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From the Art Studio | Watercolor Painting | 1 Apple and 4 Chicks

March 26, 2018 By Laura 6 Comments

I’m so glad you are paying a visit today to one of my favorite places in the world to be:  my art studio.  
I’m going to chat a bit about watercolor painting, and show you some fun pieces I did.
  

Not too long ago, I invested in more art supplies, some of which are shown above.  Supplies such as professional-grade watercolor paints, some high-quality brushes, and some blocks of top-notch watercolor paper. 

I promised myself that this year (2018) I would start spending very regular time working (creating) in my art studio again, for me, much like I did when I was in my 20’s.  I’ve had the same intentions before, but I never managed to balance my time and other obligations, to really get up there very consistantly. Even though inside, I had badly felt the need to. 

Well, this year I have really been really doing it! I go up and work up there almost every day, even if I only have a little bit of time.
And I’ll tell you what . . . . it fills that ‘thing’ in me, that needs filling.  Almost as much as my faith does for me.  It settles my soul, fills my heart, and sometimes even gets my head straight. Well, the last one is a little trickier, it seems. But, I try to think of nothing else but whatever it is I am working on. Because I’ll tell you what . . . . I have one of those brains that never stops, and it could really use the rest, anytime I can get it.  I have to say that many times I pray while I work, too. If I’m not singing along with Pandora, that is. (Which is usually the case.) But neither of those things are the kind of thinking I can’t shut off, and the kind that I get so darn tired of doing.

So anyway, one medium I have always loved working in, and I have been dying to get back to, is watercolor painting. Thus, new supplies. Because I intend to really develop my skills in watercolor, over the many coming years. (Provided I live many coming years.)  I have much to work on. I do clearly see myself in the future, as an old lady, drawing and painting in her art studio. So hopefully that is a good sign, eh? Anyway, while I am working on my watercolor skills, I decided I will just do small paintings for awhile.  When I am feeling a lot more confident, and I’ve mastered some things, I’ll go bigger.

The blocks of watercolor paper I bought are 9″ x 12″, because I felt that was a good size to start working again with.  No larger than that, anyway.
Arches, 300#, cold-press.

Ok, I’m ready to share with you a couple of my watercolor paintings.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Crafts & Creations, Home Page, Seasonal Crafts and Creations, SPRING Crafts and Creations, Watercolor Paintings Tagged With: apple, art, art-studio, chicks, watercolor, watercolor painting, watercolor-chicks, watercolor-split-apple, watercoloring

4-Leaf Clover Art

March 13, 2015 By Laura 1 Comment

After having a nagging urge to paint for a couple of days last month, I finally found some time to sit down with my watercolor supplies, to create something. As usual, I wanted to make something that would have a purpose; as opposed to just painting for the fun of it, and then wondering what to do with it. (I don’t really like this quality in me, by the way. I’d rather be more creatively spontaneous. So I am working on that in another creative process.) As I figured out what to paint, I realized it was almost the month of March, and so almost time to change our home’s February/Love themed double-mantels.

March….the beginning of spring, and St. Patrick’s Day. I don’t think there is a lick of Irish in any of us, but I decided to go with the theme somewhat anyway, and make a piece of art for our March mantels: 4-Leaf Clover Art.

I had a vision in my head. I got my hues of green ready to go in my palette, and then free-handed a 4-leaf clover, on my ~11×14″ watercolor pad.

As part of the art, I wanted to include a phrase [Read more…]

Filed Under: Crafts & Creations, Holiday Crafts Tagged With: 4-leaf-clover-watercolor-painting-art, 4-leaf-clovers, art, blessings, do-you-believe-in-luck?, four-leaf-clovers, luck, luck-of-the-irish, St-Patricks-Day-art, St-Patricks-Day-decor, St-Patricks-Day-decorating, watercolor painting

My Art Style | Pushing Outside of my Comfort Zone

March 26, 2014 By Laura 8 Comments

For the past several months, about one night a week, a friend of mine comes over to play with me in the art studio.  It started out because she wanted me to give her watercolor lessons. But ultimately, I never could get quite comfortable in that role, and expressed it to her often, because honestly, she has some real skills herself, very different from mine. And I just felt like I had much to learn from her! Still, she continued to call it her lessons, until finally she realized that if we just called it having some creative time together, I’d settle in.  And I did.

