12 Thursday Jun 2014
Tags
art studios, creative artistic spaces, Lisa Brunetti, painted concrete floors, transforming an ugly room into a happy one, ways to remodel an old room, wordpress challenge ROOM
“I step into my studio and nothing will be the same ever again.” (Franco Paisio)
This week’s WordPress Challenge is ‘Room,’ and these photos show how a farm bodega transformed into a unique studio space. Enjoy the pictorial! Z
August 2008; the fixer-upper challenge begins!
Let’s peer inside the bodega!
16 Tuesday Jul 2013
Tags
Attracting customers, Custom Designs, custom interiors, Lisa Brunetti, Luchy Cevallos Sabando, Palo Santo Cafe Jama Ecuador
Palo Santo Cafe – Before
Jama Ecuador
Last year’s It Started With One Lightpole opened with a story about my friend Luchy Cevallos Sabando. The post was one of the most popular for the entire year.
It Started With One Light Pole
Multi-talented Luchy tapped into his creative genius and opened a cybercafe with emphasis on cafe and not cyber! He wondered what he could do to attract more business, and before our afternoon painting session was finished, people were slowing down and taking note!
Looking better!
Luchy’s artistic touches throughout his Palo Santo Cafe and his nearby hostal leave little room for improvement! Several times I volunteered to help with a new project, but there was no obvious space for custom art.
Hostal Entrance
(One year later) At night, the lights come on, tables are moved outside, and the regulars drop by to say, “Hi!”
Popular with all ages, Palo Santo has a relaxed vibe.
Last week while visiting Luchy’s Palo Santo, I reminded him that I’d love to help with a new project. He pondered for a few minutes, then showed me an area in the VIP room that might make a fun backdrop for group photos. We did a bit of brainstorming, then started on Wednesday and finished on Saturday! Continue reading
04 Thursday Jul 2013
Tags
Group Painting Projects, I can do this painting projects, Lisa Brunetti, Signs for Hostals B&Bs, Timeout for Art: Bones, Where to stay in Mindo Ecuador
Using $1.00 film-canister sized containers of acrylics and very cheap paper, I painted these one afternoon while at Hostal Charito in Mindo Ecuador. The bones of the studies had been drawn the night before, so filling in the color was a joy.
“Drawing is the backbone. It is no good having a lovely sense of light and color if there isn’t the firm foundation underneath.” (Alexander Creswell)
Iliana and Hostal Charito
This past week found me in the cloud-forest community of Mindo Ecuador. The hostal where I normally stay was closed, and someone pointed me down the street to a flower-draped hostal beyond “Hostal Charito.” The owner of Hostal Charito and I shared eye contact, and there was something in her posture or her eyes that nudged me to her door. Continue reading
26 Wednesday Jun 2013
Tags
Lisa Brunetti, Painting birds, Painting butterflies, Rufous naped wrens, Timeout for Art: Nature
“The aspect of Nature is devout. Like the figure of Jesus, she stands with bended head, and hands folded. The happiest man is he who learns from nature the lesson of worship.” (Emerson)
“…and not, when it came my time to die, find I had not lived…” Thoreau
Pencil 24″ x 36″
Today’s Timeout for Art addresses nature, and my artist’s statement from a show in the year 2000 stated, “I am at my best when alone with nature.” Continue reading
29 Wednesday May 2013
My friend the pencil! (Drawn with dominant/right hand)
“A pencil is quiet, clean, odorless, inexpensive, and lightweight. I can slip it in my pocket and take it with me everywhere – my secret friend.” (Sherry Camby)
Years ago I taught art to elementary school students, and I reminded them that they were ‘safe’ from ridicule from their peers. All that I expected from them was that they try their best, and they were not to laugh at anyone’s attempts. How rewarding it was to witness the improvement from all levels! Awkward with their early drawings, some students worked on mastering their pencils, which were foreign in their hands. Other “naturally-talented” students had many more hours of drawing than the others and had found solace in their pencils and crayons. Aristotle said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
The most important ingredient in being a good artist is practice! Practice, practice, practice! I was reminded of this last week, when Ruth, with her dominant hand in a cast, said that she’d try drawing with her left hand! I volunteered to include an additional sketch with my left hand each week in her honor. It was much more difficult than I realized! Although I draw well with my dominant hand, I am again at beginner status with the other! Continue reading
02 Thursday May 2013
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! Continue reading
05 Friday Apr 2013
Tags
Acrylic Painting, art by Lisa Brunetti, hand-paint, hand-painted floors, Lisa Brunetti, The Mola Series, Weekly Photo Challenge COLOR
Did someone ask for COLOR?!!!
While working on the painting of the magic carpet on the bodega floor, I dashed upstairs to send a quick email. There in the inbox was the WordPress challenge for ‘Color.’
I smiled and pondered,”Color? Me?” and then I smiled.
‘Zeebra Rocks” on an explosion of red/orange – (Bookmark)
Hurriedly, I rejoice that my eyes see in full glorious color, and I am pleased to share a few splashes from paintings that color my life!
While scrolling through glimpses of some of my more-colorful works, enjoy a song by Don McClean that is often on my painting playlist. Continue reading
28 Friday Dec 2012
Tags
2012 in Pictures, Don Koen, Flooding in Manabi Ecuador, Hand-painted concrete floors, Light Post Painting in Jama El Matal, Lisa Brunetti, museo bahia de caraquez, Museo Cancebi, Museo Portoviejo, Peace March, The Mola Series, Wear White for Peace, WordPress Photo Challeng My 2012 in Pictures, zeebra art
Reflecting on a twelve-month journey through WordPress.
WordPress tossed us a tempting challenge for this end-of-the year photo challenge. With pleasure, I present some of the highlights of 2012.
This amazing tree was felled this past year.
The Magnificent Ceibos Read about Ecuador’s amazing ceibo trees, cousins to the ceiba that grows in other parts of the tropical world. Continue reading
04 Tuesday Dec 2012
Posted in PAINTINGS: WATERCOLORS, PHOTO CHALLENGES
Tags
Frizztext STory Challenge W, Lisa Brunetti, Saving Whites in Watercolor, The Mola Series, Watercolors
Frizztext’s Story Challenge brings us to the final letters of the alphabet. “Watercolor” shoves out other options for this week’s selection from my tag stats!
Water water everywhere… Many times I remind struggling watercolorists to remember that it’s ‘WATER’color. One wants the white of the paper to enhance the painting and make the colors glow! Continue reading
03 Monday Dec 2012
Tags
concrete floors, Custom Painted Floors, hand-painted floors, Lisa Brunetti, mirrors, Wordpress Daily Prompt Hindsight, Zeebra Designs
“That Zeebra Lady has so much to learn!”
WordPress asks us to rewrite our first post. I enjoyed this challenge, pulled up my first post about custom floors and interiors, hit ‘edit’ and reworked it by changing the title.
After revising it, I searched for the publish button, and woe is me! It remained under the original’s format as an update.
Alas, the best way to point you to the revised post is by this method!
https://playamart.wordpress.com/2011/12/06/custom-floors/
Thanks for following the dots to the revised post, and I hope that other bloggers learn from my mistake!
Z
Zeebra Designs & Destinations 