painting

Sometimes You Just Say Yes

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IMG_6225Alma kept talking about painting all day yesterday.  When the time was right, I went out to the sunroom, set up her watercolors and paper, and she said, “No! I want to paint the fence!”  I have no idea where she got this idea, but I thought it was a good one.  Why not?  Sometimes you just say ‘yes!’

IMG_6184 IMG_6185 IMG_6188 IMG_6190We started with finger paints and they weren’t working very well, so we switched to tempera.  At one point Jesse came out and asked if it would wash off.  I just shrugged.  Who cares?  It’s art.  It’s memories.  It’s beautiful.  It’s yes.  And truth be told: we’ll probably have to replace this fence this spring anyway.

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All the pink spots are lions.  She told me that.  Then she said, “Oh!  One’s falling down!”  Do you see it?IMG_6222 IMG_6224

‘O Holy Night’ Wood Burning

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I always love pulling out all our Christmas decorations.  It’s great to see our old creche that’s been in the family for at least four generations.  I love the stockings I made for the girls.  This year, I’m happy to have some new decorations to add to the mix.  I was inspired by Sarah (a common occurrence, being inspired by Sarah) to get out my wood burning tool and make something.  We had a spare piece of plywood sitting around from Alma’s new bed.  I looked around for some Christmas inspiration and decided to do a O Holy Night wood burning.

aIMG_5552aIMG_5551I also decided to actually display the Christmas cards we received this year, and I figured they would add a little color to the yellow wall with the O Holy Night wood burning.  I just strung up some red ribbon, got some wee clothes pins, and let my friends and family provide the color.

aIMG_5547Last year, my friend Jacque made me this awesome chalkboard.  It’s been fun changing it up through the year.  For Christmas I drew a tree and added some completely random Christmas words.  Pretty sloppy, but still gets the message across.

aIMG_5558My mother in law is a fantastic water color artist and gave us this painting of Mary and Jesus with a poem.  It’s a lovely Christmas decoration.

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Favorite Books Painting

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As I have said before, I love having real art in my house.  It feels special to have art that not everyone else has.  While we can’t afford to go to local galleries and buy original paintings, I have to find other ways to fill our house with original (or at least rare) works of art.

I did this painting a couple years ago.  I had seen some like it on Pinterest or Etsy or somewhere.  I decided that I could do it myself, but use my favorite books.  I did it over a weekend when Jesse was out of town (and before I had any babies).

I did it to scale, meaning I just took the book, laid it on its spine and traced it onto the canvases.  I used two canvases because I didn’t have one the right size on hand.  I could have gone to buy one, but this was cheaper and easier.  And that’s the way a roll.  Cheap and lazy.

These are all my favorite books.  Sure, I might be a little embarrassed to admit a couple, (ahem) but I have to live my own truth.  Haha.  Sure, I should have used a smaller brush, or perhaps more patience with the writing, but I like how it ended up.  I like how it looks handmade and imperfect.

It hangs in our hallway, so I see it multiple times a day.  Sure, it might be a little small for its space, but things move around in our house a lot, so I’m sure it will live somewhere more fitting someday.  For now it works, and I love it.