Custom Art - 11x15 Jungle Parade for Jameson

I am currently wrapping up my final custom art orders for this year - I will be taking a 2-month break from taking custom painting orders, and then will be happy to start painting special pieces for my wonderful clients in February!

This 11x15 Jungle Parade is painted for little Jameson's nursery. His Momma asked me to paint him a jungle-themed name painting that color coordinates with his bedding, and that also goes with my "Jungle Baby" nursery print. After so many portrait paintings these last months it was so fun to paint some critters! 

Woven Together, 6x8 illustration

A few weeks ago I was approached by an adoptive Mom who asked if I could paint a picture that honors both of her daughter's mothers - her first mother (birth mother) and her Mommy. It took me over a month to come up with a good solution - I wanted the picture to be pleasing to a child, so it wasn't allowed to be sad or too serious, yet I wanted it to convey something deeper, too.

While reading a book about adoptive parenting, I came across a beautiful metaphor for an adopted child's life: the daughter, her birth mother, and her adoptive mother are each holding a ribbon or string of a different color. As the daughter grows and matures, those three strings become intricately woven together, because they are all part of her identity, her past, her future.

I will have prints of this painting available in my Etsy shop in a week or so. Shoot me an eMail or an Etsy message if you would like to reserve one. I'll have 5x7 and 8x10 available.

Preview - Paris!

Just to prove that I'm not slacking, here is a preview of 4 of the 12 Paris ACEOs I'm working on. I still need to add color, I think I'll experiment with some more fluid and sketch-like color addition though.

Arc de Triomphe

Notre Dame

Eiffel Tower

Venus of Milo, profile

Keep in mind that each ACEO painting is only 2.5x3.5 inches... the detail in the buildings is tiny!

Custom Art - 8x10 "T-Rex and his Favorite Boy"

My sweet friend asked me to paint something fun for her son. She told me that he loves blue, loves reading, and loves dinosaurs and whales...
I hope you love your painting, young man N!

I now have 8x10 prints of this painting available in my Etsy shop!

Finding old friends

I got out some of my drawing boards to mount some watercolor paper for some custom paintings I need to do... and found these two paintings on it, forgotten!

"In the Shadows" - 5.5"x8" India Ink painting on Watercolor paper, 2003

"Guardian" - 5.5"x8" India Ink painting on Watercolor paper, 2003

Both of these original paintings are for sale. Contact me if you are interested.

June 3 ACEO - very over-due

I apologize for the long lapse in posting. Between having a garage sale, cutting my finger (in prepping for the garage sale), and travelling to a wedding, I just haven't had much time to paint. Of course I had the brilliant idea to paint some more detailed and realistic paintings of children NOW, so the 11 paintings I've been working on are just plain taking a longer time. I want to post them as a set, but here is one of them, just to give you a little taste for what is to come. The other 10 should be finished in the next 2 or so days.

Here is the pencil sketch before any fine black ink lines or color were added.

June 3 ACEO (18 days late): Here is the finished painting. I am always amazed at how much of a difference color can make.

I felt like painting some more high-quality, detailed, realistically shaded paintings. I've been doing simplified illustration-style paintings for so long that I wanted to see if my other watercolor skills had gotten rusty. I would say, they might have, just a little, but it shouldn't be hard to re-activate them...

New items in my Etsy shop!

In case you didn't know, you can purchase some originals, as well as prints of a lot of my art in my Etsy shop.


The "Hair Time" print set has been a big hit - and is available either in the size of 2.5" x 3.5" or slightly larger in 5"x7".

The boy with a sparkler (January ACEO Challenge Winner!)is now also available as an ACEO-sized print.

The images are professionally printed with highest quality inks on Kodak Endura Professional papers. In the ACEO-size (2.5" x 3.5")the paper is glossy, in the 5"x7" size the paper has a linen texture.

If you see a painting you love here on the blog, but don't see it in my Etsy shop, email me at mossyrockdesigns@yahoo.com ...

March 25, 26, 27 ACEOs: Hair time!

I am a few days behind in posting... sorry folks!
I've been reading about how to "do" African hair, among other things on http://www.keepmecurly.com/ ...this inspired me to paint this little ACEO mini series...

March 25 ACEO: Beautiful natural curls!

March 26 ACEO: ...half way!

March 27 ACEO: Done!

Playing with paint...

I often have ongoing little projects that I like to work on using "leftover" paint from other projects. You know, when you have paint left on your mixing pallet that you don't want to just waste? I had some canvas scraps and some wood scraps... so I stretched the canvas onto the wood and played with some paint. I'm pleased with the result. It was fun.


"Ribbons" - Acrylic on canvas

How it all started

I have always been painting and drawing, but I didn't start illustration-style watercolors until my first son was born. Capturing little moments was a lot of fun, projects can handle multiple kid/baby-related interruptions, and watercolor supplies are easy to put away. I initially just painted for fun. The three sleeping baby watercolors were meant for Mark's nursery. Then more and more friends started asking for prints, and someone suggested I open an Etsy shop. I was surprised and delighted when the first strangers started buying my art!

Jungle Baby (10"x14")

Bear Baby (10"x14")

Forest Baby(10"x14")

By now, 3.5 years later, I have painted hundreds of little sleeping babies. The ACEOs sell like crazy on eBay, and make great baby gifts. I guess people just can't resist a sleeping babe...

This is my son, 8 hours after his hernia operation at 18 months. "Keep him still," said the doc... yeah right!

Custom Nursery Watercolor

A little 5"x7" custom nursery watercolor

Jan. 14, 15, 16, 17 ACEOs

Jan 14 ACEO: Ben used to have a Veiled Chameleon named 'Jill' many years ago.

Jan 15 ACEO: Veiled Chameleons are such fun pets, and the spectrum of colors and designs they can change their skin into amazed us to no end.

Jan 16 ACEO: Veiled Chameleon - as they mature, their "horn" (or veil) on top grows too, and they keep adding new pigments to their skin.

Jan 17 ACEO: A male Veiled Chameleon that is feeling aggressive puffs himself up and displays BRIGHT colors. Would you mess with this guy?!

Many people don't know that a chameleon's colors are not so much about blending in (although they are good at that, too), but often about their mood, the temperature, and many other factors.

(all 4 reserved for Bob Griffing)

Jan. 4 ACEO

The kids having fun with more sparklers...!

Jan. 3 ACEO

...in Germany we used to light fireworks and sparklers for New Years... fond memories...

A few of my readers have asked me what an ACEO is.
ACEO stands for "Art Cards Editions and Originals." These little 2.5"x3.5" gems are highly collectible pieces of art, and can be made in any variety of materials (watercolor, oil, ink, acrylics, pencil, collage, even fabric). They can be traded and collected, or sold for pennies all the way up to thousands of dollars.