One of wonderful things about spending time with her, is that she has a whole new perspective in seeing her art, which I find intriguing. She has a way with expressing what she is trying to accomplish in a piece she is working on, or in retrospect, where she felt she went wrong, and what she could have done better.  She enjoys the process of creating art, seeing where it takes her, and what she may learn along the way.  Furthermore, she is always content enough with how it came out, and grateful for the lessons she took away from it.

I have never been like that!

I tend to expect instant perfection from myself. I want to plan it right, and execute it right, right off the bat. And I want it to come out as perfectly as I see it in my mind. And if it’s not coming out that way, or I’m not happy with how it came out, well….it’s practically useless to me. And more shamefully, I see the whole process almost as a waste of my time and materials. 

Just imagine how that has hindered me over the years. Not only in productivity, but in an open willingness to experiment and learn. I am quite sure, that as a direct result of my demanding perspective, I have limited my productivity, and most certainly hindered myself from true growth as an artist.  Which is just SAD. And years I cannot get back.

The good news is, I have noticed that my friend’s healthy attitude and perspective practices, is rubbing off on me. I am trying to take this time with her, and any other time I can dig up, to just enjoy the process of art. As an artist should. And learn from it all I can, as I go, as well as when the project is complete.

Because of this, I am now growing as an artist, just a little bit so far, in my older years. I think that’s a really good, if unexpected happenstance, for me.

So today I thought I would share with you a bit of what my style has always been, and then how I have actually felt drawn lately, to styles that have never appeared to have been my own before, and am digging up the courage to experiment with them.

First, just a handful of samples of my work from my past.

These are all scanned photos. Some even scanned photos, of photos of photos.  (Did you follow that?) And I wasn’t always a professional photographer, so the exposure and color balance is not great on them. But anyway…. I am talking many years old artwork, here.  Some of it is almost hard for me to look at now, as I see mistakes and things I could have done better. But at the time I apparently was pleased enough with it.  And this awkward and humbling experience is an opportunity for me to grow as well. Right?

But my really intention is sharing these with you, is to show you what my style has always been. In my own words, I would describe my work as very tight, with an effort to make my subjects look as real as possible. That goal has always been what my style has been about.

Allow me to gush for a moment. This is a portrait of my nephew and Godson. To give you an idea of just how old this is, he just turned 21! So adorable. Michael and I always thought he resembled the actor Gene Hackman, in this photo. (Right, anyone?).  Anyway…..back in the day, as a freelance artist, I did a whole lot of large pencil and watercolor portraits, as client work. Approximately 22 x 30″, matted and framed.  Mostly pencil.  Possibly 100’s before and after this one.

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This was a HUGE watercolor painting I did for our own kitchen, before we had any children. (Although I may have been pregnant with our first?) It was a serious painting project, that probably took me months to do.  It did hang it in our kitchen for years, and certainly served as a conversation piece at times, with guests.  I always liked most of the work here, except the very inaccurate perspective of the black and white tiles. I just couldn’t get that right. It was all to me more of an aerial perspective, but the tiles really tended to confuse the viewer I think. Which was usually me.  Painting the water puddles and droplets were my most challenging and favorite part.
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This was one of my first watercolor portraits.  Working with the medium of watercolor in and of itself, has always been equally a joy and a challenge to me. I have always longed to work more loosely with the paint, and yet create work that, when viewed at a distance, really pulls together in a realistic way.  I would seriously consider myself a very amateur watercolorist, at best.
–

And yet I have sold many watercolor paintings. Including this one, I believe? I forget. This is Nobska Lighthouse in Falmouth, MA.   I did a few lighthouse paintings in my time. This photo of this painting was very underexposed, so the color to the true painting is not accurate.  Though in truth, nor was the painting accurate to the actual scene. Another challenge of mine:  mixing the the color I need, with the paints I have.

Anyway, the shingles on the roof are an excellent example of how tight I always worked, when really, there is a looser form to paint such things, that appear realistic, for which I have not even begun to master yet.  In conclusion, you have no idea how hard I would work, to replicate exactly when I was using as a reference. (Which was often from a photo given tome, or one I took myself.  I never took liberty to change anything from the reality, which I think is a real weakness in an artist.

