Sunday, September 27, 2009

BIG NEWS IN VIRGINIA!!!!!! ONLINE STORE COMING SOON!!!!



We have been really busy this past week preparing for the opening of our new online store. The whole week has centered around getting tax numbers, establishing a computer/accounting system, entering data, developing advertisements, entering more data, changing the website, and on and on and on. It seems to never end as there is always something to do. You may be asking yourself, "What is with the new online store"? Well, we are very proud to announce that we, Pampered Palette, will be offering online for sale the complete Heritage MultiMedia Acrylics product line. Now how cool is that? For further information and updates, please visit our website at www.pamperedpalette.com. Until the next post, happy painting.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

COMING SOON TO PAMPERED PALETTE - HERITAGE ACRYLICS



Above is a picture of Hazel Anythony's Heritage Mulitmedia Acrylics display. I just loved the picture and since I did not have another one I thought I would showcase hers. Way to go Hazel!!!!!

Now for the really big news. Pampered Palette (Washington DC area) will be providing an online store and will be carrying the new Heritage Multimedia Acrylics. It has been very busy since we returned from our trip overseas as I am rapidly trying to get my business established so when the acrylics arrive I will be ready. I do not know if you realize how many things you have to do just to get things going. There is the Federal Employer Number, the Sales & Use number, accounting system, paint orders, shelving, website prep and on and on and on. I doing fairly okay with getting things set up however the biggest issue is getting the website ready. That comes next. I will have the Heritage Multimedia Acrylics available to order online through our new Online Store (still needs to be set up) and customers will be able to use credits to pay via PayPal. Now how cool is that. As it stands right now, we will just be offering the acrylics line. I am sure we will add more items in the near future. I guess we need to crawl before we can walk as they say. I am just trying to get as much done as possible now before the color line arrives. Hopefully, that will be soon. So spread the word and WATCH for the NEW Online Store at www.pamperedpalette.com.

Until I have a little more time to jot down things that are rapidly changing here in Virginia, take care and keep painting.

Friday, September 18, 2009

Back from London and Paris





Hi all, we are finally back from our trip to London and Paris. Most of our time was spent in London were we past the days walking, eating and shopping. For some reason we spend a lot of time at Harrods and Harvey Nichols trying to find items that we cannot get here in the states. This trip really centered around getting away from everything and just trying to relax. I think we accomplished that except that we did so much walking, my feet were killing me. The first night we purchased tickets for the West End muscial Oliver. That show was ok but we left at intermission as we just were not getting into music or the play for that matter. The next night we had tickets for Wicked. We have already seen Wicked 4 times in New York so we were very interested in seeing how the two compared. Believe it or not the London show was excellent. Some of the joke lines were changed to have more of a UK slant (we did not get them) but for the most part, the show was the same. We had a very good evening. The next two days were big shopping days for us as Mark found two sports jackets he liked. One was a very nice Paul Smith and the other was Gucci (velvet). I purchased smaller items where I picked up two pair of Armani jeans, Paul Smith sneakers, Zegna shirt (in Paris) and a pair of Yves Saint Laurent shoes. That was it for our shopping spree.
Monday we catch the train in London and off to Paris we went. We have never been to Paris before so we really did not know what to expect. Our hotel was the Westin which just happened to sit right outside the Louvre. From our hotel room window we had a perfect view of the Louvre to the left and the Eiffel tower on the right. A spectacular view for sure. We were only in Paris for one day and one night but we walked all over that city. By chance we were in the upscale section of Paris which included all the big name shops like Guccu, Zegna, Louis Vuitton, Paul Smith, Valentino, Etro, etc. Notice I only mention men's stores.......ha. We walked constantly from 10 am til around 9 pm. From the hotel to the Eiffel tower, back to the hotel, to the shops for shopping, to the Louvre (did not have time to go in, next trip), to dinner, to shop, and then finally to a little restaurant that only served Souffles where we had a late night snack. The next morning we ran to the train station and traveled back to London. I know it does not sound exciting but we are not your typical tourist. We walk, shop and eat. Now it is behind us and our next trip is Las Vegas in November............Until the next time, happy painting.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

FINISHED CLASS AND HOME PROJECTS!



The above piece is the second project we completed in Sandy Scales class this past weekend.................



The leaf window hanger above is the first project we completed in Sandy Scales class.



This project is from David Jansen's DVD 4007 (Ompir)

Well, above are the pictures that I promised to post. The first two pictures are from the Sandy Scales class that we participate in this past weekend at Painter's Paradise. I don't think they are bad at all. In fact, I am very pleased. I can see progress from the very first piece that I painted about 7 months ago. I am really pleased with the line work. I kind of think that I am getting the hang of the liner brushes. I thought is weekend's classes/projects were great. I had a really good time even though I found some of the class a little hectic. As I have said before, I do not paint as fast as the really experienced painters in the class so I get just a little flustered trying to keep up but I think that will change over time. I am so pleased with Sandy's class that I signed up her classes that will be held in December at Painter's Paradise.

Now the third piece (the strawberry plaque) was a real challenge for me. I started this piece approximately 6 months ago when I was a true beginner. I think I knew what a brush was and that was about it. Anyway, the piece is somewhat advanced (for me it was) which kind of pushed me to step outside my comfort zone. I did this piece watching David Jansen's Ompir DVD 4007. You don't know how many times I stopped that DVD and restarted to get parts of the project finished. Again with this piece I am not dissatisfied at all. I think I did a good job, especially my strawberries. I made some mistakes, I know. There are parts that I do not like that I feel I could do a better job, but I finished it. I FINISHED IT AND IT DOES NOT LOOK LIKE CRAP (well to me it doesn't). Now what I plan to do is paint the project again on a new piece. It was a learning experience for me so when I finished the next painting I will be able to compare the two.

My very next piece is an Ompir Fruit Tray off of the same David Jansen DVD set. The plaque is like 11" x 14" which is a fairly big piece for me. This project will be another challenge for me so if you hear anyone screaming, it will be me. The only parts I have completed so far is base coat the piece and transfer the pattern to the piece. I will keep everyone posted on my progress. Until the next post, keep painting.