani's Tresor Cache 101

I had this wonderful plant stand but I hated the colour before so it got a pop of red. Of course I couldn't just stop there. I redid the little Adirondack chair and the new wagon that I scored for $10.00 at a garage sale a couple of weeks ago. Pictures of wagon and chair to follow

I have spent the last day cleaning and fixing all my out door lanterns (all 15 of them) by cleaning the glass and taping them and spray painting the metal with a little black rust paint. I do this every couple of years because I am so lazy that I leave them out all year around. I do use them in the winter when we have guests over and it's not too windy and cold. It looks romantic, I think. Anyhow they are looking all pretty new again. Here are the beautiful morrocan lanterns I got from Crappy Tire for Mothers day 3 years ago. I had to paint them black first with rust paint because they were sitting in a container which got rain in and they were a sad story. I almost threw them away but then remembered how cute the look hanging from my porch with candles in them. So after 2 coats of black rust paint, then I coated them with liquid gold leaf. They look new again. Pictures of the other lanterns to follow Here the are hanging to dry. I will take the masking tape off the litt...

I couldn't resist and added some gold leaf and then some pearl gel paint

Artist's license to change up the colour.. This is where the painting is now. This is how it started 

Here is what I do with I do when using mediums explained very well in great detail. Source: http://emptyeasel.com/2007/10/05/how-to-add-incredibly-thick-texture-to-your-acrylic-paintings/ Artists who sell original work will (in a sense) always be competing with the seemingly inexhaustible print market. Luckily for us, discriminating collectors appreciate the unique surfaces that signify a work is an original. That’s the main reason why I like to give my paintings a lot of texture: so  everyone  can immediately see that they’re originals. The following paragraphs explain my three-step process for adding unbelievable texture to any acrylic painting. There’s only one secret—the texture comes first. Creating the texture After drawing out a basic sketch of flowers on my canvas, I mixed together equal amounts of  acrylic heavy gel  and  acrylic modeling paste . Then, following the lines I’d drawn, I sculpted the petals, flower centers, and leaves wi...

Here are some of my all time favourite upcycles. All these photos are originally from Pinterest if you want to go to the original web page.  http://www.pinterest.com/tresorcache101/up-cycling-vintage/

I wanted to do a huge painting of a magnolia plant for the huge wall at the cottage and while searching I came across this amazing art work by Paula Cox. It is printed with relief and then it looks like a couple of coats of resin finish. I am so in love with here work. Hum maybe I will get back into my papier mache and do a sculpture. check it out at http://www.paulacoxartist.com/index.html

This spring we had issues again with the thaw and all the rain because our cottage is on a hill and most of the water was coming down the driveway and going around the house and coming in through the basement door. Finally we bit the bullet and had the excavator come and dig a trench away from the house and add more gravel around the foundation. This is the contractor, Benoit aka Bubbles  Our good friend Larry

Traditionally I start a painting with the Liquitex Gloss Medium without using any paint. I think it's because I started doing it that way when using the modelling paste. I have just done it this way for years until one gusty night up at the cottage, I decided to experiment by using it with the paint. It takes a little bit more planning of what colours I am going to use. This is usually something I can't do when starting a painting. But one thing that I love about gloss medium is that you can seal it with Liquitex medium and varnish (which is not permanent but seals the colours underneath) that way if I want to change a colour I can and even if I decide I don't like the new colour, I can quickly remove it with a damp cloth.

 I love bling and just recently I started to experiment with Pebeo gold leaf but I found the tubes were too tiny so I bought a liquid made by Pebeo and some real gold leaf sheets and had fun at my friends house yesterday experimenting with it. So I started with 2 little mini paintings and then when I got home and prepared dinner and cleaned up, I prepared the sizing on the first tree that I did with the template from the Terra skin 2 weeks ago and let it cure for 15 mins and applied the gold leaf. It isn't easy because it practically melts in your hands. I tried ripping some of the sheets to the size of the branches on the tree but it was like piecing a puzzle together so finally I gave up and just applied the sheets to the biggest areas and then gently removed some of the excess and applied it to the other smaller areas. Then with a very soft brush I softened it so that it looked like it had melted to the tree. I may have to go over it again today with a little more for the are...