Painting, Painting, Painting...

So, I have actually gotten quite a bit of painting done in the past few days. I mentioned a giveaway and review that Gina at dangginagives.blogspot.com will be doing in the near future. This is the preliminary picture of the background of the painting and the font I chose to do the name in. The middle of the painting will be "whited out" where you can still see the background somewhat, but will create a "frame" for the name in the center. I will also put some sea turtles in the middle area as well. I absolutely love these bright, beachy colors!



This next painting is one I am doing as a gift for a good friend of mine that just had a baby a little over a week ago. I absolutely love this name. I know it is not an unheard-of name, but it's so unique and beautiful in it's own right. She just told me she likes pinks and purples and left the rest up to me. I know she is a very spiritual person, so I decided to add four scriptures that talk about hope around the edges. I noticed that the paint was not dry when I took this picture, but this is very preliminary anyhow. Please excuse my poor picture-taking skills.



Last, this one will have the name Ariana in the middle. This is also a gift for a another good friend that just had a baby a few weeks ago. I love the name Ariana and her bedding is the Carter's Love Bug bedding that I have already matched before for the nursery in the 2nd picture. I wanted to do something drastically different for this family, so I went with the darker color for the background, but I plan on whiting out the middle here, but it will be completely white. Then, I will paint the name with a lady bug and butterfly or flowers in the middle. It think this is going to turn out very cute.



I love having so many different paintings going at one time. It really helps you to not get "tired eyes" or get bored with looking at one painting. When you start getting towards the end of the painting, you get to the tedious, very detailed, small brush painting, but this is when it's really fun!

Dang, Gina Gives!! (and I do too)

****BOTH GIVEAWAYS HAVE ENDED****

*****GIVEAWAY ALERT I*****

Check out dangginagives.blogspot.com! She is always testing and providing reviews on various products from makeup to, ummm..., paintings! I am giving away a painting on her blog on November the 2nd. She will also be reviewing one of my paintings within the next few weeks while I act as a sponsor on her site. If something changes and she waits to do the give-a-way when she has a painting to review then I will let you all know when the give-a-way will be. I am giving away a 12x16 inch painting of the winner's design choice. She will also be reviewing a 12x16 inch painting I will be doing for her son, Brecken. His room is a beach theme with Hawaiian items and Sea Turtles (see the picture she sent me). I am excited to get started on both paintings and also to hear what she has to say. Also, during her giveaway and mine, I will be offering a 15% discount on all orders before shipping.

*****GIVEAWAY ALERT II*****

To help get the word out (and boost my blog traffic), everyone who makes a comment on this post, becomes a follower, and posts about it on their blog/tells a friend, will be entered into a separate giveaway I am hosting solely here on my blog. All current followers that make a comment and blog about my giveaway with a link back to my blog will be entered as well. My giveaway will start the same day as hers, which is tentatively Nov 2nd and run through Nov 16th. So to summarize:


1. Wait until her giveaway starts-tentatively on Nov 2nd
2. Make a comment on THIS post
3. Become a follower of THIS blog (current followers are entered if they do steps 2 and 4)
4. Blog about it on YOUR own blog with a link back to my blog OR, if you don't have a blog, tell friend by mouth, email, Facebook, MySpace, etc...
5. WIN!!! (a 12x16 inch painting worth $35-$40 if I randomly choose your comment # on Nov 16th)


Okay, so typing about this was a pain, so I know it will be somewhat of a pain for you guys, but I am really trying to get my name and blog out there to boost business for Christmas. Again, during her giveaway and mine, I will be offering a 15% discount on paintings before shipping.


If anyone has any questions/concerns please don't hesitate to email me.

A Friendly Scarecrow and Prepping for our Daycare Halloween Party

I'm so excited! my in-home daycare as well as a few friends are getting together to have a little party for the kids. I was assigned to prepare the games. We will have a "Pass the Hot Pumpkin " game, a "Bo0wlin with Pumpkins" game, and a "Mr. Bones Hide-n-Seek" game for the kids. Also, this friendly scarecrow will have the white sectyion of his face cut out to make some cute pics! I painted him in about 30 minutes and he turned out so fun!! I am also doin face painting, so I am going to paint little poatchwork areas on their faces before their pic. So fun!!! My friend prepared the wiggly worms (spaghetti) and eye balls (peeled grapes) for the feeling. Also, we have goodie bags and super yummy cupcakes that her sis-n-law makes!



Here is Preston in his little puppy costume that is a 2-3T, but it's too small already! He had a blast playing in it!!


Here I am!!



Here I go...



I'm back!!!!!!!

We hope you all have a very happy and safe Halloween!

