Update from the Art Room

Here's a bit of what I've been doing the past 2 days...

I was asked to do a series of paintings like my bird paintings, but with butterflies, adding inspirational words, and using a slightly more girly color palette.  It will be for a nursery and I was really excited to jump to the challenge.  

I came up with a rough idea of what each one would look like: (mostly to play with space and design elements to make sure they went together well)  After this pic, I ended up doing a reverse of the Bloom design to fit the overall scheme better.

The buyer wanted me to use my usual mixed media techniques and so I played with some paper layering to build a base background for the paintings.

Then I used gel medium to fasten all the papers down on the canvases and to create a brushed texture on top of the papers (I like lots of texture on my paintings and dont like working on top of flat smooth paper.  The gel really helps me create that rough base I like to work with.)

Next I grabbed my brayer and created the color pallettes that I wanted each painting to be in and worked away creating layers of color over the papers to get the exact background look that I wanted.  (Hint: keep a dry and wet work rag on hand to wipe away areas of paint as you are working)  Then I added some texture and patterns with some hand carved stamps and random household items (paper doily and bubble wrap).  Here's a short video of me doing some of this (its my first attempt at doing a video of myself, bear with me, the view is not that great)

Last I added drips with alcohol inks and Voila! The canvases are ready for me to start on with the paintings.  Backgrounds are always super fun to make in this way.  It always feels like playing to me and there is very little chance of messing them up.   

The "Imagine" canvas in pinks and reds

The "Create" canvas in purples and blues

The "Bloom" canvas in greens/yellows

the "Discover" canvas in yellows/oranges

My other news for today is that I finally got 3 of my newly redesigned Journal Necklaces photographed and listed on Etsy.  I am really proud of these.  It took quite a bit of time and money to get all the materials that I wanted for them, but I think it paid off.  They make me so happy!  I have 6 more almost complete, so keep an eye out for more shop updates.

See them on Etsy Here

 Have a Happy Day where ever you are at!! And before you leave please leave a comment to introduce yourself if you have not already.  I adore making connections with new friends, and you are welcome to leave your website address and whatnot as well so we can all get to know each other better.  Ciao!!