Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope that everyone has a great Thanksgiving. We were able to gather at mom's house for our meal. She cooked a 30 pound turkey! It was great! Lots of turkey sandwiches for later!! Oh boy!
It was nice to have the family there, with everyone's schedules now days, it is hard to have that happen too often. So I am treasuring the times we can and enjoying them!

This year has passed so fast, it is hard to believe that the Christmas season starts TOMORROW!
We usually are at a Christmas Market show every Thanksgiving weekend. We have done this show for 14 yrs. We did the Richmond Equine Extravaganza in Oct. so we didn't want to have 2 large shows back to back. It felt strange not to be setting up the booth on Wed, have Thanksgiving on Thurs and do the show Friday through Sunday! Very liberating not to have it this weekend!
So there has been no pressure on us for getting things done over this holiday, so I have enjoyed it much more.

I start tomorrow painting lots of smaller items that will be for Christmas sales. I am planning on doing some fox Christmas ornaments. They are round clear glass ornaments with 6 in a set. I will post them when I have them finished.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Carol & Dottie

Hand Painted Folding Tray Table with Red Fox

This is a one of my folding tray tables for sale. It has legs that will fold up when it is a tray, push the levers on each side, and it is a table! It is made by the Ferguson Company. They were well known for making nice quality furniture. They are no longer in business. This tray is from the 1940-50's.
I hand painted the scene on the top of the tray table. It is my version of an old painting called "Fox leaving covert". It features a rolling landscape with Fall colors and green meadows. In the background, you see a huntsman and his hounds on the scent of the fox. A whipper-in is further back by the woods. The fox hounds are following the scent off the the bottom left of the tray. In the foreground, is a red fox. He is hiding behind low bushes and is in a crouched position. He hasn't been seen by the hunt or pack of hounds and is moving off to the right of the tray.
I have antiqued the scene to blend with the color of the tray legs. There are at least 8+ coats of poly on for protection. Like any fine piece of furniture, don't leave a wet glass on the surface. Wipe with a damp cloth when needed.
The tray table sells for $ 195.00.
Please email me if you would like more photos. I have lots!

Whoa Sketch book project

I belong to an EBay group of horse artists called Whoa. We have started a project with many members. We have so many talented artists, we all wanted to do something and donate the proceeds to a charity of our choice.
We picked a sketchbook. Members signed up to draw on up to 5 pages. We had 16 artists sign up! It started in the UK where 2 of our furthest members lived. They mailed it back to the states once they were done. It has been traveling down the East Coast and is now in the middle of the country. It will travel to the West Coast before it ends up in NY once again.
The group voted on a charity and has decided on Angel Acres. Check out their website, a very worthwhile group.
I have linked the Whoa Sketchbook Blog to this blog. Check out the great artwork that has been done so far!
We plan on auctioning off the original sketchbook. We also plan on printing copies, as most of the artists want copies too! All of the proceeds will be going to charity.
We are still looking into the printing process and which company will do it.
Each addition is more exciting, check the blog for updates! I am so proud to be part of this project.

Painting a dining room

We painted a dining room at the oceanfront these past 2 days. We started out by painting it a dark red. We matched the tone of the red to the carpet that is in the room. Of course, the red took 2 coats. If the red was the only color going up on the wall, we would had to put another coat on the walls. We added a metallic gold and a metallic copper. We used 2 different color golds. One is brigher and shows up a bit more. The wall has a marble effect.

The customer had painted the ceiling the brighter gold, so we wanted to bring that into the walls. This dining room was in the center of the house with 2 large doorways and one smaller door. They have a very large china cabinet and a couple of very large prints.

We will be adding photos in the near future. We wanted to take the photos once the furniture is moved back into place.

My nails are all metallic gold and copper. I look like I have the Midas touch!

When we came out of the house, we found the truck in 5 inches of water! We had so much rain today! So I had to wade through the water to get into the truck, ugh! We are supposed to have more rain for the next 2 days.

The only problem with all of this rain, is my german shepherds. They run in the backyard and are covered with mud! So for the next few days, I will have to stop them at the back door and wipe off their feet. Of course, they like to make a mad dash through the house if not stopped in time! Oh well, off to work again tomorrow.

