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I bet your wondering what a duck has to do with pet portraits. I'm still wondering that myself but I will explain as best I can.

In previous blogs I have discussed some of my ups and downs. Through the struggles, my art has been changing. For years I have been painting whatever my heart desires which was both fun and frustrating. I was all over the board, painting everything and really experimenting on what I could paint and what I really struggled with. I really had no focus point. When I started sharing my artwork, I really had no idea what that even looked like. Plus I had very little confidence that I would actually succeed with my art. So I have been trying different things, going to local events, sharing on social media, setting up an online store and even trying out paint nights and teaching. Until recently I would paint from ideas in my head and do a lot of guess work with the details or try to find a reference photo similar to what I had in my head. But I found that my artwork wasn't really growing as well as I was hoping.

At the beginning of the year is when I really started to use reference photos and study light and shadows. My Big Sky painting was the first, then the Summer Storm Cloud and Pines. When I found the duckling photo I thought, "that is a great reference photo! I'm going to paint it." So I did, taking care to really study the feathers, light and shadow and shapes. I was so excited  about how it was turning out. Then I got this thought, "I should do pet portraits." lol I know right! Pretty sure that thought came from God! I had thought about it before and have done a few animals in the past but still didn't have the confidence to actually pursue it. After painting this duckling though I thought, "if I can paint this duckling I'm going to see how a dog turns out."

This one was my next challenge and I had so much fun with it and learned so much! What a cutie! 

I did some praying and research into doing pet portraits. Asking God, is this where you want me to go with my artwork? One artist suggested that you do at least 10-15 portraits before doing commissions. Well at that time I had currently done like 3, counting ones from previous years, which I didn't really think counted. So one... duckling, lol! I set my goals to do 10 portraits and then make the decision if that is something that I want to do. But guess what! I enjoy doing them so much and just love seeing the joy and excitement on my friends faces when I suggest painting their pets! that there is no doubt in my mind that this is what I want to do. It gives me shear joy that I can give joy to others by painting someone they love!

I really felt like God was speaking to me while I was painting the duckling. Giving me hope and confidence. Guiding my hands as I allow him to lead me. Letting go of doubt and fear and doing my best to not pick it up again! 

Instead of starting a new journey alone, I would like to invite you to join me in this journey. To be patient with me as I learn my way through this. 

I am currently only doing 8x10 sizes either on acrylic paper or canvas. All my paintings get a varnish coat on them to protect from fading and yellowing. If your interested in getting a pet portrait done either for yourself or maybe a gift, contact me through either my website or my social media pages.

I am really looking forward to painting more, learning more and giving more on this new path!

I wanted to write a little blog here about why  nature inspires me. All my life I have always loved nature. I grew up in the country and my parents owned a few acres. It wasn't that big but to a kid, it was big enough. I would spend hours wondering around in the woods, building forts, riding horses or just catching frogs in the swamp with my friends. Later on my parents bought a 4-wheeler, so I would drive that around in the woods or yard, everywhere I could. There was also a river close by and my friends and I would go there often to play, catch fish or crayfish, swim or just wander around. So many good memories there by the river. I always loved walking in it when the water was low.

Along with living in the country comes with having pets as well. We had all sorts of pets ranging from the normal cats and dogs, horses, goats and bunnies. And then there was the occasional animal rescue like trying to save baby squirrels that had fallen out of their nest. Sadly they didn't make it. To getting a baby pigeon called chirp and raising him. Once he could fly well, I decided to free him. Surprisingly even after being free he still hung around the yard, sitting on the clothes line or the swing cooing to himself, lol. 

But life happens, unexpected things change and nature went from this fun loving adventure time to being my safe place. After my parents got a messy divorce, I moved with my mom to her boyfriends house. (That sounds so weird even as I write this.) There was a lot more acreage there and woods that I would try to loose myself in. It wasn't a fun situation that I lived in so when I was scared or sad (which was often) I would go out to the woods. It was one of the only places I felt safe. There was one area that was my favorite because it had the perfect climbing tree. Some days I would sit up in that tree, close my eyes and listen to the sounds of nature. Since I struggled with severe anxiety and depression, that's where I could relax. 

