Kelli's painting

My sister in law, Kelli, is one of my favorite people in the whole world.  This year she turned 40 and so her husband (my brother) decided to give her 40 days of gifts.  I got to paint this for her as one of her special days. It is taken from an old photo of where she grew up in northern Michigan.  I added a verse from Acts on the bottom which is one of her favorite passages.  

Spring wreaths

Ok, so I stepped away from my paintbrush for a little craft time.  I made one of these "initial" wreaths for myself using some extra ribbon I had a while ago and then my mom (and one of my best customers : ) asked me to do a bunch for her best friends.  The first friend didn't want an initial on hers, but after I did it, I attached her initial (that was easily removable) so she could see how it looks.  Don't they look better with the initial?  I thought so.  But, I just tied the letter (from Hobbly Lobby) on with ribbon and it stays really well, without having to hot glue them.  That way, they can be removed or changed if necessary.  My favorite of these four is the "G".  I love the red.  At first, I didn't think those colors were very springy (they all chose their own colors), but it really works and the contrast is awesome.  Wreathmaking is fun, but not cheap. I really understand now why they cost so much in the stores.

autumn trees

My parents' friends have a cabin in the woods in North Carolina. They took this picture and asked me to do an acrylic of it.  God's creation is so magnificent, its hard to re-create that, but I did my best and they were really happy with the result.  I started with a value study in all neutrals (basically, varying shades of brown because I wanted it to have a warm undertone).  Then, for the fun part! COLOR.  I love color.  I love contrast.  I love texture. One of my favorite things though is the blue sky peeking through.  I think my favorite favorite thing about this though, was the process.  I used my fingertips for the majority of the foliage.  It was a great tactile experience...I felt like a kindergartener.  

Angels

This Christmas I was asked to paint an angel.  I liked it so much that I decided to do 3 more for my family members (mother-in-law, sister, and mom).  They all turned out slightly different, but similar.  Loved doing these angels and would love to do more next Christmas.  I don't know why I didn't get pictures of all four, but here are two of the four that I did.