Tags
Hand-painted concrete floors, hangar doors, Lisa Brunetti, magic carpet, the magic carpet floor, what to do with an ugly room
Holy Piso, Batman, The Bodega Floor is Finished!
Yes, ‘Stage One” of the bodega floor is finished! The first coat of a non-yellowing “laca poliuretano para pisos” is now drying, and the floor will be ready for its first inspection tomorrow! My friend Sarah Dettman and her tour group of 20 will stop by the house to for a sample of my life here on the river.
It’s not fair to let them see this floor before all of you in the cheering section! The only problem is that Barb is not here for a celebratory test drive on the magic carpet!
The floor has been a great challenge, though I found myself questioning the many weeks of work on something that can never be sold or moved or placed in an exhibition!
Varnished tile on the left; unvarnished on the right.
The varnish pulls out depth and enriches the colors.
The tiles are not perfect; I kept reminding myself, “Lisa, this is a floor.”
“Just a little more, just a little more…” I finally said, “Stop! (Are you glad that I added the butterfly?)
Check Engines…
Barb? Clear the top deck over there at Amador, and I’ll head to Panama at the stroke of midnight! (I’ll stay under the radar!)
Open hangar doors and prepare for liftoff!
Thanks, everyone, for your amazing support! Your feedback made this project extra special! Z
Zeebra Designs & Destinations 
So cool, I love the depth and shadows.
thank you! the floor seems to smile when you walk into the room! the energy from all of you went into this floor via amazing feedback!
something very special, like everything you do, I love it, a big hug DD
hey didier! it’s great seeing you online! we need to catch up soon! z
Fantastic. I will be shy to walk on those floors for fear of them getting scratched and ruined. Even when you cannot show your work in an exhibit, I am sure the people who visit the place will appreciate and admire your work. The butterfly touch was nice. I feel like leaning down to catch it and put it in with the rest. 🙂
hey thanks for that great feedback! about a month ago i accidentally got some of that finish on my thumbnail when barb and i did the first part of the floor. there was black paint between my nail and the finish, and the finish is still rock hard! i used fingernail polish remover, and it did not budge the finish! it’s muy duro!
Beautiful work.
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
♥ ❀ ✿ Namaste ❀ ✿ ♥
Thank you so much for your reblog! You have such a kin heart! z
Absolutely stunning !! And the butterfly is perfecto. Yes, lots of time and work, you’ll be able to bask in its creative beauty every day 🙂
Ha! I might bring a blanket and pillow and sleep on that magic carpet tonight! Thank you so much!
Reblogged this on The ObamaCrat.Com™ and commented:
Artistry at it’s best. Beautiful work Ms. Z.
Astounding!! Can’t wait to see if in person!
Thanks! Sarah would like for anyone who would like to meet the group tomorrow to join us at La Division.. They’re bringing a picnic and will stop there first, probably around 1:30…
Come join us – bring others!
z
Beware the ‘butterfly effect’, can cause a tornado and bring that magic carpet anywhere. It is perfect!
gonzalo! how great it would be if i could fire it up and zip over to manta! too bad that your family wasn’t able to contribute to this one; i’ll tweak back to If Fish Could Fly next – in fact i worked on it this afternoon!
thank you!
The magic carpet looks absolutely real! Does it really fly???
I wish you could come help me with the first test drive! I am glad you like it!
OMG,it’s sunning, Z! Incredible work, my friend. Wish I had the energy to write more, but i just wanted to let you know we arrived in Cuenca around 4:30 this morning with 10 suitcases and two dogs. Staying at B and B. More once we’ve gotten some rest. The town is even more lovely than we’d imagined.
Hugs,
Kathy
yes, cuenca is a lovely well-dressed lady! enjoy absorbing the sights, sounds, aromas, flavors of your new city! welcome to ecuador!
Holy Moly!!!! I’m Speachless!! Bravo! Bravo! It’s a magnificent piece of loving artwork , there are no words to do it justice! Thank you so much for sharing the process and especially the final product! I can’t stop looking at it! Cheers!
Thanks! I just finished looking at your last post.. your countdown has started, and you’re going to have so many great new experiences inPanama!
Congratulations, great, great work, Z!! 🙂 I wonder if it would make me stumble… ? 😉
That made me laugh! Perhaps you should refrain from drinking before you walk across the floor!
I’m still marveling at your amazing photo of Steve McCurry! Good work – buen trabajo!
So beautiful!
thank you! i just came in from outside, and i looked at th floor, smiled and said, ‘hi floor!’
Absolutely beautiful. Sorry that I can’t see it in person, I’m sure its breathtaking.
Thank you! I think that everyone’s energies were transferred into that floor! The WordPress world injected a lot of positive feedback, and I will always think of all of you when I look at the floor!
I love your spectacular Magic Carpet! How can you bear to walk on it?! Stunning.
It’s a happy floor for sure! Barb and I talked about ‘suspending’ a table with ropes and having swings as seats! The space isn’t designed for a table, though, but wouldn’t that be fun?
Just beautiful! The shadow gave it lift off ! ! !
thanks! it does seem to move a bit!
