twenty-nine

i guess you could say i've been lazy lately. sorry! i haven't been too inspired or had great materials to paint on, so it's tough to get excited about the painting. also, i have more important things on my mind right now-- like buying curtains.

today's post is a new technique for me. it's from a really quick sketch i did of a friend a few months ago. then i used oil pastel over it, linseed oil over that to "bind" the pastel (i'm not sure what it will do exactly), and then used watercolor in the negative spaces... haha. a bit strange if you've ever worked with these materials. or, if you understand just how much oil & water repel one another. :)

regardless, this is result! i just laugh because of the illogical absurdity of this process. and it only took me about 20 minutes.

6x9" mixed media on canvas paper

day twenty-eight

today was one of those days that i did not feel like painting, so i had to choose a compelling subject to paint. these boys were a couple orphans from an extremely poor township in pretoria, south africa. on the day i took the picture, we had the privilege of visiting this truly amazing woman who fed the kids in her little village 2 meals a day. most of the kids were either orphaned or lived with their grandmothers... most of their parents dying of AIDS. we fed the kids a meal and played with them for a few hours. a very humbling experience for all of us.

a friend thought it would be important to mention how long i spend painting... well, i gave about 30 minutes to this painting.

5.5x8.5" watercolor on watercolor paper

day twenty-seven

rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain

it was wonderful to paint to rain tonight... i had norah jones, ray lamontagne, & the wailin' jennys playing. it was beautiful.  ah, i love the rain. it's refreshing, melodic precipitation. in the Bible, rain is often a symbol of testing & hard times, but also one of newness, starting over, providing a new perspective on life... plus, it's naturally life-giving.

i didn't think to paint a rainy day painting (maybe tomorrow). day 27 is from a photo i took in South Africa in one of the townships near Pretoria i believe. we drove through several of really poor communities. we even saw a kid with a gun once. this house was patched together with aluminum siding and pieces of glass for windows... and it was pretty nice compared to other ones we saw.

11x14" acrylic on paper

day twenty-six

hi friendlies!  this was another 30 minute painting, & i am enjoying these quick paintings! it allows me to stay out later at night. :)

i was at a wedding tonight and it reminded me just how much i LOVE to dance... it is wonderful exercise after all. my ideal wedding reception dancing would be to dance 5 hours straight. my advice to wedding DJs/bands: play all the group dances, tons of old hip hop, a couple swing dances, some oldies, a few sing-a-longs, & only a couple slow dances per hour. i feel like the reception loses momentum with each slow dance.

8.5x5.5" watercolor on watercolor paper

day twenty-five

hi! i enjoyed painting tonight to Nouvelle Vague (i especially enjoy Road to Nowhere). i usually listen to music while i paint.. either that or watch tv, but watching tv is pretty distracting. music is just good company.

today's painting is of my nephew at the beach... a simple watercolor, but he's so precious you don't need much more!

9x12" watercolor on canvas paper (SOLD)

day twenty-four

happy weekend! tonight, some friends and i went to festival in the park. it was encouraging to see all the local artist vendors and even the art from the schools in the area. it was a beautiful night to walk around, too. i can't wait for the weather to cool down this coming week!!

today's post is another watercolor of a little girl, from a photo i took. precious!!

9x12" watercolor on watercolor paper

day twenty-three

hi! this is a little watercolor drawing of my sweet nephew, Davis. he's one & a month and (by far) the cutest babe i've ever seen in my life!

9x12" watercolor on watercolor paper

day twenty-two

hi friends!!

this is a painting from a photo of some little boys i took in South Africa. when i was there for a couple months, i had some unique opportunities... for one week, we went a did some physical labor around a camp of homes for orphaned kids. it was especially neat because each home had a married couple who were the father & mother to these orphans. many of the kids were "dropped off" and infected with HIV, but were nursed to health so the disease didn't progress to HIV-AIDS. it was pretty incredible to be there.

read more about Bethesda Ministries here.

