Moving Ahead With My Folk Art Painting

Basecoating has been finished today on the main buildings of this painting and the fun begins next!

It's so much fun to decide what each of these buildings will become.

This past week a customer asked me to personalize my tea shoppe print for her and change it to a gourmet dog treat shop.  The results are below.

This has given me a great idea for one of my shops in this new painting.  Keep watching and see what developes. 

I'm always open to suggestions too, so feel free to leave me a comment.

Catherine Holman 

Folk Art Painted Wood Tile Box

This is my second listing on eBay for my old class samples.  As mentioned in this  previous post about the "Blue Toile Lap Desk" , I'm auctioning some of my older pieces on eBay.  I have run out of space for all these pieces and don't want to simply store them away. 

"Folk Art Wood Tile Box"

 This piece measures 9" x 9" at the widest point and is 3 1/2" tall.

 It is perfect for jewelry, keepsakes, etc.

 It has four blue ball feet that are attached with dowels and the bottom is nicely finished too.

 The interior is blue with a burgundy liner in the bottom. Gold metallic trim adorns the inside of the lid.

Fine eggshell crackling and antiquing give this piece the appearance of age.

This box and the lap desk were both painted in 2000.  It is made of wood and routered to look like tile on the lid. 

The original photo of the house that was used for reference will be included inside the box. This piece has traveled far and wide from class to class and trade shows. There are a few blemishes and some small places where the painted has rubbed off or chipped. It only adds to the character of the box.

I will continue to add new pieces each week until they are gone.

Catherine Holman

Folk Art Painting Continued

Today I continued this painting by working from the background forward.  Fence, paths, bushes, and details on the little stone house start to bring this little village together.

Buildings in the foreground will be painted next.  Hope you enjoy watching this painting grow.  You can check out how it looked before in my previous post.

I'm going over the village names that I've collected in my little notebook and will be writing the story to go with the painting when it is finished. 

Here are a couple of scenes that I painted that are a similar layout.

The final details are always my favorite part!

Summer Village Folk Art in Progress

I've gotten a little farther on my new painting and thought you might enjoy seeing the stages that it goes through. 

I'll try to remember to photograph as I go along.  You can see the very beginning in the previous post. 

Here are some older spring and summer scenes that are still available as prints in my Etsy and eBay stores:

This warm spring weather has all my flowers coming up before I have time to get the leaves raked off and the perennials cut back.   We've had such a warm winter and spring, causing me to be a little concerned about what summer will be like.    Are you still shoveling snow or working in the garden like me?

Blue Toile Lap Desk

Years ago when I was teaching art lessons and writing instruction books, I held onto some of my favorite book and class samples.  I don't want to continue to keep them stored away and have run out of room.  I've decided to start auctioning them on eBay.  I will be listing one item each week and will notify my blog readers as to what the listing will be.   My first auction will be for this lap desk, simply titled...

"Blue Toile Lap Desk"

This desk at it's widest point, measures 13" x 13 1/4" and is 8 1/8 inch tall. 

Edges are bordered with scrolls, checkerboard, and copper paint stripes.

It has four large wood bun feet.

The background is painted to resemble faux marble and the entire piece has eggshell crackling giving it the appearance of age.

Inside is unfinished and perfect for storing your bills, envelopes, stamps, etc.

The box is made of wood composite.

This is the new painting I started this week.  It will be a 16" x 20" summer folk art scene.  It feels great to be painting these village scenes again.

Got any ideas for character names?  I'm always on the hunt for old names to use in my stories about my paintings.  I collect names and write them in a notebook.   My little notebook also has a section for village and cottage names. 

I used to make my husband stop when we traveled if we came across an interesting old house or building and I would jump out and quickly take a picture.  The photo inside this box is the original photograph of the house that I took and used for reference when I painted this box.  It will also be included with the box.  This house is in Kansas City and was a new house built to look like an older home.

I'll be busy painting.   Are you busy spring cleaning or playing?

