A Peek at Mural 2

Happy Wednesday! Thought I'd quickly post the little sketches I did for Mural 2 (including a unicorn I drew a while back that never found a home!). I was instructed to include (along with the unicorn), a baby fox, Baby Gordy, Gus the cat, and a mother bunny and some baby bunnies. My client is adorable and infinitely patient (as I finished her sister's room a good month ago), so it is nice that we are moving forward again. Sending off my registration today for KidLit Con 2010 that will be here in Minneapolis on October 23, so that will be cool. I am busy now printing up new art samples for my portfolio so it will be extra spiffy for my portfolio review on Oct 2 at the MNSCBWI Fall Conference. It is nice that the more conferences I attend, the less jittery I feel beforehand. I still end up with a ooey gooey brain when the conference is over, but I recover more quickly now. :) It is so great to get all that great information, to hear amazing and talented speakers, to walk away feeling so inspired! And so fun to spend a day with kid book friends!!!!

Mural One=Done!!!

Hope you read the previous mural post because I am jumping right back in where we left off last... The big horse (Lily) took a little while to paint (Pooh Bear Yellow, DC1A-30-2). I accidentally painted her ears and muzzle the same color as the purple flowers (A Wave of the Wand, DC2A-20-2) and was thinking it looked awful until I painted over it (ha). The other flowers are Oh Bother Blue (DC3C-30-3) and the centers are Sunny Spot (DC1B-10-5). Oh, the black paint is Mouse Ears (DC4B-10-5). The nice folks at Home Depot mixed up all the colors with the Behr Premium Plus Ultra paint (has the primer baked in). THAT was a HUGE time saver.
And here is the stable. The horse on the left will be white and Honey Butter (320C-3), the horse on the right is a mystery. Oooo... Trees are Friendly Forest (DC4B-60-5) and I have a sneaking suspicion that there was not primer in the paint...
Gave Lily a nice pink for her ears and muzzle (Powdered Blush, 130C-1) and started painting her mane white (took quite a few coats to cover up the green grass).
And now for the big reveal: Lily out to pasture next to the closet (same color as the purple flowers).
The stable (Owls House, DC2C-80-4) with Mirabelle and Patches. Oh, the tree trunk is Buzz Beta Sector, (DC1A-50-2).
This is the wall opposite the big horse in all it's glory!
The bedroom door with Gus and Gordy off in the distance.
The mare is a mixture of Owls House and Buzz Beta Sector. Her name is Daisy and the foal is Prancer.
Gordy and Gus Gus.
Here we leave the room and get ready to move next door for the "Nature Room with a Unicorn!" Oh, and I kept track of the time we spent painting just for kicks, and I logged in about 30 hours and Alex probably painted for about 6. I am happy with how it turned out and the kids love it, so it's all good! Thanks to everyone who has been cheering me on, it really helped a ton! I'd also like to thank my friend Linnell (who is an amazing artist and muralist), who was kind enough to give me the skinny on what kind of paint to buy!

The Mural Project: Part One

Thanks for tuning in! This is going to be lengthy post, so be sure you have a comfy chair and a refreshing beverage... This all began when my oldest daughter asked if we could re-paint her room. Sounded simple enough, and then I shot myself in the foot and asked if she would like a mural...

I work in ink and watercolors. I love how I can be precise with my linework and work on small pieces of paper and then add lovely watercolor washes. The painting you see above is in acrylics, which I really don't "get." There are artists out there who do amazing work with acrylics, the way they blend colors and create their mystical paintings. My work ends up very folk-art like, as you can see, and this is why I tip my hat to them and stick with my watercolors.

So, we did some brainstorming and I did some sketches and submitted them for approval and then we began on "The Horse Room."
The walls had been a light purple, here you can see the blue sky (Mickey Sailor DC3A-60-1).
My wonderful husband kindly offered to help me paint the sky and the grass (Apple Orchard 430B-5). People probably don't really care what the colors are, so I'll move on...
Alex brought home this cool projector thingy from work, and it worked great.
As you can see on the screen, it was getting a little late... I kinda felt like a vandal drawing on the walls. I got detention once for being late to band practice. Oh, yeah. That's right!
We now have a mare and foal out to pasture
and baby Gordy!
I tried something wild and crazy and painted with the kids in the room with me. They took some photos, and played "Paint Store" (apparently, the customer is not always right at the paint store).
There was a puppy playing the didj
and the Zsu-Zsu pets made a cameo appearance!
Oooh, a floating legless horse!
Last night I finished the barn and added a few more flowers.
Took the day off today because I have a sore throat and a wee fever. Starting to feel a little better and hope to get back to painting tomorrow. My goal is to have everything finished by Sunday so we can get rolling on "The Nature Room with a Unicorn."

Kaleidoscope

This is a painting I just finished for our friends' darling baby girl (the little story goes counterclockwise from the bottom right corner). In other news: my wonderful husband has helped me paint the blue sky and green grass for mural number one, and I hope to get the design transferred to the walls this weekend. I am also making a coloring page for Cedric and the Dragon, a portrait of a darling two-year-old girl, and need to mail out my last two cards that sold on Ripple (thank you Shawn and Faith)! I am sure that I am forgetting something... Many thanks to all of you out there who take the time to stop by my little blog! I'll have a little more time when the kids go back to school, so stay tuned because I am planning my first giveaway! I'll give you a hint: It will be a signed copy of Cedric and the Dragon! ;)