The Painted House is Art

Hey, there, good-looking!  Welcome to my new home here at tphblog.com!  What do you think of the place?  I am all aflutter about blogging again and blogging about my passions.  I’m having an open house all week to give you the skinny on what’s new at The Painted House…and there are some pretty sweet party favors involved, too.

First of all, thank you to Shannon at Eight Crazy Design for hooking me up with my new site.  It was my second time working with this fabulous professional.  Her schedule fills up fast, but she is worth the wait.  She used doodles I made on the beach (tell me I’m not the only one laughing at that phrase) for my blog design–a sweet reminder of a trip to Mexico with a dear friend.  I love the way it all turned out–although I do miss my pink sheep a bit.  Baa.

So remember that time I deleted 900+ posts all the way back to 2006?  Yeah, I kept a handful, but we are pretty much starting over with the categories there on the right.  ”Location” is where I put posts about specific places in the cities I haunt most:  Atlanta, GA;  Asheville, NC; and Houston, TX.  And have you clicked on the “About”?  That is where I wax all metaphoric.  Also, you can see the work of the amazing Atlanta photographer, Matt Odom.  I wanted a new face for TPH, and he gave it to me.  It’s a little bit retro Nashville, a little bit unsettling, and a lot of fantasy.  In a word:  heckafun!  But what I don’t say is that I am a painter with a BFA from the University of Houston.  Previous to painting, I was an English major.  I can remember every detail of the day that I switched my major–it was one of the happiest days of my life.  But with my love of painting naturally comes the love of atmosphere, time, and space.  I considered a switch to interior design but ultimately stuck with painting and dabbled with design on the side, for fun.  After graduation I worked as a muralist and designer for children’s spaces until my second child was born.  At that point we uprooted our Texan selves and moved to the East Coast to start anew.  My husband, my two-year-old son, my nine-day-old daughter, and I moved to Western North Carolina where I painted in a little mountain studio to the sounds of a rushing creek.  It was a charmed time.

Since then I have moved steadily from project to project–two church remodels, a medical clinic design, three home remodels, a gallery show, a new baby, nursing my husband through chemotherapy, and homeschooling my oldest.  Most have been unpaid jobs and not what I expected to see myself doing, but when I have a chance to create something new and beautiful, I am a happy girl.  And sometimes that is the reward–happiness and a clean PET scan.I am honored that others find my art interesting.  Here you can chart my progress and see others who inspire me.  I am trying to carve out more time for painting, creating, in whichever form it takes.  Life is full, but this seems to be one of my main lifelines.  It’s religious, spiritual, my time to connect with God.  This artist-on-hold grows more impatient by each passing day.  Honestly, I’m growing weary of her incessant, grumpy complaints.  Or, maybe she has heard one too many “fartist” jokes.  There is no end to the delight my hubby finds in the fact that “art” and “fart” rhyme.  Sure, it was funny the first one hundred times he called me a fartist…maybe that is what is making me grumpy.  But the iPhone fart app–now that’s funny stuff.  I mean, my kids think that’s funny stuff.

Anyway, remember I am giving away a painting to celebrate TPH relaunch?  Here it is:…a sweet little 7 x 7″ oil on canvas.  Be, fresh off the press and not even dry yet.  To enter is simple:  just leave a comment on this post.  And if you want to increase your chances with four extra entries and help spread the love about the new Painted House, then please post a link on your blog back to the TPH open house this week.  If you link up, please let me know.  I’ll choose winners at the end of the week.  If you don’t win the painting, then maybe you’ll score the giftcard to Crate & Barrel or the moolah to William-Sonoma or the cash to Anthropologie or the local handcrafted jewelry?

It will look precious at your home…even if you don’t have a pink ceramic deer.  And you can’t have mine.

Thank you to these generous bloggers who have helped spread the word:

California Stars

Hooked on Houses

Remnants of Nonsense

Time Well Spent

See you tomorrow, friends!