Back to the Drawing Board

New Piece: Magenta Morning

If you know me, you know when I see the clouds or sky I get the feeling of just needing to paint it. Sometimes I get the urge to do it in watercolors, other times oil, but the feeling doesn’t go away until I get it out of my brain onto canvas or paper.

When I finally sit down to recreate it…it doesn’t always go the way I want it to. The colors aren’t looking right, they’re not blending the way I want…and I end up creating something completely different than intended, and most of the time, I end up loving the outcome.

This new piece definitely was one of those times!

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New Piece: Second Star to the Right

Watercolors

You know I’m obsessed with clouds, right?

Actually, anything sky related makes my heart sing: sunbeams poking through the clouds, the way the colors swirl and change for sunrises and sunsets, the clear, bright blue skies…it is my happy place!

One evening I was taking my oldest son to school for a practice, and as we got to the end of the road, this beautiful sunset was just beginning to fade and stars were just starting to appear. He looked at me and said “Mom, you need to paint this.” He took a picture of it quickly before we finished heading to school, and this piece was born not too long afterwards.

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New Piece: Cotton Candy Skies

Painting

I love spring mornings.

You know the ones: when the sun finally feels warm, there is a slight breeze, the sky bright blue and the leaves starting to bud on the trees. It feels amazing to the senses and the soul after a long winter!

One one of these mornings as I was keeping an eye on kiddos waiting to board the bus to school, there were fluffy pink clouds in the sky that reminded us of cotton candy, and so this piece was inspired!

Title: Cotton Candy Skies

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Tags & Packaging

Behind the Scenes

I’ve been working on making some changes? improvements? to some of my displays and packaging!

First up: price tags for festivals!

I love using hanging tags because it doesn’t harm the frame or leave sticky residue on the glass. In the past I will just take my tag punch and use white cardstock and that has worked wonderfully, but I thought I could elevate them and make them unique.

I spent some time thinking about what I could do different, and as I finished a watercolor painting it hit me: I use scrap watercolor paper for testing colors before putting it onto my piece, and then I just put it into the recycling when the paper is full. What if I used that paper as my hang tags? They’re making use out of something I’d normally get rid of, saves me money as I no longer need to buy cardstock, and it jazzes up my hang tags!

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New Piece: Calm Before the Storm

Watercolors

Why is it that clouds are at their most beautiful right before storms roll in? The contrast between the dark and the light, the shapes…it is stunning.

Title: Calm Before the Storm

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Discontinued Product Designs

Products, Update

It’s time to clear out some product designs to make room for all the new pieces I’m working on!

As much as I would love to keep all my designs around forever, I not only do not have the space to display everything in my booth at festivals but I also don’t have the room to store everything in my studio.

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New Piece: Sunset Memory

Painting, Watercolors

One of my favorite places to be is always the ocean. I love watching and listening to the waves and watching the clouds roll by, but there is something magical about the sunset over the water. The way the sky changes colors, the clouds darken, and night starts to take over…it makes me feel at peace and so, so happy.

Which means, you guessed it, I was inspired to make a painting of it!

Title: Sunset Memory

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New Piece: Be Still

Painting

This piece was heartbreaking to create.

A few years ago, I had done basically this exact painting and it was by far my favorite painting I’d ever done. Every time I took it to festivals, I hoped it wouldn’t sell because I loved it so much. Whenever anyone would favorite it on Etsy, I apprehensively awaited that glorious cash register noise, telling me it had sold and would be leaving me forever.

Why I didn’t just keep the piece for myself, I don’t know.

Well, unfortunately the piece was damaged beyond repair in our move a few years ago. I’d kept it just because I couldn’t bear to part with it. I tried fixing it just to keep it for myself, but it didn’t work out. I finally convinced myself to let it go, but I had to recreate it first…and that’s how this piece came to be!

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Happy Accidents

Behind the Scenes, Painting, Watercolors

A couple weeks ago we were on our way home from church and along our journey I saw this beautiful sky. There were big, fluffy white and purple clouds along the horizon, the blue of the sky played so well with the colors of the bare trees and farm field, and there was one, lonely cloud up high in the sky. I knew I had to paint it, so I took a picture really quick and put it on the back burner for later.

Later came really quickly as I was able to get started on the piece a few days later, and it was turning out BEAUTIFULLY. The clouds were staying white where I wanted them to, the purple was making them look fluffy, it was just going exactly the way I wanted it to, if not better.

I finished the painting in record time, and I was ECSTATIC. I waited for it to dry, and then plopped it into a mat for framing….and then it all went downhill really, really quickly.

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Boathouse Misses the Boat Easter Eggs & Behind the Scenes

Behind the Scenes, Illustrations

If you haven’t heard yet, the fourth book in the The Adventures of Boathouse Mouse is now available!!!! I have the honor and privilege of illustrating this book series with my friend and talented author, RV Hodge.

You may have noticed this book took a really, really long time to come out. In the four years since book three, I sold and bought a new house, had to completely remodel my new house’s basement to create a studio, and well…the world shut down and so did I for quite awhile. But here we are, and we are so, so excited to have this book completed!

If you’ve been around awhile, you know that I love including Easter Eggs in my books. I didn’t do it with book one, but two on? Full of them, and this book is no exception!

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