"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

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

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!

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.

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!