mariaparay.com » Decorative Painting

Color!

Maria — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 04:31:14 +0000

Remember the first day of school? Besides getting new shoes, my favorite item to start off school with was a brand new box of crayons. Sometimes it would be a box of 48, but most times it would be a big box of 64 Crayola® crayons, with the built-in sharpener. I was always jealous of the one boy, Jeffrey, who showed up with a box of 128 crayons every year. I never, ever saw a box that big in any of my neighborhood stores. I always took such good care of my crayons, putting each back in the same spot I got it from – an early sign of the meticulous engineer crossed with the artist in me!

I have always loved color – the brilliant colors of fall make it my favorite season. Fortunately, I have been able to indulge my love for color in both my decorative painting and jewelry careers. It’s always a challenge to see what color palettes work well together, from a design viewpoint. Today I was doing some research for my web site and spent hours looking through palettes at COLOURlovers. If you love color, take a peek at the site – but be sure to have lots of time to spare – it gets addictive!

Beautiful Fall Color!

Sad Story Happy Ending

Maria — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:04:53 +0000

Back in one of the early posts on my blog, I outlined the reasons why I decided to put together a Business Plan. Here it is again. $2,000. Yes, I put my Business Plan together as one of the requirements for a grant application. The grant was being given by one of my women’s business groups, the Suffolk County Women’s Business Enterprise Coalition, SCWBEC. More about them in another post.

I got my application together, including Business Plan, business registration, essay and associated paperwork. I submitted my packet a day before deadline. Then I waited. But not too anxiously, because I certainly didn’t expect to win. Well, maybe if no one else applied, there was a slight chance of my receiving the grant, but other than that . . .

So I waited. The next week, I received an envelope from SCWBEC. I opened it and guess what! I didn’t win. Don’t worry I wasn’t too disappointed. What I realized at that moment is that I really DID win! I had my Business Plan in hand – something I would never have put together, if not for the application. I was now ready to start my business, with a blueprint in hand for every step. I didn’t have to think – I could just start doing. I was on my way!

Every woman who applied for the grant was a winner – even if she didn’t get that $2,000.

A Painting Break!

Maria — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 21:02:27 +0000

Yes, I’ve been neglectful here, my apologies. Even with a flu shot, this nasty bug knocked me out for quite a few days. So a short post today, until I am back on my feet.

In a recent post, Know Your Passion, I added a photo of a mural I had painted during my decorative painting career. I am thrilled that this same mural was featured in the Stencil Talk blog, today. If you’d like to know a little more about my mural, hop on over there. Carol Leonesio, owner of Paint It! and a principal writer of Stencil Talk has her own wonderful blog at Painter Girl.

I will be linking various art sites and blogs to mine, as I find design inspiration in everything – maybe you will too.