My good friend Laura asked me to paint a few pieces for her family this Christmas. I had the honor of creating these gifts for her.
"The love of a family is life's greatest blessing." ~unknown
There are some people in life that make you laugh a little louder, smile a little bigger, and live just a little bit better. ~ unknown
I got a surprise in the mail this week. A good friend of mine Erica knows my love for art and hospitality and sent me this gorgous ceramic piece. Thank you so much, I feel very special as I get closer to turning 30.
I love this time of year. Everyone is seeing friends and family...and sending cards. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
I love fall. I love getting hot apple cider and going apple picking. I love the change in the temperature and the color in the trees. There is something special about this time of year. October has always been one of my favorite months and I feel like anything could happen. Maybe its the calm before the crazy of the holidays, or that you are into your school year and seeming settled, with the feeling of something about to happen. Warmth from the sun with cool evenings. planting mums, carving pumpkins, and wearing layered clothing, I truly love this time of year.
Here are a few fall cards I worked on today. Who doesn't love pumpkins.
I have missed working with students and have recently started subbing. I have been in the same school everyday for the past five weeks. It is great working with a school again, getting to know the staff and all the students. If you have ever subbed before you know just how hard can be, working in a class where you don't know the students or even where the classrooms are you are working in. But at the end of the day you can only hope that after unfortunately writing up some students you maybe helped one kid and they had a good day because you were there. I know I have been having hard days, but have felt more rewarded with putting in a hard days work and making connections with people again.
With this all said, I have not had much energy when I get home to paint. I will soon find a balance and knowing how I need to paint (if any of you have a hobby you know what I mean by need...) this is very important for my mental health. I hope you all have had a great weekend and heres to another great week!
I am that teacher that loves apples and have been eating a delicious Honey Crisp Apple every day for lunch. Hello fall.
Still working on my water and sky landscapes. My twin sister asked me to paint this piece for her boyfriend. Hopefully this painting has captured some of beauty of Victoria Falls in Zambia which is where he took the photo.
Oil on canvas, 12x24
Some of the dogs and cat I have spend some time with recently. I love the challenge of capturing the personality of each furry friend.
Painting water and the sky has always been a challenge for me so I thought I would take it head on. I always loved this image my friend took and I wanted to try to capture how spectacular it is in paint.
Oil on canvas, 20x16
"It's hard to wait around for something you know might never happen; but it's harder to give up when you know its everything you want.” – Unknown
I spent a good amount of time watching P3 planes fly over my backyard when I lived in Hawaii. I would often go sit on the beach and watch these classic planes fly overhead. Now being replaced by the P8, you have to stop and wonder at all the history these planes have seen since the 1960s.
Aloha P3, acrylic 18x18
I love going to the post office. I asked my phone for directions to the post office and it gave me directions to what my phone called the United States Government. Which the title of course made me smile. Post offices are great places for people to still connect even when they are not close to the people they care about the most. The people at the post office either seem to love their job or...well I have found that if you are really nice and polite they will be nice to you also, even when you make up addresses that do not exist and they have to help you look up the right zip code number.
This being said I have always wanted to understand the details of how mail gets from one person to another. I will have to settle for helping people start by getting a card and making what the person receives on the other end a little more special.
Hawaiian cards to send a little Aloha.
I am excited about these bird cards! And my dear friend has a birthday this week so I of course I had to paint her kissy fur.
Well quite frankly the time has come (this is long over due) for me to start painting with oil again. For those of you that know anything about different painting mediums this one can be a little more challenging. I have a great love and appreciation for oil paintings and am proud to say that we are reuniting.
Oil on canvas 18x18
The art of sending a card to a friend or family member just to say you are thinking of them I feel like is being lost. I love sending cards but sometimes it is hard to get to the post office to buy stamps or simply to pick out a card and figure out what to write in it, and yet we have no trouble sending a quick txt. I would like to help make things a little easier for you by making the card, let me know what you would like me to paint and I can come up with a small collection of personalized cards you can send to your loved ones just to say I thought of you.
Don't let your grandma's down who always sent a card with beautiful cursive in it that was so lovely you could not read it :)
I love my Dad. He is the best guy I know and whenever fathers day comes around I have just another reason to let him know how great of a dad he is. Most people that know me know I love sending cards. I love creating something special for the person receiving the card. Again I am not good with words and hope the picture says more to the person than my actual words I write.
I love painting horses and whenever I hear horses I always think of the movie "Sleepless in Seattle" when Meg Ryan is in the car singing along with the radio while traveling to a Christmas party, horses horses horses. If you have not seen this classic movie please do. A new friend of mine here in Corpus Christi has been wanting to put together a nice gift for her parent in laws anniversary. I love helping people celebrated loved ones so I was all to eager to help create something special for them. The subject of this piece is of the owners race horse and her new foal. I have always found the most important part when working with any subject is to capture the personality of either the animal or the person.
I do not always get to see how the pieces I create get hung and where the new owner of my creation places a piece that is finished in their home. It is exciting to see the finished product. I was lucky to receive two photos of some pieces I did earlier this spring. I was surprised to see the flower piece put together as the paintings were simple cards that I sent to my mother in law and she turned them into a small collage of for her wall. I am always so honored when someone loves what I painted enough to take it a step further and frame the piece.
I love painting small pieces for friends and family. My twin is attending a wedding for a mutual friend soon which I regret will not be able to attend. Talking on the phone with my sister she shares she is at the store trying to pick out a wedding card to accompany the gift. Not sure which generic card to pick I tell her I will be happy to paint her one. Together we came up with a nice little piece that will be perfect for our dutch friends tying the knot. Happy they are the perfect pair.
I thought Texas was supposed to be hot and sunny all the time. Apparently I was wrong. However, this weather has kept me inside and forced me to focus on painting. This week I worked on two different Hawaiian landscapes. I have to admit you cannot beat the beautiful blue waters of this tropical paradise.
I have been home for two weeks in Michigan. This trip was everything that I hoped for. I had the chance to be helpful to my family and get to share in some special events such as my sister having a lead in a musical and my Dad's 60th birthday! One of my favorite days however was getting to paint with my twin sister, something we have never done before. We both worked with the subject of spring and had a great time on a rather rainy April day, but as they say April showers bring May flowers, which was rather fitting.
I got wonderful news this morning! My friend Laura is an aunt again! Three years ago I painted a piece for her new nephew's nursery. The theme was bugs and nature. Last month I shipped Laura another group of canvases with a collection of safari animals. I enjoyed researching what animals can be found in the safari. I cannot wait to see what the group of pieces looks like hanging up on the wall. My favorite parts to this piece were painting birds in flight and the sleeping cheetah in the tree.
