Painting Portfolio

 One of my New Year's Resolutions for 2024 was to grow my skill in painting with acrylic paint.  I enjoyed painting so much!  Here is my portfolio of acrylic paintings:

I painted these two from a blank canvas, with no tutorial or idea and I loved both of them.

First painting of 2024 and possibly my favorite.

This one was not easy for me, but I 'm still amazed a flat piece of canvas can be painted to make your brain see a 3D coffee cup.

I don't love the feathers on this, but I am very proud of how the eye turned out.

I don't like that I kept adjusting the tail and it ended up going off the canvas.  I do like the depth of colors and that I was able to play with texture on the fish.

This one was fun.  I love the "reflection" in the next two.

Too realistic - I would've liked a cuter flamingo!

In my flower era.

I saved this one for last because it's my favorite!

Let me know your favorite in the comments below!

Design Contest Entry

I wanted to share my process. 

I started brainstorming - 

-reading elevates, reading uplifts, reading transforms, reading lets your soar to new worlds, adventures, I thought about "Reading Rainbow" and it's theme song - butterfly in the sky, I can fly twice as high, take a look, it's in a book... 

and all these thoughts led me to a connection between books and butterflies and then the idea was born!

I started with these graphics and printed them and then painstakingly cut them out.

Then I watercolor painted what would become the butterfly.

   Then I cut out each butterfly.

Then I went in search of book pages.  After researching, I came across the Library of Congress and books that were in "public domain".  A public domain book is one that is not covered by intellectual property rights or copyright, usually because the rights have expired. Once a book enters public domain, it can be reprinted and distributed without the need to get permission from the original author.

Of course, I carefully chose the book and page I wanted to use.  

A Christmas Carol - where Scrooge learns he hasn't missed Christmas

Alice in Wonderland - where Alice speaks to the Caterpillar

Robinson Crusoe

Little Women

Peter Pan - where Wendy learns to fly

Pride and Prejudice - where Mr. Darcy says My affections and wishes are unchanged...

Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - where Dorothy wants to go home to Kansas

I painted the body - by painting and then folding what I painted in half.  Then I watercolor painted the sky, creating clouds by removing paint with a crumpled napkin.

I cut out the book pages and taped them to the butterfly outlines.

Then I scanned everything and started putting it together digitally.  I added black around the edges of the wings, with white dots.  I added the words "Reading Uplifts".

This was my entry - the contest was for the Wichita Public Library to design a new library card in the adult category.  

I learned there were 29 adult entries.  The selection committee narrowed it down to three options.  I was sad because I really put my heart into this contest and fell in love with my design.

Have you ever entered a contest?  I love design contests!  I can't wait for the next one!

Mosaic Pumpkin - A New Hobby

 While scrolling through Instagram, I got a random reel of someone creating an amazing piece of art - a mosaic.  I went to her page and was even more impressed.  The artist I found is @sharrafrank on Instagram - check out her studio and her work below - so amazing.  (Sharra - if you're reading this - can we become best friends?!) 

Her page led me to start researching mosaics and learning new terminology and watching YouTube videos.  I think this is the way my personality type likes to learn (shoutout INTJs) - discovering a new topic and then doing in-depth research and then putting my research into practice.  

I bought the tools needed.  Wheeled Nippers and tweezers.   https://amzn.to/3X3xyRX

I bought Apoxie Clay https://amzn.to/3wZcpxHI(to stick the tile down) and sanded grout  https://amzn.to/3Rv3tYb.

I found a couple of Halloween wood forms at Michaels  - also known as "substrates".  I bought some beads.

I shopped at Goodwill and an antique store for vintage plates and jewelry.  

Then I sat at the table one day and started cutting up plates.  It wasn't easy.  But it was really cool to start piecing it together.  

I stained the substrate (the pumpkin shape) and mixed the clay and added it to the bottom and then put the pieces back in.  Mosaic pieces are called tesserae.

I joined a "Facebook community" for beginners and learned there are different colors of grout and there's an app called Groutr that helps you visualize what different grouts will look like.  So I tested different colors and settled on Brown Velvet (last one).  Which do you like best?

Then I grouted and cleaned it up.  Then I added hardware to the back.  

I am extremely proud of this mosaic piece.  I decided to list it in my Etsy shop as this is a really expensive hobby!

Leave a comment below - let me know if you have ever done a mosaic piece before.  Or if you learned anything new from reading my blog!