There are owls in the bathroom!

After looking on Modcloth I saw an amazing shower curtain as well as a matching bath rug and I really want to decorate our bathroom. The owl shower curtain gave me this great idea to put owl paintings in the bathroom.

The colors on the shower curtain are light blue, green, orange, and brown. Therefore, I'm thinking about coordinating the colors between the shower curtain and the paintings.

My painting ideas are two owls looking at each other (that would be me and Sean) and another painting of 3 owls on tree branches (for me, Sean, and Indy).  There is room for a third painting, but we'll see about that one. 

I think this will really make the bathroom look great! It needs something and I think this is it!

Sadly, this project will have to wait. I really want to get my puzzle/sponge paintings started so I can start selling them.

Paintings for sale!

That's right! I am going to start selling paintings. First I need to paint them.

Here are my ideas:
The Puzzle Piece and the Spong.

Lets talk about the Puzzle Piece
This will consist of 5 paintings all involving puzzles. They will also have similar color schemes: midnight blue/dark purple, dark red, and black (this may change however).
I've already made a couple of sketches, just because I need to get an idea of how these paintings could flow together.

I'm hoping that someone will consider putting them up in their store, but that's for another time to worry about. Right now, I just need to concentrate on painting.

I think I'm going to start painting them tonight.

I'm excited. I'm also going to post them on Facebook and see if I have any takers. We'll see though.

Another painting completed.

It feels great to have a painting completed. It seems like these ideas just come to me and I have to get them out and if I don't, the idea is just nagging at me until I do.

The painting changed a little in production, the ideas always seem to do. I'll start out doing something one way and by the time I'm done with it, it turns into another. I like that. It's nice to have that inspiration and then grow from that.

The original idea was to have a bright rainbow and to have the painting positioned horizontally. While working on the painting however, I was listening to depressing music and that changed the attitude of the painting. There was a transition from dark (on the right side) to light (on the left side). I think it was a good touch. I like the transition. It's like a journey, the same journey with each panel of color. After I finished the rainbow, I then felt there needed to be something added. The rainbow effect was nice, but the painting looked...lonely. I then added a flower. That was done in black painting and a highlight of white colored pencil.

Here is the end result:

The final step to complete this painting is the attach black or rainbow colored ribbon in between each color block about an inch apart. This is I can hang it easily. Otherwise...I'll have to make sure that it's straight and put each one on the wall individually.

I'm so excited to put this up. However, I will have to wait. It's late and I need to get to bed.

Another cake in the works!

I've noticed that once I get done with one project, I'm on to the next. Like for instance, I just finished my husbands cake and I'm already thinking about Valentine's Day!

With this cake I'm thinking about doing once large cupcake and then doing 12 regular sized cupcakes.

I want to have chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter icing (both vegan). I've had a vegan cupcake before or even made them. I thought this would be a great challenge for me.

For the decorations, I want to ice the large cupcake and then make dye some fondant pink or red (I haven't decided yet) and cut a large heart out. On the heart I want to write down the "love is kind, love is patient" quote. We originally wanted this in our wedding. I don't think it made it in the ceremony however. Then for the smaller cupcakes, I'm going to have the same concept, but I'm going to write little sayings on the fondant hearts such as "I love you", "be mine", "forever and always".

I really hope Sean likes it. After the last couple of months, I really want to make it up to him.

Now that I have this settled, I just need to plan out a romantic Valentine's Day date. I hope that he can get it off...he might not be able to, but that's no big deal. We can always celebrate on a different day, but I still want to have a really romantic date. We normally go to Jim Gold's, a local up scale restaurant, but we've been there for the past two years. Hopefully I can think of somewhere else to go. 

Sean's birthday cake, the flop...

Every year since Sean and I have been together (almost 5 years) I have made him a cake for his birthday. I do this not only because I love baking and love baking for him, but because he never got a party or cake for his birthday, which is on Christmas Eve. He always has his family's Christmas festivities on Christmas Eve and his family doesn't really put an emphasis on his birthday. It's more about the Christmas aspect.

This round, I was playing with the idea of a Skyrim cake. He loves playing that game and I thought it would be a great idea to make the logo dragon.

