My New Front Door

20 years ago, soon after we bought our mid-century (as they call it today), ranch style house in the country, I painted a home-made and homely front door. It was sturdy and utilitarian, but I always longed for a front door with a window.

Well, several weeks ago I ordered my new wood-textured fiberglass door with a 3/4 glass insert. I struggled with choices, but fiberglass won out because of its excellent insulation and durability. Also, I saw a sample of a stained fiberglass door in the store, and decided that I would stain the interior of the door to match the rest of our woodwork. I also found a glass pattern that I loved.

 

What I didn't know until after the purchase was that staining fiberglass is a very long process. Because the surface cannot absorb the stain, you have to just let it dry. It takes 48 hours--that's right, 2 days--before you can finish or restain the door. In my case, I had to do do two layers of stain to get the color right.

 

In the meantime, I was staining the moulding around the door. Part of it was raw wood, part had a white primer on it. Can you tell the difference?

 

So after 4 days of staining and drying, I could put the clear coat (polyurethane) on. Of course, I needed to put at least 2 layers of that on with 24 hours of drying time between coats.

Now we are talking close to a week and I had only one side done!

I wanted to paint the outside of the door, so we flipped over the door and I was ready to paint. Next surprise was that although the fiberglass was primed coming out of the factory, expert advise was to put on another primer so that the paint would adhere well. Okay, what's one more day?

 

Of course, I've learned over the years that it is near impossible to envision a lot of color from the little 1/2 by 1 inch sample at the store, so I bought a color in one of those new handy sample jars. Yep, I love red.

 

Finally I was ready to put on my "Ladybug Red" high-gloss, oil based enamel paint.

 

Three coats of red (24 hours drying time between) later, the door was finished. Mike and I hung it today and WOW!!

 

 

 

Does that say "Welcome!" or what!

New Paintings Head to the Big Island

Recently I took a break from the Crow Man Series to create a few small pieces for the Chase and Hanes Gallery in Hilo. The first piece is an architectural type painting of the S. Hata Building which sits on the Bay Front. It's a lovely, well maintained storefront with nice architectural features. Although this piece is rather tight for me, I really enjoyed putting my drawing skills to the test. The rest of the painting is much looser, and I even threw in some pattern painting in the dark area under the red awning.

 

S. Hata Building, 14" x 20" framed.

The next 3 pieces are very small, image size 5" x 7", 11" x 14" when framed. The large margins of the matting make the small pieces very dramatic, I think.

The first work is transparent watercolor. The second two are collage, gaouche, pen and ink, and metallic water color.

 

Rainbow Falls IV

 

Hilo Across the Bay

 

Moonlit Bay

Here's a photo of another small collage, showing the framing.

 

The last bit of art news is that Lava Patterns, the painting that was in the Hawaii Watercolor Society juried show last month, Will now be for sale at The Volcano Art Center, Volcano National Park.

 

Lava Patterns 20" x 27" framed.

4 Days in San Francisco

I recently spent four days in San Francisco. My husband was down there for a construction management conference, going to meetings and attending educational sessions, which left me to see the sights.

 

Walking around the city, visiting museums, gave me the opportunity to admire the city architecture. I really enjoy seeing the old and the new standing together.

 

Last week was also "Fleet Week," so we saw lots of ships and sailors.

 

We had a great view of the Bay from our room at the Hyatt Regency. Mike took this shot one morning at dawn. (I was sound asleep!)

 

On Monday, many museums were closed, so I hopped on a ferry to Sausalito, a very old and well known artsy town.

 

It seems I can't go anywhere without viewing helicopters putting out wild fires--even in San Francisco Bay!

 

I spent several hours walking around Sausalito seeing some very exciting art in the many galleries in town. There was a lot of talk about a $200 million yacht, the Maltese Falcon. It's for sale, if you are interested.

 

The weather was wonderful all the days we were there, so visiting Golden Gate Park was very attractive. One afternoon I spent wandering the Japanese Garden there.

 

 

 

 

 

I was amazed to see this hawk in the city.

 

A newly remodeled and reopened museum is the SF Acaemy of Sciences. It is totally hi-tech and includes a rain forest exhibit, an aquarium, an exhibit of live African penguins, a natural science room with African animals. The museum is topped off by a green roof.

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the end of our stay, we made a pact to come back to see more of the beautiful city.