My First...

...order for a painting from someone I have never met and who is also from out of state. She came to my blog from LeeLou (my new blog friend that I got my great blog design(s) from). We have talked back and forth by email and she is a very sweet person and she wanted to order a painting for her sister who is 7 months pregnant. Here is a preliminary picture of the painting and a picture of the bedding from JC Penney called Pink Paisley Splash. You can barely see the in cursive "E" in the background that still needs to be painted. I was just so excited, I had to do a post! I really like this bedding and the colors. She also emailed me pictures of the nursery and they are incorporating a dotty caterpillar theme which is very cute, so the polka dots coordinate very well actually. More pictures will follow soon.

On a separate, but somewhat related note, I finally signed up with PayPal so I can actually take credit/debit cards now and bank information for paintings. I got motivated from the above order. It's very cool actually; I just create an invoice at PayPal and email it to the customer and they can pay right through a link in the email without even having to be a PayPal member. I'm feeling kind of legitimate now!

"Driving" Me Crazy!

Ok, so here is a painting that I had been working on for the past week for a little boy I keep that turned 4 yesterday. The reason for the title of the post is...I tried time and time again to get the sports car on the painting to look like a Corvette. He LOVES cars and it was only appropriate for his painting to contain them. I thought, ok cool, this will be fun. I drew out the Escalade from a toy car and it turned out pretty good from the get go. The Corvette (also drawn from a toy car), on the other hand, started out looking like a Fiero then changed to a Probe and then after about 3 more drawings and many adjustments after I painted it on, finally looks like a sportscar, but not exactly like a Corvette. I think I didn't have enough space for it there, so I was doomed from the beginning. Also, maybe I should have looked at larger pictures instead of Matchbox cars. Anyhow, his mom said they both loved it and that's all that matters, right?!

'Yeehaw'...It's Done!

So, here are the final pictures on this painting. Keep in mind, I am a "painter" not a photographer. I am debating on whether or not the letters looked better before they were turned into "rope" letters, but the person it is for says she "loves it", so they will stay. I also added some fringe on the ends of the rope as well as some details to the horseshoe. The person this is for is the designer/owner of LeeLou Blogs and we have become "blog friends" over the last few weeks. She is such a sweet person and says she wants to blog about her piece of art. I am not saying this to brag, but I just thought that was so very nice of her that I just wanted to say "Thank You" to her here on my blog.

I already delivered 'CRC' to it's owner last weekend and she says she "LOVED IT" as well. I was relieved to find out that her husband was the designer of the linking CRC and I wasn't infringing on anyone's rights! Whew!

Yeehaw! CRC and 'Yeehaw' are Almost Done!

Here are the two previous pieces I referred to...I still need to do some "cleaning up" of some edges of the letters, do a few details, and varnish them, but for the most part, they are complete! To be more specific, 'Yeehaw' will look like a rope at the end! I get somewhat stressed when I am doing paintings because I want them to be JUST RIGHT! I really want the owners of the new pieces to love them, not just think they are okay. Anyhow, I did decide to go with 'Yeehaw' on the one instead of 'Giddy Up'. I thought that 'Giddy Up' would look better, but it turns out I was wrong; 'Yeehaw' looked much better! I will post final pics when they are completely complete (hehe he he), but I was so excited, I had to post something. Anyone who actually reads my blog, please comment! I must mention that the linking 'CRC' design is not originally mine; my friend asked for it to be the same way it was on her shower invitation and announcements.

I Wish I were at the Beach!

This is my front/main bathroom and I recently changed some of the things in there from like a nautical theme to more of a scaled-down beachy theme-nothing special. When I got my new shower curtain, I thought how cute some paintings would be to go with it. This was like 4 or 5 months ago! I started on the paintings the night I bought it and just finished putting a shell and starfish on yesterday. I have never painted a shell before and didn't realize how hard it would be..oh well, here they are...no close-ups of the shell!

