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New Animal Paintings

September 22, 2017 by Ashley Hackshaw

It’s now been almost 253 days of painting. I find themes finding there way into my work as I go…like the landscapes and now these new animal paintings. It’s fun to group them together to see a small body of work!

Even as an adult, every single time I pass a cow, I say “Look, a cow.” So that’s what I named this painting.

Look, A Cow! – SOLD

Look, A Cow!

Layered and Distressed Acrylic Painting on Cradled Wood. Gloss varnish finish.
Walnut-stained rustic pine frames the outside.
25.375″ x 25.375″ x 1.5″

Brett and Boo went to Yellowstone without me last year but I heard all about the bison they saw and the amazing traffic jam it created. I pass a farm on my way to Charlotte that has acres of bison and I love seeing their sweet little calves.

Gentle Giant – SOLD

Gentle Giant
Layered and Textured Acrylic Painting on Cradled Wood. Satin varnish finish.
Walnut-stained rustic pine frames the outside.
25.75″ x 25.675″ x 1.5″

A while back I was visiting a produce stand and the farmer told me, “An elk just sauntered right in and stole an apple right off the table.

The Elk that Took the Apple – SOLD

The Elk that Took the Apple
Layered and Textured Acrylic Painting on Cradled Wood. Satin varnish finish.
Walnut-stained rustic pine frames the outside.
25.675″ x 25.875″ x 1.5″

My cousin-in-law photographs the deer family that lives on her property. This is the baby of the family: Rocket.

A Fawn Named Rocket

A Fawn Named Rocket
Layered and Textured Acrylic Painting on Cradled Wood. Satin varnish finish.
Walnut-stained rustic pine frames the outside.
Exact measurements with frame: 25.75″ x 25.5″ x 1.5″

Purchase on Etsy here.

My cousin-in-law Deborah also sent me this bunny to paint. Sometimes there’s no fancy name…an animal just wants to be called what it is.

Bunny – SOLD

Bunny
Original layered painting on gallery canvas.
Painted on an 20″ x 20″ Gallery Wrapped 1.5″ Canvas.

And last but not least, this is Darla. You can read Darla’s story here. I’m not sure how I stumbled upon Odd Man Inn but I love their work as a barnyard animal refuge. I love each and every one of their animals and I asked if they would mind if I painted a few of them. Darla was spent dairy cow rescued by the animal refuge Odd Man Inn. She knew so much love at the end of her life thanks to this wonderful organization. A portion of the proceeds from this painting will help sponsor an animal from their shelter.

Darla – SOLD

Darla
Layered Acrylic Painting on Cradled Wood. Gloss varnish finish.
Walnut-stained rustic pine frames the outside.
Exact measurements with frame: 25.75″ x 25.675″ x 1.5″

Update: Darla the Cow sold and we sponsored Coco the pig who I fell in love with because she reminds me so much of my sweet Happy!

I’m always trying to find a way to rescue and help more animals, mostly by supporting people that have devoted their lives to rescue. My painting is slowly evolving into a way to do that. Once when I was making one of many donations to an animal shelter Brett mentioned that maybe we should look at our budget first. I responded, “No one ever went broke by giving all their money away,” something I’d heard on a podcast. We throw that saying back and forth all the time now and I finally figured out that it came from Anne Frank and the actual quote was “No one has ever become poor by giving.” So maybe I added the “ALL” to my quote…but I still believe it. We’ll see where this takes me and I’m sure we could always go live with my mother if we actually did go broke. (just kidding mom…kind of.) Anyway, what I’m trying to say is THANK YOU to everyone who reads the blog, supports my art and helps me to do what I do. You are the reason any of this works.

You can find more paintings on Etsy here. Thanks for looking!

DIY Calligraphy Chargers – Rustic Farmhouse Fall Table Decor

September 11, 2017 by Ashley Hackshaw

The cool air showed up here in the mountains this week and it was the perfect time for a fall decor challenge from Michaels Stores! I’ve been stocking up on beautiful plate chargers lately and decided to paint a few in a fall theme and used them to create a rustic farmhouse table scape. This post is full of few photos of my rustic farmhouse table decor and fall decoration ideas with links to other related tutorials:

The whole table was inspired by my idea to hand-paint charger plates:

Charger plates are oversized bases for table setting…they are just for decoration and never meant to be eaten off of…so they can be made of almost any material. I love these inexpensive neutral charger plates from Michaels (on sale now here!):

I painted each plate with bright colored fall florals and each with a different word:

I have such shaky hands that I can rarely free-hand anything so I wrote the words out on paper first and then when I was happy with them I used transfer paper to trace them onto each plate:

I uploaded my template if it will make the project easier. Just print it off so that the words are about 6.5″ wide:

I used Golden Fluid Acrylic (and a version by Artist’s Loft at Michaels if you can find it) to paint the designs. It’s much more permanent than regular craft acrylics:

I’m not a calligrapher so I usually have to paint my letters a few times…thickening up the downward strokes as I go:

For the floral accents I just kind of made it up as I went along. I used two colors for each flower…blending them together using short strokes. You can practice on paper first…that’s what I did. If you don’t like how one turns out just paint over it!

