Half Man, Half Robot

My son does not really like drawing, but he doesnt really like the fact that i am always painting phoebe's drawings either, so every now and then i get some drawings from him hoping that i'll paint them.

this is a really fun one he made for me when he was in a creative mood. it is half man, half robot. he is also obsessed with mario, and i think he drew some mario clouds up top. which is one of my favourite parts because i really see 'him' in that!

OH! i am really happy that i have moved on to doing my own patterns for the backgrounds of my paintings now. i really like this added element to my process. i have actually always enjoyed creating patterns, doodling and simple designs, so i think this really holds true to being myself in my paintings.

as i was working on this background, i was really keen to use a true teal paired with citrus colours. i like them together. teal is officially my new favourite colour. it had been purple for the past 8 or nine years! i like to think that our colours likes/dislikes goes along with our lives. so now i am in a teal phase of life :)

Winners, An art showing and Another Personal Challenge

Friends were holding a fundraiser/music/arts night and i was asked to put my art on display there, a portion of any art sales going towards the trip...

i had a nice collection of paintings to show, but i felt i wanted just one more. i decided this the day before the art show, HA! so, i got to thinking; could i do a painting in one day? i thought about some of the other paintings i had done to date, and i decided that if i did a new variation on "Abraham" in an 18x24 size, i just might pull it off!

i was mulling this over in my brain while my friend and i were out to a couple of stores. we were in winners and the challenge was clinched when i saw this really great pillow they had for sale. the colours were really neat, so i memorized the colours, ditched my friend (sorry) and went home and painted like a maniac. here are the results :)

A Nice Gift

My manager at global experience, Sherri, has a daughter named Juliet. Juliet is very interested in what i do and often bombards sherri with questions about my paintings. Now, the story goes that when they were out of town a couple of weeks back, Juliet thought that it wasnt right that i always make paintings for other people, but no one makes paintings for me :) She made her mother bring her down to the store and she bought, with her own money, a canvas and supplies and made ME a painting!

honestly, i almost burst into tears in the middle of work when Sherri gave this to me! Thanks, Juliet! If i have my own official studio, this will hang proudly in it! For now, its going on my bedroom door! :)

hurray for hot coclate anb daddy!

this is my second commission, done almost a year ago, for my biggest fan and brother-in-law, bill. it's a great little drawing done by his daughter, brianna, that says 'hurray for hot coclate anb daddy!' with a drawing of daddy and... hot choclate!



using an image with the child's words was a new thing for me, and i really like it. the efforts of children who are beginning to sound out words and to write is an endearing and special time for parents as they see their kids growing, and expressing themselves. I think any daddy would be proud to know their daughter holds a 'hurray for daddy' inside of them :) perhaps i may seem a mere 'tie' with hot chocolate, but if any of you knew how much brianna liked hot chocolate... well, then you'd know daddy really is pretty important to her ;)

i think the words add a really nice element to the painting! i couldnt resist keeping the lined paper lines, either, because she really put a lot of work into getting those words and letters onto that paper as best she could!

as for colour scheme, it took me a long time to decide what i was going to do. i worked up a hotchocolatey background and complimented it with a navy blue (inspired by bills love of the oilers!), and then finished it off with a copy of brianna's signature at the bottom! this we got off of some of her schoolwork from when she was the same age.