OK, so back to the present.  Lately I have had an urge to create a more abstract piece of work. Which may quite possibly be because of the freedom it would lend me, when I have felt as of late, as I work in the studio with my friend, that I have lost any art skills I once had.
The style of abstract artwork is an area I have never even remotely been interested in. Not as a an artist, or a viewer. I have always somewhat liked mixed medium kind of artwork, but have never done such a piece of work myself.  But in the past couple of months, an idea/visual of such a piece has begun to take shape in my mind. Something very much layered, and of mixed medium. I have decided that although I have decided on a theme of sorts, and a general palette of colors I’d like to work with, I am not going to try to make the vision in my head so clear in detail before I begin, nor make an effort to create that vision exactly.

I really want to just enjoy the process of creating art.

These are just some of the materials I gathered, to work with. I have thought of many other materials since, that I may, or may not, incorporate as I go. I decidedly don’t know entirely, what I’ll use as I go. I’m just going to go with the flow!

I do know, that I will share it with you when the piece is done. Whether or not I like it. And I will not see it as a waste of my time, or materials.  For it’s my intention to just enjoy the process of creating it, and seeing what lessons I can take from it along the way, or in the end.  If nothing else, I will have grown from the experience.
And that alone, can often be the best piece of work, of it all.
– Laura



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Filed Under: Crafts & Creations Tagged With: art, art-abstract, art-realism, art-styles, artists, artwork, pencil-illustrations, watercolor, watercolor painting

Let Your Happy Shine! / A Social ShareIt

January 27, 2013 By Laura 2 Comments

I’ve been spending lots of time painting lately.
I can’t tell you all how much I love just sitting, and doing artwork.  Any kind of artwork. Drawing or painting. It doesn’t matter.
Hours will escape me. But they are such happy hours.
Without the drink. Ha ha.
O.k., maybe sometimes with a drink. If it’s weekend night. lol

It seems I must love creating. Because I seem to make a great big mess in the process, every single time, that I have to clean up.
I sure am looking forward to that art studio being ready, for me to move right in!


Oh, the happy hours I will spend there!
And I won’t have to pick up projects I am working on, before I’m actually done.

Of course, there are many things that make me happy.  So many.
I was thinking a lot about that kind of thing, all throughout painting this little piece I’m sharing today.

Do you know those kind of people, who just always seem to radiate happiness? Surely there are people like that in your life. I know there are some in mine.
They are the ones that are just always smiling. Always hugging. The ones that light up when they see you, and are eager to talk to you. They make you feel so special, just the way you are, for who you are. And yet, you see them the same with others. Or the kind of people who you can just watch from afar, and see they are finding the real reasons to celebrate life, right there in that moment. What a blessing they are to know, and have in our lives.  What good examples for us all, too.

They are the ones who inspired this piece I painted.  The ones I am personally blessed with in my life. But also the ones you know.
Or strangers we all happen upon in the course of any day, who we noticed made others smile or laugh around them.

Knowing first hand how it feels so nice, to be a part of their happiness, should inspire us to let our own, SHINE a little more, onto others.
I know I personally am not always beaming happiness! I can let the little things get me down. The things I know will be all but forgotten, tomorrow.
Maybe some are just better at believing that in the moment, and letting those little things go sooner. So I don’t think for anyone of us, it’s a matter of pretending.

It’s a matter of choosing joy, moment by moment.

And letting it SHINE, to show our love, and help lift others, who may truly be facing bigger problems than our own, that day.

Being able to shine our own happiness for others more often, when we can, is probably a matter of choices too.  Don’t you think? To me, I think happiness derives for anyone from always counting your blessings. From knowing God, and having a great relationship with Him. It comes from truly loving those in our life who we have to love in our life, while we do!  Our families and friends. And it comes from our own unique gifts, that we DO all have. (I’ve talked about that soooo many times, here on the blog.) Everyone has at least one gift, they are meant to use in their life.  But all of these things I mentioned, I think are gifts in and of themselves, given to us by God, to know happiness. When we accept them for all that they are, we can’t help by SHINE HAPPINESS, for a time.
Why not shine it on others, and spread the love and joy?

So what have I been painting?  Well, I’ve been working on some more ‘Social ShareIts’.

Do you know what our ‘Social ShareIts’ are?

