My Grandmother

I am learning to love graphic design! I'm obsessed. We are learning all about photo restoration right now. I chose to do this picture of my grandmother when she was 17. Even though this was just a small project, I was excited to do it on my grandmother. Her name was Valree Morgan Houston and she died when she was 32 years old. My mom was 5. Its strange how you can feel such a connection to someone you've never met. I've always been curious about her life, but I don't know much about her. What I do know is that she loved animals and art, and that her life and death were both tragic. I think she looks pretty in this picture and I hope that she would agree.

Fish

I know its been a while, yet again. This summer thing made me really lazy. In the past few weeks, I have started graphic design school again. We are in the process of buying a house. Needless to say, my creative juices are flowing yet again. I was recently on the graphic design website for my school and found that one of my projects from last semester was in the student gallery. I was flattered. Each of our projects for this class had to revolve around a specific phobia. I chose ichthyophobia, which is the fear of fish.

This whole graphic design thing is much more difficult than I expected. Part of the reason for that being that I have a hard time operating technology! Maybe I'm in the wrong field again. But I do enjoy learning it.

Finished Alamo

A while ago, I wrote about how I was doing a painting for one of my friends. Although we both agreed that a picture of the Alamo might be a little odd, I thought I'd give it a try. I wanted it to look really fun and unique, so I ended up collaging the pathway. I loved the way it looked. I loved it so much that all of my creative ambition were satisfied for a long time. The canvas sat like this for about two months.

A few weeks ago, I realized that my friend was coming into town soon and I needed to get this painting finished! I worked really hard and I didn't know if I could pull it off in time. I actually began to loath the painting and I felt terrible about it. I'll just be honest, it looked like crap. Somehow, as I reached the end of the process, it all began to come together.

This is the finished product. I really think its cool. I'm very happy with it and my friend is as well.

Old Dresser/New Dresser

My husband and I started a new project last week. We ended up with his old dresser that he had since he was a baby and throughout childhood. I had been wanting to trying repainting furniture for a while, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. I was nervous about trying it on this particular piece, because of its sentimental value. But of course, we just decided to wing it.

We started out by sanding the thing to death. I think we may have gone overboard with the sanding, but we wanted to be sure we got off all the shine from the finish. After priming it, we chose an off white color for the paint. After looking at a plethora of off white paint, I chose the color marzipan, for no other reason that I happen to like marzipan.(If you don't know what marzipan is, its an almond candy.)

After the paint finally dried, we sanded it a little more to give it a rugged look. I wanted to give it some nice new hardware so I ordered some from Anthropologie.com. I love the color turquoise and I think it makes the whole thing pop. Even though the knobs we chose were expensive, I didn't mind as much because the piece is so special.

It has belonged to my husband his whole life, and its our first major project we worked on together. This is our finished product. I love it!

T-shirt Rug

Its been a while. I started a new job again. I really love where I work now. I also just finished my first semester of graphic design school. Which I also love! I haven't painted in a while. I feel like I lost focus yet again. However, I have been crocheting quite a bit the past week. I think my creative juices are starting to flow again. I saw this online so I can't take all the credit. I will probably making all my old clothes into yarn from now on instead of getting rid of them. Four old t-shirts make a cute little bathroom rug.

Its Officially Springtime!

I never thought I would be so happy to have hot weather again! It has been the longest and coldest winter I've ever seen in Florida. Thank you Lord for some springtime and beach weather!
I painted this a few months ago. It took me about 10 minutes to paint. Its nothing special but its sort of cute. I thought I would post it in honor of amazing and beautiful weather that we are now having.
I haven't been seriously spending a lot of time on painting lately, but I hope I will get back into it soon... Right now I'm going to the beach.

Palm Sunday...

I finished this one a few days ago, but I thought today would be a good day to post it... because its Palm Sunday. I like the way the branches turned out. I didn't really think about it when I was painting it, but I guess its sort of significant to have the cross with the palm branches.

More Leaves

I started working on this one this past summer. I was almost finished with it, but for some reason I let it go for a while. I just started working on it again. It just needed a little cleaning up. So I finally can call it finished!! I think I like it. I copied it from a picture I found in a gardening magazine...

I haven't worked on the sea grape leaf again...

Finished Peacock Painting

This is the first painting I've finished in forever! And I like it a lot.















16x20

Celtic Cross

This is one of the first crosses I painted. I'm not really sure what inspired it. I obviously am a Freida fan and I have recently started loving all things Mexican. I just love the bright colors I'm really intrigued by those skeletons for some reason! I also have always been fascinated by Catholicism. I think it has something to do with growing up watching The Sound of Music all the time.

That painting of the tree that was meant for the turtle has become this Celtic cross. I'm not sure how I feel about it right now. Its a little uneven and I don't love the colors I've picked. I will keep working on it though. I am hoping it will turn out and I won't have to start over again.

Elephants

I have been collecting elephants since I was about five years old. A family friend, who is like a grandmother to me, collects them and she is the one who got me started. She is supposedly leaving me her huge collection in her will. I've had most of my elephants since I was a kid, and I don't remember where I got most of them. Hopefully, I will always remember that my husband bought me this cute elephant lamp for Christmas this year.

So because I love elephants, and I am on this new painting kick, I decided to try painting an elephant using the lamp as a model. This is what I came up with. It looks a little childlike, but I think its cute. I wanted him to be on the Maasai Mara, because that's the best place for an elephant to live. If you ever start an elephant collection, it's important that their trunks are upward. Elephants with their trunks down are bad luck!11x14

Painting Through Life

I have enjoyed art all of my life. I didn't study it in college, but I have taken a few classes. Most of my appreciation of art comes from my mother. I have been painting for several years, but I never looked at it as more than just a hobby. Recently, I decided that it was something I wanted to really pursue. I still don't really know what that means... but I thought a good step in showcasing my art would be through a blog.

This quote by one of my favorite painters has become my motto about my art:

"The only thing I know is that I paint because I need to, and I paint whatever passes through my head without any other consideration."
-Frida Kahlo



I am used to painting a lot of landscapes. Lately I have been painting these crosses. It has been so much fun coming up with different designs. For the Cross With Branches, I used pages from an old book to collage the ouside of the cross. Collage is something I had never tried before with painting, but I had seen it done recently and thought it looked so pretty. Let me know if you want one of the crosses!


Cross With Leaves- 8x10

Cross With Branches- 11x14