Farmhouse Style Watercolor Cows

A friend of mine got me thinking about painting cows.......... not such a bad idea! 

With farmhouse style making a big scene, I think cows are a good thing to get into right now.  They can be cute, especially if you paint them with flowers and put them in a distressed frame.

I think watercolor cows can be cute even without flowers.  I'm getting into painting with browns and grays, which is unusual for me. I'm all about bright colors, but sometimes I find so much satisfaction from painting with purple or blue tinted browns.  I've been discovering just how many shades of brown and gray there are......... infinite! 

Isn't color miraculous? I rediscover that miracle every time I paint.

Vintage Car Soap Illustrations

I have exciting news!!!

I've partnered with Anthropologie to design some fun summer soaps!!! I just got my samples in the mail today! 

Last fall, a nice lady from the Anthropologie Beauty Department contacted me about creating some illustrations for their soap program.  At first I thought it was a joke-- I love that store--- how did they find me?! I replied and said yes, I'd love to work with you guys! Then the ball got rolling and I got to work sketching, painting, scanning, emailing, etc.

It was a ton of work, but oh so worth it!! 

After a couple of months and many many revisions later, I handed over three large watercolor and ink vintage car illustrations in digital form to Anthropologie!  They put them on their soap packaging and now they are being sold in their online store and some of their brick-and-mortar stores too.  These little babies will be in all 215+ Anthropologie stores this summer!  I can't wait to see them at the City Creek store in Salt Lake City!!

Ok, enough exclamations, time for some photos....

Photos of the Week

I carved out some time to enjoy nature last week and nature did not disappoint!

Lately I have been given the gift of gratitude, and subsequently, the gift of joy.  Spring has that effect on me.  I live for the colors, the smells, and the energy of this time of year.

We haven't had any interest in our family adoption wise so far.  It has been four months with no contact with any birth parents and it is easy to get discouraged.  I keep hoping and praying that if we are meant to raise another child, that the birth mother of that child will find us when the time is right. I pray for her, whoever she is and cling onto hope and gratitude, for that is my road to happiness.

More Watercolor Easter Eggs

I got some last minute Easter egg painting done, just in time for Easter!!!

My little sis told me about these fake eggs you can buy at walmart and I had to try them out. Blowing eggs is so time consuming and messy and this seemed like a much easier alternative! The consensus is....... these fake eggs are decent, but can't quite match the beauty of real eggs. The floral eggs I painted last year were real blown eggs and they are still my favorite.

The good thing is that the paints stay on these eggs a little better.  It's harder to wash it off, but it is also harder to get some good dark color.  The colors look more light and pastel on fake eggs. Oh well, it was still fun to paint these! 

I tried my hand at a floral monogram,

 some abstract watercolor eggs,

and a cactus egg! Which is your favorite?

Pushing the Boundaries of Scale

I am totally comfortable painting tiny flowers at this point in my career, but the way to grow is not by staying comfortable. Am I right? So I went for a large floral watercolor last week!

Yes, it was a little scary to paint so large (it's an 18 x 24 inch piece), but also very rewarding. I love the scale of this one! So much texture, color, and movement to examine. I have to stand back a ways from this piece to take it all in.

This started out as strictly a watercolor painting, but I didn't like how it looked, so I rescued it with a black sharpie.  A little ink does wonders if you find your flowers a little lacking.

The art lesson #1 learned here is this: don't be afraid to push some boundaries, whether it's with scale, color, or medium. You'll never grow if you don't explore.

Art lesson #2: even though watercolor is known for being the most unforgiving medium, there are other mediums you can use to save a botched watercolor painting, so don't give up so easily! Paint on!