You have TOUCHED my Life Forever...Thursday, January 8, 2015

 I have enjoyed getting to know people since I have been on Facebook.  Because of that, I soon got a shop on Etsy...WHO KNEW that I would ALSO get to KNOW people there also because, after all, it IS a place to sell and not really to get to chat...

I usually free-hand items, but since I was making 7, I printed it out on the computer.  AND to make sure that I had the writing in the correct place, I folded the paper on the bottom and made creases so that the next ones could go into the same location to EASILY make them uniform!

I have made some really good friends because of Etsy and I have gotten to know people as I have been chosen to paint them something special...This order brought ANOTHER new friend to me.

After the writing was done on all of the signs, I then shaded around each AND around the first vase that was the same color...When doing SEVERAL of one item, it is SO MUCH FASTER to do assembly line work.

Dorothy contacted me about making a sign for her friends that she has had since childhood!  Each year they gather to share some special time.  I was SO lucky that she shared her story with me and in turn, I discovered that we had a LOT of similar experiences.

I shaded around the other vases and added the leaves and stems...

I discovered that her school colors were yellow and white, and MINE were Gold and White, but let's be honest, it was probably MORE YELLOW than it was gold...LOL...To Honor this, we put a yellow heart on the sign AND I made the butterfly and vase yellow and white to continue the importance of color.

Next came the flowers, doing ONE at a time and then I stenciled the butterflies and hearts WHITE and then went back and added the YELLOW to the heart...it makes the color BRIGHTER to add WHITE underneath, especially when using certain colors like yellow and red...

This was the First year for my new friend to have Christmas without her mother and she wanted a BUTTERFLY on each sign in Memory of her mother, who was loved by each of the girls...This was the third year that I had been without my Mother for Christmas...The empty seats around the table will NEVER be filled, but EACH CHAIR holds SUCH WARM MEMORIES, so they will NEVER be simply EMPTY CHAIRS...

BUTTERFLIES were so important to MY MOTHER...she never left the house without placing a butterfly pin on her left shoulder...When she was President of my Denomination's Women's Work, she was in a planning meeting and they were planning the theme and symbol.  Someone shared the following and it SOON became her trademark:  "Happiness is like a Butterfly.  The more you chase it, the more it will elude you, BUT if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and gently sit on your shoulder."  Mother radiated LOVE, JOY and Happiness...She was given butterflies from all over the world!

Details were added to the flowers...

 Dorothy shared that she had graduated from the SAME SCHOOL as her mother and she shared a picture of her Mother with a lei of flowers around her neck with the school colors...

My Daddy was the FIRST to graduate from the newly remodeled High School in my county and My Mother and two brothers ALSO graduated from the same BUILDING with my class being the next to the last to graduate from there...I SO understand heritage...

A Wash of color was added to each of the vases to make it look like the flowers were INSIDE of the vase...

Did I mention my new friend was from Hawaii?  


WELL, I can't see much that I have in common to THAT EXCEPT it gets HOT HOT HOT and VERY HUMID in Middle Tennessee in the summer...ROFL...We have beautiful GREEN pastures and lovely trees and flowers...My Daddy LOVED the hot weather and he NEVER complained about how hot it got...BUT BOY HOWDY, he sure did get COLD in the winter...LOL

This is the finished product NOW on its way to Hawaii...It should be getting there really soon!

I KNOW each of these will be given to a very special friend...I PRAY they will be MEANINGFUL and will put a smile on the face of each recipient... I LOVE to spread COLOR and HAPPINESS!

Right Click on the picture and SAVE AS to your computer!

I would like to give you this FREE PATTERN that I had offered a couple of years ago...IF you paint one, send me a picture so I can see it and SHARE it...The original was painted on a 4x4 inch piece of wood, so shrink or enlarge it to fit YOUR needs...Happy Painting!...

I am SO thankful for the opportunity to be a PART of this loving gift to my new friend's friends...I am SO glad that I get to KNOW people and THEIR Stories...ALWAYS feel free to drop by MY FACEBOOK PAGE and let me get to KNOW you and VISIT my MY ETSY SHOP  to see IF I can help YOU surprise a friend...

