Newest Name Sign

I don't make these much anymore but when a previous customer contacts me and needs a sign for a grandchild, I pull out my beads, and ribbon, and girly pastel paints and get to work.

Bullet Journal Pages 232-233

My December Health Tracker and some festive Christmas lettering.

Bullet Journal Pages 230-231

Time to dust off the red and green pens and get ready for some Christmas lettering.

A(nother) Christmas Painting - Merry & Bright

This is another painting I finished in October and had to wait to hang up until now. This will be hung in my entry way right as you enter my house. It makes me feel Christmasy every time I pass by it.

20" x 24" Acrylic on canvas

This Guy is Staying Here with Me

I finished this painting about a month ago and he's going up in my house TODAY. I kind of love him. He may stay up through December AND January just so I can enjoy him longer.

10" x 10" acrylic on canvas

Some Word Paintings

This is a fun process I am just starting to work with. It was inspired by an IG post by Stephanie Ackerman of Homegrown Hospitality. She didn't explain her process, so I just sort of winged it. But here's what I did:

1. Painted some Dollar Store signs and a wood panel with black gesso. (Remembered to take a picture after I'd already added some color)

2. Painted lots of colors and designs all over them. (I knew two of them would have Christmas words on them so I painted those backgrounds mainly red and green, but in the end it doesn't really show through as much as I thought it would. Any colors would work).

3. Painted a soft coat of thin white (craft) paint over the whole thing. Sorry no pic of this step.
4. Did the lettering with a paint pen.

5. Did another layer of white over the whole thing going around and inside the lettering and scallops. Tip: on two of the signs (You are Brave and 'tis the Season) I used the thin craft paint again and on one (Joy to the World) I used a heavy body acrylic paint (the kind in a tube). I like the look of the heavy body acrylic more. I'll do that from now on. It let a bit more of the background show through.

6. I popped the '''tis the Season" wood panel in a white frame I got on clearance at Hobby Lobby. And I drilled holes and attached a wire hanger on the other two. And of course I added ribbon and fabric. I can't not.

The hanging signs are for my sisters for Christmas and the framed sign is for me cause apparently, I'm REALLY doing a lot of holiday painting for myself this year. Stay tuned for more holiday paintings to come...

Bullet Journal Pages 228-229

Finally finished my Thanksgiving journalling page. These pages are meant to spark memories for me. So though it may look like absolute chaos, I LOVE going back and reading them and remembering some funny thing my nephew said, or some amazing meal we had.

I took pictures as I went if you want to see my process.

1. First I draw the main title and I usually put a cloud or box or square around it so it doesn't get lost in the rest of the lettering.

2. Then I just start writing. I start with a medium tip and larger tip pen--basically both ends of my Zig Writer. I don't put things in order. I just write things where they'll fit.

3. Once the page is filled, I take a superfine pen like a Micron 01 or even 005 and fill in any spaces that seem too bare.

What do you think? Is this way of journalling appealing to you? Or is it just too chaotic? Let me know...

Bullet Journal Pages 226-227

Some Thanksgiving doodles on these pages. And a little color bleeding from the turkey to the facing page. Must have had some water drops on there somehow.

Paint Color Tags - Let's Get Organized

Got this idea from Diane Duda - an artist I just adore! - to make chips of all my paint colors. Years ago I inherited a bunch of craft paint. Some are so old they have price tags from stores that don't even exist anymore. So I know I won't always have these exact paints, but being able to lay out colors and think about the color scheme before starting a painting is proving VERY useful. And seriously, aren't they so pretty???

These masonite tags* were leftovers from an old project and my husband just cut them down a bit for me. They used to be 3"x3" square. They're now about 1.75" x 3".

This was my color scheme for one of my Glasses Girls. I didn't stick to it exactly, but it was a great jumping off point. (I went back and painted the sides of the tags later--they just looked too sloppy this way. And I wanted to be able to see from the top which color was which).

