Progress on Painting with Fire Studio

Gosh, it's feels like it's been an eternity since I've visited with you guys.  I'm feeling somewhat mentally deranged; happy, but stressed out as hell!  Three weeks ago, we got the plans approved for improvements to our commercial building in St. Petersburg.  2428 Central Avenue will be a retail space, my studio, and a workshop spot.  The colors for the building all started with this new logo.

You might have noticed that we've changed our name in the logo from Painting with Fire "Artwear" to Painting with Fire "Studio."  We felt it would more aptly described what we're up to these days.  We'll be able to teach in the new space.  Thank God!  I'm not as young as I used to be (Surprise!!!) and being a migrant workshop instructor is incredibly fun ... but incredibly hard physically and mentally.  As you may know, I'm not the most organized person and the mental calisthenics I go through to make sure I haven't forgotten something is ... well ... let's put it this way, if I did that many physical calisthenics I'd be a size 8!

  

You won't be surprised to learn that I'm influenced by Thompson Enamel colors. I simply like Bitter and Flame Orange!  That's what you see in the logo.  I thought the charcoal gray was a softer touch than black.  I barely know the Adobe Illustrator program but somehow managed to get these transparent circles on top of the lettering.  I thought, "Wow! I like it!"  I think it gives the letters a little distressed look. The graphic designer and I were trying to get a logo that would be suitable for the sign for the building, a business card, and any other printed material.  

The graphics you enjoy on the internet when your computer is 10" in front of you, don't always translate well to building signs, which is unfortunate because Lori Plyler designed a beautiful image and I was disappointed not to be able to use it. 

Benjamin Moore has their own name for citrus green and it's called "Wasabi."  Good thing I like this color, because I chose it for a lot of the building.

The entire building will be painted Wasabi with the lighter coral surrounding the windows and door, and the deeper coral color for the shutters and window sills of the upstairs apartments.

Colors of Painting with Fire Studio, St. Petersburg, FL 

The walls in the retail space are accented with deep aqua bas relief molding. Of course, a lot of the wall color in the rooms will be covered with hanging displays and shelves. 

Alicia inspecting the paint job

Yesterday I ran myself ragged picking up paint ... twice! ... going to Lowe's for track lighting ... meeting the sign guy ... and going to Sam's Club to look at shelving units!  But believe me, I'm really just grateful that work has begun.   

In the middle of all this, my daughter, Laura, called to say that she ran out of gas on the Frankland Bridge (the float in her gas tank is not working).  She was among parade floats traveling from Tampa to St. Pete for the Grand Prix this weekend.  She said not a single person drove by, waved, and shouted, "Have a wonderful day!"   At the same time David, my son, was calling to say he locked himself out of his apartment ... plus the hair dresser was running 45 minutes late. 

 

Do you want to know how crazy I am?  I'm even excited over the security lights and the exit signs! 

These are the air conditioners that will help to keep the workshop space comfortable with 11 torches going at the same time!   


And here's one of the images from my book.  I can't help but smile at the colors that find their way into my work ... and now in the building.  Praise God for his many blessings ... 

Thanks for visiting me today.  I'll have more tomorrow when I can get a shot of what Cat Kerr gave me at last weekend's workshop!  You won't want to miss that!  :-) Barbara