Sneek Peeks for the Cowboy Designs

So here are the initial pictures for the two paintings I mentioned the the last post. On the "gingham"-looking one, I plan to white out a space in the middle and either rope it off or do some barb wire and then the initials CRC in the middle because they have more of a rodeo theme. On the other, they are going for more of a classic/Pottery Barnish theme, but still cute, so I think I will attempt to do the lettering itself in the form of a rope and she wants it to say "Giddy Up" or "Yeehaw". I think "Giddy Up" looks better in the font. By the way, the colors around the edge of the second one are barn red, deep blue, golden yellow, and burnt sienna-it's hard to tell in the picture. The colors wrap around the edge, respectively. Hopefully I will have these finished by the end of the week and will have more pics.

I'm So Excited!!

So, I emailed a lot of my friends and told them all to check out my new blog design that I got from a great place http://leeloublogs.blogspot.com/ for FREE and it was SOOO easy. Well, after I uploaded and tried a few of her designs on my blog, I left her a comment about how great that was of her and how wonderful her designs are! She emailed me back and is such a nice person! Check out her new designs at the link above and don't forget to put a button on your blog to give her credit for the design. I just got this great new leaves one for the fall. Love it!

On another note of excitement, I am working on a painting for her as well as another friend's adorable baby boy and, ironically, they both have cowboy-type themes. So cute! I'll have some pics to show soon. I have actually started and finished a piece for each of them, but they are ROUGH drafts!! I do mean rough! So no peeks! Sorry...I'll have something to show soon because I do pretty much have the design down now.

Nie Nie Recovery Auction

I heard about this silent auction on a blog that I read almost daily(http://www.kimwheeler.blogspot.com/) and it is a great cause. The mother and father of this family were in a plane accident and they are in critical condition. They also have 4 young children. Please check out the items up for auction by clicking on the link below. You can also donate money at either one of the following links.
Today's Creative Blog: Nie Nie Recovery Auction ~ 1st item

For more information about the family and to see updates on their recovery click on this link.

Update on my art in a couple local places...

Ok, so here's the lowdown on the great opportunity I had to place some samples at The Monkeys Treehouse http://www.themonkeystreehouse.com/ and The Poshtachio Patch http://www.poshpatch.com/. A friend of mine went to The Monkeys Treehouse to play and said she did not see any of my artwork in the lobby. So, I emailed both owners to touch base and the owner of The Monkeys Treehouse said she was re-thinking the lobby because nothing was really selling since parents really just come there to play and not really to shop. She informed me at the beginning that sales of items in the lobby had been hit or miss so we had to give it a try, right!? Thanks for the great opportunity anyhow. Well, I got a response from the owner of The Posh Patch later and she had kind of a different response. She said several people had seen the paintings from across the room and liked them, but they could see some minor defects. I admit this because I made several paintings that I thought were for example purposes only and had made them in a short amount of time. I didn't realize she wanted to sell them right off the wall. So, I am making a few with the popular colors, patterns, and letters for her shop and hopefully they will sell. However, I am going to ask her if people can just do the sale through her, but still come to me with details for custom pieces. Anyhow, here are a few preliminary pics of the two I am working on. The dots on the edges wrap around too for a cool effect. I need to do another coat or two on the lettering, clean up the edges, then varnish them. Hopefully we will have success this time around!

Preston's a Lion!!

This is the cardboard cutout thing I did for my friend's son's carnival theme birthday party with Preston behind it! So fun and so cute with the kids behind it!

Finally Finished...and Just in Time

I got a lot of good painting done yesterday and last night and just varnished the paintings I have been posting about for Abigail, Ryan, and baby Jayla (due in November to my best friend Angie). I had the bedding to look at for Abby and Ryan, but for Jayla, all I had to look at was basically this http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2743521 . I had a very small pamphlet from Babies 'R' Us, but the pic on the Internet is about the same size. I hope the parents like them...

Paintings for Baby Jayla

These are for a gift for a baby shower, so if anyone reads this and knows Angie and John DON"T tell them!!! PLEASE!!! I just wanted to post these while they are in progress too. I need to have these finished by Sunday for the shower. (I've got a lot of painting to do-I should be painting instead of posting) I really only think one person reads by blog anyhow. (Thanks, Rach) I love the bedding they picked-Love Bug by Carter's-so cute! My plan is to do the name on the one with the wavy frame and then do some flowers/lady bugs/butterflies from the pattern on the the other, but I may need to do it opposite now that I think about it-yeah. Ok, I think as I blog...Oh, well...I'll have updates on these soon as well since I need to finish them too.

