Play it, Sam...

Growing up the only time I watched cartoons was Saturday morning. Shocked? It was normal. We had 13 channels and when my father got home from work he chose what to watch, usually news. Sometimes, though, we got lucky. Sometimes he'd watch old movies. At first I'd grumble inside, knowing that grumbling outside wouldn't change anything, but I learned to appreciate and love old movies. Little things in life stir up the coolest quotes from old movies. Do yourself a favor and watch some, you won't regret it. 

Without old movie knowledge you'd totally miss my Casablanca reference! If that's you, go watch it. Don't walk to the couch, run! No one can resist the dark coolness of movie icon Humphrey Bogart. I'll bet he'd love this new-to-our-town piano gracing the front of NAPA for the community to enjoy! He might even ask Sam to play it again...

How did Westfield get so lucky? Well, over the summer I took my kids to a movie in Wellsboro. We walked by a man dressed as normal as we were. He looked average. Nothing about him indicated any hidden talents. Minutes after passing him I stopped in my tracks. I heard music. I heard someone playing a piano and it was the average guy! But he wasn't average at all! My children and I listened to him play. It was lovely. Wellsboro has at least 3 pianos spread out along their Main Street and it's an awesome idea! Then I wondered why more towns don't do this. Nice shops and tourism certainly help to make towns nicer, but you can do nice things for the people that already live in towns to make it special. Like a piano. For everyone to play. Anytime they want. Unless it's raining. If it's raining it'll be covered up, but any other time should be fine. I thought yeah, we could do this. YEAH! WE CAN DO THIS! 

How do we do this? Hmm...I contacted the mayor, Dick Vargeson. It's like having your very own Wizard of Oz! I shared my idea and he tracked down a piano! Really, it was just that fast! The Yeager family kindly donated one, and I asked their daughter and my former student, Rebekah, to help paint it. Then I asked her friend, another former student, Lauren Foulkrod, to help too. We were like a piano painting posse!

See?! But before we could dive in, it needed a base coat. Jason at NAPA kindly donated a bucket of NAPA blue paint, and my husband helped me paint it! 

Then the real work could begin. We decided to meet after school a few nights for a week, but it all hinged on weather. A few rainy days and possible showers really threw a wrench in our plans. That's ok! Slowly but surely we plugged along!

The folks at NAPA were awesome, checking on us each evening before they closed at 6 to see if we needed anything. They've taken great care of this piano, and it's so appreciated! 

As we painted folks stopped to ask about what we were doing. I chatted with students about it at school. Cars would beep, folks would shout out encouraging words from cars while stopped at the light in town, kids at school would excitedly tell me they saw me painting and give their stamp of approval on the progress. Even before we were finished it was stirring up community pride and spirit. 

The girls and I had SO MUCH FUN painting together! We laughed, joked, talked about school, shared our mission with folks that asked, and I learned that Lauren had the coolest shoes in the world. How perfect is it that we wear the same size?! She KNOWS I love sugar skulls and that I LOVE teaching Day of the Dead before introducing Frida Kahlo....I also LOVE converse sneakers!!! If we truly were in Oz I'd go Wicked Witch of the West over those shoes!

Others helped as well. Sarah Knight, 2nd grade teacher at WAES, stopped by to say a big hello and to check out the piano up close. She added her own touch by artfully painting "Play Me" on the front, along with a few other special little details. 

I put a clear coat on the piano that evening, and took the bench with me to clear coat over my lunch. I told my students that I was dropping the bench off after school and that it would be the signal that it was open to the public for playing. When I dropped it off I stepped inside to thank the folks at NAPA for their kindness and support. When I walked out there was a student playing it already! It was the BEST!!! Warm fuzzies and good feelings...Since then, several have tickled the ivories. Westfield hosted its very first "First Friday" event. Though small, it was successful and I hope to see it grow. 

