Monday, October 31, 2011

Dinning Room Part 3: the ceiling design

It is always a love hate relationship coming up with a design. I want it to be perfect. Sometimes I get too far in one design that when I see an error I don't want to start over. But this design, this room, I think I started over four times. I didn't want it to look like a cross, not too many swirls, not too many leaves and so on. 


Now mapping it out in the actual size. I did the drawing on graph paper then drew grid lines on the larger white paper. The design needed to be flowy but intentional. Slight variations to show that it isn't a stencil, but not sloppy. 

The next step, transferring the image on the ceiling. Out comes the ladder. (you do know that it will be symmetrical, right. I will just turn the paper and draw it on the other side. No need in drawing everything twice)

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Filigree and flourishes

When my husband and I were first married we had the opportunity to visit Paris. I was really impressed with  Versailles. All of the beautiful gold leaf designs on the walls. Everything there was so ornate. It seemed like every square inch of the castle was a piece of art.

I completed this series not long after our trip. There are also two gold square, a purple and a green one. Since it was quite a few years ago these were the only images I could get my hands on quickly. I tried to sell them on ebay, but I didn't much luck. I think my marketing and business sense need work. 

But as I planed my dinning room ceiling I looked back at these images and what inspired me about Versailles. I wanted to bring the designs into my home with just a few more modern touches. That being said... I have complete the design for the ceiling. YEAH! Now it's time for the execution. I hope to have it finished in a few weeks. My deadline is November 12th. We are having people over from my husband's work. And who doesn't work better with a deadline! 



Monday, October 24, 2011

Art Lesson 1: Symmetry

Teaching... I seem to always have art students. One way or another for the past ten years I find myself teaching. Sometimes I actively pursue someone to teach, other times they just find me. 

Last week I had the first lesson with my new students. They are home schooled. If they were in tradition school the girl would be in 3rd grade and the boy 5th. I am really excited! The first lesson I do is to get an idea of their skill level. I just have them bring an object, sometimes it is their shoe, and draw it with no instruction. And these two kids did fantastic! Their proportions were spot on. 

Then we did a lesson on symmetry. Which I found it quite funny, I used an old sketch book and found where I had taught this lesson previously and drawn a demonstration. And also saw where I had done several lessons to different students years apart from another on portraits and figure drawing. 
 I didn't take a picture this week of my current students. But here are some students and projects from previous years.
 Casting masks is a classic. It is really fun to explore different cultures with this project. 

 An impressionist project.
 And here were the last group of student until now. I taught five girls, plus my daughter, that were around 6years old. Wow, I have no idea how teachers have an entire classroom. But they were all so sweet. They got excited no matter what we did. 
I do love to teach. I find the enthusiasm that I get from my students to be contagious and inspiring. To watch them grow and develop as little artists is just amazing. At some point later in life I would love to have summer camps and after school classes. But right now I am glad to have a few students here and there and practice with my own kiddos.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Flower headbands


What to do... Clean the house or make headbands for my friend's little girl for her birthday. Big surprise which one won. I love wrapping the headbands with felt verses ribbon. It goes so much faster. I used several different centers for the flowers. I can't ever decide which one I like the best. Next time I do these I might take pictures for a tutorial. 


I also threw in a few simple bows. I love to use these to pen back bangs in the front. It seems like my girl's hair grows straight down into their eyes. Even if I would like to let them go without a bow every once in a while, they wouldn't be able to see. 

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Nursery Art: Forest Animals

This is a gift for a friend's nursery. These paintings were a bit out of the norm for me. I usually have bedding that I am matching. And a name to add... Well, this little guys is number four and he will be sharing a room with his sister for a while. I needed to find boy art, but no too boy. The older sister likes animals and so the search was on. 
Loved these images. But something was missing. The owl wasn't too bad, but the squirrel didn't seem complete at all. I looked up nursery quotes and found two that fit perfectly. 

 Sweet. And of course, heard it before. But it fit.
Then I saw this one! I couldn't have planned it better.
Now they seem happier to me. The animals needed a purpose I suppose. A message to share. I hope the little man and his big sister like their new pictures.

Friday, October 7, 2011

My New Favorite Bow and a Onesie Dress

I LOVE THIS BOW!!! 
I think I will have to make a million more. In every color. For every girl I know. Okay, that is a bit much. This is probably the most time consuming bow that I have made. Well, one that I will continue to make.
 I just think it is so sweet. 

 And here is a onesie dress that I made for my niece. Of course it is being modeled by someone slightly larger that happens to live at my house. If it was summer, I am not so sure that it would be going to my niece.... But I know that I can make more and that it won't fit my itty bitty girl by next summer.

Here is a link to my friend's blog. She is kinda fantastic at re-purposing and all things sewing... Among other things. But it is a very easy to follow tutorial.

Sutton Grace: tutorial: onesie dress

I used this print and some coordinating fabric to make burp cloths and bibs already. And we are using all the materials for the shower! I can't wait to post pictures of all the things we are doing for it. But I don't want to spoil the shower just in case.
And here is the bow is polka dot pink.CUTE! I know right! So excited. 

Here is the link to make the bow:


Monday, October 3, 2011

Big Truck Room

This is the big boy room for the family I mentioned previously. Love these little boys! Twin boys and a younger brother. This is the younger brother's new big boy room. 
I love this room. It already had the picture molding when the family moved in. When I saw the bedding that we would pull the images from, I immediately thought of doing the trucks around the top of the wall. And when the mom said that she was thinking the same thing... that was that and I got to work.
This is the wall you see when you enter the room. The mom and I agreed that the dump truck was the favorite and should be the focal point of the mural. 
She wanted big and clunky trucks. And even though my son isn't a truck man, I had a great time with these little images. I didn't have to worry about making them exact replicas, just fun ideas of the actual trucks. It  was great!

The bedding only had four truck, so I snatched these images from a book that the family had. I felt the cement mixer fit right in with the construction trucks. However, I know that the John Deer is a farm truck, but how adorable is he? So cute. Who doesn't love green and yellow! He is a classic.
It is a great compliment to have someone ask me to return time and time again. It's neat to have a body of work in someone's home.