2 Year Anniversary Requires 2 Posts in a Day!

Okay, so I started this "business" 2 years ago this month. I think I started building a website around the 7th of October in 2007, but gave up because it just wasn't as cute or as easy to manipulate as this blog. I have learned so much about painting, myself, business in general, and the blogging world in the last 2 years it is insane.


(this one is not even close to perfect; fortunately my aunt still loved it)

While I don't paint full time to earn my living (I keep children at home to be with my son), I wish I had more time to devote to it. Right now, with painting late at night or during the kids' nap time, I don't really get to love it as much as I would if I were doing it full time. I really enjoy it once I get going on a painting, though. A person will send me a picture either with an idea in mind or tell me to just do whatever I want. Then I get to dive into the design process. I'll draw on butcher paper maybe 4 or 5 times in a space the exact size of the canvas. Then I narrow down what I want to do and get started on painting. I have learned so many techniques to make the lettering much more precise and clean. I have even gotten used to the roller coaster ride that a painting goes through. Back at the beginning, if it wasn't looking like I wanted it to right from the beginning, I would give up and start over, but now I just stick with it. All paintings have a way to going through rough stages and then almost immediately improving and so on.


(I started to experiment with different sizes of canvas and painting diagonally so people could utilize the painting on a wall or on a stand; notice the fun edges too!)

I have built much more confidence in my paintings by going to expos of all kinds and even being a vendor at a consignment sale a few times. I even painted on my easel while sitting there with people watching! I would have never done that 2 years ago! I have learned that despite it sometimes feeling tedious while working through finishing a painting, this is what I truly would love to do to support my family and hope one day that will come to fruition.


(I finally started gaining some confidence here; this was bought by a friend of mine for her baby, not just given/forced as a gift! LOL!)

I actually have a BSBA from Aquinas College that I finished while working full time. I have gotten to put that to good use by building this business. It's pretty cool to get to invoice people through PayPal and do all the steps involved to go from that to buying supplies to the design and painting process and then sealing it and shipping it. I love when people send me pictures of the painting when it is in their home or if they bought it for a gift, a picture from the other person's home. It's truly rewarding to get to do all these things myself.


(It is true, I use paint tape sometimes to create straight lines like on the left, but here, on the right, I took the time and effort to free hand all these and it turned out pretty good)

Last, I have learned so much about the blogging community and all it has to offer. All of my business besides 2 paintings have come from advertising out in the blog world or connecting with other bloggers. I have gained so many new actual friendships with people that have become customers or vice versa. Bethany, Kristin, Linda, and many more have been so supportive of me and my business. If it wasn't for people like them that just follow your blog and come and make kind comments (as well as order stuff), I probably would have given up on this a while back.


(Disney's Tinkerbell even got better from one time to the next.)

I guess what this post is about is my journey as an artist which started long before this business. I just want to say thanks to all my family, friends, and blogging buddies that have supported my and been so encouraging. You guys sincerely keep me going. Also, I thank God for the talent he has given me and I have been able to glorify His name through some pieces of art. He has allowed me to stay home with my son and through that I have some extra time to paint here and there. I hope you all keep coming back over the years and maybe one day I can say all I do is paint all day long while playing with my son as well.

Thanks again!

On the Edge

So, here are the edges of the painting I previously posted for Maclaine. I was debating on leaving the edges blank since the front has quite a bit going on, but the panel that had this design on it was too cute not to take advantage of using.



I really enjoy painting "on the edge" or side of a painting. It is such a small space that it presents a challenge. Sometimes a simple stripe will suffice, but sometimes it needs something more intricate like the flowers above or, if it's a 1 inch edge, a plaid pattern is so much fun! Also, wrapping something like dots around the edge really brings a painting to life and adds some dimension. Last, since you can't see the edge from the front, it's like a whole new place to incorporate something cool from the bedding that you might otherwise not get to utilize. It's even sweet sometimes to do something different on opposing sides! Who knew the edge had so much to talk about!




Oh, by the way, ignore all that junk in the background; I like to paint on the kitchen counter!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

I Love this Name!

Here is a painting that I have been working on for a little bit. I met the customer at the Nolensville Women's Show back in May and we are just getting around to doing it. She had this idea in mind and I have done scriptures around lettering before, but never over it, but I think it turned out pretty cute. I have seen something similar to this before, but I am not sure where. I hope I have not used someone else's design, but this is what the customer described. The bedding is called Zoe and is so cute. That is the 2nd picture below and one the customer sent for me to use. I am not quite finished, but I hope she likes it!



Sorry it has been over a month since I have posted. Things have been so crazy around here! I hope all my blogging buddies are doing well! I have missed talking to you all!