{Art} Lotus Painting

I've had this large canvas for years and could never settle on it. I had started something on it twice but never was pleased. Then it finally hit me the other day - paint a giant lotus on it. So I worked on it over the weekend. It's done in acrylic and the photos are from when it was still wet. I'll finish it soon (hopefully) but I'm liking it more and more the way it is. I may hang it up just to see if I still like it. My problem is I can't figure out where to hang it - maybe in my living room on an empty wall? Or upstairs in my bedroom on a very empty stairwell wall (tall and wide). 

Lots of colors are in this painting. I thought of it as a true under painting, with hints of these colors showing through as I layered. But then some stayed, so I don't know. It felt good to paint again and I need to use up some canvases that I've been collecting. I also have a few that are painted with other things that will probably get covered up. No one needs a still life from art school 20 years ago.  

{Art} Tree Letters

My parents celebrated their 40th anniversary this past weekend. They are always hard to shop for as they keep telling me that I shouldn't buy them anything. So I thought "what am I going to do for them?" and then it came to me... a painting. This is the third that I've made for them. For their 30th anniversary, I painted our old barn from one of my mom's favorite photos of it. I also painted them a Giant Redwood tree and that may have been for their 35th, or a birthday. 

This time around I went personal again. It spells their name (points if you can figure it out), and it's based off my mom's published book, Letter Trees. She photographed all 26 letters that you could see the tree actually made - no photoshop or criss-crossing trees. It took a lot of time and effort! 

{Art} Peacock Pointillism

Visit my classroom art blog {Art and Main} to see the step by step colors of the peacock feathers! 

This was all done in tempera paint as it started out as an example for my students during our Pointillism project. I used the tempera paints the entire time, adding only one or two other paints when I was at home this summer (although I think I went over all of that because the colors were off). The tempera paints came in a set of 9 - white, black, brown, red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. I mixed those colors to create what you see. 

{Art} Love Painting

A couple years ago, I made this painting for a coworker who was getting married. She used baseballs and red in her wedding and I chose gray for a neutral background. The canvases were thick so they could stand up (as shown below) or be hung on a wall. 

I love the texture of the ball and I gave it a little color so it wasn't just a bright white circle.

I also used some silver in it and a little edging in black. 

The gray background all came together in a circle at the middle point, if hung as a 2 by 2, for added interest. 

What do you think? Do you like it? 

{DIY} Driftwood Heart Art

As mentioned (and shown) in this post, I finally got around to using some of the drift wood Doug found during our Alabama trip last year. It sat in a plastic container on our back porch this entire time (that poor area is now our junk room it seems...must change that soon!). 

 I started by painting one of the many canvases I have in shades of blue. I wanted to include all shades, as I have light blue drapes and a darker blue rug in this room. Plus, it looks like water/sky when all blended like I did. After the painting was dry, I took the pieces of driftwood and started with the broken sand dollar piece in the middle (that was found in the heart shape). It was then like working with a puzzle, trying to find pieces that fit well and made it balanced. It's not perfect but I like it. The little extra piece on the bottom will have the location and date written on it when I find my silver paint marker. 

I love how the blue really brightens up the wall. The "Root Beer Fizzle" wall color goes a bit dark some days, especially with a lot of wood and black tones of the frames. I may have to repaint next summer, but I don't see anything happening soon. 

Linking up at:
Work it Wednesday

Made in a Day

{Art} Mary's Painting

I made my brother's girlfriend a painting of two of the places they traveled. I hoped it would bring her happiness as she looked at it and remembered the good times they shared instead of the end of their relationship when he was sick. I'm not sure though, as I haven't talked to her since I gave it to her.

They traveled to Colorado and Manhattan and I had the idea of combining the two. It's 12 inches tall by 36 inches wide, and 1.5 inches deep. It looks great on the wall, if I may say so.



And here's a close up detail of the buildings...


Linking up to these parties.

{Art} Baseball LOVE

One of my coworkers had a wedding shower last week and I knew from working with her that her wedding was going to incorporate baseballs and the color red. So, I came up with the following....



I love it! And luckily, so does she! They are 8x8" canvases that can be hung either as a 2 by 2 or all in a row, or even set up on a mantle or shelf because the canvases are 1.5" wide on the sides.

The letters are slightly outlined in black (only on parts) and then highlighted in silver. The red is a pretty, basic red that goes well with the St. Louis Cardinal's style red - not to bright, not to dark.