Painting Restoration

Our good friend Dr. William N. Milner, Jr. (or just plain Billy to this old man) had a painting that was in pretty bad shape. The painting was special to Bill as he was friends with the artist, it came from a close friend in the Keys plus it was a view of a street familiar to him in the Keys. At his request Becky took on her first 'restoration' project. Since the outer edges of the painting were deemed to be beyond repair the project involved 'relocating' some of the key elements of the painting in addition to considerable cleanup and restoration of the total work. Fortunately Bill understood the magnitude of the project so time was not a factor. The painting traveled from Texas to Oklahoma, Missouri and on to Colorado for the summer and received its final touches back in Texas just before Thanksgiving. Here is its progress and final home back in Dr. Bill's basement game room in Texas.









This how it looked when Bill gave it to Becky. Notice in particular the ragged edges on the bottom and bottom right, the discoloration of the sky, street and buildings and that when room is left for framing, the street sign, artist signature and painting name must be relocated.




I decided to play with some digital 'enhancement' to get an idea of what Becky would want it to look like (under her direction, of course). This is what looked to be the best option for the final 'size'.




This was one option for moving such key elements as the street sign, signature, electric pole, etc.




This was another option plus I made an attempt at some digital cleanup on the bad spots on the street.




Then the artist took over and this is a progress shot. Yes, I know the 'real thing' is much better than my feeble digital attempts but at least it gave us an idea!!! By comparing the photo above, the one opposite and the one below you can see the evolution of this rather special painting.






Here is the finished product as delivered to Bill and is ready for framing.












Bill and Becky discussed frame options and this is the painting back on a wall in Bill's Basement game room. We are all very pleased with the whole project. Well done Becky and Bill!!!

Potpourri

Didn't have a good place to put these shots so I'm just grouping them together. The first set is Becky's first Wall Cloth (as opposed to her more common Floor Cloths). This one was at the request of a lady we met here in Belton and is for the lady's grandaughter. It was well received.













This is the finished product - ready to hang.


















An 'in-progress' photo prior to the scollops along the top and making the name 'fancy'.






















And then some detail shots of different portions of the final product.




















Becky has made these LEBKUCHEN German Christmas cookies for several years but never in the RV (she has 'borrowed' friends/relatives kitchens). The taste is the SAME!!! and they are all mine.















We needed a 'filler' piece of wood for our entertainment center where I exchanged the TV for a new Digital Flat Screen one. We met a woodcarver here whose wife wanted a small painting she had seen for her kitchen. Becky painted this and swapped it for the carved wood. Barter is still alive and well in Texas!!




















Found this one while out running around on the lake one day. Could not talk him into turning around for a better shot though and when I moved up underneath him he, of course, flew.








This guy seemed to like sitting on the top of the broken limb. Doesn't look too comfortable but the view was great.

Dallas and Waco

We finally made a couple of trips around the area and captured a few scenes of the cities. I am pretty much a country boy (surprise, surprise his friends say) so don't often indulge in city life but these shots were crying out to us. Hope you enjoy. Not much to say about them so I'll let them stand with little comment.










First a small taste of Big D as we were headed up to visit our friends in Plano.





















And then a few of Waco. Here we were out walking and driving around the old town after visiting the Texas Ranger Museum. Sorry but no photos made the cut of the museum. Take my word for it - it was worth the visit.









As you can tell I was intrigued with the old bridge. The sign talks about it.