9x12" acrylic on canvas paper

day twenty-one

whew! tonight's painting took a little longer than expected because i also watched last night's episode of jimmy fallon. on a related note, a guy (Cory) who i worked with at camp lurecrest now (unbeknownst to me) works for jimmy fallon. while i was watching, i saw him in this clip.

this painting was done on a piece of wood that i've used for a palette before. if you're curious, i use a myriad of different paint palettes. for oils, i generally use my wood palette with a thumb hole. however, for acrylics, i use just about anything. i tried the wet palette created especially to keep paints from drying out as quickly, but it was too much work for me. :)

this is from an old picture of my Mamaw. the best part about it is what she's wearing. it's a strapless little romper with so many ruffles... i guess it could've been a bathing suit because it's a little short, but i totally want one right now.

12x12" acrylic on wood

day twenty

hi, i just wanted to direct you to another website exclusively for my paintings, prints, drawings, & graphic design... click here for something other than quick paintings to feast your eyes upon. ;)

a simple watercolor of the same little girl (from day sixteen) x 2 plus a kite. this may be a mini-series as i'm attempting to become comfortable with watercolors.

9x12" watercolor on watercolor paper

day nineteen

happy sunday! i hope yours wasn't nearly as busy as mine. although at times it was restful & very productive, i just didn't get a break. as i was staining my front porch & deck today, i almost took a picture & posted it as my painting for the day. do not despair, though, my dear friends... i painted something else!


i started this one with a very different result in mind. my hands just got away from me, & it looks much like self-portraits i did in college. now that i've got that out of the way, i can move on to different techniques! this was painted using a mirror, old green & peach house paints, & vine charcoal. i drew myself, painted, then drew back over the painting. then i got tired of myself & just stopped.

this is a very unrefined self-portrait. 

18x24" paint & charcoal on wood

day eighteen

isn't eighteen a funny word? i always thought it strange when the english language sometimes drops a letter when it's repeated. what's the difference between eighteen & misspelling?? it should either be eightteen or mispelling.

anyways, shout-out to day three's star, miss lake. today, she celebrated her 58th birthday! i went out to the old 'hood to sing, deliver a cake, & hang out in the street. although i don't really miss living there, i miss that lady. as much grief as she gave me & C, she brought us so much joy & laughter (& good stories!).

this painting is of my Mamaw & Papaw (grandparents) reading the story of Jesus' birth at our family Christmas. let's just say that i'm looking forward to growing older because of my genes. my grandparents who i've featured (Nana, Mamaw, & Papaw) are all beautiful, love the Lord & are such heroes of the faith. not to be forgotten is my great-grandmother, NanNan, who is a prayer warrior. i only hope to one day know the Lord like they do!

18x24" acrylic on wood

day seventeen

i had a good day today, very artful.  my only regret is not painting this morning so i had my friday night free! still, i managed to spend time with friends at the gallery crawl in NoDa & hear a snippet of a really great band, The Small Ponds, at the Evening Muse.

tonight's has to be one of my personal favorite paintings... partly because of the subject matter & partly because it looks more like my style... broader, sketchier brush strokes. and it's the largest painting i've done for this project, which is much more comfortable for me.

if you weren't aware of this already, my last year in college was spent researching elephants- mostly their physical & behavioral characteristics. they're interesting beasts. this painting, my friends, is of an African elephant, which i believe are much more attractive than the Asian species. (i like the dip in their backs!) when i was doing an outreach in S.Africa, i was fortunate enough to go on a safari & that's where this elephant's photo was taken.