A Lion for Ryan

My friend's son Ryan is turning two tomorrow and her sis-in-law had a great idea to do a carnival theme; I think it is so cute and unique! They asked me to paint a lion with the face cut out so the kiddies could take their pictures through it. So here it is! The face is not cut out yet because I need to do an accurate measurement of a two year old face. Anyhow, this was fun to paint. Not perfect by any means, but I think it will be cute with the kids behind it. I am also going to do face painting there and do little lion faces on them before they take their picture.

By the way, this is the birthday party I have to have the striped paintings done before; I better get to work, it's on Saturday!

Update on "Works in Progress"

Here are the two paintings I last blogged about with the additions in the center and "whited out" to make them faint because the names will also go in the middle. I am giving one of these at a birthday party this weekend (see next post), so the names will be done soon. I almost wish there was some way I didn't have to white out the pics in the middle because they are just so cute (the pictures themselves, not necessarily the way I painted them); I was just so in love with the stripes! The final pics will be posted soon.

Works in Progress

These two paintings are for a very good friend of mine's children, Abigail and Ryan. I have been working on the "frame" of them for a while and this frame matches the bedding they have. These stripes are on one side of the bedding and on the other side, for the girl, there are cats and dogs with hearts and, for the boy, there are dragons and castles with clouds-so cute! This is just a sneek peek-hopefully I will have the middle done in a few days. I plan on doing some of the cats/dogs/hearts and dragons/castles/clouds in the center, but painting a light coat of white over them to make them faint and then doing the names in one of the colors that makes the patterns slightly different which would be dark pink and dark green, respectively. (I love that word)

A Birthday Present for...

This is a little girl that I have been keeping since January and she turned two this past weekend. I got her an actual gift and threw this in as a little something extra. I have been wanting to do a painting with this font called "Curlz" and finally found a name that I thought would look cute and go with the painting too. This picture is not all that great and I wish I had taken another one after I varnished it-it looked a lot better.

A New Piece of Art for Baby...

This is a piece that I have been working on for a good friend from my old job and he has been a great supporter of my art biz. I did a beach scene for his wife and The Lord's Prayer for his mother back at Christmas as well. I appreciate your support, Mike, if you ever read my blog. I'm not sure anyone does.

More samples...

Here are a few more samples that I have been working on and I finally got the face put on the monkey. I will be getting to take some of the samples by to The Poshtachio Patch today. The "R" is actually on a sage green background and the "R" itself is a light brown, but the picture dosen't really show that very well. I really like the way both of these turned out-I love the font on both too! I've still got a few more samples to finish up that I am going to take to The Monkeys Treehouse next Tuesday.

Another New Business...or just a feature added to this one...

I have been asked to do face painting at the ACSI 20th Anniversary Celebration. I thought, ooohh, how fun and simple, right? Wrong! I bought some face paint at Micheal's and some brushes and then went online to get some ideas. Boy is there alot to it! There was tons of information about what to do and not to do, techniques, hygiene, etc...I mean, alot of it was common sense, but I needed them to help me think of all the important stuff. So, I tried some on myself and a couple of the children I keep and it wasn't so hard afterall. If you are going to do it for a living (who knows?), then you might need to invest more time, energy, and money into it, but not right off the bat. My paints do meet the US regulations and is water based which were the most important things as far as the paint goes. Here are some of my first attempts, but when I practiced on paper for my example board, it got somewhat better. We'll see how it goes this weekend.

ACSI Anniversary Banner almost done!

I have added the globe in the center that is similar to their logo. I am debating on adding some flair to the letters on the edges?? I need to add some reflections to the letters as well. It will be done tomorrow, either way.

More Samples (and some of the same with additions)

I am still working on several sample pieces to hang at The Monkeys Treehouse and The Postachio Patch. Some of these are finished and some still need some things done to them (like the monkey's face or maybe a name??) I would have had them done sooner, but with mom and V's birthdays on 5/24 and Preston turning "The Big ONE" on 5/31, it has been hectic. I have simultaneously been working on the 20 ft banner for ACSI and practicing some face painting as well for their celebration (see next two posts).