Amazing! The color are so tropically vibrant and the details and shadows of the folds and fringes look so real that I would be tempted to bend down and touch it to make sure it wasn’t. Great work…
Yes, it’s always fun to watch people step onto a hand-painted floor and stop to wipe their feet; they look down, lean over and touch those details, and for the next few minutes, there’s a comical scene that all enjoy! thanks so much for your comment! lisa/z
Your paint brush is like a magic wand… It does seem as if it’s about to take flight… Beautiful!! Congratulations Z 🙂
thank you! i didn’t think of linking the brush to the carpet in that way.. presto!
i’m so glad that you like the results!
Yes, I do like the butterfly. I wouldn’t fret about the selling or moving or anything. Just being able to create such a work of art would swell me with enough pride to last a lifetime. And that would be priceless. Magnificent.
thank you! i’m glad that you approve! at some point i am going to slow down long enough to finish the ‘i can do this’ guidebook! then you WILL be able to create a work, maybe not as detailed, but you’ll be proud! z
Hey! That’s a gas! what a wonderful idea and great details. We have some lovely rugs but they are starting to curl at the edges and I’m worried as we get older that we’ll trip, fall and break a hip – your floors would never do that to us. Food for thought! Maybe some X-ray imaging and a magic carpet to escape into another world… Tony
that’s a great idea – magic carpet plus xray imaging!
this king of floor is so easy to keep clean! if it’s wet, it’s very slippery, however.
z
Utterly gorgeous. But please tell me, in the final photo, what is the imagery appearing on the wall? Are there more surprises in store for us? And you are welcome to come by and paint my floor any time 🙂
i smile; of course there are always surprises!
thanks; if we need a spare concrete floor for a canvas, i’ll let you know! z
Absolutely stunning, Lisa! Sometimes the “why” of a project is not the economic benefit but the spiritual and emotional boost of making hearts sing with delight!
Thank you! It was a great project, and I love the challenge of transforming an ugly space into a pretty one!
A que lindo piso, z!
muchas grrrrrrrracias, amigo! z
A hovering carpet – brilliant! You wouldn’t want to sell it anyway, would you?
hey, thanks! the only problem with that is like i had a six-week vacation without pay, so now i have to get busy and produce something to pay for my six-week vacation!
i’m glad that you liked the flying carpet! z
Reblogged this on Oyia Brown.
dear artist who watches the birds
and paints magic carpets on bodega floors:
congratulations for your last work!
the last carpet we bought
(we are too silly to make our own carpets):
featured with a Zeebra of course!
that’s a great photo that shows that carpets can be magical in many ways! thanks for sharing that great photo! z
Stunning! Very well done.
thank you! i’ll give it a break for a few weeks, then finish the ‘back half. it will be a simple design!
z
Stunningly beautiful Lisa! LOVE the illusion of movement….it is truly magical! And yes, I am glad you added the butterfly 🙂
Hoe on earth do you make the cord, the fringe and the stitching on the edges look so real????
“Everything is difficult before it is easy.” I think it’s a matter of learning how to see, and then mastery of the medium. Barb and Silvana helped with the edges! They were great apprentices! Thank you, I’m glad you like the magic carpet!
Thanks so much for these lovely photos of the finished floor…it is absolutely beautiful! I think it will bring joy and creative energy to any who experience it, so worth the effort. Wonderful!
thank you, cindy! yes, the floor seems to smile when i walk into the room! z
all I can say is BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!
hey amiga! thank you! believe it or not, it helps keep my joints from creaking! z
A magic carpet made by a magician! Congratulations Lisa! Vibrant and detailed – it has got everything the eye could ever ask for. I wouldn’t let my dogs walk on it…Maybe sleep though. I believe they would have magic dreams like Dumbo!
Absolutely beautiful! I love the little string and the butterfly too! All is grand indeed! Clap-clap-clap-clap-clap! Hugs – B
your comment gave me a grand smile! thank you so much! z
Hugs! – B
Thank you so much for giving us the privilege to view your artwork. I, too, love the string and butterfly. I can’t even imagine how you did it… but I admire so much of your talent.
thank you! i think it’s a matter of hours behind the paint brush, and a hand-eye partnership.. but there’s also the honed analytical skill of seeing and deciphering what’s there and being able to transfer that to the surface… which leads us back to hours of practice!
Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! Yes, and I do love the butterfly, too.
of course you would like this! i wish you could have been here to help.
what are airfares like now btw managua and quito, do you know? they were down last week btween uio and sjo…
I haven’t looked lately. Next March, we’re going to take a boat to Colombia, then travel onward to Ecuador, and probably fly back to Nica from Quito. It’s always a game trying to get the lowest airfare. jeje
that sounds like a great trip!
BEAUTIFUL!
BE ENCOURAGED! BE BLESSED!
thank you! z
Just gorgeous!
Thank you! it feels good to have that finished! z
I echo what everyone else has said.. stunningly beautiful.. how wonderful ti have such beauty under your feet each day.. walking in colors.. 🙂
“Walking in Colors!” i love that! yes, it feels great to walk across the floor with bare feet!
Outrageously FABULOUS! The painting looks like a textile, love the result.
thank you so much! i’m pleased that you approve!
