New painting and the Winner is!

 

Last year we started to redecorate my daughter's room. First we got her a new spread, then a lounge chair, and this year we purchased her a new bed and dresser.

 

 

 

So I have been trying to decide what would be a nice new painting for her room. She wanted an abstract painting and I was leaning more to an organic image. So I decided to combine the two together.

The flower starting to blossom.

 

The background I started with a dark blue and purple. I just felt compelled to paint these rhythmic strokes of paint to add a whimsical feel.

 

 

 

 

Here is the finished piece in her sweet sixteen room.

 

The winner of my Mixed Media painting e-course is Rita Montgomery. Congratulations!

 

Creative Workshops Blog Party and Giveaway

As many of you know I have a couple of online workshops on Creative Workshops. Over the summer the site was in the process of switching over and moved to Typepad. Gail is the owner of this lovely site which has very wonderfully talented teachers who have classes in various mediums. So, to celebrate the big move and new look of the online workshops, most of the teachers are participating in a class giveaway! The giveaway will allow one special winner to win a class. I am offering my Still Life Mixed Media e-course for one special winner.

How does the party work? Anyone who wants a chance to win a free class from my giveaway just post a comment for a chance to win. The giveaway starts September 23 - September 29th.  The winner will be announced September 30th.

Just below is a list of the other teachers who are also offering a class a giveaway. If you don't have a blog just post your email address with your comment.

Sara Naumann

Cat Kerr

Jodi Ohl

Martha Lever

Nancy Lefko

Cathy Bluteau

Mechelle Harrison

Elizabeth Johnson

Liz Miller

Terri Heinz

Kerr Pelto

Lori Vliegen

Diana Frey

Marilyn Harris-Mills

Nellie Wortman

Gaye Medbury

Ann Butler

Dawn Meisch

Gail Schmidt

Sprucing up the walls

 

 

 My youngest son Jordan and oldest son Michael both play baseball in the spring. Michael has a shelf for his trophies, but Jordan did not. I have been trying to figure out what would be the perfect thing to use. I had seen these cute little cube shelves at Target, but I wasn't certain they would all fit.  I finally decided why not give it a try. I love the way it shows off his game balls and trophies.

I'm planning to paint his wall baby blue.

 

I showed you before the mirrors that I painted a little while ago, but I wanted for you to see how they look up on the wall. I got these mirrors from Ikea many years ago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am also slowing starting to get my fall decorations out for the season. I pulled out these fall ornaments that I made out of polymer clay. I will be sharing with you what I am going to do outside soon. 

Creative Doodling and Looking Back

 

 

I have been admiring this book for several months now whenever I visit Michael's Arts and Crafts store. The book Creative Doodling and Beyond is filled with inspiring prompts and exercises to get your creative juices flowing.

 

 

 

 

 

So I decided to finally get this book since I always want look at it in the store. I thought it would be a good fun exercise to follow along with.

 

 

 

 

 

A few days ago I was looking through my old sketchbook from college. I attended the Columbus College of Art and Design. I love looking back to see what my work looked like when I was starting just starting out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In high school I actually was more interested in drawing photo realist art, but when I went to art school, I started to make more cartoon art. We had a some students that would go on to work for places like Hallmark, American Greeting, and a few friends went to work for Dayspring.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Doubting Peter

 

 

When I finished art school, I actually went back to a more realistic subject matter when I exhibited at a lot of festivals and galleries back then. 

 

 

 

 

 

Then eventually after having kids, I went back to a more whimsical style of art. So you can see I have gone all over the place.

 

I'll show you some more of the exercises I am doing in my new book soon.

New Clocks

 

This past few days I have been creating some new designs of clocks for my shop. The jazz saxophonist is actually a painting that I had used before for an art block. I finally decided to make it a part of my collection of functional art. The other clock is an abstract design of warm and neutral colors.

This past year or two moustaches are all the rage on fabric, party favors, and all sorts of home décor products. So, I decided to make a fun clock with a moustache. I am still thinking of what color to make the hands for this one.

They will be available in my shop later this week.

2014 Color Trends

 

 

Over this past year I have been noticing the different trends in color. I have been looking to see what is in the forecast for next year.  Since we have been seeing the bright and bold colors over the past few years, slowly the muted colors are becoming more and more popular in fashion and home décor.

 

 

 

 

Now the more earthy natural colors are making there way back on to the scene. It reminds me of the 70's trends, except more subtle and sophisticated tones.

 

 

 

The color palette includes lavender, olive green and grey and silver to name a few. However yellow is still a popular bright color to look for in fashion and home décor.

 

 

 

 

I like to look at these colors for inspiration in some of my pieces of home décor. Even if it is a small amount of a popular hue in my art. I definitely don't want to be a stick just to what is popular, but I think it is good to keep up with some of the trends in some of my products.

As I was researching this I read that even in cars people are picking more neutral colors. My family just purchased a new car  a few months ago that is silver. I had noticed before, but I am amazed as to how many silver cars are driven by others now that we have that color.

The Clouds

No my head is not in the clouds, but for some reason I had this desire to paint them. Probably because this entire summer has been so rainy and cloudy. Our weather goes from sunshine to dark menacing clouds, back to bright sunshine again. Even though at times it is good to have a cloudy fall or winter day to curl up on my couch with a good book. It simply was not what I was expecting during the summer months. I am thankful we are no longer in our drought we had experienced for several years. I do look forward to the fall season to hopefully dryer months ahead.

When I was a child I used to think that clouds were like cotton candy. Oh, how I wish I could reach up in the sky to grab a piece of cloud to eat. I know that sounds silly, but that is what I thought at a young age.

Whenever you are out take a look at the beauty of the clouds at different parts of the day and enjoy God's beautiful creations! Be blessed.