This is your first chance to win a Canvasworks Peaceable Kingdom print. All you have to do is comment on this image and include “CPK” in your comment. You will automatically be entered in the drawing which will happen on Friday, February 26.
This week’s image is “Fox and Hen”
The print is 4″ X 6″ and the mat is 8″ X 10″

Please sign up over there on the right ( if you haven’t  already). The drawing will be done and I’ll contact you by email Friday night if you’re the lucky winner!

This image is one of several studies being done on the way to creating a large “Peaceable Kingdom” piece based on Edward Hicks’ works from the 19th century. You can follow my progress with this piece by reading daily posts and seeing everyday’s painting study at this link.

And the winner is…

Carol Brock from Francestown, NH, with the #4 comment.

Thank you for all your nice comments. Should we do another one next week?

Don’t forget to become a fan on Facebook to see daily posts with Peaceable Kingdom updates nd Floorcloth Tips too.

Back in April, 2006, Early American Life Magazine ran an article about floorcloths by Gregory LeFever. I just realized that the link to it is pretty hard to find on my website, so I’m reposting it here and I’ll make it easier to find too. The photos are great. I love that they found some old remnants to show. If anyone out there has any old pieces of floorcloth, I would love to have a photos. I am trying to compile as many old floorcloth patterns as possible. Please email them to me if you find any and if you have any info about their age, origin, use, etc. that would be a bonus too!

Here’s the link to the article: http://earlyamericanwritings.blogspot.com/2006/04/floorcloths.html

Like a tempting bunch of chocolates, we have a brand new boxed set of canvas color swatches. My favorites- Monterey White, Essex Green, Richmond Gold and Hale Navy are still in there, but we’ve added some really nice ones that we’ve been using on recent floorcloth projects: Woodstock Tan, Hadley Red and Antique Pewter, to name a few.

If you’ve been following my “Peaceable Kingdom” studies on Canvasworks’ Facebook page, you’ll notice that they are all staying within the same color family. That’s because I use the same 6 little jars of paint to complete all of these pieces. Keeping the palette limited, keeps the paintings related to each other.

You can see all 25 of these colors by clicking here. Remember, your monitor might not be calibrated perfectly, so the colors may not be accurate. Your best bet is to order the Swatch Kit. It has 25 3″ X 3″ painted canvas swatches with each color’s name imprinted on the back. The kit also includes two swatches -one of #8 canvas; the other of #4- which are painted and polyurethaned so you can see how the finished product will look and feel. the Swatch Kit is $25, which will be refunded when you purchase your first floorcloth. These are the 25 colors we use for the majority of our custom made floorcloths. Choose your colors and design and I’ll draw up a layout for you to see before you order. Click here to send me your info.

Also, Colored Blanks can be ordered in any of these 25 colors. The dropdown menus on the Paypal buttons now give you 26 color options (plain white is the 26th color)!

Sometimes things get so busy around here that we end up with a real hodge podge of designs and painting styles all  competing for table space at the same time. This is one of those times. As hard as it is to change gears on the fly and switch from painting one to another, it also means if I don’t particularly feel like painting one thing, I can always paint something totally different!

This Flowers and Fans floorcloth (8′ X 10′) uses  Currant Red and Baked Cumin as its base colors and black, rose, off white  and green as its accents. Almost everything except the center stamped area was handpainted. I definitely had to get into a rhythm to execute all of those flowers and leaves so they came out looking similar.

Then change gears to my February Self-Challenge (brought on by one of my followers- thanks Barbara!). I am attempting to complete a Canvasworks rendition of Edward Hicks’ Peaceable Kingdom as a floorcloth (or wall hanging). I have adored this piece since my college days, and when I saw the exhibit at the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Museum in Williamsburg, VA back in the mid-90s, I vowed to someday give it a try. I am preparing by doing studies of individual animals on a daily basis. You can keep up with my progress by becoming a fan of  Canvasworks Floorcloths on Facebook. I am posting a study/painting every day and as I progress to laying out the floorcloth, I’ll be posting that too. Your words of encouragement on this tough project are invaluable as I struggle along! My goal is to have this piece completed for the upcoming Old House and Barn Show in Manchester, NH March 20 and 21. I am also offering prints of the studies. they are small (4.5″ X 6.5″) matted prints which fit perfectly into a 8″ X 10″ frame. They are $25 each. Please call the studio (802-263-5410) if you’d like to order. Here is yesterday’s “Daily Painting”:

So then from complex patterns to painterly animals, change gears again to a very simple, strong design for a design-award winning home in Kentucky. This home owner made use of my “Try It Before You Buy It” program, where she actually saw several variations of the floorcloth in the space where she intends to put it. I used Photoshop to slide the floorcloth right in there without moving a stick of furniture. I encourage all of my clients to make use of this complimentary service. It makes such a difference when you can see how it is going to look before you place your order. Here is the rendering of the floorcoth in the home:

And here it is on the worktable this morning; ready for poly:

I’m off this morning to have a dressage lesson. This afternoon I’m laying out a big (9′ 8″ X 12′) design for an architect, then I’ll be painting another critter for my Kingdom- maybe a pig today!