I think they turned out just as I imagined them!

All the rustic accents are from Michaels, the wood boxes, the small tea light jars, the colorful measuring cups and the metal pig plates. The cute little farmhouse napkins were made by my friend Kay as a gift:

I think I might hang a few of the plates on the wall of the Sixty-One Park Farmhouse when it’s finished:

Instead of using words you could use names and make the chargers your seating cards as well:

The dairy container was made last Novermber for my rustic farmhouse themed tree. It’s come in handy for so many other decor projects. I filled it with willows from the floral section at Michaels and some twig accents from around the yard.

You can easily make your own:

There’s a full tutorial on how to age galvanized bins in my Michaels Maker archive. Click here or the photo below for the step-by-step process:

There’s also a tutorial and downloadable template for the actual painting of the bins. Click here or the photo below for those steps:

Fall is by far my favorite season. I’m so excited for everything that comes with it. The Fall Harvest Market at Michaels has everything you need to MAKE it Feel Like Fall!

You can find more FALL projects I’ve done for Michaels below:

Fall Table Decor: Mason Jar Firefly Lanterns

How to Make Sharpie Owl Pumpkins

DIY Yarn Wall Hanging

DIY Rustic Personalized Wood Cutting Board

How to Make, Bottle and Label Your Own DIY Black Walnut Ink

September 6, 2017 by Ashley Hackshaw

I first learned to make black walnut ink in the third grade. I was part of a learning program where we learned everything from book making to soap making. I still remember it like it was yesterday. Our class made our own walnut ink and even made quill pens to practice our cursive lettering with.

There’s an enormous black walnut tree at the farmhouse we are renovating and I started collecting the nuts that were starting accumulate. Look at that huge walnut tree:

The walnut husks are round and green when they first fall off the tree but they eventually wither into black shriveled shells. I think the older they are the better….even when they are falling apart and rotting. I’ve been collecting them all and separating them out. The green ones I will keep in a bucket until they shrink up and blacken.

How many walnuts did I use in this recipe? It’s not exact but I filled the pot full to the top and then added just enough water to cover them just barely when they were all submerged. The more walnuts to water ratio the more concentrated the ink will be and the darker the pigment. It’s kind of like making coffee or tea so you can make it up as you go…just boiling (steeping) until you are happy with the concentration.

Making DIY Black Walnut Ink

Basic supplies I used:
Large Enamel Pot
Tongs
Rubber Gloves
Funnel
Cheesecloth
Unbleached Cone Coffee Filters
99.5% Isopropyl Alcohol

Walnuts have a distinct smell…kind of like a spicy mint, so I prefer to boil them outside on a fire. I rigged up a grate over some rebar for the pot to sit on. Here’s the large pot of walnuts I started with:

I had a very old pot without a lid so I bought this $3 pizza pan to cover it with:

I brought the walnuts to a boil and then let them simmer for about 12 hours over the hot coals. All I had to do was add a small log ever few hours and then when it stopped simmering I let it sit overnight:

Black walnut ink will dye everything it comes into contact so make sure to wear gloves when handling it.

I pulled out all the walnut shells as I went and put them aside in a bucket:

The walnut husks left behind are almost the consistency of coffee grounds. I put all of this back on the fire for another few hours just to get every last drop of pigment out of them:

I let the ink cool for a while and then strained it through a colander first before straining it through cheesecloth:

The last step was straining all the ink through a coffee filter into storage containers.

To preserve the ink I added a small amount of alcohol to each container. I mixed 1 part 100% alcohol to 40 parts walnut ink.

Testing out my new drawing ink:

As I was bottling I started using my cup to make these lunar shapes for prints. Inspiration is everywhere!

Bottling and Labeling Ink

I put my ink into little 8oz boston bottles and labeled them. These make great gifts or farmer’s market inventory! I might even sell mine at the local farmer’s market at some point if I make enough.

Basic supplies I used:
Clear Boston Round 8oz Bottles
Self-Adhesive 8.5×11 Kraft Labels
Krylon Matte Spray
Speedy Carve Stamp Kit
Archival Black Ink Stamp Pad

To make the labels I carved a little stamp. You can find a more detailed stamp-carving tutorial here that I put together a while back.

I used black archival ink to stamp adhesive kraft label paper. I stamped first then cut.

I recommend cleaning the bottles with windex before putting the labels on just to make sure they stick well. I love how they turned out!

It’s best to use a dropper to remove the ink! This ink can be used as drawing ink with a quill pen or just a paint brush. It can also stain wood and fabric naturally. Here’s some wood I stained:

I can’t wait to make more. It’s the best feeling to use the natural world to make art supplies. I need to start researching some other natural dyes and inks to see what other colors I can come up with.

The Sixty-One Park Farmhouse has been coming along and we are making progress. We are hoping to have it finished and open for spring or summer 2018 rentals. You can read more about our farmhouse renovation and the farmhouse history here!