Stained glass Madonna and baby Jesus trio

I just finished another 'just for fun' painting.

During last year's Everyday Art project I painted a stained-glass style Madonna and baby Jesus. I got several requests for painting something similar, but in a variety of skin tones.

I had the idea to paint a more detailed stained-glass watercolor of Mary and Jesus, starting with pale skin, taking pictures, then darkening her skin a little, taking more pictures, and finally painting her with even darker skin, and taking pictures. So, the final result is one painting of Mary and Jesus, both with dark skin... but I can now make prints of all 3 versions!

I like all three next to each other, too. 

8x10 Madonna and Jesus (1)

8x10 Madonna and Jesus (2)

8x10 Madonna and Jesus (3)

I will have prints in my Etsy shop next week!

Work in progress: Almost done!

I am almost done - just a few little touches are still missing, and I still need to sign the painting.

I love you, Sweet girl! 16x20

I will have prints available in my Etsy shop by the end of this month.

From a photo to a painting

Several friends and clients have asked me lately if I would mind posting a photo that I painted from alongside the resulting painting. As most of you know by now, my goal is never to create a perfect semblance of a photo - I create what I would describe as a children's book illustration version of a child.

Here is an example of a photo sent to me by my client, and the painting I created for her. She asked for a Bible verse reference to be included, along with the little girl's name.

Some clients ask me to paint with certain colors, so as to match the color scheme of the room they plan to hang the painting in. Others leave color choice completely up to me. I am fine with both.

The photo of Sierra was posted with the permission of the photographer, as well as her mother. 

Work in Progress - excerpt of a Mother and Daughter portrait

These last weeks have been crazy-busy... but I really am working hard! Just to show you that I'm not being completely lazy, here's a little excerpt preview of the 16x20 portrait I'm working on right now.

These bigger, more detailed paintings usually take me several weeks, since I under-paint them with so many different colors (it's currently in the "purple and gold"-stage, as you can see.

 This painting is a new experience for me, since I'm painting it on so-called Aqua-board. This is in essence a layer of clay that has been sprayed onto a board. It's slick, and takes water (and color) very differently from what I'm used to. I am still trying to decide whether I love or hate painting on aqua board...

(oh, and the weird shiny blob in the top left corner won't stay shiny, i just painted protective misket over it so that I don't paint over the pink flower with the darker hair color)

Custom 9x9 portrait for Liza

Yesterday evening I finished the final painting of a set of 9 cousins!

Don't you love that tooth gap?! Custom 9x9 painting

I think this one is one of my favorites so far.

"Sweet Dreams" 12x15 watercolor

I am almost done with another painting!

This painting is inspired by Brenda's photograph - thank you for letting me paint from it!

"Sweet Dreams"

"First Day Home" - 15x19 watercolor

It has been so long since I last posted - sorry! Life has been crazy with house guests, a family trip to my folks' house, and more house guests.

I have been working really hard on several larger pieces, as well as several custom paintings. This one still needs some small tweaks, but is mostly finished. It is a large version of my "I'll Protect You" painting, and I've named it "First Day Home." I wanted to capture the love and promise of protection from the Mom, as well as the little girl's mixed feelings of wanting to be snuggled and loved, but also still being really darn afraid.  

First Day Home 15x19

This painting comes with a cool story. As some of you remember, I painted "I'll Protect You" as part of my Everyday Art Project last year:

In addition to selling prints of the little painting, I also sent free ones to a few of the families in our agency who had been waiting at #1 for a long time. Just a week after I sent one of the Mommas a print, her family got a referral for their daughter... and she looked so much like my little painting!

I was thrilled and honored to have been able to bless and encourage this family with my art... not even knowing how it would touch their hearts!

Once sweet Baby O was home, her Momma sent me a picture of herself posed with Baby O in the same way as the "I'll Protect You" painting. The picture she sent me is the photo that I painted from when I created "First Day Home."

Prints will be available in my Etsy shop in a couple of weeks.

Custom 5x7 - Princesses in the Mirror

I recently finished a really fun little custom piece! This painting goes with a set of wonderful rhymes about a mother and daughter that my client's husband wrote.

Mommy and Me

Flamenco Dancer - 15x22 watercolor

Here is the Flamenco Dancer whom I finished painting yesterday. I challenged myself to paint with soft edges, while at the same time staying precise. I wanted the dancer's dress to look like it is really swooping!

15x22 inch Flamenco Dancer

This painting is for sale in my Etsy shop HERE.

I see Africa - 12x16 watercolor

A client recently asked me to paint a much larger version of my ACEO-sized African Eye painting. I decided to add the African continent into the reflection!

I see you - 12x16 inches

Do YOU see Africa?

Done! "Little Friends" 22x22 inches

I know it has been a while since I last posted... in part this is due to finishing my big gardening/landscaping project in the front yard. In part this is because I have been painting some custom pieces that I can't post online because they are gifts for people who also read my blog. In part this is because I've been working on some bigger "for fun" paintings! *Surprisingly* a 22x22 inch painting just takes longer than a 2.5x3.5 inch painting... who would have thought?! :o)

Little Friends - 22x22 inches

Custom 8x10 fashion portrait painting

I just finished this fun fashion portrait painting for Treasure!

