New Scripture Paintings

 "Fruit of the Spirit"

"Psalm 139:14"

 

I know there is nothing complicated at all about these scripture paintings, but I'm having a lot of fun with them. Doing the lettering, and masking it out is incredibly tedious, but I'm loving the outcome. "Fruit of the Spirit" is 12 by 16, and "Psalm 139:14" is 11 by 14. I want to do some even larger.

 

I was inspired to do these paintings from a love of wood signs done in a similar style. I was looking into making my own signs (which I still may do at some point) but got the idea to do paintings instead. I just love them. And they look spectacular framed. So, they can be more of an elegant addition to home decor, compared to a wood sign. It just all depends on what style you like.

 

Here's an example of one I framed for myself:

 

Anyway, I have prints available of all 3 of these paintings, and I will list some originals soon. I may even take some custom orders.

 

Hope you're having a great week!



Available Kitties

I'm not quite sure how it happened, especially with all my kitty collectors out there, but I still have 5 original kitties left.

 

"A Visitor"

"Bird Watching"

"Can You See Me?"

"Hiding Spot"

"In the Garden"

 

Each of these paintings are size 5 by 7 and are done in pastel, which means they will last a very long time (longer than an oil or watercolor). I hope someone can give these kitties a home! :)

 

Have a lovely weekend! God Bless!

One Fund Boston

By now I'm sure just about everyone has heard about the bombings at the Boston marathon last week. I don't know about all of you but I have felt helpless and have wished that there was something I could do to help. I heard about the One Fund Boston charity that has been set up for the victims and it hit me - donate. Therefore, I am offering to donate 100% of all painting print sales from my Etsy shop for the next few weeks to One Fund Boston. Mother's Day is coming up so you can purchase a gift and know that the money is going to a great cause.

 

Please spread the word! :)

Memory Quilt Complete

 

This memory quilt is finally complete! It's twin size and made entirely of baby clothes, receiving blankets and just a couple scraps of other fabric sent by the customer. What a fantastic way to not only reuse baby clothes and blankets, but to turn it into a permanent memory. If my parents had something like this made for me I would surely treasure it.

 

I'm thinking about turning this into a custom listing in my shop but in the mean time, if you're interested in having a similar quilt made, just email me at - angela292@hotmail.com

 

I hope you're having a great week!

Charitable Item for August

This completely adorable Meadow Friends quilt is my new Charitable Item of the Month. 100% of the sale of this quilt will be donated to the Wounded Warrior Project. The Wounded Warrior Project actively works to raise awareness of the needs that injured soldiers have, help to give aid to these wounded service members and even help them connect with each other. I think we tend to forget that even though a lot of military members have come back from Iraq and Afghanistan, many of them are coming back injured and are not receiving the treatment that they deserve.

If you know someone in the military with small children, this would be a perfect gift. Please spread the word! I'd love to make this donation.

Inside Look - Watercolor Mini #1

"Inside Look" - Mini Watercolor Painting

I'm finally starting that painting challenge/series. I'm calling it "50 Mini Watercolor Paintings for $15 each." I so love painting these little mini watercolors. They're 2 1/2" by 3 1/2 (artist trading card size). I just thought this would be a fun way to get back into my watercolors and these little paintings will make good studies for larger pieces.

At $15 each these are completely affordable! And what I love to do with these minis is to frame them with a big white mat.

Isn't that cute? The outer dimension of that mat is 8 by 10 (I have these for sale in my Etsy shop as well).

These little paintings will be available for purchase in my Etsy shop but we can make other arrangements if you don't have an Etsy account. Just send me an email at - angela292@hotmail.com

Have a lovely weekend!



Updated Gallery Wall

I spent my Sunday volunteering at the Stillwater Art Guild Gallery and putting up "new" work. I try to update my wall every few months, but I actually haven't done it since January. I had an animal theme going, and actually sold a couple of pieces. This time I thought I would bring in some of my earlier, more loose watercolor paintings. I don't paint like that anymore, but I thought someone might really like them. They certainly brought in a lot of color, so I think they'll be perfect for summer.

Meanwhile, all the animal paintings that I brought home with me are now relisted in my Etsy shop. Some of them are, "Hiding Spot," "January Snow," "A Pugs Life," and "Can You See Me?"

I hope you had a great weekend!

A Look Around My Studio

I love looking at other artist's creative spaces, so I thought I would make a little video of mine.

Have a great weekend!

Hibiscus Watercolor Paintings

 "Hibiscus" 9 by 12

"Tropical Hibiscus" 9 by 12

I decided today to list my two hibiscus watercolor paintings on Etsy. I painted "Hibiscus" and "Tropical Hibiscus" a couple years ago. They were experimental doodles I guess you could say, but I ended up liking them a lot. I've also sold several prints of each. I've had them hanging in my studio, but I think it's time to let them go.

If you're interested in either of them please visit my Etsy shop. :)



Charitable Item of the Month for April

Here is my new charitable item of the month for April. 100% of this sale will be donated to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). As you probably know the ASPCA is very active in fighting against cruelty to animals including puppy mills. If you're as passionate as I am about protecting animals, or know someone who is, please spread the word.

 I'm a bit disappointed that my last charitable item did not sell, but maybe I'll have better luck with this one.

I hope you're having a great weekend!

Exciting News!