I think as I look back, that is where I first encountered God. Didn't know it at the time. But I faintly remember talking to him while I was in the woods even though I knew little to nothing about God. Those times with nature is what helped me get through some rough times. So nature and God are near and dear to my heart. It's where I feel the most connected to God. Just about all of my artwork is nature inspired. 

What inspires you?

I have had this one huge canvas (36x36) sitting around forever! This poor thing has been moved around with me 4 times for the past few years. It is a used canvas that I got from a friend, who actually gave me several used canvases that are now all officially painted on! I'm not really sure but it looks like it was a hand made canvas made out of cloth. It had already been painted on and covered up once when I got. I had to put 3 layers of white paint over it before I could start painting on it.
  Anyways, I've had this canvas sitting around and never knew what on earth I was going to paint on it! I mean, what would look good supersized? One day I was exercising and watching a show at the same time (doesn't everybody!) and the scenery was just amazing in the show. I was watching Free Rein which is a horse show on Netflix. If you love horses, check it out. It's pretty cute! There were a few scenes of basically the whole screen was the sky and very little land on the bottom. Suddenly it hit me, a big sky painting is perfect for the huge canvas!

My next step was what type of sky and where will my reference photo come from? I remembered that I have a whole disc of stock photos of landscapes laying around somewhere at home. I browsed over 650 photos! Picked out my favorites and the one above shown here is what won. 

Luckily I had just rearranged my whole art room so now I actually had room to work on such a big piece. Like I said, it took several layers of white paint to cover the paint underneath. You can still see some of the texture from the previous painting which I think gives the painting character and looks cool!

I started out with the top and worked down. I laid out the clouds as I worked down. I tried several techniques and brushes before I found what worked the best. My goal with this painting was to take my time, use the reference photo as a guide and lose myself in the painting. And try to create my best clouds ever :) All paintings go through the "ugly stage" and this one took a long time to get beyond that stage.

I slowly worked on it, listening to different music and a couple of audible books. Which I picked out a simple book so that when I wasn't really listening to it, I could still figure out what was going on. Little by little I picked at the painting and forced myself to work on it when it just wasn't looking right. It finally got passed the "what am I doing stage" to "It's looking better" stage. I was having a hard time getting the colors right and to get them to blend properly since acrylic dries so fast. As I was getting close to finishing it I forced myself to keep working on it and improve it as much as I see fit. Next time I will try to remember to take pictures of the brushes that I used. I added some wispy clouds floating over some of the big ones towards the end. Gives it a little more depth.

In the end, I'm really glad with how it has turned out and is now hanging downstairs in my house!

Hope you enjoyed!

I had the idea for this painting for months before i actually attempted it. I was inspired by the song "Stars" from the band Skillet. It's a beautiful song about surrendering and trusting God that he will take care you. The chorus goes:
 
If you can hold the stars in place
You can hold my heart the same
Whenever I fall away
Whenever I start to break
So here I am lifting up my heart
To the one who holds the stars.

I just kept picture myself holding my heart up to God and being in a surreal space atmosphere. This is one of the few paintings where I had such a clear image in my head and actually turned out close to how I saw it. I had the image in my head and thought about it often until I finally hit the canvas. 

Since I already knew how to do the sky and stars that is where I started. Once I had the sky in place I decided to do a half beach scene with the water. I made it with the beach kind of floating in space with the stars above and below it.

 After I got the background done, the painting sat there for some time. I was trying to figure out how to do the girl. I skimmed over lots of photos and pictures and just couldn't get the right pose. 
On one random fall day in 2016, my husband wanted to take me up north to see the fall colors. It was a beautiful drive and the perfect time to be out. It was sunny and the vibrant fall colors were at their best. We stopped at a Leech Lake to walk around when I got the idea for my husband to take a picture of me with my hands raised. He brought his fancy camera along so it was perfect! I would post the pictures but unfortunately my husbands computer crashed shortly afterwards and he lost almost all his photos. Luckily I finished the painting before that happened. So the girl in the painting is me! I was wearing pants in the photo and just painted the white dress instead :) I wanted the girl specifically to be in a white dress to symbolize being cleansed and washed away of all fear.

