Deep in the Bosom of the Season

With the occurrence of the annual Corbin Park Carriage Ride, we are now firmly ensconced in the Christmas Season.

The Carriage Ride was perfect. We haven't yet had any snow to speak of this season. So when it started snowing about 11AM today, Susan and I celebrated. It did not snow a lot, just enough to create a dusting on the ground and make everything an occasion for Caucasian. It was just white enough.

We invited a few friends over and enjoyed some pizza and libations, including ice shot glasses with Fireball. Ooooh! Ahhhhh!

There was of course, the cleaning frenzy prior to the party but that went pretty smoothly this time around. Susan did not seem stressed and that's cuz I was incredibly helpful.

I painted a window on Saturday and took enough pictures to create a seminar on how I paint windows. You are particularly lucky because this is gonna be it.

It's best to start with a window. Pretty much any window will do but try to get one that you have permission to paint on.

Generally, I use tempera. Tempera is the powdered paint you used in kindergarten that mixes with water. It is not a good choice if the window is exposed to rain. It will run. In that event, you have to use acrylic.

Okay, you have a window. Now you have to decide what you are going to put on the window. In this case, it's going to be a Cigar Store.

So I made a stencil of the the copy that needed to go up and taped it into place, making sure it was square and level on the window.

Then I pulled out my big window painting dauber, and went to town on the stencil.

When you have that up, you start filling in the letters with your base color. In this case, it's very simple. White letters with a black outline. I use an inch and a half foam roller to fill in the letters. You don't have to worry about sloppy edges because you'll cover that with the outline.

When it's all filled in, you pull out the Chinese character brush and start outlining.

Now, if I was at all professional or cared, I would use an artist brace bar to support my hand as I paint. But because neither of those traits apply to me and it's a temporary window anyway, I just slap up the outline and move on.

Thus endeth the seminar!

I made some bitchin' ice candles for prior to the Carriage Ride. They froze a little too efficiently so so they kind of fell apart on me when I tried to chip a hole in them. Nonetheless, they worked groovily.

This one is completely enclosed and comes apart in half. I put LED lights in it and it looked pretty cool.

The other one came apart in three pieces but I was able to freeze it back together and make it look decent. This one had a real candle in it and was quite luminous.

Okay! That's our Holiday weekend in pictures. Now it's time to go back to work and reality!