Friendship

"Friendship"

This was based on a tutorial by Danielle Donaldson.

Original available here for $15.

6"x5.5" on deconstructed watercolor journal paper

Prints available on request.

(Printed image may be slightly cropped for printing purposes.)

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Prints of many of my paintings are available in my Etsy shop. 

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.

  I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

Moonlight Mates

"A friend may be waiting

behind a stranger's face."

-Maya Angelou

"Moonlight Mates"

8"x8"

All works are copyrighted and all rights are reserved by the artist.

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Prints of many of my paintings are available in my Etsy shop. 

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.

  I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

I'd love to hear from you...feel free to leave me a comment.

Best Friends

It's always such an honor to create a commissioned piece. I adore these two friends. Makes me think of this quote.

"Whoever said that diamonds are a girl's best friend never owned a dog."

I feel like I'm that girl...all grown up...and I even have my hair dyed bright orange right now!

"Best Friends"

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Prints of many of my paintings are available in my Etsy shop. 

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.

  I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

I'd love to hear from you...feel free to leave me a comment.

Best Friends

I was commissioned to create this sweet piece featuring this trio of best friends. I adore them!

Click here to view my gallery 

Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

I'd love to hear from you...feel free to leave me a comment.

High Five-and-a-Half - Part 2

So this afternoon as I was leaving a parking lot I heard a noise. A buzzing noise. Then I saw something fly by my face. Something big. I pulled over and jumped out of my car. Then I saw it. It was the biggest, goldenest, fuzziest bee I've ever seen. And it looked like it had absolutely no intention of leaving my car. I'm not afraid of bugs as a rule, but I am afraid of being stung. So after a few "hmmmmmm"s and a quick post about it on Facebook (typing that makes me feel quite dorky), I reached in and opened all of the windows. The HUGE fuzzy bee? Nope. No interest in going anywhere. I very bravely got in the back seat...the bee had taken up residence on the headrest of the front passenger seat...rifled through the pouch behind my seat to see if there was anything I could use, and found a brand spankin' new bulk pack of gum. I quit chewing gum a month ago so this was quite the surprise. I used the pack to gently maneuver the bee onto a piece of paper and then shook the paper out the window. And as I drove away bidding my fuzzy friend adios, I opened a pack of gum and relished in the sweet delicious mint I felt I had totally earned.

Now to something much less huge and fuzzy. I finished my cousins painting. Here's the finished piece and below it are a number of stages leading up to it. A rather large number. I kept changing my mind about different things...and then there were a few goof-ups, too, of course.

"High Five-and-a-Half"

I added stripes to their shirts.

I decided to redo a number of shoes and a leg.
I moved the blue shirted boy closer to the purple shirted boy
I also had the child on the left put his arm around his cousin.

I reworked the shoes/feet and started
adding some background details. I
made the child on the left facing the same
way as everyone else. I also moved the child
on the right closer to his cousin.

I added a flowering tree and worked more on the background.
I also redid the blue shirted boy's neck.

I added more sky and clouds and had the child on the
right keep his right arm down.

I changed the child on the left's shoes so he was more in
line with the others.

I added details like watches and bracelets and
highlights in their hair. I also added some background
features on the right.

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

High Five-and-a-Half - Part 1

Cousins are awesome! They're like siblings, only maybe better. You get to see them during special times and when you're with them "work" is even fun just because you're together. I only occasionally saw my cousins as I was growing up and I was a lot younger than they were, but when we'd gather together it was wonderful. And whether it was going for a boat ride or sitting around shucking corn for that evening's meal, blissfully good times were had.

I started working on a painting of six cousins, though they've named themselves "High Five-and-a-Half" because number six is half their size. Or at least he was. He's catching up now. But just last night I heard that he'll always be known as "half". What a lucky little guy who will likely be the biggest of them all one day.

I'm not as far along as I would have liked to have been because I painted over my first run at the image. That's my favorite thing about acrylics...you can just paint right over what you're not a fan of.

Here's where I am so far.

I painted the basic colors of he background
and sketched the image on top. I started painting
some of their shorts before I remembered to snap a pic.

I began adding some basic colors. I have a lot of work
to do with their basic shapes and tons of work to do on
details, but I'm much happier with how this version is going.
I promise it'll move past the ugly cartoon phase.

I think this is my seventh painting of children positioned looking away from me. I think it adds such fun and whimsy.

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Inspired by Matisse and Hafiz - Part 1

I completed this painting...with only one major flub along the way. One. That's not too bad, right? Here's the finished painting and below are several images on its way to its final stage (including the flub one, of course).

"Inspired by Matisse and Hafiz"

Once the positioning of the figures had been decided upon
I painted a quick rendition of them.

I gave the figures bodies.

I darkened their tones and left their bodies featureless
because my goal was to keep them racially and gender neutral.

I painted the words to the poem...and...Doh!
I found out I'd left out one line.

So I painted over the lines above where I'd missed a line
and repainted the poem. And done!

What a truly wonderful painting to work on. I love doing commissioned pieces. I feel like I grow with each one.

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Cat Nap Love

Our cats love to take naps...no surprise, they are cats!

While they typically nap within a few feet of one another, I caught those two having the most love-filled nap ever. Yup, those two tabby cats were loving their nap so much, loving each other so much, and loving snuggling so much that they actually formed a heart.

Love my boys!

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale.

 

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Celebrating and a Give Away!

Today I'm celebrating!  One thousand days ago I started an adventure...an adventure in fun, love, and creativity.  At first it was just for fun and stress release, and over the thousand days it's truly become my absolute bliss.

A HUGE thank you to everyone who has followed and supported me during this adventure of mine.  I'm excited to start the next thousand paintings tomorrow.

P.S.  And to celebrate, I'm having a 50% off sale through April 21st (my birthday!) on all my paintings.  Unfortunately there's no way to do a discount on the site, so message me the one(s) you want and I'll happily adjust the price.  Click here to go to my shop.

P.P.S.  And I want to give away one of my pieces.  Leave a comment on this blog post telling me how you find your creative bliss and I'll randomly pick a winner on Friday.  Be sure to leave your email address so I can get a hold of you. 

Click here to purchase this painting.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

He's Driven by My Distraction

My husband is right.  He's funny...downright hilarious.  OK, so admittedly I was pretty darn distracted with something all afternoon and into the evening.  I was nose to the grindstone and paying everyone else no mind.

So after some gentle nagging to stop, I tore myself away from my task and joined the family.


Me:  "OK, but now I need you guys to do something funny so I can blog right quick."

Dave:  "I am funny, you just haven't been paying attention."


So I did a little rewind in my brain.  And yes, the dude is correct.  Here's what my delightful husband was up to whilst I was"away."

• Dave danced for the dogs.  Yes, for them, not with them.  And they were scared!

• Dave poked and prodded me in a super flirtatious, not at all annoying, way.

• Dave approached me with random "What are you doing?" "What's that?!?!"

• And then he offered me a piece of meaty pizza.

...which meant he was willing to try anything to get my attention.  And that he's really, really funny...even funnier than he thinks he is.


If we're thinking of being thankful, my guy is at the top of my list.

Click here to purchase this painting.