3 x 2' acrylic on MDF

day sixteen

hello there. whew! to say that today was a hard day is an understatement. job searching is tough- it's not for the weak ones, that's for sure!

i don't know what it is about children, but they're such an easy painting subject! let me just say that it is far different than what i painted in college. it is a bit easier for me to paint from photos, though.

this is adapted from a photo i took of a little girl on the beach in spain. on this specific painting, i didn't spend much time... and maybe it's a little apparent. i hope none of you are coming in here with super high expectations. if i'm going to be painting every day for a year, i've gotta have some much simpler ones, right? plus, i didn't really feel like painting tonight. i have a feeling this little girl will show up again in another painting. :)

8x10" acrylic on Bristol paper (SOLD)

day fifteen

hi friends!! to let you in my life a little, i must confess that today i pulled away from the gas pump with the gas nozzle still in my car! i pulled the hose right off the pump! it was crazy & extremely embarrassing to tell the manager what i had done. thankfully, no damage was done to my car & i didn't have to pay for the pump repair.

on this lovely evening, i bring you a photo i took pretty recently (with some modifications, of course) of a little one running. she was so sweet in her cute dress.

i used a (yellow) monochromatic color scheme (except for magenta in the shoes & kite).

15x15" acrylic on wood

day fourteen

2 weeks in, & i still feel enthusiastic... only 351 days left!

it's a day late being posted, but here it is...

you might recognize part of this painting as one of the kite boys from day six, and the rest of the painting is a photograph of friends.

it's still very unfinished, and i've decided that i do not enjoy painting on paper.

11x11" acrylic on canvas paper

day thirteen

i tried something new tonight... and i don't really care for it. however, i promised to post, so here it is.

it's a really sweet photo of my Nana & dad dancing at my cousin's wedding. i'm not sure why i would paint something i could just photoshop for the same effect. that's the last time i'm trying that! oh, and the new thing i tried was watercolor.... now, i've painted with watercolors before, but not in such a literal way. watercoloring faces is TOUGH.

9x12" watercolor on watercolor paper

day twelve

allow me to be real with you-

this one is more of a quick* sketch with paint. i mean, it's still a painting of course, but when i try to draw with a paint brush, it takes me 3x as long to complete than it would with pastels, pencils, conte, or charcoal. (*quick is relative)

with that said, my post is late. don't you love how i feel the need to have excuses for my late posts?

nevertheless, my journey continues.... in light of Grandparents Day, this is a painting of my Papaw grilling out on the 4th of July. some of the colors aren't true to life and can be misleading, but that lime green in the top-left quadrant is actually Lake Norman... i just didn't paint it blue. cool story: my grandparents (my mom's family) lived on Lake Norman before it was even dug out. you can still feel the foundations of old houses & pick up asphalt underneath the lake at my grandparents' house. it's pretty obvious this isn't finished, but i was getting sleepy.

9x12" acrylic on watercolor paper.

day eleven

this one's a bit different i think... or maybe it feels that way to me because i spent half the usual time on it.

i used a photo of my mother in high school. i was drawn to this photo of her because she looks like she was caught off-guard, with her half-smile. i think it's just classic and is a great picture of the hairstyle transition taking place in the late 70s/early 80s. think farrah fawcett meets madonna.

some words that i associate with my momma: hard-worker, servant, kind, harley-davidson, family, patient, clean, organized, on time, young, mother.

12"square. acrylic on wood.

day ten

disclaimer: if all of you functioned on the same schedule as i do, then you would realize that posting at 12:40am is a reasonable hour.  if you haven't realized yet, i'm quite the night owl & enjoy burning the midnight oil. so there- that's my excuse for posting late. :)

today, i drove down to the beach to spend time with my Nana. she's sweet and we ate a late dinner & talked for a while, so it took me a while before i could paint.

this painting is from a photo of a teenage girl i took in the mountains. it's acrylic, but very watercolor-y.

9x12" acrylic on watercolor paper.

day nine

this painting, my friends, took me way too long.... i re-painted this little boy's face about 15 times. finally, i decided to just not paint any details.

if you can't tell, it's a little boy on a rope swing. again, it's adapted from one of my photos. also, the original painting was an oil painting i began 3 years ago & never finished, hence all the paint texture/ buildup.

also, wish me luck this weekend! i'm going out of town, but still planning on painting while i'm away... hopefully, it won't be a disaster!

