A Love-ly Treasury

I just had to share this sweet, sweet treasury my "Peace On Earth" hand painted print was featured in... Love it.

(You can get a better look here.)

The First Paint Party Friday of 2012! Hooray!

"Believe"  (My Word of the Year)

This week I've been working on more hand painted prints for my shop...

"Irving"

"Henry and Luigi"

(This was originally created as a gift for Tyler's teacher.)

"Dancing Elephant Topiary"

I'm so excited to be back... painting, sharing, and seeing what all of you are up to!

Happy PPF!

Paint Party Friday... Hand Painted Prints

"Heart In Hands: Love"  (hand painted print)

I'd like to start this post with a great big "thank you"!  I have definitely been feeling the love... Your emails, messages, and comments making sure that I'm okay mean more than you can possibly imagine!  Please don't worry - Life is good... Crazy... But good.

"All Tied Up"  (hand painted print)

Family fun, gift making, (and now jury duty) are keeping me busy... Very, very busy!

"Heart In Hands: Peace On Earth"  (hand painted print)

In addition to holiday preparations, I have been working on adding some items to my very neglected shop.  I am so excited about the hand painted prints I've been creating using a new (to me) technique...  

The process?

I scan and laser print my original drawings onto 140 lb. cold press watercolor paper.  Then I hand paint the print using a combination of watercolors, acrylics, prismacolor pencils, graphite, and ink.  I am thrilled with the results and tickled with the possibilities!

Custom "Heart In Hands" (hand painted prints)

Since this week's poll question over at Paint Party Friday is about gifts, I feel I would be remiss if I failed to mention what great gifts hand painted prints make (you can find them here)... Just sayin'.  

Hee Hee

Happy PPF!

AEDM: Day 8 (Creative Tuesday)

The theme at over at the Creative Tuesdays blog this week is "Thank You".  I thought it was the perfect opportunity to share a fun project I'm currently working on!

If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you probably already know that snails make an appearance in my art from time to time.  (If you're new here - Welcome!  I hope you take a look around and come back to visit often!)

In addition to my "thank you" snail at the top of this post, there is even more "snail mail" in the works...   

These guys are heading to my shop... They'll be there soon!

Here Is...

I feel like there has been quite a bit going on behind the scenes in my little part of the (blog)world, so I thought I would take this opportunity to share some of the things I've been up to.

I was interviewed by Helen from Scarlet Designs as part of her "Blogs From Around the World" series.  (You can read it here.)

I receive many questions about my art, and this past week I received an email with specific questions about the painting techniques I used in my One World One Heart painting and also in the Bohemian Butterflies painting.  After I wrote back, I thought it might be useful to post my answer here too (just in case anyone else was wondering).

Here is the question:

I'm curious about your materials and technique for overpainting the bright backgrounds you paint. What type of paint do you use? How do you cover the background so completely? I've done some background/overpainting like that but never got the background covered as nicely as you! I'm using acrylics. I'm wondering if I'm using the wrong kind of paint or just not enough.

Here is my answer:

The truth is that I use whatever paint I have lying around - I generally use artists acrylics for underpainting, details, etc.  For the overpainting in the paintings you're talking about I actually used latex house paints - it's great for opaque coverage (and I always have lots - before I had Tyler I was the co-owner of a mural/decorative painting company).  I mix my own colors using white latex (usually satin finish) with the basics - red, yellow, blue, brown, black.  Sometimes to achieve a really intense color you have to rely on artists grade paints... it all depends what I'm mixing.

As far as technique, for the heart painting I used an expired plastic gift card to apply the overpaint (kind of like a trowel)... first a deep blue (I think that was actually some craft paint I had lying around - premixed), then I put on a layer of turquoise latex house paint, then a layer of light green house paint - I let a little of each previous layer peek through.  For the butterflies, I used a brayer for the overpainting - I actually used some saran wrap to dab on the colors, then used the brayer while it was still wet to blend it.

(I love receiving emails and I'm happy to answer any questions I can, so feel free to email me anytime!)

And, speaking of painting, I think Eva and I have kept you in suspense long enough...

On Friday March 18th, Eva and I will be launching Paint Party Friday!  I think it's going to be a lot of fun and I hope you'll join us!  (You can read more about it here.)

Since I'm still on the topic of painting, I would be remiss if I didn't mention...

The amazing wood mounted print I just received in the mail from the very talented Lori Diane!  I have loved this painting of hers from the moment I saw it and I was lucky enough to win a print of it during OWOH!  If you would like a piece of her gorgeous artwork for your very own, be sure to visit her etsy shop.

Thank you so much Lori (Bob and I know exactly where we are going to hang it)!

I would like to finish today's post with some gratitude by giving a shout out to some great etsy treasuries and a big thank you to each of their creators:

sleepyhollowfolkart

LittleFishSupplies

MissBettysAttic

sharethebeauty

Lincikas

I'm so happy to be a part of these fun treasuries - thank you for including me!

Anthropologie Inspired...

Before the holidays, I posted a photo of 3 paintings on my work desk.  Since they were a present and I didn't want to ruin any surprises I only showed a glimpse of the very beginning stages.

Now that the paintings have been gifted and are safely hanging in their new home, I thought it would be fun to show you what became of them...

This is a photo of my niece's bedding (from anthropologie) which was the inspiration for the paintings.

I created a patchwork of paint across the 3 canvases using colors and patterns inspired by the bedding.

I have a large collection of handmade stamps and stencils that I have cut over the years... perfect for creating "fabric".

It is always fun for me to see my paintings hanging in the space they call home!

"Bohemian Butterflies" is now available as a print in my etsy shop.

Sunday Sketches (Mail Edition)

Snail Mail!

This week's sketch was inspired by Illustration Friday's "mail" theme.  It seemed only natural that my snail friend who keeps popping up in my artwork should make another appearance!

This painting was created using watercolor crayons, prismacolor pencils and a micron pen on a distressed envelope.

After I finished this silly little painting I thought, "Wouldn't it be funny to actually send someone some 'snail mail'?!?"  So I created blank notecards with this image printed on them.  (They are now available in my etsy shop if you're interested in sending some good old fashioned 'snail mail' too!)

Don't forget to visit Sophia's blog to see what my friends have been up to this week!

An Announcement, A New Painting, And Sunday Sketches!

I am very, very happy to announce that my etsy shop is now open!  All of the paintings above are listed for the fabulous $30 price!  (I replaced the unfixable day 3 painting with my "butter-fly" painting from this post!)  Be sure to stop by... I'd love to know what you think!  (If you aren't familiar with my 30 in 30 for 30 project, you can read more about it here.)

"Nutcracker"  8x10  acrylic on canvas

Today's painting was inspired by Eva's nutcracker suggestion.  All of this holiday painting is starting to get me in the spirit!

And last, but certainly not least, are this week's Sunday Sketches!

It has been such a busy weekend - I'm tired.

Please make sure you visit the Creative Every Day blog to find out how other artists spent their Sunday.

And, of course Sunday wouldn't be complete without a trip over to Sophia's blog to see my friends' Sunday Sketches!

I will be visiting blogs tomorrow... for now I'm off to bed!