Ashley Hackshaw, Author at Ashley Hackshaw / Lil Blue Boo

Art Every Day – Everything I Painted in June

August 5, 2017 by Ashley Hackshaw

I’ve kept up the daily paintings but it’s been hard to keep up with posting them so I’ll just do it by month now. 365 paintings definitely seems a lot easier than 52 posts, and who wants to read 52 posts anyway. Here’s everything I painted in June (except for 4 paintings that I already posted about here)…this is too much math.

Day 155: Ink on watercolor. I love this quote by Marcus Aurelius…the last of the five good emperors…whatever that means.

Day 156: When in doubt just paint a rooster…or three. This was acrylic on reclaimed wood. It’s currently at Gallery 1 in downtown Sylva, NC if you live in that area!

Day 157: A Bluegill fish on reclaimed wood. I used acrylic, charcoal and a few glazes for this one.

Day 158: I painted, stained and sealed these custom paddles for my friend Beau.

Here they are hanging in his new rental cabin Buffalo Trace:

Day 160: I painted this at the last minute before going to bed…the cover of an art journal. I might add to it later…it’s not very exciting.

Day 161: One of our bedroom walls has been empty for way too long. I took some oversized white paper and used sumi ink to write a quote from The Great Gatsby on it. The frames are inexpensive poster frames.

Day 162: Acrylic on reclaimed wood.

The Mountains Are Calling and I Must Go.

Day 163: I started painting an oversized Moon Pie logo on a round table top.

Day 164: A rainbow trout. I cropped this one accidentally and so it looks like a TROU instead….but the real piece has a T on it.

Day 165: An elephant on flat canvas. This RLS quote is from a book I have that is full of joy quotes. This elephant just looked joyful.

Day 166: Visiting my mother in Linville so I painted a quick sketch of the view from her porch using my travel watercolors:

Day 167: Acrylic on reclaimed plywood.

Day 168: A rooster painted on wood. Acrylic and charcoal. This painting is also at Gallery 1 Sylva!

Day 169: I call this one “Crammed in the Ark”…just kidding…but the animals do look a little cramped.

Day 170: A bird on a small block of wood. I added the metal “Choose Happiness” tag on the front.

Day 171: A painting on reclaimed tin, attached to reclaimed chestnut wood.

Day 172: I call this painting “People and Brontosaurus Wearing Glasses.” I just paint what’s in my head…but doesn’t mean I can explain it.

Day 173: I really loved painting this one. A can of sardines on wood. I added the tin border in the spirit of the metal sardines are usually in.

Day 174: A fly fishing fly. Acrylic on wood.

Day 175: Acrylic folk art style painting on framed cradled wood.

“She is clothed in strength and dignity and she laughs without fear of the future. Proverbs 31:25”

Day 176: A quick painting in my art journal.

Day 177: A quick sketch of the Bryson City courthouse.

Day 178: I found this drawer front at the thrift store and someone had started carving the hand into it. I got out my Dremel and finished it. Then I painted it white and added the quotes.

Day 179: Spiced Ham = SPAM.

Day 180: Enamel and acrylic on wood.

Day 181: Our friends came to visit and I collaborated with my little friend Eleanor on a painting in my art journal.

Here’s how it turned out:

Phew. That’s everything that counted as daily paintings! I did paint a few more things but I can’t remember what they were.

I did list some of my artwork for sale. You can find it on Etsy here.

All my daily paintings can be found indexed here.

Farmhouse Renovation – Rock Retaining Wall

August 3, 2017 by Ashley Hackshaw

I’m way overdue for a farmhouse update. Where did June and July even go? We bought this 100-year-old farmhouse back in March of this year with our friends the Perkins family and eventually it will be a historic vacation rental in downtown Bryson City, NC. We are restoring it one tiny intricate step at a time and discovering the local railroad history as we go. Things are really coming along and it’s finally starting to look less like a construction site. Back in May the house looked like this…and it still looks very much the same from the outside…but the grounds have changed significantly:

Over a hundred years ago the house was built very close to a hill. Previous owners had added new layers of sidewalk and concrete walls to try and hold it back but most of those fixes ended up causing a lot of water damage to the house over time. We decided we just needed to start fresh by digging the hill out. (More photos here of the initial work we did.)

We hired our friend Shannon of Taylor Earth Products and Excavation to put in a rock retaining wall. He has done work for us before at the House on Hospital Hill. Shannon has a great eye when it comes to stuff like this. Here’s the start of the wall. These are massive stones…some are as big as a cow! The backfill of gravel and mesh fabric will help with drainage and keep dirt from coming back through:

The wall from the other side. I love the subtle curve he put into the wall here that opens up to the driveway:

Below is the finished wall. This used to be a narrow concrete walkway but now it can be a huge outdoor living space off the farmhouse porch. As soon as all the construction is done we’ll fill this area with pea gravel:

While we were excavating the property we went ahead and added new sewer and water lines at the same time:

The lot next to the farmhouse is wide open after being graded…there’s so much potential for another project down the road:

For now we really just wanted to get grass seed down as soon as possible to start establishing some landscaping:

The yard after we spread the straw:

A little over a month later and the yard already looks great:

There’s so much else going on but it’s too much to write about all at once so I’ll keep sharing in small bits. Click here to read all the posts on the farmhouse and it’s interesting history!

Painted Rocks and Rock Painting Ideas

August 1, 2017 by Ashley Hackshaw

Painted Rocks and Rock Painting Ideas

You might have seen rocks being painting and left around your town recently. Paint a rock, hide a rock. We have groups all around North Carolina that have been leaving rocks and hash tagging the back with their local rock groups so that people can share what they’ve found.

Who doesn’t love free art? Find everything you need to join in on the painted rock trend at your local Michaels store.

There are no rules only to make sure to be respectful and kind when leaving your rocks around which means:

Always ask before leaving a rock on private property or businesses.
Never leave a painted rock in a National Park or State Park. “Leave No Trace” is a policy that ensures our parks will remain natural and sustainable for future generations.

Here are a few of my favorites that I painted last week for the project:

A tiny sleeping fox:

A tiny rainbow rock:

A closeup of one of the Scandinavian rocks:

A wander rock:

A few tips to creating your own:

I like these small smooth pebbles in the floral section of Michaels:

I suggest using steel wool or fine sandpaper to rough up the finish just enough to hold paint better:

Any acrylic paint will work. I used a variety of paints depending on the rock:

You’ll want to seal your rock so that the paint wash off too. I recommend Mod Podge or any other acrylic varnish for rocks that are going to remain inside but if you are going to leave them outside make sure to use something more permanent like marine varnish (used for boats).

Looking for even more inspiration? Make sure you visit Michaels’ blog, The Glue String, to see the rest of the Michaels Makers’ DIY projects!

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