Dakota's Painting

Now that it is officially Christmas, I can finally show off the painting that I created for Dakota! He was very surprised by my gift to him and his reaction to it is something I will cherish forever.

There is a story behind the important people in the painting that are fishing and the truck that they drove in. Dakota recognized these things right away and I was so worried about it! What kind of painter/illustrator would I be if the viewer in mind didn't understand what was going on?

It absolutely killed me that I couldn't tell Dakota all of the struggles throughout the painting, so I took lots of in progress photos so I could easily show him all that had gone wrong. First there was a tree that I loved, but just didn't seem right.

So I had to paint over it. Then those mountains in the back just didn't seem far away enough. But the biggest, most horrifying mistake I made was the color of the truck. He still owns the truck and from what I know of it, it is blue.

BUT the time that this story takes place, the truck was brown. And I only found out by accident four days ago! I'm thankful that I found out but when I did, my heart sunk. All that work... but it was easily fixed and I am so happy with this. My first oil painting in a few years!

Hunting Fleece Hats

It's hunting season and I am experimenting with sewing new hats! By law, and for general safety, there needs to be at least 20 square inches of bright orange on your head when you are out in the woods. For obvious reasons, you want to make sure that other hunters can see you. I bought the fleece for the hats on black Friday for a less than the cost of a fleece hat you could buy at a store. The best part is, that I bought enough fleece for at least 20 hats! How great is that! Sure it may take some time for me to do this, but I am double layering and taking my time and making a sturdy warm hat that I know I can use for a long time.

Brooke #28!

Here are the before and after photos from my adventure with Brooke (about 3 years old)! Brooke loved using every single brush I had, which was about 30 different brushes and sponges. But I am glad she did because she used more and more colors that made her masterpiece really exciting! 

Chameleon Markers

Decided to try something new! Here is my first attempts at using these new markers. They are super fun but it will take some time getting used to. I also found it appropriate to draw a chameleon as my first drawing with this new medium. It's a little punny, you have to admit. 

Halloween Birthday Party

This was such an awesome experience! A 7 year old wanted a painting party for her birthday so I was commissioned to create "paint by numbers" style canvases for the kids to fill in. The kids all chose their own colors, because you know how kids know exactly what they are doing when it comes to painting. They did not need any kind of navigation or instruction when it came to actually painting. All in all, it was a successful experience and I can't wait to do it again!

Patriotic Quilt

Here is the beginning of my newest quilt! I have always wanted a patriotic themed quilt and I decided on this pattern. The whole thing is made up of triangles which makes it easy. And the good thing is that if I have any left over triangles I can make a table runner or save them for a scrap quilt for later. It is a common size used in a lot of quilt patterns. I cut 3 7/7 in strips, cut those strips into 3 7/8 in squares, and finally cut those triangles in half. You can pick any colors for this pattern and rearrange the triangles any way you like. This is just how I chose to do it this time.

Greenhouse Beauty

Inspiration is everywhere! At the beginning of summer, I started numerous vegetable and flower seeds in the green house that we bought on Craigslist. It was a great find and as you can see, successful! This was my first time starting any kind of flowers from seeds. I am very happy to show off these photos! I never imagined these morning glories would grow like they did! Now that I have done it once, next spring I can better plan.

Everyone can Paint!

This past Tuesday I had the honor of painting with Kaydi (5) and her sister Ariel (10). Both of these girls are severely disabled but the expressions on their faces when we placed their hands in the paint was priceless. Even with limited movement, they were still able to come up with some great paintings. I'm excited to paint on top and see what I come up with!

Monet in Manhattan

On my visit to NYC, I decided to go for a walk to find a place to draw my surroundings. Unfortunately it decided to rain on me! At Bryant Park, I found a table with an umbrella to keep me dry for the most part. Beside me were two gentlemen playing chess, truly a sweet moment. We struck a short conversation since we were all concentrating, them on their game, me on my doodle. 

While walking I found a small statue of Monet, a favorite artist of mine. I thought I'd be silly and take a selfie with him. I'm sad I could not draw longer because of the weather, but it felt good even though I did a rough lamp post sketch. 

Nyc Visit, Fancy Food Show

I tagged along with my mother for a business trip in NYC at the Javits Center. Quite an experience! There are tons of people from all over the world, either buying or selling food and food related products. 

Clearly I am not in a food related field, but with a Fine Arts background, I can appreciate all of the labeling and packaging! It's amazing how much the display of your product affects how you get noticed. Something I will definitely keep in mind for my own projects. 

Sketchbook Quotes

Here are more pages from my newest sketchbook. I can't bring myself to put anything in it but inspiring quotes relating to art. Maybe it's a chance to play with different writing styles. 

Robin Williams Charcoal

"Never say goodbye because saying goodbye means going away, and going away means forgetting." -Peter Pan

First charcoal drawing in at least 4 years. Hoping to do more with charcoal and other mediums I seem to have lost touch with. 

Everyone is an Artist

After spending so much time painting with children in the last few months, these words have never been more true to me! An unanswered question many of us ask ourselves. Even since Picasso was around. 

One of my favorite things about working for Paint Nite, is that anyone has the chance to bring out their inner artist once again in a judgement free zone. 

I truly believe, everyone can paint. 

New sketchbook

Nothing makes me more happy or scared than a new sketchbook. Full of possiblity and ideas. Bringing up the "start all over" feeling, that seems to be the worst motivation. But I think I'm actually going to have a theme to this sketchbook... Quotes. Maybe art related quotes that inspire me. 

Here are the first two pages done tonight and last night. I love the fact that I can paint in this Moleskine and it doesn't mess up the paper. The corners curl a little, but I can deal with that. 

I may break away from this theme idea, but it's a great start to get me going. Sketchbooks to me are best when they are personal. 

Paint Nite Paintings

Here are the Paint Nite Paintings that I have created in the last week. I came to realize that if I want to earn more money, I need to create more and more paintings for Paint Nite. It challenges me to think of unique things that are not usually painted at Paint Nite. I also can try to make a spin off of something that is painted more often, and make it more interesting.

Leif's Painting Focus

For the last week my sister and her family have been visiting. Leif seems to be really into painting lately! Clearly this makes me super excited. We have mostly been using watercolors. I showed him the magic of using a sponge to paint and it seemed to be a big hit. Also, if you have a youngster, the best thing as far as paper to use is butcher paper. You can probably pick it up at any butcher shop or deli. Super cheap for the amount of paper kids go through when they are young and creative.