Painting, plain and fancy

In Field and Fen, my other blog, I wrote yesterday about cooking plain and fancy.  Today we're two floors up, and it's painting plain and fancy.

The work in the studio now finished by handyman and genius Mike, it's ready to paint, particularly the doors, which are raw wood and need to be protected.  He also replaced the broad sill with MDF, which he rounded at the front end, very posh, and which I painted today, couldn't wait to do that, such an improvement.

So, since I found a gallon of paint at the dumpster, which turns out to be a warm sort of beigy color, inoffensive anyway, I started by painting the doors today, and finished up what was in the tray doing most of an end wall.  

The plan was to set up a tray of paint and go till it's finished. Longer than that and I'm inclined to get a bit sloppy, from boredom.  I could paint much longer but oh well, always onto something else.

The purplish thing you see behind the door below is a brilliant invention by Mike, namely rigid foam insulation, cut to fit, with handles he installed, to pull into the cavity behind each door and seal off the open roof, as much better insulation than I had before.  Then the door shuts over it, and you have a double seal.  

If I have any paint left I'll paint the panels to match, but for the moment I want to see how far it will go on the walls. They're very thirsty, never painted since the builders skimmed them with builders' white, 22 years ago. And he trimmed up the bits of insulation left over, and presented them to me for art purposes, yay.  They're standing to the left of the open door.

Then, fancy painting comes in, since it's time for the Easter Eggs. Which are actually Spring Eggs, and have been received happily by people for whom the Christian observance is not relevant.  Here's this year's clutch:

 Since they're blown, and washed, and the paint is acrylic, they're pretty much indestructible at this point, and I usually make one for my collection, others to give away. Handsome Son always gets one, and whoever I really want to give to this year gets the others. 

I make them different every year, painted or dabbed, or covered in handmade paper, or scrunched to give a frosted appearance. This year it's copper with gold drawing, and blue and red dots here and there.

A whole range of people have received them, ranging from HPs helpers in his later years, to neighbors, to friends, to library folk, to stitching buds, anyone who seems particularly significant right now.  So we'll see who gets the other two.

And they've joined the collection that stays with me, which is now officially out for the season, along with Bon Hiver, or Bon Printemps I guess he is now the season's changed, and various other spring celebrants. The Bonnes Paques crowd.  Or Paschal Rascals.  Sounds like a seminary rock band.

At the top right, about two o'clock, is a tiny Wedgwood cup and saucer, with eggs from my dear late cockatiel Emily, painted and kept forever.  No need to blow them, though, since they're so tiny the contents desiccate very fast.