This is what the logo he wanted on the cake:

This is how the caked ended up:

So, let's explain the method to my madness...
I wanted to make the dragon out of fondant and Sean wanted it to be grey. So I drew out the dragon on a piece of paper with all the details that it shown in the picture (minus the highlight and shadow). Next I cut out the sketch and place it on the fondant. After that I take a knife and cut into the fondant. That didn't really work out so I started tracing over the sketch. That didn't work either. My last idea was to look at the sketch and free hand it. Because of all the details, the fondant being difficult to cut, and sucky knives...I couldn't get all the details like I wanted.
When I was finished with the dragon I got the white fondant out and started to roll it out.
I worked on the cake as well. I used a 9x13" pan. The cake was pretty thin, so I decided to cut it in half and make two layers. The cake didn't turn out the way I wanted because it was really uneven. I tried to even it out by cutting off some of it...but I think that only made it worse.
The I iced the cake...that went horrible as well...I should have stuck it on the fridge or freezer to harden up...
Finally I took the white fondant, put it on the cake, took black gel and water and painted it black. I wanted it to look like it was painted with a paint brush and have some brush strokes shown.

Overall, I am definately not happy with the cake...but there is always next year to improve. I know what I need to work on and there are a ton of events for my to practice my cake skills.

A lesson learned...

This post is about an unsuccessful painting...Most of my of my paintings are done twice, because the first painting I do not like...This only applied to Indy's project though...

I tried painting the one where Peter Pan is holding Wendy as they fly through the sky with the moon in the background....It didn't turn out like I wanted and I'm not sure if I want to redo it...mostly because it was a hard to paint...

Just getting in the little spaces to do the background was a challenge and then when I was drawing it, I didn't press down hard enough or go over it a second time to make it darker, so a lot of my lines were lost when it came to paint it. Another problem was that I used color pencil to do the smaller areas in...I shouldn't have done that...I was too lazy to mix the paint or even try in a small area...Finally, I wasn't really in the mood to paint, but I did anyways because I was bored...I wasn't feel creative at all...That was my biggest mistake of tonight...

Anyways, I learned my lesson. Only paint when feeling creative and only paint when I know I'm going to put forth the effort...

The Indy Project...still going!

Just finished another painting for Indy's room; it's Peter Pan this time! I have no idea where I'm going to put it though. Maybe above his bookshelf? I think that would look nice. 

Here's the painting:

I'm really excited to get started on the final paintings. I think I have 2 left. After that I just need to get the pirate flag and then Peter Pan quotes. 

I might rearrange the first 3 paintings because I'm sure if I like where they are placed, but we'll see. 

Until next time!

A new project on the horizon...

I have a new idea for a painting and I'm really excited to get started on it, but the problem is that I have no money to get the material. Sad day. I'm going to have to wait till I get Christmas money or when I get paid, which will be January 3. Yes, I know the date of when I get paid, that's how little money I have.

The newest painting is going to consist of 7 canvases as one painting. I will be doing a sponge effect for all of them and maybe something else on top of the sponge. (That part just came to me, so we'll see.) Anyways, it is going to portray the rainbow. Each canvas will be have 2 colors and hopefully blend to the next color of the rainbow. This is what I'm thinking: red/red orange, orange/yellow orange, yellow/yellow green, green/blue green, blue/blue violet, violet/darker violet

I think that this will look pretty cool. I'm thinking about putting it in the bedroom above the bed, horizontally. Then again, I think I might sell it. I think that it would be a pretty good painting to sell and someone might like it as well.

After I have bought everything and made it, then I'll decide.

I still need to contact the coffee shop. I was told that a couple of other places in the area sell some art. I'll contact them as well. I hope it works out, but we'll see.

Hopefully I can get this artwork into action soon. I'm getting a little antsy! I do have a couple of more canvases that I need to use for Indy's room. Maybe I will get on that tonight!

Until next time!

Well hot damn...2 paintings in 1 night!

That's right! I have completed 2 paintings in 1 night! I'm on a roll!

The sister painting to the puzzle painting has been officially completed. It's nice to get that completed.
The living room looks great now! We have family photos on one wall, photographs from my Mom on another wall and finally the purple/orange faze on the third wall. It looks really nice. It feels great to have that completed!

Anyways, here is my painting:

I don't think this one is good as the first puzzle painting, but maybe it's because it's an original. I still like it though.

