Splish Splash Bathroom Art

I have been working on this new painting (well, a cover-up of an old painting) for the last couple of days while my one-year-old whines at my feet.  Even taking regular breaks to hold him does not satisfy him, which is rather contrary to his normal laid back personality.

Baby Shower Present - "Rachel" Painting

I love painting for kids' rooms!!!  I have learned a bit about painting doing them, and had tons of fun.  Here's one I did a few days ago for a lovely young lady at church who is expecting in March.  Her darling little girl will be named Rachel, and I went with something very simple even though that is not what I had planned.

I started out with an 18"x24" canvas, already primed.  I picked a font from MyFonts, a fairy tale font I thought made her name look pretty and adorable.  The font is Blue Goblet Serif, and I love it.  It is a little too spaced out, so I took tracing paper and traced the letters, bunching them up a bit.  Then I doodled flowers and vines coming off the letters.  Once I was done, I used my Artograph Tracer Projector (got it a Hobby Lobby 40% off) to project the words onto the canvas in pencil.  I used the tracing paper under the projector, which was a big mistake.  I started to notice my words were shifting around as I traced, and finally figured out it was because the tracing paper was wrinkling up from the heat off the bulb of the projector.

I usually start painting at this point, but the white has a tendency to show through the brush strokes and the pencil is hard to cover.  I decided to try something different with this painting.  I painted a base coat of khaki colored paint over my sketch thin enough so I could still see the lines of the drawing underneath.

Painting, painting, more painting..




Pretty pink letters.

Overworked it - drat!

Fixing my mistakes.

 And done!  Not the best picture unfortunately.  Glad to have it done, and I am happy with the result.

Paintings - Experimenting

I am learning how to take some time and play with my paint.  I usually have a definite plan when I paint, but love abstract and non-representational art.  So I am trying to give myself room to play and make mistakes and paint over them and come up with something awesome and paint over it and regret that and then paint something I love even more over that.  I am very inspired by Jesse Reno, Flora Bowley, Teesha Moore, Traci Bautista, Michelle Allen, and Julie Balzer.  I am trying to incorporate some spontaneity, vibrant color, layers, and life into my art.  Here's how that is working out for me so far.

This first painting has already morphed into something else, but it was what I ended up using as inspiration for my desk.  And my desk will surely change too.  I am just using craft paint right now.  I hope to invest in some better paint soon.   

Here it is again with another painting on my desk, the first one I played around with.  It has already been painted over.  Now, painting over another painting is nothing new to me.  I do it all the time when I get bored with my paintings and want new art on the walls.  I made quite a few more marks on this one and hope my desk turns out a bit more like it.

I added a funky zebra print trim to the side of the canvas since I will not be framing it.  

Detail...

And here it is on my wall.  

I will share some picture of my desk in the next few days, but for now I have to finish up a project.  I am writing my first article for Cloth Paper Scissors PAGES 2012!!!  Not my first how-to article, but the first time I will actually get paid for writing.  And my long time dream of being published in a CPS magazine fulfilled.  Have to get everything ready for shipping on Monday so I can make it on time.