Watch them grow!

 My nephew, Pax, turned 1 at the beginning of the month! We were so excited to go to his party and watch him scarf down his cake and play with all of his toys!

Since Kendall and I share a love for adorable little robots, I knew the perfect design for Pax's growth chart!

 I had so much fun painting it, and knew Kendall would love having it hang in his room one day.  I must say, it's probably my most favorite growth chart so far!!!

Happy Birthday, Pax!  We love you so much, and may just steal you and keep you at our house!

Future Artist!

For Christmas, my parents got Tucker these wonderful paint brush pens!!! I've been working with him a little on holding crayons and coloring, but he is only very slowly warming up to the idea.  Since it's snowing today, I thought coloring would be a fun activity, and I was right!!!

 Tucker liked picking the colors, and playing with the pens.  He's still learning to put it on the paper, but like the crayons, he likes to "hit" the paper in a pointillism style :)  He also introduced a new technique by picking up the paper and laying it over the pen while he moved it.  Brilliant, kid! :D 

He was very excited with his finished product, as was Mommy :D  I'm really looking forward to introducing more art into our daily lives!!!

And, here's a little video to see him at work!!! 

Happy Friday!

painting ideas

Now that you've seen a few Color n Cups painting parties in action, I'd really like your help.  I want to add more painting options to the repertoire.  I'd like some fun, fresh paintings to get people's attention.  I've been dying to do a peacock one, very similar to this one, but with slightly different colors.

I also really like the abstractness of this next one, but with the brightness in the middle.  What do you think?!

I think it'd be fun to do a fully abstracted one as well, and add a cross or two into the mix!

So, what do you think?!  I could really use your help on this.  You could even link to a picture that you think would be cool to paint in a painting class!  I hope to work on some of these here pretty soon!

What are you being inspired by on this Monday morning?!

Ruston Colors n Cups

 My sister-in-laws requested a Colors n Cup party while we were visiting for Christmas, and it was SO much fun!!!  Naturally, they chose the Fleur dis Lis. 

 For the background, they learned how to create texture and value changes using multiple colors. 

 Next, they created gorgeous shading using at least 4 different browns!!!  Once they learned where the light source was coming from, the shading came easier.  Both girls picked up the techniques so well, and created beautiful paintings!

I love how unique the they turned out!!!  Great job, girls! I had so much fun with you! :D

*If you are interested in hosting a Colors n Cups party, and live in the Indianapolis area, please email me to set up your party!  You can also read more details HERE!

Custom Canvases

 We just got back from Louisiana, but with the business of the holidays, I haven't had a chance to show you some of my custom orders!!!

The Jolliffs are dear friends of ours who are leaving for the mission field.  Elizabeth wanted something for the boy's room (they have 3!)  Sam loves camo and he and Andrew love to be outdoors.  The stripes just matched their bedding.  This is one of my favorite canvases since I haven't done many boy's rooms...except T's ;)

 We had also seen this one on Pinterest, and she had to have it!!!  I will be so sad to not see those little faces anymore!  We'll miss you, Jolliffs!

 My friend, Erica's, mom is the one who invited me to participate in the recent art show that I did.  While we were there, she ordered a custom canvas for Eva's room!  You can see her adorable little face in the lower right hand corner!  She's an absolute doll, and Erica said she loved the art!

 I also got this custom order at the same fair.  I was pretty pumped to do this one, and had a great time with all of the John Deer paraphernalia.  I actually went in to our local John Deer store, obviously looking out of place, and asking, "Do y'all have any, like, catalogs that I could have?!" in what probably sounded to them like a Valley girl accent.  Luckily, there were some sweet guys behind the counter who were more than willing to help me, but with a slight snicker under their breath :/ I should have wore my work clothes in there :) 

Enjoy!