Aloha!...Blessings to YOU...~charlotte♥

I have used DECOART Acrylic Paints to paint this...The colors I used were:  Winter Blue, True Blue, Razzleberry, Petal Pink, Warm White, Marigold, Raw Sienna, Purple Cow and Lavender.

Books, Friday, October 24, 2014

This is my latest Special Order.  I had a tough time trying to decide WHAT to do with this.

My FIRST thought was to put the saying in the middle and then surround it with BOOKS with the names of the customer's favorite books written on the painted books, BUT it just wasn't clicking with me.

I KNEW that I wanted the background to be Green...I could EVEN see the color in my mind...

I searched on the internet looking for ideas, but nothing came, UNTIL I saw a bookend that had a girl curled up on it reading a book...THAT was the moment I had FOCUS!

I chatted with a friend and told her my idea and then she suggested a window seat, so I thought I would give it a try, and I think it worked out pretty well!!

I decided the window needed to be TWO windows...I didn't want to add too many details to the outside...I wanted the focus to be on BOOKS...

I added LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of books to the shelves...WHEW...that was a LOT of BOOKS!

This is the girl that inspired me...she was only a silhouette, so I added some COLOR to her!

I think she is DREAMING of being inside her book!

NOW, I have to wait to see IF the customer likes it and if she wants any changes, BUT I am happy with it, so the WAITING GAME BEGINS...

Have the most AWESOME of days...Blessings to YOU...~charlotte♥

Angels Watching Over Me, Thursday, October 16, 2014

I have been doodling and drawing in some form most of my life.  I am a self-taught artist, as much as any of us can be self-taught.  I studied the work of other artists and read their books and their directions and did my best to mimic them UNTIL I could develop my own style and what I liked.

I quit doing craft shows before the primitive style became popular in my area of the county.   I have to admit, it has been TOUGH for me to adapt my painting to this style...I joke with my friends that no matter HOW much I try to paint in the primitive style, it comes out with bright colors and happy images.  I kid my friend, Kathy, that I just CAN'T join her on the DARK SIDE, so I'm doing my best to just bring her over to my HAPPY SIDE.  

AND let's face it, It has been DIFFICULT for me to paint a  GIANT PEAR that is bigger than a house and trying to put windows into Saltbox houses DRIVES me crazy because I can't get them EVEN...BUT look at anyone's saltbox house and tell me THEIR windows are even or structurally correct...I KNOW, but it's MY uneven windows...sigh...HOW in the WORLD did an ounce of perfectionism get into MY life??  It must have not had GPS!!!

Since being on Facebook, I have been introduced to the New England Folk Artist, John Sliney, and I have searched high and low to buy as many of his out of print books that I can find.  When I saw THIS project in his book, I KNEW that it would be on my WISH LIST to paint one day, so I filed it in my brain for a future project.

I recently had a customer on etsy, whom I now consider a friend,  who contacted me recently about doing an order for her mother's birthday.  She explained to me a little about her mother and said that she trusted me to "work my magic"...I laughed, but INSTANTLY thought of this project with wings and I got out my John Sliney books and found these other projects that I liked and thought they would work PERFECTLY.  

My FIRST thought was to simply place the Angel Wings in the  middle of a 8x 24 x 1 piece of Poplar, much like they are on this stool, with ANGELS WATCHING OVER ME at the top and angels around the wings...it was going to be sweet...I got ready to start painting....WHEN...

 

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 I WONDERED What would happen if I cut out WINGS and worked the sitting angel into the design...I really didn't like the idea of having the wings of the sitting angel sticking out of the wings BECAUSE little pieces tend to get BROKEN in shipping or through time...BUT ALL of a sudden, I thought about putting a boarder around them...SCORE!!

I am SO blessed to be able to cut my own wood...SO I drew off the wings first onto a piece of 11x17 paper folded in half and VERY QUICKLY sketched out the design...it came to life in NO TIME.

 

I painted the wings in DecoArt Americana.  I have used this brand of paint for YEARS and now am honored to be a Helping Artist with DecoArt.  The products are made in the USA!  They are ALWAYS the same with each bottle I open...they offer good coverage...and the colors available are current. 
  
I sketched the outline for the grass and the sky so I could paint them first.

I added the setting angel and transferred the next angel using Chalk.  At this point, I was already loving how this was turning out...

