First Impressions

I painted this tiny acrylic still life on a whim in 2011. It was my first attempt at Impressionistic flair, and its cheery hues and fruity floral goodness still make me smile. Also I'm a fan of mini canvases!

Blue Willow Study

Several years ago my mom painted this study of Blue Willow dishes, the dishes we had when I was little. Shortly afterwards she was consolidating some of her test paintings, painting over them or cutting them up (!), but saved this one. I love the blues and simplified shapes. It looks so fresh and free.

Namesake Sign à la French Country

 No, this isn't me awkwardly posting belated Christmas stuff in January, this is a sign I made featuring my last name. My mom found the frame at Value Village a few months ago, but the art within was some folk art painting that had nothing to do with the fleur-de-lis on the metal inset. 

So, I flipped the picture around and painted on the black back of it. I whipped this vintage French ephemera font out of my mind based on the French Country style of the rest of the frame, and went to town with some white acrylic paint and paint pen. Voilà!

Anni's Beach

Here's a painting I made for a good friend after she came back from a beach vacation. It measures 4'' by 5''.

Toulouse-Lautrec Impressionist Painting

This is an acrylic painting I made of the garden at Le Musée Toulouse-Lautrec in Albi, France. The castle is the home to over 1,000 works of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec's art. 

Creation Painting

Once upon a canvas I began painting a glamorously staged room.

I wanted to cover the bottom of the canvas in bright splashes of paint, but since I wasn't sure if it would ruin the effect of the pastel-colored painting or not, I was reluctant. However, my friend suggested I could frame it and splatter the glass with paint instead. Thanks to her genius idea my painting was popped into a frame, although it was a plastic faux wood frame that I immediately painted white.  

I was about to paint a trompe l'oeil ornate design onto the simple white frame, but I realized it wouldn't have the same great texture as the real deal.

The next thing I knew, I was frosting the frame with acrylic modelling paste smooshed into a Ziploc baggie.

I kept building it up, smoothing it out, adding a little white paint here and a little podge there, and sanding the rough edges.

And that is how my art projects usually progress. They are whims of weirdness that end happily ever after! 

DIY Stamp Shirt in Moustache

Stamps are an easy way to make an all-over print on a shirt.

Materials:

T-shirt of choice

Similarly sized piece of cardboard

Acrylic or fabric paint

Paintbrush

Stamp

Step 1: Insert the cardboard into the shirt so the fabric surface is smooth.

Step 2: Load the stamp up with paint.

Step 3: Stamp and repeat! (Pretty self-explanatory!)

Art Repros

I've been working on reproducing art from various movements, and I just wanted to share a few of the results! My versions are done in acrylic paint on 5'' by 5'' and 4'' by 6'' sheets of canvas paper. Through this project I've familiarized myself with different styles, and discovered a long list of artists' work I greatly admire.

Because of my love for textiles, of course, I decided to recreate a William Morris print from the Arts and Crafts movement. This one is titled Pomegranate and is originally from 1866.

I enjoyed replicating the bold architecture in Restaurant de la Machine à Bougival by Maurice de Vlaminck from 1905. Fauvism is one of the most bright and cheerful art movements!

I duplicated this Roy Lichtenstein work from 1963, Woman in Bath, as it is one of my favourite Pop Art images.

Finally, this is my reproduction of Exterior of a Restaurant at Asnières by Vincent Van Gogh in 1887. The bright yellow wall and potted plants make this Post-Impressionism painting so lemony and fresh!