Painted Chicks and Ducks!

Saturday Mailey and I went out to the Serenbe community for their annual Easter Egg Hunt at the stables. It was a gorgeous day to be out hunting eggs. Not only did they provide us with a great egg hunt, but they had these ADORABLE colored ducks and baby chicks. I have no idea how they dyed the little fellows, but they were so darn cute. My Mailey loves animals and has no fear, so she kept scooping them up, kissing them and putting them down. One little duck was so wound up he pooped all over her pretty pink dress! She just laughed, put him down and picked up another!

Happy Easter!

I made this tiny painting for the Naked Art Gallery awhile back. Mailey actually helped paint it, so she says half the selling money should be hers. Pretty smart. Speaking of Mailey, here's a new story from her mouth. On the way home last night from the Sheriff's campaign kick-off, she says to me,"Mom, we can't go to church tomorrow because it's Easter". Talk about my mouth falling open, tears welling up in my eyes, and a knife entering the heart! You see, we are a family that if the church is open, we are pretty much there. We love that part of our family life and think of our church family as our extended family. So heart broken, I stopped the van, and had a little talk with her. We've never stressed the bunny fantasy in our house. In fact, last year outside pressure got us and we hid eggs for them with each getting a golden egg with a gift card inside. This year we got them chocolate bunnies and singing toothbrushes (those who really know us, know my kids teeth problems, so this was a huge bunny hint!) and hid eggs. The bunny is not talked about around our house like the Santa man, so her statement came from out of the blue to me. After talking about Jesus and it being the day he arose from the dead, which she could totally tell me the entire story, and I reminded her that the Easter bunny really had nothing to do with this special day for Christians, she says....."Mommy, yes it does. You see God kissed the bunny on the day that Jesus died so that he could be alive and bring us gifts so that we would never forget" Oh, okay I said. Got the car back on the road and went home to ponder that one!

Break from Painting

I've been painting like mad lately, which has lead to a burn out. Never thought that could happen! So I needed a relief and needed to try something new. I saw on the cover of Family Fun this month the most adorable fuzzy birds.....which lead to my making Mattie in 3-D. Oooooooo I could just kiss her cotton candy face!
I had difficulty with my little digital camera capturing her true color, it's pale blue by the way. I think I might make some more and put them in my booth. It was a fun little thing to create.

New Paintings in the Works

I just thought I'd give you guys a peek at some of the paintings in the works. Some still need outlines, top glazes and frames, but you can see they are well are their way! I've got about a month to go until the show at Wesleyan....got to get painting some more.

Happy Birthday!

Yes, it's my birthday. I actually had to add it up in my head today as to the year it was. Let's just say I am closer to 40 than I was last year! It was a good day, lunch out, dinner out, calls in between. I've always loved birthdays, planning my own from an early age. My favorite, I'd have to say my 16th. I got a car. That's enough to stand out. I also didn't pass my driver's test the first time, another reason to remember that year. Ask me why next time you see me. Pretty darn funny, now. This painting is of Mattie on her birthday too. The last one I did in her party hat I entitled "Mattie Turns 30". I guess this year it will be "30 and Holding".

Rain, Rain Go Away!

Actually we could really use the rain down here in the south! It does seem though that every Tuesday for a month now it has rained! It must have inspried my Mattie in her Rainboots little painting.

Early Spring Blooms

This is the other painting I tried using the joint compound on wood. It is also 2' X 2' on a wood panel. Here is a detail so you can see the cool texture created by the compound. On this painting I actually used my oil sticks to color the green leaves and all the flowers. I only used the acrylics on the blue background.

Trying Something New

A couple years back I really enjoyed adding joint compound to my canvases as a way to achieve texture. Friday while at the mart buying for the store, Valerie and I came across some reproduced canvases that were just beautiful. The texture, colors and subject (birds in cages) really inspired me. I immediately recognized the background texture as being joint compound or medium. Needless to say I was at Lowe's that night buying 2' boards and a bucket of compound! Saturday the kids help me cover the 2 boards with the compound, it was messy fun! After I stepped back from the canvases, I decided that it just might work to carve into the compound with my woodcutting tools similar to the way I do with encaustics. So, here is a picture close up of step one. I've not done a nest in awhile, so thought I'd take a break from little flowers and Mattie birds. After patiently waiting almost 24 hours for the compound to dry, I painted with acrylics. Boy did the compound soak up the paint! I might try watercolor next time around! After this layer dried I filled all the carved lines in with oil sticks. Then rubbed, and wiped away all the excess with paper towels and a ton of canola oil. I still wanted more of the carving to show so I added silver and gold rub and buff to the ridges. This really popped the lines and added a little something extra.
I am really pleased with the end results. Overall the dimensions are 2' x 2' on pine board. It will be available at The Vintage-Flea for $300.