Pet Charcoals

Here are some examples of Pet drawings that I've done.

This is Memphis a little pug. I did this drawing for a Friend of mine to give to her good friend who loves her dog. I was given several snapshots and was able to get a good likeness. I think the drawing makes him look so regal. Hannah just told me he looks sad.

This is my mom's horse Dobishee. Again I only had a snapshot and was able to create a nice portrait. It is not always possible to get your pet into a good photo studio and capture the essence you want. This is a great alternative.

Dad and Hannah Charcoal

These are the two pics I used for the drawing below. I loved the way Dad looks in this pic, but I loved the way Hannah looks in the pic below, so I meshed the two together and got rid of that goofy guy in the background. Sorry if that's you.

This was a Father's Day gift for my dad. My brother was mad at me because it made my dad cry and his gift seemed dumb after that. He got him some dry ice and 2 liter bottles of pop to make bombs. I think by the end of the night my dad was more excited about the bombs. Anyway, I was lucky enough to capture this little intimate moment on camera between my dad and my daughter. I actually had two pictures I worked from to get the effect I wanted. This was actually at Sea World and the great thing about doing a drawing is that I could eliminate the background and alter the lighting a little bit to create the mood I wanted.

Wedding Charcoal

This is the first of the charcoal portraits I did. It was our first anniversary and I wanted to get my husband something meaningful so I did this from one of our wedding pictures since we still had not ordered them yet, all we had were 3x5 proofs. I love the warmth of the paper and how it plays an important roll in the value of the drawing. I think I was able to capture our likenesses fairly well, although Brian wishes I would have drawn him a little taller, but I was wearing heels. Plus I like the symbolism of us being equal size and yet opposite values. It shows that we are equally yoked and that we compliment each other.

Zakki's Room

When I found out I was having a boy I wasn't sure what I was going to do with his room. I knew I wanted to do another mural like Hannah's because I like not having to buy things to put on the wall. The only problem is that if we move we can't take it with us. So, I was brainstorming ideas and my husband suggested I do fish. I thought tropical fish and then he said stream fish. I got excited about the idea and went to work researching and coming up with sketches. I then had the idea that we use a chair rail and then do a cut away of a river with the landscape behind. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to do it and make it believable. I think it worked.

This is a brown trout with an elk and a mama and baby bear in the background. I know the perspective makes this look like a pretty big river!

There's my brook trout. Brook trout usually aren't the biggest fish in the river, but this is a magic river. Also notice the GIANT cedar tree.

The mountains are based on the Grand Teton range. I used them because they are so dynamic. I chose to keep it pretty simple with only the three colors. In the background there is a moose and a bear. That's a brown trout on the right.

More of Zakki's Room

I couldn't fit the whole thing in one post so here is the rest of it. Maybe when I get more tech savvy I will do a virtual tour like they do on the real estate listings.

I have an old fly rod that will be used as a curtain rod on the window with a solid green or brown valence.

I originally was going to paint solely evergreen trees, but I love aspens so much and they were actually a lot more simple to paint than I thought.

These two fish are rainbow trout. They were the first two fish to be painted. I was super nervous to paint the fish and the river, but I think they turned out okay. I think the idea comes across well.

Details of Zakki's Room

Here are some details of Zakki's room. Although I included these remember that the room is meant to be seen as a whole and not necessarily close up.

This is a wolf. It's one of my favorite parts.

This is a brook trout. It was my favorite fish in the room. There are also two rainbow trout and two brown trout.

An elk

This is a squirrel.

This is my most favorite part even though it is small. It's a mama and baby bear. I'm really happy with how they turned out. There is another bear that didn't turn out nearly as well. It looks a little more like a bison.

Name Paintings

These are some cute name paintings that I did for a friend. She gave me a vague idea of what she wanted and I was able to design these. I am much happier with how the Reese painting turned out, although the Jace one was much more of a challenge. I also think it looked better in person.

Growth Charts and Other

Here are a couple of things I did for my Sister-in-Law. I can't take credit for the ideas. She told me what she wanted and I did it. She also gave me some pictures to work from. I will take credit for the skill :)

This is a growth chart for her son. Her idea was that she would use different shaped markers to record his growth. At the time he was into dinosaurs so she had him paint some wooden cutouts to go with the colors on the chart. I also needed to adapt it to the light switch on his wall, thus the rectangular hole. I would also like to point out that the lettering is NOT vinyl, but hand done.

This is the growth chart I made for her daughter. I love how the flower turned out. Both growth charts were painted with acrylic paint on Masonite. Michael's was to be nailed right to the wall with the light switch over the top, but Sarah's needed to be reinforced on the back to keep from warping, then hung with ribbon or wire





These sweet little paintings were also done to go in Sarah's room. They were done on canvas with acrylics.

Details of Hannah's Room

Hannah's Room

This was really my first project after graduating. My first year teaching was crazy as you might imagine. As soon as I found out I was having a baby girl I was so excited to paint her room. I looked at so many magazines and websites and finally decided on this. Originally there were not going to be any hills. That was my husband's call. It was a great decision. I was originally going to try to create a more realistic scene, but after much thought and many sketches I settled on a sort of Alice in Wonderland whimsical look. I was also going to add some fairies, but am glad I didn't. The clouds were my favorite part to paint and if you use your imagination you can see little animals and other shapes in them, which were completely unintentional. My daughter loves to point out the colors of the flowers and bugs and it is a great counting tool as well. I should also mention that it goes all around the room. You can't see it, but there is one window and a closet. I later made a butterfly mobile and hung it in the corner pictured below.