Donald Duck Painting

ANOTHER crazy snow storm here in Western KY less than two weeks from the first one! This time we got somewhere between 17-20" of snow. I decided to pull out the acrylic paints instead of quilting.

I purchased a big honkin' canvas last week with no idea what to do with it. My brother suggested a Disney themed painting and I was all over that! I thought I'd try Mickey or maybe one of the Disney Dogs...I love them all. But Donald is my most favorite Disney character and I knew I had to pay homage to my favorite fella with a portrait. I did some searching online and found a some nice line drawings of Donald. Once I decided on a happy version of Donald, I got that on the canvas and started playing around with the background.

I wanted Donald to really stand out, so I went with a dark, more subtle background. It ended up much lighter in the finished piece. Honestly, I spent as much time working on the background as I did Donald!

After two days and hours of work, Donald if finally done! And I'm in love. I'm not braggin' I'm just saying this painting makes me very happy. It's awaiting a final coate of matte varnish and then it's going on my living room wall.

KY Snow Apocalypse = Bursts of Creativity!

I live in Western Kentucky, where the weather has multiple personalities. A couple weeks ago we had a major snowstorm and I was lucky enough forced to miss several days of work. During that time, I decided to fire up Katie Kenmore and did some quilting...well, quilt top making to be honest.

First, I used a Central Park charm pack and some neutral solids from my stash and made this easy cheesy baby quilt top. I have no idea which of the five babies I know who have recently entered or will soon be entering the world is going to get this, if any. I have another stack of these charms, I will definitely pair it up with white the next time. 

Next, I pulled out a stack of 10" blue squares and got busy on another quilt top. I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do. Pinwheels? Simple four patch? So I started snooping around online and was inspired by a really cool yellow/gray star quilt and ultimately ended up with this. 

In the midst of this quilt top, I killed my iron. Again. My husband was nice enough to get me out of the house once the roads were somewhat less treacherous, take me to WalMart, and buy a new iron. He's a keeper, ladies! However, as is evidenced in the photo below, where I'm posing with an iron,  I WAS at the point of stir crazy, so he probably did it for his own sanity as well as mine. 

Quilted!

Years ago I started this quilt...like five years ago. I'm pretty sure it's the seconds quilt top I made. This wast he first time I'd tried free motion quilting in quite a while, and I struggled with it. A lot. 

I did try my hand at FMQ some paisley's, they turned out OK! Wow...I need better lighting!

Once it went through the washer and dryer, the mistakes that were so blatant before magically disappeared like they always do! 

It felt great to finally finish a quilt! This one will be donated to a needy kiddo at the school were I work. 

The Dark Lord...Quilted!

So, my brother is a phenomenal artist. He did some Star Wars art a while back and had asked me if I'd like to collaborate and quilt one of his pieces. This is just a test print, and my first time to attempt something like this. I free motion quilted the entire thing. When I try again, I am going to use a combination of free motion/walking foot quilting.  Despite a few flub ups, I absolutely LOVE it! More(and even better) versions of this to come!

New Year, New Blog Post

On Painting...
So waaay back in the Summer(How I miss the Summer) I got brave and entered two paintings in a local art show. I wasn't expecting to win anything so I wasn't surprised when I didn't. However, I wasn't expecting to SELL a painting either so I was totally surprised and overly excited when I went to pick up my paintings and instead of two paintings, I picked up a check and one painting!

This was the first time I'd sold a painting to someone whom I did not know personally and it felt GREAT! :)

The painting that sold, Fox's Forest, is pictured here.

There was a mix up at the gallery so my painting titled "Mama and Owlets" was listed as "Not for Sale",  but I l think if they had marked it with my asking price, it would have sold too. That's what I like to tell myself anyway. It's currently hanging on my living room wall.

I'm currently working on teaching myself to use watercolors and I'm having so much fun with it! I love how quickly I can finish a painting and how they look pretty good, even though I don't really have the techniques down yet. Here are a couple samples.:

From an online tutorial

Tiger Lily from Disney's Peter Pan...and that's my version of Ariel in the background. 

On Cooking...
I'm currently obsessed with this recipe from Plain Chicken. I've made it three times already and I just finished up a steaming bowl of this chicken chili concoction. It's so delicious and perfect for this ridiculously cold January in Kentucky.  Seriously, grab your crock pot and make a batch!

On Quilting...
I'm quilting again! YAAAAY! It's been forever, but I  pulled out a quilt top I started maybe 6 years ago(?) and I'm using it to practice free motion quilting. My stippling is still a hot mess, but by the time I got to the fourth block, my paisleys looked all right. If you are looking to learn FMQ, I highly recommend Leah Day's courses on Craftsy.com.

Whew, that was a lot! But it feels good to blog after so long an absence. I just may do it again soon!