I finished the angel and quickly transferred the next Angel...I couldn't WAIT to get it finished...I just KNEW what was in my head was going to transfer to the surface...I added the church next...then the red house (the mother likes RED and I thought this was a great opportunity to put her favorite color into this project).  It was off balanced, so I added the trees to the right of the design...I LOVE the shading that happened just by chance because I had some brown in my green from painting over the tree trunk while it was still wet...I use a LOT of dirty-brush painting because that is how I got shading/highlights into my projects when I first started to paint!  I think SOMETIMES we PROUDLY take credit for those unexpected little HAPPIES that happen... ;)

This is the finished project and I LOVE it...I guess that sounds vain, but sometimes inspiration just hits and I am THANKFUL for that.

 I KNOW from WHOM my talents come.  I am not a naturally-gifted artist who can paint realistic paintings JUST by picking up a brush.  I have gotten better BECAUSE I took the little bit of talent that I was GIFTED and I worked to develop it...I don't PRETEND to paint a style that everyone likes, but I paint WHAT I LIKE and I have been blessed to find encouragement from so many along my journey...

This painting is VERY meaningful to me.  While it is NOT my own design, it has my own personal twists to it!  I am so GLAD that I have discovered John Sliney's designs and I look forward to working on putting MY STYLE to more of HIS designs...

Thank you, Erica, for trusting me to do this project for you...I HOPE your Mother will continue to feel Angels around her, guiding her and protecting her.  You have been an ANGEL in my life for the encouragement you have given to me and I am THANKFUL!

I BELIEVE that WHEN we want to do something, we have the tools to find a way to accomplish the task...DON'T stop trying to do WHAT you wish to DO...Blessings to YOU...~charlotte♥

Special Order~Gramma Loves you THIS much...Sunday, September 12, 2014

Hey Sweet People...I've been busy doing Special Orders and I am VERY thankful for them.  Since people live all over the country and don't get to see what I am doing, I THOUGHT it might be fun to show some of the steps in making a design come to life!

This is a design for a Grandmother's 4 year old Granddaughter.  She will be getting this for a Christmas present~~I LOVE people who plan AHEAD...I am taking note and MIGHT try that myself one day...(let's not hold our breath too long for THAT to happen!)

The customer didn't really know WHAT she wanted, but gave me an idea and it was pretty easy from there on.  I have this WONDERFUL surface that my friend, Mindy, cut for me at the Woodshop in WV (the link is on the right side of the blog under my Favorite Places).  The surface is 10 x 11 inches and I ABSOLUTELY love this design, so it is often the FIRST thing I think of When someone wants a sign that isn't too big!

 

Of course, I used DecoArt Americana Paints and I based it in one of my FAVORITE colors, Marigold, since the little girl's room is decorated in Brown, Pink and Yellow.  Marigold is a very nice neutral color that isn't too dark or too light, and, as Goldilocks said~~JUST RIGHT.  DecoArt products are made in the USA, and for me, that would be ENOUGH to try them, but I have to admit, I started using them LONG before I knew this and these paints are wonderful~~consistent and in a GREAT variety of Popular and modern colors.  (commercial over...do NOT change the station, please)

I used a stencil by Laurie Spletz, to add some subtle details in the background.  I used Moon yellow to make it lighter, but not TOO BUSY and distracting.  The stencil has little hearts in it and I thought that was very appropriate. 

 

I then used the little girl from a pattern that I designed, that is available in my etsy shop, as the little girl.  I had designed the original pattern in HONOR/memory of my mother who LOVED to tell her grandbabies that she loved them THIS MUCH...I am SO happy that I was able to put THIS DESIGN onto this project...Mother would be the FIRST to grin from ear-to-ear.

After everything was based and shaded, I added the details~~eyes, nose, mouth, hearts on the dress, hearts on the background, gold around the edge (because LOVE is PRICELESS) and then finished by adding shading/highlights to the heart...It all came together pretty easily SINCE I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to do!

This is headed to a little girl in Georgia, from her Gramma in Florida...I PRAY this will be a meaningful reminder of JUST how MUCH she is loved and that she will be blessed to have a WONDERFULLY creative life FILLED with Faith, Hope and JOY...

I am honored that I was asked to do this and I hope they KNOW that every brush stroke was done in LOVE and with Pride...Blessings to YOU...~charlotte♥