We had a good time last weekend in Richmond at the Equine Extravaganza show. It was a smaller show, but we met a lot of people. Lots of interest in doing pet portraits! We have already gotten a customer wanting a tray with her dogs on it.

This is a view of our booth at the show. We are always afraid that we don't have enough stuff to put in the booth. We are always having to stack items, because we have too much!

I like to move things around in the booth. There are so many things in there, that a customer can't really see it all. So, when something sells, there is a hole, and I move it all around! Sometimes I feel like the mad hatter from Alice in Wonderland at the tea party-Move Down move down!

We haven't made any show plans for the 2009 season. We are waiting to see how things go with the economy. I know there will be openings in any one we wanted to attend.
The booth fees in all of the shows have gotten so high and have gone up again!

We are still painting as much as we usually do, so we will have lots of stock. We hope to list more here and also get our website up and running.
We have 2 sheds of furniture to go through!

We just came back from Equine Extravaganza in Richmond, VA. It was the first time we were vendors at this show. We weren't sure what to expect, so all was a surprise. We would like to go back once the economy is back up. It is a nice show fairly close to home.
We have some items still for sale. Some we were very surprised we came home with them! Please contact us if you are interested in an item.

Hi! Welcome to Have Brush Will Travel's Blog!

We are a mother and daughter painting team. We love the ‘old world’ style of painting, with rich colors and antiquing. We have been painting furniture and home décor for over 14 years. When we are not painting furniture, we are shopping for more furniture and painting murals.

We like the look of vintage furniture, which are old, but not antique. All are finished with at least 6-10 coats of a polyurethane finish.

Dottie Martz has been painting for over 60 years. She won a scholarship to Memphis Academy of Fine Arts and also two years at Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, where she got her Art Degree. Dottie met her future husband at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts.

They married and had a son, Chuck and a daughter, Carol. While raising a family, Dottie found ways to bring art into their home. While living in California, she painted vines and flowers coming out of doorway woodwork.

After her family was grown, Dottie joined the Society of Decorative Painters, an international painting society. She has taught classes at several National Conventions and several mini-conventions all across the country.

Dottie has been on the cover of Paintworks Magazine and twice on the cover of Decorative Artist Magazine. She has had 15 articles published in Paintworks, Decorative Artist Workbook, ToleWorld and the Decorative Painter. She also has a line of 25 painting pattern packets.

Dottie’s first love is painting in oils. She paints portraits, still life fruits and flowers. Magnolias will always hold a special place in her heart. Dottie paints every day whether it is a wall mural, custom furniture, portraits or getting ready for a show.

Carol Martz Buck has been painting for 18 years. She was encouraged by both parents to always draw or paint while she was growing up. The family has said that art runs rampant through all of the family members. Carol has a natural talent and has fine tuned it with classes and seminars over the years along with working with her mom.

She started helping her mom paint murals as part-time, which quickly became full-time. Carol has always loved all animals, but especially horses. They remain her favorite subject to paint. She paints custom horse and pet portraits. Fox Hunting and ladies riding sidesaddle are some of the subjects she puts on furniture and home décor. Her painted items are highly sought after and have been shipped to many national and international locations.

Carol is also a member of the Society of Decorative Painters, Equine Art Guild (EAG) and WHOA- Horse Artists on Ebay. Carol is also the Vice President of her fox hunt club, James River Hunt.

The mother-daughter painting team is well known in Tidewater, Virginia. Over the years, they have painted in over 500 homes in the Tidewater area and all over the country. They have participated in local craft shows for the past 14 years. Have Brush Will Travel has been a vendor at the prestigious 3-Day Event Rolex, at the Lexington Horse Park, Lexington, KY for 2 years. This is the only 4 star horse show in the United States. They have also been at the Virginia Equine Extravaganza, Richmond Fairgrounds, Richmond, VA . Have Brush Will Travel has also been featured on a local television home show and a national PBS-Paint Paint Paint show.

Dottie & Carol love to take old forgotten pieces of furniture and ‘do their magic’ on them! Both love to paint custom commissions and can paint anything! Both Dottie and Carol love what they are doing and it shows in their paintings.