So I have a bit of exciting news to share today... I was contacted by a production company working on the Smurfs 2 and they want to have my hand painted cigar boxes as part of the set again! Yay!! I had no idea they were even doing a second movie. So the release form is signed and it's a done deal! The movie will be out next Fall I do believe. :)

Other than that I've been hard at work on custom orders. I have about 8 projects lined up, 5 of which are quilts needing to be quilted on my long arm. Busy busy!

 I hope you are enjoying your week!

My Sewing Room

 

 

 

I thought I would post some photos of my sewing room today. I'm lucky to have not only an art studio in my home, but a sewing room as well. I have a very understanding husband. :)

 I spent my morning doing some organizing today. As my business grows I accumulate more and more stuff and I have to be pretty creative with storing it. My sewing room takes up half of the second floor of our house. It's a very large room, but the slanted ceiling makes it an unusual space to work with. I seem to make it work though. I really enjoy spending time in there, especially when it's raining or snowing outside because the room has a very cozy feel to it.

Well I hope you've enjoyed seeing my sewing space. I know I'm always curious about others creative spaces.

Have a lovely afternoon!

Sphinx - Custom Pet Portrait

"Sphinx" - Custom Pet Portrait

I've been working on this pet portrait for the past few days and it's finally complete. I have to say that I'm very pleased with the way that it turned out. I was a bit more loose with the cat than I would normally be. I applied the pastel to the face and then blended it. I really liked the effect that I achieved in doing that. I think the cat looks more soft than other portraits that I've done.

"Sphinx" is a surprise birthday gift and I hope the recipient is pleased. :)

Have a great day!

Etsy Item of The Week

"Shades of Pink" 5 by 7, Watercolor Painting

This small watercolor painting is my item-of-the-week on Etsy this week. I'm offering it at the sale price of $55 with free shipping. It's the only tulip painting I have left! It's actually the first one I ever did. I like it a lot and it makes me long for spring! :)

Along with my "items of the week" I've decided to offer an item of the month to donate to charity. I'm working on a list of charities and I will post more about this tomorrow.

Happy Monday!

Looking Back

Taking a look back today at some of my first pastel paintings. It's hard to believe that only 2 years have gone by since I began painting in pastel. I was quite intimidated by the medium when I first began but I'm pretty comfortable with it now.

"End of Day" - My first pastel painting
"A Day Away" - My second pastel painting

It's kind of fun to look back and see how far you've come. I haven't been working on my painting skills nearly as much as I'd like, because the sewing part of my business has been growing. But growing as an artist is still very important to me. I tend to be very hard on myself, but I can honestly say that I'm happy with my growth so far.

I can't wait to see where I'm at in 10 years! :)

In My Sewing Room This Week

One of my goals for the new year was to find a better balance for my art and quilting. Therefore, I've decided to alternate weeks, and I spent this week in my sewing room. I started the week out by making a custom rag quilt for an Etsy customer. Then I made two baby quilt tops and got those onto the long arm machine (which you can see in the photo above). I still have to hand sew the binding on those. Today I think I will work on another rag quilt. I'm enjoying the slightly larger ones, and I think others would as well. They're a great deal of work, but worth it!

I'll post photos of these quilts soon. Have a lovely weekend!!

Item Of The Week

This "Little Apples" baby quilt is my item-of-the-week on Etsy! My rag baby quilts have been selling quickly and I think it's only a matter of time before someone snatches this adorable quilt!

My item-of-the-week is an item that I offer at a reduced price and it includes free shipping. For this quilt, it's an $18 savings! The reduced price is $85 (regularly $95). And after doing some research on Etsy, very similar quilts sell for nearly $200 or more! I believe in pricing my work (artwork included) reasonably.

So if you know someone who has a baby or will be having a baby, please check out my baby quilts! They make incredible gifts!

Have a great week!

My Art In The Smurfs

If you've been following my blog for a while you know that some of my hand painted cigar boxes were purchased for the set of The Smurfs film. Well the movie just came out on DVD and I was able to get some still shots of the scenes in which you can see my boxes. I circled them in the photos below. :)

My Peach Roses box.

Another shot of my Peach Roses box.
My Red Poppies box, behind Smurfette! Another shot of my Red Poppies box.

They actually purchased 3 boxes, but I have been unable to find that one. It's possible that they chose not to use it; either that or it's hiding somewhere.

If you have children or just enjoy these types of movies, I highly suggest this one! It's actually really cute.

Have a great week!

Frank

"Frank" 8 by 10, Custom Pet Portrait in Pastel

I've been working on this custom pet portrait for the past couple days and he's finished! I felt a bit rusty because I haven't painted in pastel in a couple months, but I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out.

I've been very busy with quilting things and still working on that huge addition to my business! I'll blog about that soon.

Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving!!

Fun Quilts

Hi all, hope you had a great weekend! I just thought I'd share some of my latest quilting projects with you. I've been trying to branch out a bit and do something different.

This is a super cute stack of quilted coasters!
More coasters from the "Figgy Pudding" fabric line, one of my favorites for the holidays.

This is a quilted candle mat made of prairie points. It's so unique and different- there is nothing else like this on Etsy. It's nice because you can keep the points lifted up, like the in photo, or you can keep them down.

Another candle mat made from the "Figgy Pudding" line.

Both of these new items would make completely affordable and adorable gifts! A set of 4 coasters is $10 and the candle mats are $12. I'm thinking about making some holiday place mats, perhaps "rag" style next. I'm just loving quilting lately. :)

Have a wonderful Monday!!