Frogs, Fairies, and Gnomes.....

I've selected a theme for a set of four notecards for Vee's Notecard party.  (These are pretend notecards)  You simply pick four of your favorite photos that you think would make a nice set of cards.  It was hard to make this selection because most of my photos were taken with my little point and shoot camera before I got my new camera. 

Below is my official section from my garden last year.....

This poor little guy is trapped in this tree as it grew around him.  He will eventually be sucked into the middle of the tree where he will have to spend his days making Keebler cookies.

Please stop by A Haven for Vee and join the party.

 

Giveaway Winner from Russia

The blog winner from my last giveaway, as mentioned in a previous post, was a reader from Russia, Nika Aksutin.  Nika wrote to me telling me how much her daughters love cupcakes and how happy they were when the cupcake painting arrived.  She also shared these photos of her daughters, Lily and Polina, with their little painting.  They are so adorable!  What sweet little smiles....

You can visit their blog Craft for Christ Glory to see some of their other favorite cupcake items.

They are mailing a little cupcake cross stitch that they made for me and I'm so excited!  What a sweet family!

I would share some first day of spring photos, but it's been raining for 3 days now.  It's a much needed rain though.  I'm hoping my grass seed will come up this time since this is the third try.  Any advice anyone?

A Cute as a Cupcake Princess Turns Birthday Girl

Once upon a time a pretty little girl was born who dreamed of becoming a princess.  She loved the color pink, zebra print, and Justin Bieber (her prince).  Much to her great auntie's (me) delight, she was asked to paint a special cupcake for her birthday.

The sweet princess and her zebra print cupcake....

take a closer look.   Cute nail polish too....

Hope it was a wonderful day full of magic sweet Madison!

Hugs,

Auntie Cathie

P.S. check out her mommy's blog:

Rambles by Gina

Fairhill Folk Art Painting

I've been so wrapped up in painting cupcakes lately because of the demand, that I've been neglecting my folk art scenes.  This is what came off my brush today and I listed it on eBay.  I had so much fun that images are running through my mind of a larger folk art painting soon.

This itsy bitsy 4" x 4" painting is titled:

"Fairhill"

When you reach the top of "Fairhill" you are struck by the image of two cozy cottages tucked beneath a towering tree. It was planted by Francine and Estelle when they first became neighbors. The tree stood strong and true over the years just like their friendship, growing branches of trust, love, gratitude, and prayers.

The temperature was nearly 80 today and it's only March.  I thought a little summer scene was just the thing to work on.

Are you working inside or out in your garden already?

Making a Relection Image in Photoshop

I've been working on this image in Photoshop trying to get a reflection below it....

and now it looks like this.....

I was so excited when I finally got it to this stage!

You can check out a great tutorial for this at Planet Photoshop.

Have a great weekend!



Playing With Photoshop

I’ve been playing around with Photoshop trying figure out how to make my own clipart for my business cards and my blog. It’s been fun, but has taken up most of my time. 

It’s always hard for me to stop once I get into something and I should really be painting. I did, however, get my new “coffee art” painting listed on eBay last night.

"Mocha Madness"

The wonderful aroma of coffee and chocolate topped with whipped cream is the perfect start to your day. This decadent delight in served up in a green diner style mug with dark red trim.

I love playing around with artwork on the computer and need to do this as a general part of my day.  I still can’t figure out how to make something on Microsoft word and share it on my blog.  I love the mirror effect shadows that I can get, but can’t seem to share them on my blog.  Any tips?

Snow, Sprinkles, and a new Painting

This year we've had such warm weather. Then, ever so gently, tiny flakes floated from the sky like......

sprinkles on cupcake!

God sprinkled us with his love upon the sweetness of the earth.

I wanted to run outside and twirl and twirl with my arms in the air.

I didn't want to scare the neighbors....so I stayed inside and painted

this.....

I hope to have this new piece finished and listed on eBay tomorrow if I'm not outside twirling. 

Have a Heavenly sprinkles kind of day!