Presents!

I love presents. LOVELOVELOVELOVELOVE! I love getting them (see the last few posts), I love giving them, and I adore making them! A few posts down I showed a WIP of a painting that I made for the wonderful Laurie, here is the finished piece:



I gave it to her last Sunday and I loved hearing her swoon. She was especially enamored with the little kitty and agreed that it looked like Minou.

For my friends Natalie and Cheeka I went a simpler route. I took store bought, plain wooden hearts and altered them. When I was done gussying them up I drilled holes in then and added a wire hanger. Here is Cheeka's (she is a self-identified jesus freak) sans drilling and hanger:



I love how the crackle paint turned out (an experiment really) and I love how the gold paint seems to be emanating from jesus's head.

For Natalie I went a little darker in both color and theme. Natalie is in to earthy colors and has dark sensibilities about her. Imagine hippy goth only way cool. Here is what I did for her:



The words say: Let the fire of my body propel and warm me and let each darkness reveal it's plentitude. I wish I had said that, but a poets whose name I forget said it.

As this season draws to an end I am thankful for the opportunity I took to make those I love something special. They aren't magnificent gifts, but they are a little piece of me. /cheesiness.

WIP

Taking the mixed media class with Suzi Blu has been a real eye opener for me about my abilities to draw and make art in general. In order to continue practicing and developing my own unique way of making these 'pretty girls' have decided to make paintings for some family and friends.

Currently I am working on a painting for my dear friend Laurie. She is someone that has stuck by me through a lot of BS and I know I can count on her to be steadfast and true. We don't see each other often these days even though she only lives 2 blocks away due to conflicting schedules. She and her husband are planning to move away in a few months to the Bay area and I am dreading it! I wanted to make her something she could take with her that would always remind her of me. The girl in the painting looks nothing like Laurie (although with her ever changing hair color someday it might resemble her a bit more!), but I did make sure to add a silver kitty to represent Minou, Laurie's beloved familiar. The painting is not quite done, I would like to add a few more layers and I need to finish painting her face and clean the piece up a bit. I am also looking for a quote I can stamp on it that would somehow be meaningful to Laurie and our friendship (suggestions welcome!). So here is a look at what I have done so far: