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Paintings for Presents and Happy New Year!

January 17, 2018 By Colleen 3 Comments

santorini-painting-1

Happy New Year, my friends! Is it too late to say that? Well, I’m pretty late on a lot of things – like this post – so just consider the source. I wanted to share with you some of the paintings I’ve done recently.

I hope you had wonderful holidays filled with peace and joy. Mine were great, actually. I feel wonderful that I can say that truthfully. This Christmas was really, really nice for me.

One of the reasons I enjoyed it more was because I had actual presents for people. Homemade, if you will, but still . . . presents. First is Penny’s. If you’ve seen photos of Greece, you’ve probably seen this church and the sea behind it. It’s actually in Santorini, a small island outside of Greece. I knew I wanted to do a painting of Santorini for her present but I didn’t want wall art. Penny’s house is like an art gallery with every wall home to a spectacular piece.

Instead, I decided do the painting as a pillow for the guest room, a space that she walks past as she heads towards her bedroom. The room has soft colors of peach, pink and aqua which guided me into a sunset scene rather than the typical blue ocean we usually see for Greece.

Did I mention Penny is Greek? Ha ha ha. Yes, she is! Forgot to mention that little tidbit. She speaks Greek, she cooks Greek, and she loves life like a Greek.

santorini-painting-2To do the painting, I used a canvas dropcloth, stretched it onto a board and taped it. I totally forgot to prime it, unfortunately. That would’ve saved me some time and time was of the essence. Penny was visiting her sister for 4 days and I took that time to attempt a seascape that I haven’t painted in maybe 16 years!

Side note: Can you tell I’m feeling better? I’d never have attempted this a few months ago!

santorini-painting-3I managed to get everything done save for the flowers. She knew I was painting her present so she steered clear of the studio one afternoon while I dabbed shades of pink onto the canvas.

santorini-painting-4Here is the painting in the guest room. It picks up a lot of the colors in the room but is still the showstopper, which I wanted.

I thought about trying a watercolor but I don’t think I could do it on the broadcloth canvas.

Anyway, she loves it and so do I.

Guitar-drumsticks-paintingNext was the painting for Penny’s son, Lance, and his girlfriend, Jess. I’ve known Lance since the day Penny brought him home from the hospital. He’s an incredible musician as well as a producer and Jess is a fantastic drummer. They gave me a gift card to an art store the Christmas before last and I had nothing for them.

This year would be different.

I knew what I wanted to paint, it was a bit more challenging how to lay it out since I’m not a graphic designer. It turned out pretty well, I think. It’s a watercolor painting with inking.

So somehow I managed to get TWO paintings for presents done before Christmas when I started them both only a couple weeks prior.

I seem to work best on deadlines.

rainbow-trout-painting

Lastly was the painting of a Rainbow Trout for Penny’s friend, Craig. Craig has been unbelievably kind to me as he was the one who buried my Boston Terrier in his yard a few months ago.

He loves to fish and sometimes fishes at Echo Lake, where I was raised in the summers. My father planted Rainbow Trout for many, many years and Echo was always flush with them.

It was such a thrill do paintings for presents. It got me out of my slump, into the studio and actually producing!

Now, I need some more deadlines to get busy again, ha!

 

Filed Under: Accessories, Home Decor, my paintings, My Stuff, Paint Canvas, Paint Surfaces

Comments

  1. dj says

    January 18, 2018 at 7:31 am

    My husband is Greek and has visited Santorini — it is his favorite place in the world! Your pillow depicting that is beautiful. The other gifts you painted are fantastic too! So glad you are out of your funk and had an enjoyable holiday!

    Reply
  2. Betty Tompsett says

    January 18, 2018 at 1:25 pm

    Hi Colleen,I am so pleased to see you are having happy times once more,Hugs Betty from Australia

    Reply
  3. Kris Peterson says

    January 18, 2018 at 11:09 pm

    So glad to hear from you, Colleen, and very happy you had a good Christmas and things are looking better for this New Year. Your pillow painting is BEAUTIFUL! It looks just right on the bed. The rest of your Christmas gift paintings were each very special gifts from your heart and all wonderful. Love the story about rainbow trout. My Dad was a true blue fisherman and started taking me with him at an early age. He use to hike into lakes in the Cascades and plant trout. Your painting brought back some sweet memories of my great dad.

    So glad to hear your feeling so much better and keep in touch!

    Hugs,
    Kris

    Reply

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    About Me

    Hi there! I'm Colleen, a self-taught artist, writer and blogger, among other things. You don't get to be old enough to order off the Denny's senior menu without accomplishing a few things in life. Read More…

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