Progression and learning

While I have been busy painting the little houses I have also been doing some character creating.... Franny and her pet bunny, Chalcedony. 

And then Jitna, who was inspired by following along with the free assignments from MakeArtThatSells' Lilla Rogers. 

I think having done the little houses made it easier to put Jitna into a scene. Learning as I go, scenes, especially ones for children, have not come as easily for me as doing the faces. But practice has definitely helped. The wonky windows are on purpose, I like the crooked look. I love adding the shadows and ferns and dotted trees! So..... more to come. I  hoping to get bold enough to submit some to a publisher. That kind of thing, always soooo scary!

(Some of these, the 6x6 ones will be listed in my Etsy shop if you are looking for some original art for a children's room or creative space.)

(And if you want any of the cabins or little houses act now because they have already been listed and are some have sold already!)

Happy paint party Friday 

The progression of the cabins in the woods...

The cabins in the woods have now become little houses on hills. I just was loving them less and less as I painted more and more of them. So then I just stopped, took a break and did an abstract just to watch paint flow. The next day I tried the cabin again and ended up with more of a fantasy style than the original mid century style I had started with. I love them now.... and am right back at them again!

Happy paint party Friday 

And

Happy equinox! 

I am loving autumn but I am also sad to have summer go... it went too fast. So I am posting pics of 5 things I will really miss about summer.... just some things that represent the small magic of summer for me. 

1. Eatting cherry tomatoes fresh off the vine, warm from the sun!

2. All the flowers!!

3. The farmers market !!!

4. The book barn....only open in summer!!!!

And 5. The little roadside ice cream/hotdog shacks!!!!!

More Color inspiration

Sometimes it is intentional, sometimes it is a happy accident, but generally my art is inspired by the photos I take of nature. Even if I am not painting the flowers or the fields, those things inspire my art, and here you can see the connection....

How did it get to be Friday already?

This week I have been working on something altogether different. I did the first painting below about a week or so ago ...

"Twilight"... sold

I was also considering doing a 30 paintings in 30 days challenge, mostly to be able to keep working in a series again, and see what develops. I was on the fence about even committing (to myself). I considered so many choices of themes to follow. Here's a few I considered:

30 days of: 

🍄 creating icons (to use to design fabric in photoshop)

🌸 painting quotes

🌈 painting more abstract watercolors

 👚making paper dolls 

 🚗map making

 🔫painting quilt squares

🌳 painting acrylic fantasy worlds; "brillawhistle"

🦄 painting kid illustrations for prints and icons 

🐳nursery art

🐷30 animalcharacters or

🐥one character 30 ways

🦉30 watercolor owls for prints or icons 

🐝 30 bees in 30 different mediums

📚creating a picture book

🦋 painting 30 butterflies or bugs

🐢 felt animal ornaments

⚗️ 30 mini shadow boxes in tins

🏵 mandalas 

🐾mini painted collections

🍂 botanicals

🍁30 watercolors all in violet hematite 

🍀 30 paintings in limited 5 color palette 

🐌 a Sketch a day of my day

🐚30 days of Painting what I am thankful for

⚗️30 things in jars

🦊30 monsters 

🐟 30 fish

🍭30 tea cups 

🍰 30 recipes

🌱30 birds

🥝 fairies

🍑30 rock paintings

💜30 days of German folk art

💚30 Patterns

🙂30 Product designs

✨creating a Tarot card a day

🌺creating a Motivational card a day

💙30 carved Rubber stamps

😊30 Lino prints

⚗️Monoprints/gel prints

🌱30 painted Ways to find small magic prints/book

🌙30 Faces

🐭Whole body characters

🌈30 Illustrated poems/nursery rhymes/fables

Well, then I got so many positive comments on the above piece that without really deciding I dove in and started doing a sort of mid century look/ cabin in the woods watercolor a day!

"Moonlight"

"4:00 pm light"

"Constellations"

"Oaks"

So all these are 6x6 and originals will soon be listed in my Etsy shop for $28 each. Prints may eventually be listed but may take a while. 

More to come.....

Thanks for stopping by

This summer in the garden....

Earlier this summer I made elderflower cordial from a recipe given to me by a fellow instagramer... and then recently when the elderberries ripened early I made a jar of elderberry syrup.... I had fun this summer using all the berries we had or picked.  I made black berry cobbler and strawberry rhubarb pie, strawberries and cream, and would have made more but my older son was still at home then and ate the last quart of berries plain I think. 







I did a bunch of sketches of flowers from the fields around me.....


My husband and I made the garden sign we have been thinking about creating for a few years now.... it has all the places we (Our kids or either of us) have lived or stayed for a week or so. All pointing the actual compass direction. 


The garden did amazingly well with our wet July.... too many cukes and zuchinni to use actually. I have made canned zuchinni bread and regular zuchinni bread, and 12 quarts of pickles....

Our next project will be salsa with all the tomorrows that are ripening... but that will be another post. 

Happy paint party Friday, and Labor Day!