Limited Palette

In the most awesome painting class ever (thank you Professor Miko!), we did a project using a limited palette. This guy (the author and illustrator of Dinotopia! Please tell me that book was in your childhood) does a great job of explaining what that is. I blogged about it a while back here. I was inspired to try it again, after having experimented with lots of different colors over the past months. I am always drawn to blue, and love the way that red compliments it ( though I did cheat, and used some browns, yellows and white. But still less than usual!). I also experimented with different levels of complexity, based on the same photographs; was fun to see how differently they all turned out. 

These leaves are collaged to the wood, similar to the technique I explained in this post, here.

In the handsome handyman department; the website is almost finished! Holy crap, it's beautiful, I can't WAIT to show you. 

Annnnnd...

 Each card has a different painting on them, and I just LOVE it. Don't know why little pieces of paper make you feel legit, but works for me. Excited to have them available for the upcoming show at Lillie's; if you stop by during the month of October, don't forget to enter your name for a drawing to win a painting! 

And I am so happy to have heard back from the North Beaches Art Walk today. The first juried thing I have ever entered; I'm in! If you know of a vendor that's participating, and would like a girl that paints flowers to sit in front of their shop, you just let me know. Hopefully the first time I participate will be October 20, which is the walk's fourth anniversary celebration. You know you wanna go. :)

Blooms

    It seems ironic that as much as I love to paint the outdoors, I can hardly keep a plant alive to save my
   life. But (at the risk of jinxing it) I have, without knowing how, a rose plant that is flourishing. It is
   seriously delightful to look out the window and see all these buds lifting their sweet little heads! Ro gave
   it to me for my birthday back in July; I stuck it in a pot (with fingers crossed), and away it went. Here's
    hoping the tide of unsuccessful gardening is turning:)

This Week's Finds

Recent projects inspired by my 'nature walks' with Rowan; so good to unplug from the computer, phone, tv etc etc and just look.  Lots of butterflies out, but the monarchs always catch my eye. And even though we don't have a legitimate fall here in Florida, I collaged these in a 'falling' fashion...think I may be slightly nostalgic about season changes. 

This Week's List of Loves

I LOVE my monkey. And love that he's finally figured out how awesome the beach is. This weekend he was a little fish in that ocean (with a little help from Ro). 

And I'm just going to say it: I love baby Advil. All this teething could've made Mother Teresa feel a bit crazy. Ok, maybe not her. But definitely me. 

I love my local handyman. Local, as in, roommate, bf, love of my life, hubs. Needed some shelves and, BAM, the man had these up in a jiffy. Don't be fooled by his tough computer guy persona.

Handyman hung this lamp for me too. LOVE.

 I love, love, love, beyond any reasonable amount, REAL, in your mailbox, mail. Received this happy envelope from my dear friend Ellen all the way in Tanzania! You made my week. Month. Year.  :)

Love that I finally sucked it up and posted some stuff on etsy. Putting myself out there is not something I excel at... even if I never sell a thing on there, I'm excited to have taken a risk!

Love friends visiting. Especially the painting, Sequence playing, wine drinking, beach lovin', boogie boarding kind.


Love finding new ways to waste Rowan's nap times. Reading about different artists could become my full time job if someone would pay me for it. And in my dream world, I win a trip to Mexico to meet this incredible artist. Or looking at her art could be my full time job.  And I just noticed Psalm 1:3 hidden in the header of her blog. Beautiful.

I love that no matter what is happening in life, there is always so much to love.

'Hidden Fortunes' collages:) Origami paper, maps, scrap paper and happy fortunes. 

'Soon You Will be Sitting on Top of the World'

'Many Successes will Accompany You This Year'

Paintings inspired by photos taken on a trip to DC. Looking at all nature pictures I have with a different eye now. Anything with fun lighting calls to be painted!

I've also been working on my checklist for my etsy shop...working through packaging ideas, shipping costs, business cards, pricing...so many things to think about! Whatever happens, I want to look back and know that I was persistent and committed, even if  intimidated.  Okay, really, really intimidated. 

Monkey

This picture just gets me every time. I think you can tell who's in charge around here! Happy nine months to our little man...it's pure magic getting to be your mom. <3

Nasturtiums

I have these sweet, fuzzy memories of being in the backyard with Natalie when we were kids, and being super, super excited about my mom's nasturtiums. A pretty flower...you could EAT!!! What is cooler than that when you're a kid ( or an adult for that matter!?). This spring, my neighbor was growing them in her yard, and it transported me back to those flower-munching times. I snapped some pictures, and just came across them again a couple days ago...painting ensued! 

A Painting in Rewind

Commission from beginning to end! I don't really love showing every step, because, let's face it, it looks pretty horrible in the beginning. So this is for you Esther! ha:) I'm learning that painting takes faith that something beautiful is going to emerge from all those layers of underpainting. I also met an artist in Penticton, Grace Shaw, who said, 'When I paint, I just take a deep breath and go for it!'. I love that! You can't over think it; you just have to go where it leads you. 

Done for lovely, lovely friends out in California, the Ebners! Based on a photograph taken by their  talented photographer son, Jeff ( check out his blog here!).