A Day of Hand Painted Production

There's nothing better than a busy day in the studio!

Early Morning

Orders for hand painted portrait ornaments are coming in a steady stream.  This morning was spent answering e-mails, downloading images and drawing portraits.

Early Afternoon

A few more orders came in, a few more images were downloaded, drawn and the hand painting process begun.

After School

 Time out for an after school art class with one of my star art students - As he continues painting a fall pumpkin still life with primary colors.

Then putting a few finishing touches on this hand painted family portrait before wrapping it up and getting it out to the post office.    My work area looks like a tornado came through, but all is good - just another day of painting production.

Fresh Paint - Updated

Small Paintings Inspired by Old Family Photographs

GRAY-SCALE PAINTINGS

These three small images, painted on 5 x 4 inch canvas, were inspired by family photographs of my mom and dad.  They started off as gray-scale value studies painted in shades of black and white.

Mom, as a young woman posing by her fathers car.

Mom and Dad, as a young married couple..  My father in his military uniform and my mother expecting her first child - my brother.

This painting is from a photograph of my mom, taken in the early 1960's.  My father was out to sea and mom was busy raising two babies (my brother and me) - and may have been pregnant with my sister.  Mom had just gotten her long hair cut into a much more manageable short hair style.

GRAY-SCALE PAINTINGS ~ COLOR ADDED

All dressed up and ready to roll.

Together We Serve - Ready to Serve their country and family.

Moms Time Out

These small paintings are available for sale here and would make a fun gift for a new driver, a young couple, your best friend, mom, sister or for anyone who loves vintage/retro decor.  

Haunted Family Portrait

 Family Portrait found here

A few weekends ago, while in the throes of redecorating our house for Halloween, I realized I needed something spooky to hang above the fireplace.  Hmmm....what could possibly scare the living pants or daylights (or dead nightlights if you will) off of everyone who saw it???  Thinking....Thinking....Thinking.  I KNOW!!!  A portrait of me - well actually a portrait of my family that included me

Haunted Family Portrait

Looking a little less scary than normal
 

Printing Process:

Here are the steps I took to makeover my family, just in case you'd like to try this with a photograph of your family.   I scanned an old photograph, taken when my children were much younger - fortunately, my husband and I haven't aged at all - then downloaded the photo onto Picnik a free online photo shop. Once on the site these are the "click by click" steps that were used to recreate our image into a somewhat haunted family portrait:  (1) click on "Create", (2) "Effects", (3) "Posterize" - once here, work with photo until the colors are just right then save (4) "featured"  - play with Picnik's Halloween features.  I used "vampire eyes", "masks", and 'Halloween stickers"  Once the recreated image is perfect save it. Then save it into a file or print it.  And you're done.
Although I loved the image, I wanted a larger print to hang.  So I printed a copy of my saved image, took the copy to Kinko's and had them blow it up into a 22 x 36 inch poster size print on paper.

Family Portrait - Painting in Process

 Original photo and larger printed image in the process of being painted.

Since the Kinko's copy came out darker and with less detail than I wanted, and since I really wanted a hand painted portrait above the fireplace - I decided to paint the Kinko's print. For this, I used a gray-scale color scheme and painted with a combination of black and white acrylic paints.  When finished painting, I covered the entire print with Mod Podge Gloss Varnish. 

Portrait Finished and Looking Spooky

I wanted the painting to have more stability when hung so I used a spray adhesive on the back and attached it to foam core board.  I couldn't quite get the painting to lay flat against the board without wrinkles.  Therefore, when doing this again I'll take it to a framing shop and have them adhere for a more professional finish!

My little batty family

Hanging above the fireplace

Along with a black and orange color scheme.  I don't think I'm going to want to take our portrait down after Halloween!

Fast forward one year...

One year ago we celebrated the marriage of two good friends and the union of their blended family.

The day was a bride's dream and absolutely perfect for an ocean side wedding on the Outer Banks. Wedding guests walked up the sandy isle toward the handmade alter placed right beside the shore.  Fortunately the waves were small, thus not a distraction to surfers in the crowd.

The couple repeated their vows as seagulls voiced their enthusiastic approval and family members said "We do"

A great snapshot of the wedded family.

My husband with the grooms family and with his precious partner :)

The bride and groom share a quiet moment together as husband and wife.

Fast forward one year...

Custom Portrait finally finished just in time for their anniversary.

Our friends recently celebrated the birth of their first grandchild and anticipate the smooth delivery of their second grandchild in February.  Jan and Mike we wish you another wonderful year together and give thanks for your special friendship.