I then finished it off by adding the heart above her hands as a symbol of surrendering all of herself to God and trusting him to take care of her.

My hope is that when someone looks at this painting, that it somehow speaks to them. Either with love or trust or something completely different. I never know how someone can be impacted by a painting and sometimes it's very personal.

By painting this I feel I am sharing a part of myself both as an artist and in my own personal life. It's a great reminder that God is always there and ready to help and sometimes we need to step aside by surrendering so he can step in and help.

What does this painting say to you?

(The original painting is 18x24 on cotton canvas and is for sale for $250.00.)

I'm jumping around a little bit and going to share a bit about this little guy.

Last summer my husband and I went on a road trip and on our way home we stopped at a wildlife educational park called Fawn-Doe-Rosa. This was my idea because I had been there before with a friend years ago. I was trying to tell my husband that you can pet the deer here but I don't think he believed me. I was super excited and so glad we stopped!

When you first walk in and pay, everyone is instructed to leave the baby animals alone and to let them come to you, if they will at all. They have deer, rabbits, ducks, and goats roaming around freely. All other animals were behind fences and cages. I can't remember all the animals they had at the time but what I do remember was a wolf, porcupines, a badger and a bunch others. Obviously those were the ones in cages :) Most of the babies were too afraid to come to us. We were allowed to feed the adult deer and other barnyard animals out of our hands and got to touch the felt of their antlers! We had a blast looking at the wildlife but best of all, petting the deer! It is definitely a fun place to visit.

It was soon after this trip that I got commission work for hand painted cards and I got to choose what to do on each card. I made them all unique and I used this fawn for one of the cards. I used my own photo as a reference and drew this guy in colored pencil before I did watercolor. I used my prismacolor colored pencils and blended it together with mineral spirits from Gamblin.

This was great practice for me with both colored pencils and watercolor. 

If you're ever on the west side of Wisconsin, check out Fawn-Doe-Rosa. It is such a blast!
Here is their website http://www.fawndoerosa.com/

Have you ever pet a deer before? (preferably alive, I'm not talking about deer hunting, lol)

For 2018 I have decided to start a sort of blog series of the stories behind the paintings. Some will be more about the technique and others will be how I came up with the idea.

I'm starting this series off with one of my favorites, Starlight Beach. The original painting is on a 16x20 cotton canvas in acrylics and is still available for sale. If you're interested in purchasing, please contact me directly on here or my website.

I started this painting by drawing the shell in pencil first. I wanted to paint it but wasn't quite sure what I wanted the background to be. I decided on a night beach scene and this was when I was really getting the hang of painting night skies. I painted the whole canvas black and worked on only the sky. I did several layers to get a softer look to the galaxies and stars. To do the galaxies I used a large round brush and did a tapping motion onto the canvas. It's my favorite way of doing night skies and is also therapeutic! At this time I shared my art space with my husbands office in a small room. We were both in there one day, he was working on his computer and I was painting and working on the sky. I was doing the tapping technique with my brush and was really getting into it until I looked over at my husband and realized that I was kind of tapping loudly and it was annoying him, lol Luckily my husband has a good sense of humor. I am just really grateful to have my own space in the new house now! I am allowed to tap as loudly as I want now! :)

Once I was happy with it, I began on the bottom part of the painting. I did the water and beach before starting on the sea shell. I used my drawing of the shell and traced the outline of it onto the canvas. Then I did several layers on the shell putting in the details and shadows.

I really tried to convey a calmness to the painting, so its relaxing to look at.

I hope you enjoy the painting!

The original painting has been sold! This is also one of my personal favorites. I painted this in the dead of winter so I desperately wanted to see some colors other than white. I also get cabin fever in the cold months of January through March. Those are always the hardest times of the year. When I painted this I envisioned myself on the warm beach, listening to the water and smelling the fresh air while staring up at the magnificent sky. I still feel the peace and calmness of it when I look at the pictures. It was hard to let go of it so soon but I didn't want to keep it all to myself. Now someone else can experience the same peace in their own home at any time of the year!