Lisa, that is amazing. I’m going to copy this to my FB page if I may. Excellent work.
hey! how does one copy to a facebook page? i’m not on facebook or pinterest b/c of signing away rights to my work! thanks so much for your support!
z
Hi Lisa, I used the Share link at the bottom of your post, and I wasn’t “copying” it as such, just trying to get people I know to visit here and see the great work you do. Maybe I used the wrong wording and misled you. Sorry. ( And I only have 35 friends and I know them all. Sad isn’t it 🙂 )
no, that’s not sad at all.. it means you are genuine, which is so refreshing these days!
i’m honored that you want to share the floor project with your friends! i have recently been shocked at how many of my images were on pinterest, and one wordpress subscriber had used one of my images in their post and didn’t give any credit or link back… yikes…
thank you so much for being one of the good guys who still has a code of honor! those 35 friends would probably walk through fire for you!
alas, it’s almost 2 here, the only time i can upload without it taking hours! now i can catch some z’s!
zzzzzzzzzz
Lisa this is the showpiece not only for your gallery, but the town as well. Fantastic work – friends and husband likes it as well. Amazing details especially the fringe, edging and little ropes. Should be an article written about your wonderful bodega floor, well deserving of recognition. Loved being part of the process.
mary! you are so kind and genuine with your feedback! thank you for finding the time to stop your own very busy and productive life in order to study my work and give such positive feedback! thank you so much! lisa/z
No Lisa this is certainly not “just a floor” (well okay technically it is the opposing side of the ceiling), but what a magnificent work of art! From what I can see of the photographs, your art is so many degrees of beauty, the word awesome also works here! Love the added touch of the gorgeous butterfly. Love your whole beautiful masterpiece!
Wow Lisa…those finishing touches are just the ticket….Love Love Love it!! Wish I was still there to see it in living color! Your work is stunning!! You never cease to surprise me with surprises!! You and your readers will probably be happy to know “Humming Bird” is now in the hands of the framer!! When I rolled it out you should have seen the look on the lady’s face ….delightment and totally surprised at what she saw….in fact she was almost speechless! ..So sometime around the 13th I will have it back and will promptly take a picture to send you so you can share it with your readers….. Take care my friend!!
how great, BB! isn’t it great to see people’s reactions! the same thing sort of happened when the (tour) group of new friends visited the bodega yesterday. sarah had warned them about a floor project, but i don’t think that anyone can be truly prepared for that.
your happy hummingbird spirit soars around that room every time i step into the bodega!
there’s a meteor shower before sunrise tomorrow.. if you get up before the sun, look to the east…
logging off for some sleep!
z
So stunning Lisa…what an amazing accomplishment! 😀
good morning! thank you! the room certainly has a magical aura!
I don’t know if I could bring myself to walk on something so exquisite. On the other hand, I suspect you’ll be walking on air over this project for some time, so it won’t make any difference!
The color, the designs, the degree of realism – all that, of course, is remarkable. But that fringe just did me in when it got added.
Now, I have to ask. When Persian or Navajo weavers make their rugs, they purposely include a tiny imperfection, both to honor God, the only perfect being or, alternatively, to allow the spirits to move in and out of this world through it. I’ve looked pretty hard, but I don’t see any imperfection!
a burst of laughter answered your question! yes, imperfections are sprinkled across the magic carpet! i’ll have to bring barb’s attention to your question, as she was so precise and dedicated to her painting duties!
i will photograph the ‘wine-glass stain’ which i tried to make it look as if someone had tried to scrub it out – and of course made it worse!
thank you so much for your feedback, and i am so glad that you’ve enjoyed watching this project! more surprises are coming, but they’re a week away!
z
The colors are so vibrant, positive, happy, just so inviting with lots of promises of fun and surprises.
thank you so much!
i noted (again) today that i am no longer following you and am not sure why that keeps happening. that’s happened with several others – maybe its a WP glitch?
thanks for always being here with your amazing support!
It’s a great design, beautifully executed, totally original, and I bet it went beyond your expectations, like everyone else’s. No doubt the photos of it will bring more work to you, too. It’s been fun to watch it inch towards completion, and I’m sure you’re glad it’s done. Maybe someone can find you 2 little sixties plexiglass chairs and a table so you can have snacks (turtle soup? – no!) in the room. You can put those felt thingies on the bottoms of the legs. Oh, next time, how about some cookie crumbs on the floor?
a friend stopped by today and had cookies in her bag from town. we sat yoga style on the turtle and most likely left a few crumbs there!
thanks so much, i am so glad that you enjoyed this project! z
Seriously fantastic Zee. You rock!!!
thank, tina! you rock as well! thanks for the smile! z
this is such a cool project!
thank you! a group of 20 toured it on friday! it was great watching their expressions when we opened the old bodega doors, and there smiled the floor! z
Drop Dead Gorgeous! I love the turtle design the most. The fringe is really cool, too! I can tell you’re getting plenty of joy out of these projects! Thanks for posting so we can admire.
A fantastic achievement. A design full of life, laughter and colour – and a feather!!
i am delighted that you approve, feather and all!