Tulips

This is my second tulip painting (see my first one here) ...this time in brown and white. I finished the painting last night, and I'm happy with it.  It is slightly smaller than the first but is also done in acrylics! I feel like I'm getting stuff done...crossing things off my to-do list.  Now I'm off to help Abby with some wedding design related projects...more on that later! 

Inspire Me Thursday: Square

acrylic paint on 4 square canvases

UPDATE: since a lot of you asked about this painting...this is what it looks like hanging...

Inspire Me Thursday: DNA

One of my favorite quotes is:

"Fashions fade, style is eternal." ~ Yves Saint Laurent

When I saw the prompt was DNA, I thought of this quote...I'm pretty sure style, design, fashion, & art are embedded somewhere in my DNA...so I designed a DNA print dress...so cute! (would probably never wear it though hahaha!)


Pitt Artist Brush Pens, Color Pencil, and Acrylic Paint on paper

Inspire Me Thursday

Growing Season

"growing season" 11x20 acrylic painting

I finally finished this painting!!! I took a break from it for a couple of weeks, but after finishing the Tulip painting last night, I decided it was best to go back and finish this one tonight! I had the majority of the painting complete, so after 3 more short hours of painting in front of the TV (it is SHARK week!!!), I am done! It feels good.

Inspire Me Thursday: Open Topic TULIPS Painting

I moved into my apartment almost one year ago, and although I had plans for a black & white painting to hang over my sofa in our living area, but I have yet to find the time to actually carry out my plans. I've completed a million other projects for myself and others, but that was the big one looming out there and it was aggravating me. The white space on my wall was a constant reminder!!! For the past few weeks I've been sketching and perfecting in my mind what the final product was going to look like, so when the torrential rains opened up over NYC this weekend I sat down with my plans and started to paint. My boyfriend requested that the painting be black and white, so I decided to do a botanical silhouette painting of tulips. Here are the results:
First:

2nd & final (the boyfriend actually liked the painting best unfinished so I went back and added "highlights":--in the end I think it adds personality to the painting)


Tulips 24x30 acrylic paint on stretched canvas

Inspire Me Thursday: Bold

Acrylic Paint on Canvas Panel titled "Jigsaw"

Inspire Me Thursday

Inspire Me Thursday: World Traveler

This week is just a quick one. I did a Paris drawing not too long ago, and I thought about just finishing it and using it for this but that felt a bit like cheating. I think I took a less obvious approach to this topic. I am using this simple painting as a background to one of my journal pages. Here it is:


acrylic paint
inspire me thursday

Illustration Friday: Paradise

girl walking on the beach
water color

my idea of paradise is a place where one can relax, reflect, & revitalize with few interuptions.

i think the above illustration captures that well...a peaceful walk along the beach...day dreaming, thinking, drawing with your foot in the sand--now that is paradise. :)


illustration friday

Inspire Me Thursday: Roots

“Everything you see
has its roots in the unseen world.
The forms may change,
yet the essence remains the same.
Every wonderful sight will vanish;
every sweet word will fade,
But do not be disheartened,
The source they come from
is eternal, growing,
Branching out,
giving new life and new joy.
Why do you weep?
The source is within you
And this whole world
is springing up from it.”
Rumi

acrylic paint on paper...5.5 x 8.5

A friend once told me that he would not have guessed in a million years that I had grown up on a farm. It wasn't that I hid this information from him or anyone for that matter. I always have said grew up in rural Iowa on a family farm. I think he thought I was exaggerating. Everyone makes fun of you when you say you are from a place like Iowa. Most people from Iowa didn't grow up on a farm, but the first question you always get after you answer "Where are you originally from?" is "Did you live on a farm?". The second question always comes with a laugh, because the person asking is really only half kidding. When you answer yes, they think you're joking. This is my experience. I'm sure I would have a completely different experience if I showed up looking like a stereotypical country girl with a southern drawl (Enter the American girls from "Love Actually"!). My friend didn't believe me until he visited the very house I grew up in. It was a typical you have to see it to believe it story. He always knew I was telling the truth, but he couldn't place the person I am now--wearing my designer clothing and long blonde hair in the middle of nowhere doing what farm girls do. The truth is I couldn't picture myself doing any of that!

I always felt isolated there--even as a young girl in elementary school I felt this way. I wanted out...I felt trapped in so many ways. I was determined to do everything I could to get away. I'm competitive, driven, and focused. I channeled all of my energy into one thing that I knew would get me out of there--my education. Neither of my parents had attended college, and being the oldest child I was determined to break the mold. It paid off for me because by the time I was in high school I had a 3.9 GPA, I was involved in Softball, Cross-Country, Track & Field, every honor society & organization you could dream of. With the help of scholarships I was able to get out of the state...I went to college near Chicago, I interned in Washington D.C., after graduation I lived in Chicago in the Wrigleyville area for a little over a year and then moved to New York City where I have lived for the past 2 years. NYC is the antithesis of my hometown. As I'm sure you would imagine, there are zero similarities.

The odd thing is that you can work so hard to get away from something...to erase it even, but it always stays with you. You can never really escape it even if your life is essentially the exact opposite of what it once was, your past is apart of you--it shapes you whether you like it or not. I don't know if I was necessarily trying to "escape my past", but I suppose in many ways--perhaps unconsciously-- I was trying to do just that. Something must have led me to charge forward until I found myself living on the opposite end of the spectrum.

I appreciate the beauty--especially the scenic beauty-- of Iowa now that I moved away. The openness, the smells, the clear skies, the unobstructed views all went unappreciated when I was living there. If I step outside right now and look north I will be able to see as far as 59th street. Back home, when you drive on one of those narrow highways you will be able to see for miles-literally. I had to leave to be able to appreciate the beauty of that. Too often you take the things that are directly before you for granted. I never would have seen the beauty in a barn with peeling paint & a weathered roof if I hadn't left.

Inspire Me Thursday: Words

acrylic paint on canvas panel 8x10

"breathe in, let go" ...advice i should take once in awhile

inspire me thursday

Illustration Friday: Remember

"i still remember" acyrilic paint on canvas 8 x 10

as i was sketching a bloc party song started playing in itunes...

"every park bench screams your name
I kept your tie
I've gone wherever you wanted
I still remember"

{"i still remember" ~ bloc party}

...it inspired me to finish by turning my sketch into a painting. i was so inspired that i was ridiculed by my friends for sitting home and finishing it on a friday night (now it is saturday morning), but hey it is done! :)

illustration friday

Inspire Me Thursday: Eco Art

For this piece I used 2 pieces of cardboard that came as packaging inserts on some cookie sheets i bought this weekend. I then used scrap paper, cards, and other pieces of paper laying around my studio to create the collage background. i then layered acyrlic paints for the image. the collage painting measures 12x12.

advice from a caterpillar

this is an acryllic painting on an 10 x 8 canvas panel. i am participating in an alice in wonderland swap, and the person i have to send to named chapter 5 "advice from a caterpillar" her favorite chapter. i finally finished it (it took me longer than i expected!), and i wanted to share it with you right away... this is my take on the story. :)