Summer & Florals

I've spent a lot of time recently making examples of the projects I will be doing with the kids at art camp this summer, but that's not all I've been doing when it comes to art. I decided to share a couple other things I've been working on. Lynchburg, where Liberty is located, is called "Drench-burg" by some because of the excessive rain. Perhaps all those April showers had me even more ready for May flowers than in the past, because all of my work since getting back home has seemed to revolve around flowers.

My mom hangs up my art work all around the house. In fact, there are actually a couple store bought pictures on the floor of my art studio right now that have been replaced with my paintings. She's been wanting something new and big to put over our couch in the living room, so I decided to paint a couple coordinating pictures to hang side-by-side rather than one larger picture. Her favorite colors are red and yellow, so I wanted to incorporate those, and when I picked up a paintbrush, a flower just naturally started to appear on the canvas.

I know, I know, I'm supposed to start with the background. I totally didn't think about that until there was a huge flower on my canvas. The background is some watered-down light blue wall paint. I like getting little sample jars of wall paint and using them for large areas on the canvas. When you don't water it down like I did here, one coat actually covers the canvas really well. I typically prime my canvas with white wall paint because it's thicker than acrylic and much less costly than fancy primer. In general, it's just more cost effective than other paints. I discovered these when my friend and I were brainstorming ideas for our visual arts ministry at church a couple years ago. We needed something that would show up after only one coat and was inexpensive, and happened upon these samples! Sometimes I go look in the clearance section by the paint mixing area in Lowes or Home Depot and find some of these for as little as $0.50! 

I've also been using watercolors quite a bit lately. Admittedly, I used them for this picture a few days ago because I wanted to paint, but wanted to do so in my room and without the potential mess of acrylics. It doesn't show up as clearly in the photo as in person, but I was especially enjoying the milky, white color. Something about layering with that white is so different than with colors. It's creamier and bolder than I expected. I'm not really sure why I hadn't taken notice of it before. I'm feeling a lot more water color usage coming up in the near future.

I hope everyone's long weekend is off to a good start! Be sure to enjoy the sunshine, cookouts, and extra time off work that come with holiday weekends!