You see them all of the time on Facebook, and maybe Pinterest or Twitter or other social networks. I just named them, for me. : )  I’m talking about those little mini-posters/pictures, that make you laugh, or smile, give you an A-HA moment, speak to you in some way, or just have a message you want to spread. So you ‘like’ them or ‘share’ them.  Well, I am having so-much-fun, creating our own line of them.  Many will be illustrated by me, maybe painted, drawn, or using some other mediums. Others may be using my own photographs I took, and adding text in Photoshop. Or at times, I may use stock photography.  And, some will be complete graphic design work.  Whatever I feel like doing, in the moment.  I find joy in creating in many ways, and I just go with the flow.

So I’ve told you about the inspiration behind this one.
Here is the finished artwork for you . . . . . .


I hope you like it. It’s watercolor paint, and an art pen.

How do you TAKE any of our ‘Social ShareIts’?

I SHARE them with you, to take for yourselves,  so that you all can SHARE them with your family and friends on Facebook, or where ever.  I often will do a post like this one you are reading, here on our blog, if it was a real creative process, or I have a bit of inspiration behind the work, to tell you about.  So you can just’save the image’ from here, and use them as you will. But easier, I will always put them on our blog’s FACEBOOK PAGE, for you to to be able to click SHARE from there.  That way you will be SHARING it with your friends and family on Facebook as well. So please be sure you are following us there on Facebook, to see our Social ShareIts as they come out, or any other projects or recipes we are sharing, by click HERE and clicking the LIKE button.  If you look under PHOTOS there at our blog’s Facebook Page too, I am building an album named ‘House Of Joyful Noise Social ShareIts’.  So you can grab them from there also, or our board under the same name on Pinterest, any time as well.

You can find all of our buttons for all of the places you can follow House Of Joyful Noise, are below this post, as well as at the top right of the blog here.

Now, go out there today, and make the world a brighter place! 
I’ll do my best, too.
Thanks as always, for coming by.

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Filed Under: Crafts & Creations, House Of Joyful Noise 'Social ShareIts' Tagged With: happiness, happiness-quotes, House-Of-Joyful-Noise-Social-ShareIts, Quotes, watercolor painting

My Playdate with Winsor & Newton | Watercolor Painting

April 19, 2010 By Laura 3 Comments

Watercolor painting. Have you ever tried it?

playing-with-watercolor-painting-5

I used to be pretty good at watercolor painting, back when my days consisted more of illustrating than photography.  Oh, I was never, ever nearly as good as I wanted to be.  But I am even further from my painting aspirations now!

My struggle with watercolor painting has never been about lack of brush control.  It’s seemed like it’s been more about too much of it! The style of my art has always been realism.  To create an image and make it as real as possible.  Before turning more and more to the art of photography, I had spent many years doing 100’s of large commissioned pencil portraits of people, using photos as a reference.  Often times, the portraits also included many symbols and items that spoke of that subjects personality and what mattered to them…..very much like my portrait photography work today.  With every illustrated piece of work, I struggled to let that portrait go, until the subject looked like they were truly right there looking at you. And looked EXACTLY like them.  The objects surrounding them, needed to look like you could pick them right up too .

playing-with-watercolor-painting-1 But with watercolor painting, I was more drawn to loose painting.  To be purposely messy and free…but have it come out looking awesome anyway.  I’ve never come even close to mastering that.   They have never come out as I set out to paint it, because somewhere along the line, I try to control it too much.  I have  sold a few watercolor paintings in my lifetime anyway, so I guess they weren’t half bad. But they weren’t the painting I set out to create.  So as my life carries on, I will look for more opportunities as I can, to paint, and keep trying to loosen up.

This day was one of those opportunities to paint.  Not only had I been really itching to put down my camera, and pick up some of my old neglected art tools, but I wanted to create a very special card, for some very special people.  New friends, who had come into our life in the most unusual of circumstances, and before even knowing us very long, have been unbelievably kind and thoughtful to us as a family. We have been stunned, by their generous spirit, and the love in their heart they have to share with others.  I desperately needed to express my gratitude, and let them know that their heartfelt acts and thoughtfulness, were deeply appreciated.

Michael and I had tried many times to thank them face to face in person as well. But these people are the type that don’t even want ‘to go there’.  They immediately brush it off/change the subject/no big deal.  But to us, their thoughtfulness has been….baffling, actually.   Needless to say, I wanted this card to express it was from our hearts. In art, and the words written inside. Hoping, that when when they received it, they would ‘listen’ to us, and let us thank them from our hearts.