Custom 8x10 fashion portrait

This was such a fun project! I especially enjoyed painting her beautiful full curls.

8"x22" - Princess on a Pea

I have been pretty busy painting custom pieces for the past few weeks, as well as wrapping up my projects for my watercolor class.

I was in bad need of a 'just for fun' project!

I had this 8x22 "scrap" of nice 300gms Arches hot press watercolor paper that was waiting to be painted on... so I decided to revisit my little Princess on a Pea theme, this time in a larger size (the original one was 5x7), and with many more mattresses stacked on top of each other...

Thanks to the violinist, this princess is sleeping soundly through the night!

I'm working hard on completing a few other paintings - stay tuned!

Work in progress - Kirsten - Finished!

I finished another painting a few days ago. Remember the 12x14 painting of my youngest sister Kirsten, playing her Cello that I've been working on in my watercolor class? Well here it is!

I feel pleased with how it turned out. I have learned so much in my watercolor class!

A special custom piece - Birth Mother

This painting was a special assignment: a Momma asked me if I would be able to paint an illustration of her son's birth mother, going off of her description of the woman and a photo of her son.

I think it is so wonderful that a Momma would choose to honor her child's birth mother in this way!

Friday Artist Feature on Harmony's blog!

Harmony Pyper (a fellow artist, Etsian, and adoptive Momma) featured me and my art on her blog today.  Feel free to swing by there - you will find out a little more about my life, my background, my motivation and inspiration for painting, and you will even get to see my messy messy art corner.

Follow the link to Harmony's blog HERE.

Work in Progress - Kirsten

It has been a few days since I last posted. Right now I am working on a 12x16 painting of my youngest sister, Kirsten, playing the Cello. 

I still need to add in the dark shades and shadows, but I think this painting is coming along nicely.

Here's a detail-view of her face. 

Work in progress - Little Nursling

Look what I did yesterday evening. I haven't decided yet if I even like this painting... I may keep working on it, or I may abandon it and work on something else. I don't like the yellow highlights on the baby's face because they make him look jaundiced, but the pigment in the yellow paint is a dyeing pigment, so I can't lift it back off...

Little Nursling - 8.5"x8.5"

Work in progress - Makeda - DONE! (I think)

I think I am finally finished with this painting. 

I have added some highlights to her lips and nose, and have blended the shadows on the left side of her face a little more.

Here is a detail view of Makeda's face. I love how expressive her eyes and mouth have turned out. 

Ps: I worked on Makeda's eyes a little more, and am much happier with how they look now (Feb 19). NOW she really is done. 

"Miheret" - 8x8 watercolor illustration

‎"Miheret" - 8x8 watercolor - thank you to Cindy Burt for letting me use her fantastic photograph of her beautiful daughter dancing in the evening sunlight.

This painting was HARD to do, with all the transparent whites that in reality aren't white, but many colors... I'm pleased with the end result though, especially the sun glow. 

Sorry folks, no prints will be sold of this painting, by request of Miheret's mother.

For-fun ACEO paintings

I'm really enjoying the freedom of being able to paint whenever I feel like it (rather than having the pressure of painting at least one complete painting every day - even if it was self-imposed). I've started several pieces, soon to be finished. Because I hate to waste good paper, I filled the "gaps" with some ACEO paintings.

Hamari woman from Ethiopia - they coat strands of their hair in red clay mixed with oil, and coat their foreheads in the same mixture. 

Young woman wearing a tie-died dress. You may notice that I only initialed these paintings, rather than signing and dating them. I'll sign and date them on the back.

I started these two little paintings in my watercolor class last week. Seeing my very exact method of previous paintings the instructor challenged me to let the colors mix on the wet paper instead of pre-mixing them on the pallet. It was a little scary to be painting pure Venetian red and pure magenta and pure indigo paint into the faces of these women, and letting them mix into shades of brown there. Overall I am very pleased with the effect though! The instructor also challenged me to make the background more interesting by adding some of the colors from the foreground. I may have overdone it a little in the painting of the Hamari woman - but with practice it will get better.

Keep in mind that these paintings are only 2.5"x3.5"... 

Illustrations for a friend

My friend asked me to draw her a few little illustrations for a story she  wrote. These are fairly small, and just drawn with graphite and a black fine-liner, but I thought you might still enjoy seeing them.

It has been a long time since I've drawn anything just with pencils and graphite. I forgot how fun it is... but I also miss the color and depth I can give a picture by adding watercolor! We will see what comes of this little project... 

Best of 2011 paintings

It is fun for me to go through my now fat folder of ACEO paintings to see which ones I am happiest with. While there are others (such as some of the flower paintings, the chameleons, and the paintings of my boys) that I love very much, the paintings that have sold the most prints on Etsy are the following: 

Thank you all for a great year of supporting my art. I hope you keep on checking back here, as well as in my Etsy shop (see link on the right of my page) and my facebook page to see what new originals and prints I am creating and selling. 

Oh, and did you know that I will soon start selling some of the originals from my Everyday Art project?! If you have a favorite that you are interested in purchasing, please eMail me to see if it's available...