Today is my oldest grandson's seventeenth birthday. He is our fifth grand child and the first for daughter #3. This daughter started her family at an older age than her sisters so I have always thought of her three as my "young ones". Guess those days are pretty much over. If Har is 17, then his brother will be 15 and his sister will be 13 this year! Seems like just yesterday that I was watching him being born. Where do the years go?
In any case, now that he is so grown up, his birthday celebration tastes have grown as well. He is once again choosing Ipanema for his birthday dinner. It is a Brazilian steakhouse and, even though I don't eat meat, I have no problem eating in this restaurant. They have the most incredible "salad" bar I have ever seen. While everyone else goes for one trip and then relishes all the the carved meats that continually come to the table, I am busy beating a path back and forth to that bar. To call it a salad bar is really a disservice because it is loaded with hot food as well and, if I play my cards right, I'll be full for a few days. Lol
In any case, until I have to get ready to head over to their house for gifts and festivities before dinner, I am having a pretty lazy day...which, for me, can sometimes translate as boring. And so, I found myself picking up another piece of my old fence and looking at it for inspiration. Since I have been seeing the darn carrots everywhere again this year, that was my inspiration this time. I am starting with a totally blank slate...straight off of my fence and cut to size.
I gave it a quick sanding and then pulled out some colors I thought I might use. I started by just layering on different shades of green before dry brushing on the chalk color chalk paint. This time I was just going for some colors peeking through the top coat - no sanding involved.
My plan was to paint one carrot but that just didn't seem to fit right so I went for the three thin carrots that are on so many napkins, plates and fabrics this year. Since the thin carrots are often mis-shapen in real life, I had no qualms about the way I painted them...these were kind of a no-brainer.
Then, I added the green tops and a messy bow but it still didn't look finished so I went back in with some antique wax and added detail on the carrots and greens and then muted that down a bit with more paint. This could have gone on until I had 2" of paint built up so, I stopped where I was.
Considering that we're talking about three carrots painted on a free old fence board with paint and ribbon I already had, I am good with it. It filled my time before heading to help Har celebrate and that had been my goal.
It is now Sunday morning and I had hoped to have wonderful pictures of my evening that I could share with you because we sure took a boatload of them. Unfortunately, no one ever wants to take them on my phone...they prefer their fancy-schmancy phones...and that, of course, means I have to wait for them to get them to me. The ones that Har's girlfriend took and sent are super blurry but they're all I have right now. The ones from the restaurant are on daughter #3's phone so I will share when (if) they ever come through. Lol
I've got a fun, busy week ahead of me but I will be back to share. Stay safe and stay tuned.
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