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

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.

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.

Newest Painting - Constance

This little gal is based on a sketch I did years ago. I've wanted to put her on canvas for a while...and here she is. I kind of love her sweet shyness.

This painting is 10" x 10" on a gallery wrapped canvas. She's available in MY ETSY SHOP now. UPDATE: Constance has SOLD

Newest Painting - Becky

 Becky, 5" x 7", acrylic and mixed media on cradleboard

This is Becky. I kind of love her moody angst. She is available in my ETSY shop now.

Newest Painting - Agnes

Agnes, 7"x5", acrylic and mixed media on cradleboard

Meet Agnes. She is my newest painting and she's available in my ETSY shop. Update: Agnes has SOLD

Summer - The Process

Here are my WIP pics of this painting...

 It all starts with a sketch

 The drawing with chalk on a black gessoed wood cradleboard

 First coat of paint on the background

 First coat on the face

 This is always the step where I doubt the painting is going to "work". I call this the "Ugly Phase".

 You can see that the face has one coat except for that right eye--the second coat makes a huge difference. 

 Almost done. She just needs a few accents and the chalk to be wiped off.

Almost done. I will add a few more accents after this.

And the finished painting!

Newest Painting - Summer

I've been in a bit of a painting slump lately. But just recently I've felt the creative energy flowing again. This painting was hard to put in the mail. That's how I know I really like it! I wanted her to hang around my house a bit longer. But she is a gift for my niece so she had to get on her way.

This was my inspiration pic. This little cutie just turned 2 and she's the youngest of 4 but she is IN CHARGE so in the painting I gave her a crown. She's also the sweetest little angel pie you'll ever meet so I gave her wings.

Here she is with her painting. This picture makes my heart so, so happy!

If you'd like to see my process for this painting CLICK HERE.

Santa Paintings for My Seesters

I designed this Santa years ago and have been meaning to paint him for my sisters forever. This year I finally got it done and I'm excited about how they turned out!

Both are 12" x 16" acrylic on wrapped canvas.

Art Time with My Luvies

I just spent some fun time with my nieces and nephew. When we get together we ALWAYS have Art Time! We worked with acrylics on canvas and cardboard. These cuties painted an owl, Batman, and my face on a flower. Aren't they so creative and fun??

While they worked on their masterpieces, I worked on this little lady. Acrylic and Sharpie on cardboard.

Mrs. Kohler's Robot (newest painting)

A friend asked me to paint a robot for her classroom. This was such a fun painting to do! I hope my friend and her students like it as much as I do.

I used my COLORING BOOK METHOD for this painting. Here's the WIP pictures...

And one more of the finished painting...

NEW Painting - Sharon (AVAILABLE)

I just listed this one is my ETSY shop. (Update: Sharon has SOLD)

Title: Sharon
Size: 6" x 5"
Media: Acrylics and Mixed Media on 3/4" MDF wood

You may have seen her on the blog before. "Sharon" is my Coloring Book Method example. To see how she came to be, click HERE.

NEW Painting - Olga Owns an Owl (AVAILABLE)

 Olga Owns and Owl, 16" x 8", acrylic, paper, ink on canvas

 Here are a few step by step WIP pictures for Olga:

This painting is done using my Coloring Book Method. So I begin with the outline, done with a paint pen.

 I then add in the mixed media elements--in this case newspaper and scrapbook paper.

 And a little bit more--some playful polka dots in the background.

Then comes the paint. And after that, I go back in and clean up the outline lines, add ink elements, and some other details. And then, voila...

THIS PAINTING IS CURRENTLY AVAILABLE IN MY ETSY SHOP.