I am elbow deep in portraits right now and I love it. I’ve had a record number of portrait requests this season and I couldn’t be more grateful. It is also a ton of work to get done in a short amount of time. So this week instead of creating something additional to my portrait work, I’m going to call an audible.  I really can’t wait for the next project I want to showcase, but this week I have to focus on my portraits.
In  light of Thanksgiving and some strange therapeutic outlet this blog has created for me I decided to write about something I’m thankful for, but first I have to share a story.
My grandfather worked as a crane operator at a chemical plant for years. Years hovering over God knows what was being released into the Ohio Valley. Whatever it was, we know it killed countless cattle at one point and later it took my grandfather as well. But his legacy remains as a wonderful human being. I only know of him from stories and from the art and work he left behind.  He was more than just a husband, father and crane operator, he was a creator. And he made some really, really cool things. At Christmas he would paint a beautiful winter scene on the huge mirror in their living room.  He had a sketch book filled with freehand drawings of famous Disney characters and take my word for it, they are remarkable.  He created beautiful window displays at my great-grandmother’s grocery store. He cut and painted wooden lawn ornaments for the holidays. He was a taxidermist and he was good at it. Long before those 3D stars were in just about every home decorating store, my grandfather made them, covered them in glitter and decorated the bushes in their front yard (I inherited one and it is the first thing I hang up in every place we live, picture below). He was an artist at heart.  Zero training and zero credit. He did it because he enjoyed it.  If there is such a thing as an artist gene, there is no doubt I got it from him.
That being said, I’m thankful that I can do what I do and that I’m able to help support my family while doing something I love and not something that I have to do. Our family makes sacrifices for this en devour and their support is unwavering, but it really comes down to all those that have me draw their beloved family members (both furry and non-furry).  This month my clients have afforded me to put tires on my car and packages under the tree.
I truly wish my grandfather was still here today, I imagine my grandma would put him on the phone after I asked her about a recipe and we would talk about a project we were working on. But I know he speaks through me in my work. I hope to leave a legacy for my family as well. I hope one day my grand-kids can say, “my grandma made some really, really cool stuff.”

My husband and I have moved to four different cities during our 13 years together. It wasn’t until we started a family that where we lived felt like home. We’ve been in the same place for six years now. We have a life here, friends, favorite hiking paths, Taco Tuesday, a church. I see people we know all over town, it gives me the small town feelsies. We live in a small town right outside of Raleigh. Our town’s claim to fame? Scotty McCreery (country music singer and winner of season 10 on American Idol). The downtown was developed between 1883 and 1940. It has seen booms and busts like most southern small towns. But with the accessibility to the Research Triangle Park and a number of Universities, small towns like mine are being revived. The picture above is one of the buildings downtown that will soon be turned into a restaurant. I had to get a picture because my great-grandma’s name was Hazel (and she ran a grocery store in the small town I grew up in). It felt like a sort of sign to me (both literally and figuratively). This is the place where I want to establish myself as an artist and become a part of the growing creative community that I live in. So when a friend told me about a chance to paint Christmas scenes with other artists, I stepped out of my comfort zone and signed myself up. A local graphics company organized a one day event where local artists could come and paint Christmas scenes on the windows of downtown businesses in an effort to decorate downtown before the Christmas tree lighting next week. I had a great time, I haven’t done window painting since high school. A huge shout out to Graphix House for organizing such a great event and for Full Bloom Coffee for keeping me caffeinated and warm!
This is the first of what I hope to be many opportunities to establish myself as a local artist. Next year I want to get involved in the Garner Pop Up market where over 40 local vendors showcase their talents the last Saturday of everything month from April-November.
I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving! Now bring on Christmas!

