So I have been working on my store   Zazzle.com/paccaktoddprints  keeping it up to date with my blog and my life. As the cold weather moves in  I find myself looking back on the warmer places I have been, so I chose photos from one of my favorite places to go and relax Taos N.M.. There is so much to see there and it always seams  peaceful weather its the pueblos or the landscape, or walking down the street looking for a place to eat. So I have created 4 color posters and 4 black and white posters at  zazzle.com/paccaktoddprints so others could also feel the peace and warmth that I feel when I am in taos. Prints and poster are a great way to change up your decor with out spending a lot of money. Need to add warmth to a room  add a set or grouping of color prints, or if you want to go a little more classic add some black and white prints or posters with a simple jet black frame.  

Hope these prints inspire you to change up your surroundings just a bit with photos from your favorite artist or maybe photos of your own travels enlarged and framed. As it gets colder we all need a little change in our surroundings to warm us up and get us going for the holidays, so create art in your life.

PARTY PLANNING!  Time for the annual pumpkin party, this years theme Enchanted Forrest. While every year has its challenges, this years it was the giant mushrooms because what says enchanted Forrest better than giant mushrooms. Cardboard concrete tubes and snow sleds where my picks for the larger of the mushrooms, economical and easy to use, sprayed tubes with adhesive and wrapped with wrapping paper, on the sleds I used adhesive shelf paper I cut into circles placed on bottom of sleds then a little spray paint in your choice of color, peal of circles and BOOM you have the top of a mushroom, put the two together and you have a mushroom. Smaller mushrooms I used cardboard tubes and cheap plastic bowls and then followed same instructions as on larger ones.

 Finishing off the party area added a stream made of plastic, a bridge constructed out of an old coffee table and scrap wood laying around. Giant cattails made from tiki torches, large dragon flies made from scrap wood and plastic, give them a paint job and BOOM dragon flies. Spread pumpkins (one for every child) all through the design add 20 or so children a sack race, cakewalk and other fun games, BOOM you have your self a pumpkin party! Don't want to leave out food and beverages for your guests, this year we made homemade mac-n-cheese and pulled pork sandwiches. Thanks to all our friends and family to help make another successful year. 

Fall Warmth

Well I have been gone alot longer than I wanted but tones of new stuff will be coming out of my absence. First on the list is warming up the house for the upcoming holiday season, and what is the easiest way to do this? Paint of course, nothing better! In my previous blog we painted the dinning room bright apple green so in the living room we chose more of a cinnamon terracotta color to coordinate with the green. Just painted one accent  wall with the color so as not to over power the room looks great if I say so myself. Using this bold tone actually has made our room look larger than before as well as warming it up. You just cant go wrong with paint it is by far the most affordable change you can do in your home, only needed one gallon for each project so approximately  20.00 dollars each gallon and at this price if the color really does turn out bad you have lots of options, including choosing a new color. So grab a brush and add a little color to your world.

Dinning in

Well took a longer break than I really wanted to but its summer vacation and home reno time so thing are pretty busy. My wife has decided that we need to freshen up the our home, and we will start in the dinning and go from there. Now that our kids are starting families of their own we have more people at holidays and family gatherings, so we started with a big ol farm table we found. Then a fresh new green apple color on the top half of the walls and crisp white on the bottom to give it a updated clean look. The seating will be a mix of bench's and farm style chairs with an updated black paint job to contrast against the white Art work from another room (poppy painting) that compliments the room perfectly. To finish the room we will start the kitchen giving it the same updated paint job new cabinet hardware, added splashes of color with accessories in both rooms and hopefully the future pics will be of a functional well put together space. 

Art in the Garden

This week I have been working on my backyard which I believe to be another form of art. The garden has been a work in progress over many years, our needs seam to develop and change each year and so does the garden to meet those needs but most importantly it is a pleasant retreat to clear the mind and relax. This year I seam to be struggling with my climbing plants which normally do well with very little assistance from me, but there is balance to every garden other plants have stepped up to be the stars of the yard this season. Bee balm and Lilly's are doing just fantastic this year, so in response I have arranged the patio furniture to have the best possible view of them while outside relaxing. My biggest goal with the yard each year is to make it a calm and peaceful place for the wife and I, fun place on the weekends for the grand kids and a great place for the dogs to wrestle.

"Finishing things up"

So this weeks creative endeavors where spent in the back yard in the garden, and finishing up a few painting projects. I find it amazing just how much work related stress you can relieve your self of with a hobby or a little gardening, or in my case both this week. In my constant quest for a peaceful and pleasant surroundings I enjoy going out and doing a little gardening, I would never claim to have a perfectly landscaped yard but I do have a very pleasant space that really works for my family and the things we plane, which during the summer is a far amount.
I also completed two paintings this week blue poppies and sunflowers three and got them loaded onto my zazzle site (www.zazzle.com/paccaktoddprints) where you can view them or purchase posters of them. Now I guess it is time to start contemplating on the design of my blog, maybe next weeks blog should be about the fun and trials of creating this blog - definitely a labor of love. Remember there is art happiness and joy in everything we just gotta find it.

Research and Development

This week I seem to be focused on research and development of both my blog and current running projects. Larry's Fishing chair was my main project this week,took my second hand store chair that was in over all great shape removed the seat gave a nice lite sanding to remove old varnish and dirt. Chose colors of paint to go with my over all theme in this case fishing lake outdoor's, ect.. Base coat whole chair in a lite blue green color and then started adding top color and designs as I went along, one leg represents drift wood the other a fish, found a piece of outdoor themed fabric for the seat chair was looking good. Felt like it just needed something else, small wooden fish hanging from the back ("catch of the day").Think it is done and looks great and more inportant larry thinks it looks great.
Boring space or just not sure what to do with your space. Try a chair either a wild funky chair or and old chair you paint in a bold color and set in the corner, it's amazing how far one great chair can take a room.

So its thursday lot's of plans but not a lot of productivity as some weeks go.Finishing up on our backyard getaway, hard to belive but realy have not spent much money at all on what is now my favorite spot. Chair's were a free cast off from a restaurant, so picked up two(thought about more)ditched the nasty upholstered seats some light sanding left over paint in the garage, cut some new seats(bought plywood)scrap fabric from other projects and like magic nice chairs for patio. Off to the workroom to concentrate on new projects in the constant quest to improve my surrondings.

Life is better with a little ART!

Two "rescued" chairs, some left over paint, and fabric, were used to create a back yard retreat.