This ol' guitar....

...came to me as just a plain, regular, ol' starter guitar.

Its owner had moved on to a bigger, better guitar, but wanted to hang onto this as a keepsake....

I sent it back to her as a piece of wall art - with a musical theme, of course! Now it will hang on the wall in her newly-decorated bedroom and blend in with the rest of her black, white, and plum-colored decor....

(Incidentally, this is not her new bedroom. This is a bookshelf in my living room.

Oh, hey, look - there I am getting married in the background. :o))

The owner asked me to do a black, cream, and plum themed-collage that included that Scripture, houndstooth, the musical "hearts" and Ichthys, piano, and sheet music... this is what I came up with...

If you're wondering about how I did this, it's a combination of decoupaged papers, acrylic paints, and watercolors.... top-coated with Mod Podge (love that stuff).

(Please note: this guitar is a child's starter guitar that is no longer used -

I do not recommend doing this to any instrument for which you paid a lot of money or that you play on a regular basis.)

Do you have a special keepsake, piece of furniture, or home accessory that could use a little sprucing up?

This was a commissioned piece, and I'd be happy to do one for you too!

Please e-mail me for more information!

Wow!

....Thank you all so much for the great response to my new jewelry items! I'm so glad you like them!

I am just about out of the necklaces that I made in the Etsy shop. However, I just purchased a bunch of supplies, so next week, I will be making lots more! If there is a particular piece you'd like to see put up in the shop, please send me a message, and I will make sure to make that piece for you! I'd also be happy to do "reserved" pieces on Etsy - just let me know what piece you'd like, cord color and length, etc.

Be sure to keep checking back in the shop! I will be adding pieces as I make them.... so stay tuned!

Thanks again! Yay!

The Secret's Out!

Well, I can finally show you one of my two latest "top secret" projects! I delivered the original this morning, and it has been given to the recipient for whom it was commissioned, so I can now share it with you! Here's the final piece....

This is a Bernese Mountain Dog puppy - isn't he a cutie? You can read more about the breed HERE. The friend who commissioned this piece asked if I would add the "in progress" pictures of this piece to my blog for the recipient to see, so below you can see the painting progress to its final finished state...

This was my reference photo from my client... from which I made my sketch...

 Once I got my sketch down from my reference photo, I transferred it to my watercolor paper...

I started work with laying in some of the background - leaves, texture on the ground, some pebbles...

Salt sprinkled over damp watercolors creates a nice "rock" texture...

Continuing with the background, deepening shadows, creating texture in the leaves, and starting to add in some of the soft browns on the face...

Deepening shadows, adding more "background" leaves, scumbling on the foreground,

 and starting to lay in some color on the paws...

Every doggy needs a nose!

On the reference photo, the background is so dark that parts of the puppy's dark fur blends in and gets lost in the shadows... So I lightened the foliage up a bit and added some highlights on the puppy's fur to make its shape stand out. (Incidentally, I saw one of these puppies at Petsmart the day after I finished this painting, and you wouldn't believe how soft their fur is! Wow! So cute and cuddly...)

I found the black part of his fur to be the most challenging - in the photo, it is so black and dark that you really can't see much detail and he gets a little lost in the foliage... So I tried to lighten it up a bit and add some "highlights" in order to suggest form and highlights, while keeping it dark enough to show the inky color of the real fur.

And finally, just touching up little details, deepening shadows, and finishing things off...

(Fueled by Cherry Herbal Dr. Enuf, the beverage of champions...)

Scratch in some little whiskers and highlights on the fur and leaves with an exacto knife, sign it,

 and - voilà- it's done!

I will have prints and cards of this little guy available soon on my website and on Etsy.

 Meanwhile, if you're interested in commissioning a portrait of your own furry friend, please contact me!

Thanks for being patient before the secret was out! I've got one more trick up my sleeve, but you will have to wait a while to see it! Meanwhile, I hope you have a lovely week...

A blessing...

This is my latest piece:

a commission for a friend at our church.

She wanted this blessing for her dining room

and a little something else to go around it,

but she wasn't sure what.

So this is what I came up with...

I will have prints available

on my website soon

if you'd like it too.

Hope you're having a blessed week!