Saturday, July 26, 2014

NEW LOOK!

I spent this morning updating my blog design!  I wanted to do something that would tie in better with my photography "branding." 
[which I'm still working on... I don't have the patience or vision, and I'm THIS close to hiring a professional]
I love the dark grey and teal look right now, so I went ahead and redesigned both blogs around a teal and chalkboard theme.  I really like how all of the buttons turned out, and I'm starting to feel more comfortable adding & embedding code.  I hope you like it!


Friday, July 25, 2014

INSTA SUMMER

This has been one of my most relaxing summers in a while.  We have moved every summer since college, and it was so nice to just be settled.  Corey started working at a vet hospital in Raleigh and he's really loving it.  We have been able to spend a little bit of time with our families this month, but it's never enough.  I'm so ready for my sister to move here from Maryland so I can snuggle my niece on the regular!  I've been working on lots of portrait paintings this month, and I even opened an Etsy shop.  Overall, this has been a great break so far and I can't believe it's August next week!  Where did the time go?!

I'M ON ETSY!

Hello Everyone!

I am so excited to announce that I opened an Etsy shop!  It's something that I probably should have done a while ago, but better late than never!  I'm offering clean and simple illustrations and custom lettering.  


Tuesday, July 22, 2014

PHOTOGRAPHY UPDATE

I really let time get away from me since my last photography update [especially considering I took July off from photography].  These are some of my favorite sessions ever!  To see all of the photos from these sessions head over to my photography blog HERE.

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Watercolor Galaxy Matte DIY

This isn't really a traditional matte, but I often use large pieces of paper to matte photos and artwork.  I recently became obsessed with lettering, [by recently, I mean Tuesday] and I decided to make this larger lettered piece for an art show this fall.  I was planning on painting the paper where I did the lettering, but I was too scared!  I decided to make a painted matte instead.  I knew when I wrote this quote that I wanted to do some sort of galaxy painting.  I had a large piece of watercolor paper [18x24] that I decided to use for the matte.  The original piece is 11x15.
 The first thing you want to do is wet the area where you're going to paint.  [For me it was most of the paper.]
You'll want to get a lot of paint on your brush.  The more water you have on your brush, the less saturated your colors will be.  If your brush is large and holds a lot of water, you might want to get some of the water off before you try to get paint on it.  
[Another tip is to wet your paints before you begin.]
 I used 2 shades of purple, blue, and black.  You can brush on the color, or just let it drip to make a spordtic wash.
 It should spread a little bit because you wet your paper.
 Here's an optional addition...  Salt can add some fun texture to your painting.
Make sure you add the salt while your paper is still wet.
 Let it dry.
 Use a tooth brush with white acrylic paint to splatter on some small stars.  Use a pointed brush to dot on some bigger stars.  I used some gold too for larger stars.
 Make sure you painted enough to use for your matte!
 Once it's dry you can attach the pieces, frame the artwork with the matte, or just hang it somewhere.
I think I'm going to display mine at an art teacher show this fall and try to sell it.  Happy painting!