No news on the selling of paintings, mostly because it's only been a few hours since I posted...I will have to email the coffee shop sometime though.

Alright, I think that it's time for me to take some time off from painting, at least for a day.

When I get back to it my next project is completing Indy's room. I still have 3 more paintings, a pirate flag, and some Peter Pan quotes to put up in his room. Then that will finally be over.

I'm so excited! I love this! I wish I could quit everything and just be an artist! That would be amazing!

Anyways, I'm off. It's late and I'm tired!
Until next time!

Project on a whim...

So I decided after talking to my cousin about painting her walls and making art projects, I decided that it was time for me to do another project...the sponge painting!

It was really fast and super colorful! I used all neon colors: orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple.

This one is going in the bedroom with the crayon project.

Here is the painting:

I'm thinking about selling some art. I think a local coffee shop sells paintings. That would be really cool if I could sell some work, I need the extra cash. My assistantship doesn't pay that well, even thought I got a raise.

Ok, so now, I am off to my next project. This one is the sister puzzle piece. It will replace the crayon one so that one can be moved to the bedroom.

Hope my hubby likes it! :)

A new project in the works.

My cousin has seen my paintings on Facebook and now she wants me to paint her some stuff and possibly her house. She's taking some wall paper and she wants an "artsy" painting on her wall. We'll see if this pans out, but I really hope it does! I think it would be great work for me. It might take forever and a day to do, but still, I really want to do this!

I was thinking about giving her ideas for the wall if she didn't have any already. I would really like to do a wet blend of two colors. I first did this when I was on the paint crew for "The Tempest". You could see the whole stage! I think we used 4 different blues and a greeen and then we took water to it to make it look like waves. It looked really cool!

I also thought about a sponge or feather effect on the walls. We could do the base color in dark and then a lighter color in the sponge/feather. I think that would be more her style than the wet blend look. I think that might be too wild for her. She does have a wild side, but she shows off her classy side more.

There is also the paintings she wants me to do. I don't even know where to begin for that!

I need to ask her what she wants I guess, I'm hoping for something abstract, I'm really good with those. Mostly because it's abstract. You can't really go wrong with abstract.

Well, I'm off to look at some inspiration! :)

My latest project.

This project was inspired by a cohort of mine. I was browsing through her pictures on Facebook and I saw a really creative project. I liked it so much that I thought I would try the same thing. I made a couple of changes because I wanted it to fit my theme and I added some paint. 

Anyways, here is my latest project:

The boarder I did a wet blend of purple and orange and for the rectangles in the middle I took paint swatches from Wal-mart. After the paint was applied I sprayed some water on it and then dabbed the extra water off with a towel so it gave it a pretty cool effect.  

I put this painting above my curtains in the middle of of the crayon and puzzle project.

Cutting out the swatches and painting took about an hour and a half to make. It was a pretty cheap project, about $12 (that's how much the frame was).

I think think after this I need to do one more painting for the living room. I'm thinking about taking down the crayon one and putting it in our bed room. The color scheme is better in there. Plus, the rainbow really clashes with the purple and orange theme we have going on.

Maybe I'll try my hand at splatter paint. I'm not sure though...We'll see what happens.

The Puzzle Project complete!!!

It felt like it took me forever, but the puzzle project is finally done!

Here is the end product:

I can't wait to start the next project! More to come on that idea when I do some more research!

Another painting done for Indy's room!

Ahh, yet another painting done for Indy's room! I'm so excited! I really hope that it all comes together. 

Here is what I painted:

This is the first of the Peter Pan paintings. I decided that I wanted the feel of a coloring book, but I wanted to use paint. The idea that I came up with was water color for the base and color pencil for the shading/outlining. As far as the background, I just wanted a base color for it. I wasn't really looking for a solid color so I chose to do a wash. I thought this would fit bet with the "coloring book" theme.

After finals are over I think I will be able to finish all of them. My goal is to have Indy's room completed by the time I return to school in January. That should give me about 2 weeks to get them done! 

I still need to order the pirate flag and get the wall stickers to put up Peter Pan quotes. That may have to be done after January, when I get paid again.

I hope his room turns out great! I'm sure it will! 

Now off to study for more finals!