Folks sold things they made, others played music and taught guitar, my family enjoyed the chalk drawing on the sidewalk, and others played piano!

More pianos will be added soon, so be watching and listening! If you have pictures playing our piano, share them with our mayor, Dick Vargeson, on facebook! 

what I'm working on #3: redfish stool

Here it is, as promised! Clare finally has her very own fish step stool!

Being patient at any age isn't easy and it's usually not fun. We like to think that it's something we get a little better at as we age, but we're tested from time to time. My husband has a real talent for choosing the absolute slowest checkout line in stores, all stores. It's tough to be patient. Super tough. There's usually a wait in a doctors office. I totally get it. They've got a lot of people needing their skills to live comfortably, they squeeze people in that truly need to be seen, but sometimes it's hard to wait. When you're finally chosen to leave the waiting room your excitement fades as you realize that you're really just sitting in a smaller private waiting room. It's really tough to be patient. I'm positive you can think of examples to add to the list, you get the idea...

After years of experiences that test patience you do get a little better at it. You take a deep breath and roll with it because freaking out doesn't normally improve the situation. But kids don't have the same experience to draw from. It's really really tough as a kid to wait for something you've been looking forward to, especially when your older brother has his and it's still a novelty. Clare was a trooper. She was encouraging, she offered up ideas, she told me how much she appreciated my progress. Despite my mom fail for not having this done years ago, as I should have, I am immensely proud of my daughter for being the good kid that she is. 

Her stool is pretty unique, which is perfect because so is she! I've mentioned before how fortunate we are to visit our family in beautiful Matlacha, Fl. My brother-in-law is the ultimate uncle. How many kids can say their uncle is the captain of a boat?! Captain Gregg McKee, the ultimate charter fisherman, taught my kids how to fish. One of our favorite to catch is the Florida redfish. Their colors change depending on the season and the lighting and they are stunning. Their rusts, bronzes, and golds are a painters dream. Their fins have gorgeous translucent greens and blues that really stand out against the warm colors of the rest of the fish. Another recognizable feature is the trademark black dot at the end of the fish near the base of the tail. Though I chose to paint only one of these dots for the stool they can appear in multiples. The shape is not a perfect circle, sometimes it is oblong, wobbly, or heart-shaped! Did I also mention that they're delicious? No? Well, they are. Very...

You're either a glitter person or you aren't. Most aren't because it sticks to everything and it literally gets everywhere. EVERYWHERE. I know this all too well! I never considered myself a glitter person until I started teaching. I don't wear clothing covered in it, I don't typically wear shoes that sparkle, and I don't often use it for art projects with kids, but it sure does add some extra glam, glitz and whimsy to a special project. Set pieces for concerts definitely need glitter. Set pieces for musicals should totally have glitter. Graduation decorations are so much cooler with glitter. Fish art needs glitter. Any anything inspired by Matlacha had better have some whimsy. I'm all about whimsy and have been known to use obscene amounts of glitter in the spirit of it. My husband was horrified by the amount of glitter trailing through our house because of these fish stools for our children. He rolled his eyes, but in the end he agreed it looked pretty cool. Pretty cool indeed...

In addition to fish, my girl loves puppies! She thought Matt's Star Wars stool bottom was pretty cool, but requested that I paint our puppies on the bottom of hers. I chatted with my husband about the task and how to tackle it, and drew inspiration from my youth. My grandparents always had old timey pictures of relatives that never smiled hanging all over the walls and they could tell you anything you wanted to know about them. Some were in old oval frames, the men were in nice suits, the ladies had cameo broaches and lacy collars, and nobody looked like they were having a good time. To use this concept, it needed a cheerful twist. So... I painted the bottom red, Clare's favorite color, and added portraits of our puppies! Boomer (left) is a rescue dog that recently celebrated 1 full year as part of our family. Doesn't he look dapper?! Scooby is 3-years-old and looking fabulous with her new collar and tags. Not pictured here is a border of puppy prints. Clare is delighted with the end result, and I'm happy that she is! 