20x16" acrylic on canvas.

day eight

well, i'm early... heeeyyyyy!!! go me! :)

this painting is adapted from a photo i took as well. i suppose this one needs some explanation.
short story: i was driving from the ferry in the Hamptons to my friend's place and this monument was on the side of the road. NO KIDDING. so, naturally, i stop and take pictures of it. i mean, how often to you pass a 50 ft. duck?? i enlarged THE BIG DUCK sign, so the duck doesn't look nearly as massive, but don't let it fool you!

~8x10" acrylic on canvas paper.

day seven

ahhhh, i keep getting later & later! so sorry, my friends!

here's the deal: after watching my favorite movie (what dreams may come), i set out this afternoon to do something a little more surreal, with some mixed media, etc... i started on that & then i got this other idea that seemed a bit more cohesive.

this is a photograph i took, then modified it a bit while painting... this was a rainy day of puddle jumping.

12x12" acrylic on wood.

day six

(this is one i can say looks much better in person.)

so, friends, do you see a trend? i figured i would play out this kite theme until i am tired of it. :)

in this painting, i only used 3 colors + the background color, just to try & limit myself a bit. i must say that i definitely prefer a palette full of many colors. here, i painted three little boys & kites adapted from a couple photographs.

12x12" acrylic on wood.

day five

thank you to my beautiful followers & your encouragement every day!

most of today, i was down & out with an incurable headache. so i opted for something small & simple to paint tonight...

12" square inches, acrylic on wood.

it's adapted from a photograph and reminds me of being at the beach & of freedom.

day four

hi friends!

i'm 6 minutes late, but i had a busy day! i was on the lake most of the day, ate chinese & watched Breakfast at Tiffany's, and just got a late start to my painting! (time management is not my forte!)

[another poor quality picture, but i found my camera battery & will be posting better photos soon!]

this one was quite a process & has many layers... once again, it is a kite! but it's ridin' S-O-L-O (thank you, jason derulo!)... in its former state, the kite looked like it had a really bad camouflage disease. now, it looks like it's flyyyyyinggggg through the sky.

also, today, i did some research on kites... which will be posted at a later date.

& keep the comments rollin' in........

day three

hi folks! this painting was inspired by miss lake, a neighbor from my old neighborhood. she's a mostly sweet woman with a spunky street personality. she tells exactly what she's thinking, so you always know where you stand with her. i love this dear woman.

changes to my blog comments

my mother informed me that she couldn't leave a comment, because she doesn't have a google ID.... which, of course, poses a huge problem!

because of that, i've opened up the blog so that anyone can comment (even anonymous people). i will ask, though, that if you comment, at least put a name. and if your name is common, put a last name or some other form of ID so that i know who you are!

thanks a bunch to my amazing followers & keep leaving those comments! :)

[ps. i'm also taking donations of scrap wood to paint on if you have any. i usually just pick it up at home depot. thanks!]

day two

painting people's faces always proves to be challenging. normally, i would never give myself a couple hours to paint 2 people who i know. however, i'm trying new things for the next 364 days, so i painted two of most beautiful people i know. i was on the phone with nicole today & she joked that i should paint her. i didn't have another idea, so i agreed. if you know nicole, you would know that it's tough to paint her without her other half. so, nicole & graham, here ya go! it's not perfect, but it's yall.



[nicole & graham are a straight-shootin, truth-talkin couple. they always have kind words and are some of my biggest cheerleaders. if you ever find yourself in the NoVa/DC area & need somewhere to stay, they'll welcome you with hugs.]

day one

okay, i just spent the last 30 minutes trying to take a good picture of the painting, and it's extremely difficult. this is the best photo i took. sorry for the poor quality- i should get way better at it!




this is how my mind has been feeling for the past 2 months. plus, there are some kites... which is my tribute to another (sketchbook) project i'm working on. [that's to be discussed later]. also, i have a feeling most of my paintings will be unfinished like this one. sometimes it's easier to work on multiple paintings at one time. as i continue to paint, the more inspired i hope to become.

thanks for looking!