As you can see in the photo above, I had searched and found an image online to loosely use as a reference for my painting in my head.  I wasn’t copying it by any means, but it had some elements I wanted to incorporate in my own painting.

playing-with-watercolor-painting

Again, my goal was to paint loosely.  To NOT be so precise.  For the final work, to almost have an unfinished feel to it.  I was definitely enjoying sitting there painting. I love to draw and paint.  But I was struggling to be satisfied with art I was creating, and call it ‘done’.

At some point, it grew on me a little bit, and I thought it wasn’t half bad.  I cleaned up my mess.

The next morning, I wrote a note one page note to our friends, that fit perfectly inside, and attached it.

But the painting was bugging me again!  It looked…..unfinished. Which, right, was what I was going for.  But it was bothering me, and I decided it needed something more.

playing-with-watercolor-painting-6

So I added more color around it.  A colorful surface.  I felt like it gave it more of an Italian feel. I thought I liked it more so. But I still wasn’t 100% happy.  Or 75% for that matter.

playing-with-watercolor-painting-4 But the message inside….I really wanted to deliver, a.s.a.p.   I was able to express that pretty successfully, from my heart.  So I put it in an envelope, addressed it, put it out in our mailbox, and put up the flag.

playing-with-watercolor-painting-5 A few days later,  Michael was on the phone with these new friends of ours, when they invited all 6 of us, to dinner that coming week, at their home.  They are an older couple than us, and the man truly-loves-to-cook.  In fact, we’ve had quite a connection over food, which could be a whole other post. (And may be some day). But suffice it to say, we knew they were going to go all out, and this dinner was going to be quite a treat. We knew, the menu would be planned to a T, they would prepare for days, and we were going to love it all.

We did indeed, from the hor’doeuvres, through the main course, and dessert.  Not only was the food amazing, but the company was just wonderful.  We all had SUCH a good time. The kids played with their dogs, we all chatted and laughed, and relaxed. It was all just so…..easy.  We didn’t really want to leave.

But prior to dinner, the Mr.  oh-so non-chalantly, gifted us this painting.  He is so casual with the huge tokens of thoughtfulness that he passes off to us, and this was surely no exception. I-LOVE-TULIPS anyway. But then, he explained quite passively, how he saw it, and it made him think of our 4 kids.  The triplets, {JM, O and S}…..and {A}.

Now…..as the mother of my children, I would absolutely look at that painting and interpret it in the exact same way. As I do with anything of 4.  And this painting, arranges more specifically so.  But for HIM to see this painting, think of us, and get it for us as a gift, really touched my heart. Again.  He even matted and framed it himself.  I could go on and on about how special and thoughtful these people are.  I could tell you how they gave us a ton of home schooling supplies too, right after the painting, and umpteen other amazingly thoughtful things they have done for us since we’ve met.

8_

But this painting is so very special to me.   Ok….well, our friend insists it’s a photograph, and that the artist said it was a photograph.  It does indeed look like it is on photo paper.  My guess, is that it is a photo that the artist then digitally painted.  It has a lot of air-brushed effects.  The artist is local, and I’ve been trying to locate him to find out his method.  But regardless…..it’s beautiful.  Isn’t it?

Visually, I think it is really, SO beautiful. I love the colors, and the light on the tulips.   It warms my heart to not only look at it, and see the tulips as representations of my children, but that someone else saw it and thought of them too, and got it as a gift for us.    What hearts, to give gifts such as these.  What a blessing, to have friends, who care for us that much. They really do inspire us in many ways.  Huge ways.  Yet, they are so nice to just BE with.  Down home, quiet, humble people. Who think so much of others, quietly give so much of what they have, but won’t accept much attention over any if it.

Which brings me back to why I wanted to paint such a special thank-you card for them in the first place. Before this painting.  But again, another amazingly kind and thoughtful gesture from them.  Oh, I am sure they are like this with everyone in their life.  It seems to just be who they are.  Which is all the more inspiring.  But they sure make us feel special.

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So it’s why I hung it where I did, for now.  To walk in my front door, and see a piece so beautiful, that brings so many happy thoughts and feelings immediately to the surface.  Tulips. Colors. Light. Our children. Love. Our friends. Thoughtfulness.

Blessings.

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Filed Under: Crafts & Creations, The Big Picture Tagged With: art, painting-for-fun-relaxation, watercolor painting, Winsor and Newton

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