Rainy Day Fun

It's a cold a rainy day here in Newnan today. How appropriate that I just finished up my new Rainy Day Fun painting. I saw some umbrellas in a children's book and thought, new inspiration! A little silly, I know, but once they are framed in white bead board, they'll be a great painting for a mudroom, laundry room, or heck, your family room! These umbrellas would surely make Mary Poppins tickled pink. Better than that old black one she floated around with anyways.

Well, I'm off to get more painted. I've not mentioned it because it's slipped up on me, but I have a show coming up very soon. It's the Trinity School in Atlanta's Spotlight On Art. I was thrilled to be invited since it's invitation only. They have 350 artists on the list this year, including some heavy hitters! I'll be taking about 15 paintings, 10 framed tiles, pendants and a few felties. It looks like a wonderful event. If you are around that week it's Feb. 17th-21st.

Going Back to the Crayon Box

As I posted yesterday, I just finished up quite a collection of jewelry for the Naked Art Gallery. Whew.... Seriously I am thrilled with this new idea of making jewelry to sell and not just adorn my neck and ears. I will say however, that I feel I need reading glasses now from the countless hours spent threading those tiny pearls on wire! The time and energy spent was well worth it and hopefully the pieces will find loving jewelry boxes very soon. Anyhoo....my post today is about going back to the crayon box. Every one has one.....it's just that mine are these most fabulous collection of Sennelier oil pastels. Oh how I love these little guys and what they can do to paper! The upcoming show I am participating in is actually called "Microlove". Great idea. Everything is not necessarily lovey, but they are items you could buy for your sweetheart. And the micro part is that all the artwork had to be under 6". Yes, that's the size of a $1.00 bill. I found these great paper mache frames at Michael's in the scrapbooking section last week. The work on it's own would have been just okay. But with these fabulous frames it really makes the work special. I added little copper hooks and voila! Micro art ready to hang anywhere you please!

So I'm off to joint compound some freshly cut wood. What's the inspiration you ask? Well, this go around I have on my mind umbrellas, a pink bike, chairs and a special idea from William. I'll post work as I complete it, hopefully very soon!

I think I can...I think I can"...

As I posted earlier I am working on a line of jewelry for the Naked Art Gallery and the upcoming "Microlove" show. I do not proclaim to be a jewelry artist, but do love to accessorize myself with handmade goodies. So I set out to make jewelry... thus the title of this blog, "I think I can...I think I can" from the beloved childhood story The Little Engine That Could. It has been that journey for me the past few weeks.

I started with an inspiration search on Etsy. I wanted to make jewelry that was not too far off from what I love to paint; birds, nests, flowers with blues, greens, white, etc. And then I found her...Patina Queen. Her findings inspired my entire collection. The hand patinaed wire, chain, aqua beads, hand tinted owls, birds, caps, oh I could buy her shop out! I also found a wonderful selection of blue and white beads at the mart last weekend to complete the look. Here are a few of my favorites. Check out my flickr site for the entire collection. I have to inventory and pack it all up tomorrow to fly on over to Vero. You can purchase any of the pieces in her online shop starting next week. I just love the hand patinaed wire. I have a nest similar to this in my jewelry box from Valerie. But the darker wire makes the aqua beads really pop. I also love the baby pearls.

These earrings match the necklace below. Not that they have to go together. I LOVE the tarnished caps and have already ordered more!

These bezels were fun to add images to. I also purchased bezels in yellow, turquoise and another white. Each has a bird image. They remind me of a vintage cameo.

I needed more earrings in the collection and decided that by wrapping the hand patinaed wire around at least twice it was strong enough not to bend in shape. The nest charms were hand patinaed with love.

Well, will I be making more? I have a few unfinished pieces here at the house. And I found an amazing branch with bird and nest at Michael's of all places today. So a few more I suppose. Mailey asked me yesterday, "Mommy are you making anything for yourself or just to sell?" Good question my little 6 year old. I imagine at least one will make it back to my over flowing jewelry box soon!

Birdhouses for the Felties

I had this sweet customer email me before the Christmas holidays asking if I'd ever made birdhouses for my felted birds. She'd bought a few items for her daughter's room at the Marist Show from me, but needed a few more goodies for the "big girl" room. She has it decorated in the Pottery Barn bird theme which is so much like my little paintings. Just perfect. So of course I said yes, and finally I have them all complete and ready to deliver to Kristen very soon! When they hang on the wall, the pink larger one in the middle has this fun bottom full of ribbons that will hang down. I had fun decoupaging, painting and adding ribbons and buttons to these new houses.

I made the felted birds first and had them like little muses on my art desk while painting their homes. I had already painted the houses the base coat and was planning to pattern them with my brush and paints. Then last week while roaming Michael's I came across this new line by Making Memories called Chloe's Closet. I just had to buy everything in the set! It's adorable stuff. On the houses I used the buttons and some paper from it. I also used some vintage sheet music. Once I was done with the houses I decided they looked a bit too newish. So I rubbed the edges with some brown paint to give them the worn in look.

Overall I am tickled with the outcome. I can't wait to make the special delivery soon!

Playing Around with Photoshop

I love to take pictures, always have. This is evident by the bazillion photo albums and stacks of pictures awaiting placement in photo albums I have in my home. Recently I bought the newest, most fabulous Canon Rebel camera. I have absolutely no idea how to use it, but it manages to take amazing pictures anyways. I needed a better camera to take photos of my art work and of course my two little ones! Here is an example of how it takes no Photoshop involved: Then today I decided to play around with Photoshop and found that I could do this:

And this:

And this:

Okay, I think I am going to take a Photoshop 101 asap! I am loving what this program to do with my little experiments already!

I have some birdhouses in the works and new jewelry to share very soon!