Hand Drawn Cards

Yesterday evening I got the idea in my head to do some hand drawings on note cards. I started out drawing a couple of cars and then I painted a little watercolor bass fish. I thought these would make great Father's Day gifts because once you give the card you can mat it and frame it hang it on the wall... like a card and gift in one! I enjoyed painting the fish although it took me quite a bit longer to complete than I hoped but I promptly sold it (yay!) so I hope to do another one today. I also made some more cards today I'm excited about but I will share those later!

5x7 Sketch Painting

Today I painted in some sketches I did for a recent demonstration. They are small - just 5x7 - and I tried to not take it seriously and work quickly and just enjoy messing around with the paint. I had fun! I painted them on a piece of matboard...Now I just need to cut them out individually.

Church Painting

I just finished this commission for some sweet friends of their church. (which we also attend) It took me longer than expected and though I've painted a whole series of architecture in the past (well that was almost 9 years ago), I was reminded of the precision required to paint architectural details while at the same time needing to keep it colorful and full of life so as not to end up looking like an architectural rendering. A good challenge that I really enjoyed. Once again this piece is done in my medium of choice - acrylic on canvas and I used a little bit of palette knife work for some of the trees.

New Car Painting

I finally finished this car painting a couple of weeks ago. I started it months ago and struggled with making it feel right. I normally don't like putting detailed backgrounds in my paintings but it just seemed necessary for this one. So I put in a background from a photo I took on a trip to New Jersey. This is a 65 Mustang Fastback. I took several photos of it which I enjoyed doing and actually incorporated another view of it into a landscape painting I had started awhile ago. This one is my normal - acrylic on canvas - and is 20" tall by 30" wide.

Princess Purse

My niece is all about princesses right now. She can spot anything remotely princess and everything is related to a princess. So with her 3rd birthday coming up (and her princess party) I decided to make her a "princess purse." (Hopefully the addition of the hot pink tulle will make it apparent that it's "princess.")
I used a portion of an old dress for the black and white fabric and I had to use my husband's old sewing machine he found to use for a variety of his projects because mine is being repaired... let's just say I will undertake no more sewing projects until I have mine back! It's definitely a little rough around the edges but hopefully will garner the approval of a 3 year old princess! Hopefully this, with the addition of some princess hairbows from Katerbug, will make a fitting gift.

Another Little Painting

This painting I did yesterday - another 6x6 - was just something that was inspired by my devotional and the verse Matthew 25:40. Just some of the thoughts rambling through my head inspired with some new music and the butterfly theme I had going from the day before. Not sure if I'm completely done but thought I would share anyway.

Butterfly Painting

Last night, after trying to get motivated to work on a car painting that I'm struggling with getting the right feel with the setting for, I decided to just take a break and paint this little butterfly. I found these museum depth canvases and they are 6" x 6" and 2" deep... I just though they were great! I have 4 so I may do butterflies on the other 3 too but I haven't decided. This is the butterfly I stalked in my front yard the other day. It didn't mind me being there and kept coming back to the phlox in my flower bed.