what I'm working on #2: sea trout stool

My niece and nephew are ages 5 and 3. They live in Florida and we see them once a year. Since their father is a charter fisherman they have a fish theme running throughout their home. I've used it as the theme for several gifts. I've painted a chair for each of them. They have several Aunt Ashley painted step stools. Even my mother-in-law has one at her house for when the grandbabies visit. How is it that I've never made any for my own kids?! A mom fail that I have vowed to remedy this summer, and the kids are thrilled. They're old enough to have a voice in the process and we've had a lot of fun with that.

For years we've used the same old worn stools. The kids used them to brush their teeth when they were smaller, but nowadays they're used in the kitchen. It's a lot easier to see what you're putting into a mixer or reach to flip pancakes if you're up a little higher. Now they'll be steppin' up in style!

My kids LOVE Florida, and they love their Uncle Gregg. They caught their first fish with him and look forward to playing in the baitwell of his boat on extra hot fishing days. So, it was no surprise to me that they chose fish for the theme of their step stools. Since I started a stool for Matthew last summer I decided to finish that first. He wanted a spotted sea trout on the top so he could reminisce about the trout he landed in Florida with Gregg this summer. His picture was in the paper and on the cover of a local magazine, the Nautical Mile. It was a BIG deal. A very big deal. 

The folks at the Nautical Mile even had a poster of the cover printed so that we could hang it on our walls at home! How cool is that?!?!

A surprise little love note on the bottoms of the legs, and a fun cool splash of Star Wars. Matt is obsessed with Star Wars. We have every movie, we've seen them all a million times, and he'll tell you without hesitation that episodes I, II, and III are terrible and overdone... He knows more Star Wars trivia than I'll ever know in my lifetime. When he truly loves something, he's all in. I love that. 

Finished it is! May the force be with you...

what I'm working on #1: redfish table

How does the art teacher spend the summer? Why, working on projects, of course! I even do projects while we're on vacation!

Each summer my husband and I take our two children to visit family in beautiful Matlacha, Fl (a little island in the Gulf of Mexico). Randy's parents are there, his brother and his family are there, some aunts and cousins are there, and lots and lots of framily (friends that are so close they become family). It's the only time of year we get to see them, so this visit is a pretty big deal. We rent the house next to Randy's parents, and it's awesome. The owners, Mike and Barb Peplinski, are the nicest folks you'd ever want to meet! Each year we do a project or two for them as a thank you for their kindness to our family. This year I painted a coffee table to match the two end tables that I painted for them last summer. 

I painted a snook (left) and a tarpon (right) last summer. Both fish are gorgeous in their own special way, but I'll save that for another day and another post!...

My brother-in-law, Captain Gregg McKee of Wildfly Charters, is an amazing charter fisherman, fish expert, and art critic. As far as brother-in-laws go, mine is the best. Gregg is my go-to-for-everything-you-need-to-know-about-Florida-fish guide. He should be yours too! Not only is he amazing at teaching people how to fish, he also takes incredibly beautiful photographs of the them and it's been an invaluable resource. He shares his photographs with me so that I can paint them- it's like winning the fish reference lottery if fish are what you like to paint! 

I looked through several photographs of redfish, asked lots of questions...

Check out all of that glitter...

These fish are beautiful, and tasty...

Gregg and Randy are my best critiquers, offering advice on colors to use in the fins and body, the position and curve of the fish I'm painting, and little details that I wouldn't know to look for that a fisherman would notice right away. I'm fortunate to have so many great eyeballs looking at the things I'm making to help me paint my very best!

Florida redfish are one of my absolute favorite fish to paint. Depending on the season, their colors can be darker reddish oranges and rusts or brighter golds and bronzes. If the lighting is just right, you can see blue, green and purple iridescent hints in the fins. They are truly lovely...