*A litte bit more about these tags. Years ago I made chalkboard tags from masonite squares my husband had cut for me. I sold them in groups of 3-5. An international company contacted me and wanted an order of 500 tags to tie to a CD they were about to launch. They said if all went well, they'd be ordering 500 more. So my husband decided to cut and drill all 1,000 at one time since the equipment was already set up, etc. Well, the second order ended up not happening. (I hope that doesn't mean the CD launch didn't go well...I don't really know). But I found myself with A LOT of little masonite tags. Throughout the years, I've made a bunch of things with them.

Below are some pics if you're interested. As you can see, I DO NOT let things go to waste and if there's something I can paint on, add paper to, and/or add ribbon to, I'll do it!

 

All Three Glasses Girls Together

Which one is your favorite?

Here they are hanging in their new home.

And one last pic for a size reference. (My daughter would kill me if she knew I posted this. She was somewhat cooperative about posing for this size reference pic I took to send to a potential client, but she wouldn't love it on the blog...oh well, she'll never know...) :)

Newest Painting - Glasses Girl No. 3

She's the last in the series for my office. I'm enjoying these large format faces so much I'm sure I'll do more...after I finish some holiday gift paintings and some other commissions I'm working on. Stay tuned. I'm sure some girls like this will eventually make it into my ETSY shop.

Bullet Journal Pages 224-225

Not a whole lot going on here, but I kinda like that the letters on November on the right page look like they have turkey feathers on them.

Bullet Journal Pages 222-223

Two more weeks of delicious Fall colors! I may use colors other than brown, red, orange, and yellow in November...but I may not.

Newest Painting - Glasses Girl No. 2

This is the second painting in my Glasses Girls series. The first one is already hanging in the office where I work. Once I hang this one, I'll decide if a third will fit or if two is enough. Either way, once everything is hung, I'll take some pictures of the girls in their new home.

18"x22" acrylics and wood on canvas

Newest Painting - Tall Pink Roses

This used to be a red sign with words on it that hung on a tiny wall in my bathroom. I made the sign years ago at a craft day with friends. But it was getting rather dated, so I peeled off the vinyl words, painted over the red with black gesso, and then did this painting on it. I was fully intending to hang it right back in my bathroom. But I liked the end result so much, I decided to hang this painting in my living room and now that little wall in the bathroom is bare...I need to do a different long, narrow bathroom painting to hang in there. :)

30" x 5.5" acrylic on wood

A Gift for My Niece

My niece just turned 10. Her room colors are blush, white, and gold. How gorgeous is that?? This girl has GOOD taste! I did this painting for her with her room colors in mind.

This is a larger painting -- 20" x 20". And according to my sister, my niece was excited and said "I know exactly where it should go in my room!" when she opened it. That makes me SOOO happy!! I'm always so happy when my paintings find a good home.

A Painting for a Good Cause

This was a sweet little canvas (10" x 10") that I donated to a silent auction locally. The auction was to help raise money for treatment for a 16 year old boy who has cancer. He is a darling boy who has done a few plays with my daughter. The whole situation is heartbreaking. I'm wishing him and his family so much hope and miracles.

A Gift For My Sister

My sister has a Fall birthday and her house is our gathering place. This little painting is for her birthday.

The painting is 7"x5" and I did it on a wood sign purchased on clearance from Kohls. I bought a bunch of these box signs and painted them with first white, then black gesso. And they made a great painting surface! I like finding new uses for things and finding inexpensive things to paint on!

Here's an edge view of this painting so you can see how thick the sides are.

Newest Painting - Glasses Girls No. 1

I'm doing a series of paintings for the optometry office where I work. This fashionista is the first in the Glasses Girls series. The glasses are cut from wood and attached to the canvas.

I will take pictures of the series once they are all done and hung. But to get an idea of size -- the glasses are 22" across. So for me this is a BIG painting. I usually work smaller than this. But I like the impact of a larger painting.

18" x 24" acrylic and wood on canvas

She's based on a sketch I did years ago but have always wanted to turn into a painting.