Wedding Portraits - Finished and Shipped

Two Paintings - Two different styles:

The first portrait is a painting, commissioned by the bride, for the reception area of her peacock themed wedding:

The original photograph

and the finished portrait - peacock included!

The second portrait is of a bride and groom commissioned by the brides best friend.

The original photograph

and the finished painting.

I'm painting another portrait of a bride and groom - which I'll post as soon as it's finished.

Love is in the air!

Here comes the Bride - Wedding Portraits

 It must be wedding season!
This past weekend my sister-in-law celebrated her upcoming October wedding with a bachlorette wine tasting party in Charlottesville, Va., yesterday Rachel Ray featured plus-size wedding gowns on her show and  wedding gifts were featured on Oh Joy!  I've also had quite a few requests recently for custom painted wedding portraits.  Below is one that I've finished and three others on which I'm still working.

Custom Wedding Portrait Triptych 
A playful piece of sculptural art.

My first request was for a custom painted wood block triptych.

A reproduction of the customers wedding portrait was hand painted on a piece of primed canvas,

 cut into 3 pieces and adhered to 3 sanded and stained wood blocks.  The blocks can be rearranged in numerous ways adding a lighthearted touch to a traditional portrait.  I love this unique way to display a wedding portrait. 

The next request was for a custom painted portrait on canvas

The bride and groom are good friends of ours who will be celebrating their one-year anniversary October 4th.  We were at their ocean-front wedding last year and I am honored to paint their anniversary portrait - a surprise gift from my friend to her husband.

The painting in its early stages - still waiting to be finished.

Next came this sweet request ~
"First of all, I must tell you, I love your work!! It is so unique and your paintings are fabulous. I am writing to you because my best friend got married this past July and I would like to turn one of her photos into a painting."   You know I couldn't say no to this - and the picture of the bride and groom is so elegantly casual I love it.

The original photograph

and my Painting in Process

 And...The most recent request was for a hand painted canvas of a couple with a peacock in the background.  The bride wanted something for the entrance of their wedding and their theme is peacock.

The original photograph

and the early stages of my interpretation of the photograph with a peacock painted in the background.

I guess you can understand why my blog posts have been a little bit sparse recently - just trying to keep up with all these weddings!  :)

Fathers Day Gift Ideas

I've been busy creating custom orders for Father's Day Gift giving and thought I'd share them with you, just in case you're still looking for something to give to Dear Ole Dad.

Custom Photograph Hand Painted and Adhered to 3 Natural Wood Blocks - A fun sculptural piece of art for his home or office.

The original photograph

Hand painted print from original image

Hand painted print sectioned into 3 pieces and adhered to 3 natural wood art blocks.

The original and my creation side x side.

If you're interested in giving dad a custom art block sculpture, click here for more information.

Custom Photo Cuff Links

Cuff links made from photographs of your children

If you're interested in custom photo cufflinks, click here

Custom Painted Portraits from Your Photographs

The original photograph of a grandfather and grandson on the beach

Grandfather and Grandson hand painted on gallery wrap canvas.

 The original photograph and painted canvas side x side.

If you're interested in a hand painted portrait, click here

Feel free to contact me if you have any ideas other than what's listed above.

May Photo Contest Winner

A Big Thank You to Meylah

for selecting my Family Portrait as the best picture on

Meylah's May Photo Contest ~ "Best Mothers Day Shot"

Family Beach Walk - Custom Painting on Canvas

As the lucky winner of their contest, I was given a $25 gift certificate to spend at any online handmade store.  Oh Happy Day!!!

All Together

My selection from Lisa Golightly's Shop ~ Kiki and Polly on Etsy

During the month of June the Photo Contest will be Summer Travel.  So, start loading your best Summer Travel photographs to Meylah's Flicker Group

Thank you again!  And Happy Travels.

Surf's Up

My husband and son are both surfer's so our family vacations are usually centered around a beach town somewhere. Even though we live on the coast, as a surfer, there's always the desire to ride the waves somewhere else - and, upon arrival, to find the perfect spot. I suppose, perhaps through osmosis, this is why so much of my art and the art in our home is either beach or surf related. Here are a few paintings I created for our "home art gallery"


My husband and son
Summer of 2000


Our daughter - Summer of 1999


My sister and me circa 1969


Oceanside Table for Two

Trust me, I'm not complaining! I love living near the
ocean and know, no matter where our children end up
living , coming home will always be a fun destination.

Wishing you a day of sunshine and warm ocean breezes.