I've been really inspired to get back into oils lately and even more inspired to do some full portraits with said oils. So a new project is launched; one that concentrates on natural beauty, simplicity, and monochromatic colors. Hopefully I can get some models lined up for photos sometime soon. I've found that it's good for me to have something else happening artistically (whether it's a craft project, decorating project, or just a different style of artwork) in busy times like the holidays coming up. That way I don't feel totally overwhelmed or get burnt out from painting pop portraits back to back. So without further ado, here's the first in what (hopefully) will be a small series of paintings in this project!

Please note: It was incredibly difficult to get a good picture of this painting. The colors are actually more vibrant- a soft pink in the background that fades into her skin. But my camera just wasn't measuring up :(

I'm excited for the way it came together and am looking forward to what's next!

Also..... if you haven't entered in for my giveaway yet, today is the final day, so DO IT!!!!! http://tinyurl.com/6tc8cq3

This is the painting from which my business got its name! "Dream" features an adorable blue little giraffe, anxiously pondering a swirly storm above a little village on a hill. That little blue giraffe stuck with me, even became my signature for paintings! Just thought I'd share it with you, as it's a favorite of mine :)

Also, make sure you take advantage of that handy little coupon seen on my homepage and get your orders in soon for Christmas! I'd love to create a unique, hand painted portrait of your loved one(s)!

I have this really awesome 16x20" deep edge, canvas print of this painting and am really looking to sell it! The print is valued at $200, but today it's on sale for $100! This is a great piece for a kids' bedroom or even a hallway. "Nice Dream" is about the magic of daydreaming. I painted the original, a 24x36" on canvas board, in 2006, and it's been a decorating staple in my apartments/ house since then! It currently sits above the dining room table and makes me smile every time I see it. I had this print made so that someone else could enjoy it, too!
Contact me if you have any questions! The watermark doesn't actually appear on the canvas.

The inspiration:

The painting:

Sometimes the photograph is just too irresistible; it must become a painting.

I thought it would be neat to show a piece in stages as it's being painted!

A  little background:  My mom suggested I paint a landscape for an art show on the back in April, and I wanted to dive back into oils, since I've been using  acrylics on mostly everything (acrylics are ideal for my portrait business since  I have to paint them so quickly and ship them out- oil paint just takes so long  to dry that it's not practical or efficient for pumping out art quickly). So, Everything was free-handed on the canvas- no planning or sketching like I have to do with portraits. Of course I had an idea in my head, but no set arrangement of images. It was a lot of fun and actually quite a quick painting! I used  another landscape painting I'd done for a commission as inspiration, but added  brighter colors and a larger stream of water in this one.  SO, enjoy watching  the painting transform in the pictures below!

The final painting sold at the art show, BUT... there are notecards available and archival prints, too! (Just in case you fell in love with it!)

Thanks for reading!

This painting was inspired by two things:  a photograph and my mother.
I'll be entering this piece in an art show on April 1st and 2nd at the fair price of $500.
It was really fun, especially the flowers, and I like to think it invokes thought in the viewer.

I absolutely LOVE it!

One of my bestest friends in high school and I used to be inseparable.  We worked together, were at school together, got into trouble together, even skipped school together (1 time, mom, I swear!!).  When I would be over at her house, I would always wander into her dad's office and look at a series of black and white photos of her mother taken in the 70s.  Her angular jaw, the curve of her body as she sat, the casual placement of her hand, and even the totally cool furniture in the photograph...all of it just drew me in repeatedly.  I would tell myself, "someday I'm going to paint that."  I finally summoned enough courage to ask to take the photos home and sketch from them.  I worked on this painting almost all of my junior year in college (yes, it took me that long to feel like I had enough practice and could actually make it into the painting I'd imagined), and I felt so accomplished once I'd finished it.  Even though it's been three years, I still take time to stare at it, see into those deep eyes, sweep across her movement and imagine the story the painting tells.  This painting, in my opinion, represents when I found my "style" and really felt the power behind painting.

In this post, I would like to feature my husband's art. If you know him, you know he's an unbelievable musician- both a composer and instrumentalist, with a critical ear and taste for many kinds of music. BUT, being the son of two artists, he has a creative artistic ability in visual art as well as musical art. 

When I was studying art in college, us poor art students were relegated to a not so cozy place on the very far edge of the university campus called the Art Barn. That building had been many other business previously before being taken over by the university. Before it became the Art Barn it was a gaming room. Imagine in your head walking through double doors into a room the size of a small house with rotting wood, resident racoons and very high loft ceilings. The studio painters had some desk areas on the left half of the room, allotting about 6 feet a person, more or less, a stool, an easel, and if you were lucky, a table. The right side of the room was for classes (only 1 at a time) and had 30 or so stools and about 5 folding tables, a wall of cubby units for art work, some weird old lockers, and a crooked white board on which you could see remnants of past lectures and drawings from who knows how long ago. There was a wash room that smelled like moldy water, acrylic paint and turpentine containers on the floor, and through the connecting hallway were the printmaking rooms and sculpture workshop (why we had one of these, I don't know, because I never heard of a sculpture class there). Then in a small corner room was a desk and a cacophony of books, old coffee mugs and a pot, random art supplies, and various unsorted papers, where the professors were supposed to work, though I doubt they really stepped into that room.

As unpleasant as that sounds, when you spend many a sleepless night there working on piece after piece, just you, your IPOD and the resident creatures living in the rafters, you become attached to it and find that such a place harbors some beautiful creativity. 

When Sam and I were first dating, he used to come visit me in the art barn, sometimes playing music, sometimes just talking, and, on the rare occasion, he would join me in painting.  There are two memories of us while we were dating that involve art and music, and I can honestly say, they were important events to my heart falling in love. One of these is a whole other story featuring Beatles' music as per Sam Jones and one of my strangest abstract paintings (and most popular). The other memory resulted in this painting by Sam:

I'm so excited to share this new painting with you! I've been working on it for almost 2 weeks a little bit at a time. It was inspired by a photo of my dear friend Lindsey taken by Devon, almost a year ago from now. I was repeatedly drawn to the colors and simplicity of the photo and had been imagining how I would use it in an art piece. I've been painting so many portraits lately in the same sort of style, it was nice to branch out a little and do something more realistic looking. There were a few struggles in this painting; as you will see from the original photo, it's rather unfocused and almost dull, and difficult to see the details. So I had to just go by my mental picture of what Lindsey's beauty looks like. I even had to go visit her and stare at her nose and mouth to help me with those parts of the painting. Otherwise, I absolutely LOVED creating this and absolutely LOVE the finished painting! 

Thank you Lindsey for your beautiful face and letting me use you for many paintings! 


A print is available of this painting in my shop- HERE!