Not everything I try comes out perfect the first time. When I have an idea in mind and try and execute that idea it either 1) Comes out exactly how I had planned, 2) comes out better than I had planned or 3) creates frustration and multiple attempts at correction and in the end I just have to deal with it. A lot like life. I’ve actually torn up what others would say was a perfectly good portrait, but to me it wasn’t. I’ve learned over the years to just walk away and often find when I return with fresh eyes, it doesn’t look as bad as I thought. Again, a lot like life. But sometimes, I just can’t walk away and I overwork and overthink a project. This week has been no exception. I’ve honestly lost count at how many times this first piece has been worked on and then sanded down to start over again. Its how ever many times it finally took for my husband to say he wasn’t going to do it again, so I sanded it down the last time. Everything I do is a learning experience for me. Even portraits, which I’ve been doing for years, present their own set of challenges, each one is different. I’ve learned to embrace the challenge because in the end it makes me a better artist…..a lot like life (sorry, I can’t help myself).
I love images that are painted, stained or printed on wood. I’ve had an idea for awhile now to make military flags out of wood. My husband served for 8 years in the WV Army National Guard, he thought it was a pretty cool idea so I asked him to help me. The first wooden flag I stained white, printed out the image and used an image transfer medium to transfer the image. It did not work. It got sanded down and I tried again….and again. There are tons of tutorials on how to transfer images on wood. The biggest challenge was getting an image transferred that didn’t rub off. I tried different combinations of Mod Podge, wax paper, computer paper and photo paper. Finally I found Mod Podge image transfer medium, specifically made to transfer images and it worked the best. This piece still needs to be stained, I’m walking away from it for awhile and coming back to it with fresh eyes.

I also wanted to see what my portraits would look like on wood. I used Mod Podge image transfer medium to transfer 3 of my portraits onto small wooden plaques. The 2 portraits on the left were printed off on an inkjet printer and the one on the right was done on my laser printer. I actually like the soft, faded look of the inkjet printouts. I like the transparency of the pictures, being able to see the wood through the picture is what I like most about these pieces.

And finally, this piece I did awhile ago. It was my first attempt at image transfer. I took a letter my grandma had wrote me, scanned her signature, printed it out and transferred it to a scrap piece of wood and then stained it. I originally wanted to wood burn the signature but then reminded myself I know nothing about wood burning and should probably take a safer approach.

Signature transferred on wood

The one thing I did learn through this project are no two pieces are the same, even when using the same technique. You have to let go of the reigns a bit and just enjoy the process, something I’m still learning to do. How boring would it be if every project turned out just the way I had planned and there were no challenges the entire time?

My grandma was an amazing seamstress. I admired her attention to detail and the way she picked out the perfect color combinations for her quilts and clothing. I inherited most of her fabric and sewing supplies and they are by far some of my most treasured possessions. I decided for my first silhouette to use some of her fabric as the background. I used an

X-acto knife and hand cut silhouettes of my girls from pictures I had taken of them. Then I opened up the storage bin of my grandma’s fabrics and immediately recognized some of the fabric patterns from dresses she had made for my dolls and dresses she had made me. They still smelled exactly like her sewing room. So I sat in my closet and cried for a good twenty minutes….I miss her so much. She would have thought these were pretty cool, but would have criticized me for not putting any backing on the material, which I will do next time to make it more sturdy. These would look amazing with modern fabrics as well. 

 

 

Side note, all the frames from this post are from my favorite thrift store. And so are the materials I used for the next silhouette. If you get offended by ripping pages out of a book, look away now. Because that is what I did. I love those coffee table books with full page picture spreads and bonus if they were printed anytime before 1990. I hit the jackpot the other day and got both a perennial flowers book and another titled: Exploring the Deep Frontier. I used pictures from those books as the background for the next 3 silhouettes.

 

For my final silhouette I used my X-acto knife to cut layers of different color blue paper and arranged them in a shadow box to give it a 3 dimensional effect. I use this same method in my paperslide projects. If you haven’t seen these you should check them out here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkFXQnAzKU7_Z43xiI_pGMxel6Rb2qOmV

So if you are ever in my house and see half a dozen silhouettes of my girls on the wall, I’m not crazy…well I am a little. Hope you enjoyed my decent into all things silhouette! I’m interested to know which one is your favorite, let me know!