Bluware Painting

My most recent painting was done in less than 3 hours, start to finish, Saturday night. A friend from college invited me to do a live painting at his company's (Bluware, a technology consulting company)25th anniversary event.

This is the finished product. I was able to do a practice run at home before the event, which made a big difference. The piece will hang in Bluware's offices, so I wanted the feel to be technology related. I also loosely incorporated the company logo. The style of this painting is a deviation from my typical style, a more abstract but structured interpretation of the company's techie environment. It's 30"x48", painted with acrylics.

I have enjoyed painting publicly in the past, because it forces me to push through the times I just want to quit. It challenges me to paint more freely and expressively than when I'm in my studio, where I can carefully plan out each work on my own time. I love sharing my process with others, allowing them to be a part of the painting, from start to finish. As an observer, it's exciting to me watching a blank canvas come alive.

Small Paintings for Sale

Dandelion
Acrylic mixed media on canvas
8x10

$50
















Make Room
Acrylic and paper on canvas board
9x12

$50

I love you Mom and Dad!

So, it's been a while, I know. But here it is, the long awaited blog post. I know some of you were beginning to wonder if I'd given up on this thing. I've been working on this piece for at least six to nine months for my parents. They grew up around farming and cotton fields. My mom loves vivid color--these especially. The mountains are for my dad. I will never forget on our family road trips, my dad always pointed out the mountains and talked about how breathtaking they were. The yellow trees are just for fun. Green just wouldn't work here. This piece I did with oils--many many bazillions of layers. I hope when they see this piece that they remember how much I love them and appreciate the wonderful heritage I have. I definitely learned a thing or two through this process. I wasn't prepared with a definite sketch beforehand, which definitely killed me later. I had to rework the composition a few times, but eventually it worked out ok. I love oil. It is my friend. Natural Turpenoid also became my very good companion.

Shout out to Monet

It's been a while, I know, but I thought I'd show you a photo of my latest. I did this for my mom's guest room. Yes, I know, it's a copy of a Monet seascape. I used acrylic as opposed to Monet's oils--not quite the same effect, but I glazed it with a varnish, which gave it more richness and depth. I'm definitely leaning more toward the oils these days.

Crickett's Painting

Crickett's Song

Oil and Paper on Canvas

24"x36"

Last year, an old friend from college, affectionately called Crickett, contacted me and asked me to do a painting. She is a very gifted violinist and music teacher, and she had a wall in her studio that needed some color. She remembered some pieces I had done back in college and wanted me to do something special for her, giving me total artistic freedom. This is what I came up with. It's not the best picture--the color is a little more vibrant in person, but you get the idea. This one was very experimental for me, using many, many layers of oil color, drybrushing, gluing on pages from a Bible, using leaves to make imprints, dripping the sludge from the bottom of the turpentine jar, and more glue to add sheen and dimension. I'm really getting excited about mixed media lately. God is so amazing to provide me with ideas and inspiration in the midst of all the madness of life.

Three's Company

One of the most popular questions I've gotten as a mom and artist is "Do you find any time to paint?" This was a depressing thought when I first embarked on motherhood--that I would somehow lose my ability or time or passion to paint because my much more important children have taken priority. Well, had no problem painting through my oldest's first year of life, since he was an amazing napper and also very content to sit in a swing and watch. It became more of a challenge as he got older and napped less. Since baby #2 came along, I have often wondered if I needed to just store all my art supplies and give it up for a few years. I have recently come to terms with not having nearly the time or energy to pour into my artwork like I did before kids. I still long for the day that I can go to my easel and paint whenever the inspiration hits me.

A sweet friend and fellow artist, Ramona, gave me some great advice shortly before she passed away. She encouraged me to get Asher his very own easel and art supplies to put next to me while I'm painting. That way, he won't feel like art is off limits for him. I always remembered Ramona's words, and this Christmas I asked grandparents for art supplies for Asher. He now has his very own awesome two-sided easel, paints and art kit in the art room. For the first time last week, we created together--Asher with watercolors, Eden with chalk, and it was so wonderful to share my love for art with my son and daughter. So, the answer to the question is, yes, I do find time to paint! Sometimes it just looks different than I thought it would.

Jesus and the Marshmallows

This Christmas, Brandon and I decided to simplify and scale back on our normal gift giving and holiday activities. We want to focus on giving to those with less than us instead of loading down our already blessed family with more stuff that we don't need.

Every year I look forward to Christmas, and the meaning quickly gets lost in the stress--oh the stress! Self-imposed stress, triggered by a compulsion I have to decorate my house and tree and car (ok maybe not the car part) and bake and buy and wrap and dress everyone in beautiful clothing. These are all things I love! I enjoy baking and dipping lots of sweet goodies and making my house look festive and shopping for fun toys and wrapping beautiful packages of things that I will have forgotten a year from now. But after many years of doing these things, I am realizing that these activities, if they don't draw us closer to Jesus and to each other, are crap! Totally meaningless time-filling, pound-gaining, self-centered, empty fluff. It's pretty much like stuffing myself with the marshmallows love so dearly but don't help me out too much.

So, as much as is possible in our crazy suburban life, we are trying to scale back. This year I only made two kinds of treats instead of 17. I got my shopping done early, which is a first, partly because our shopping budget was much smaller, and Brandon and I are only giving each other stocking stuffers. The kids are getting 2 gifts apiece and we also did simple or no gifts for family members and friends. We have continually reminded the kids what we are celebrating and talked about giving. Asher took his full piggy bank to Living Water so kids could have clean water.

I must admit all of this was tough at first. It has been hard not to just focus on what we're cutting out or even be prideful that we are doing so good with what we have. It's also been amazing because I actually have a little time to reflect and enjoy my husband and kids. I still struggle keeping my eyes on the Lord and will until the day I die. But hopefully every little change we make will draw us a little nearer to our Savior.

Tonight as we go to our Christmas Eve service, I hope and pray that we are all freed up to really feel God's presence.