Busy as a Bee - Painting & Quilting

My favorite season is Fall.  I love all the colors and the chill in the air.  Our trees were beautiful this fall, but it just didn't seem to last long enough.

I had painted a pumpkin back in October and today I found the source of my inspiration.  I had shared the source of my inspiration for some other paintings, but couldn't find this one....until today.

So here is the inspiration:

 The photo is a photograph of a painting from Rosemary's Blog.  I love how she takes photos and then does watercolor paintings from them.  Her entire blog is a gem.

And here's my interpretation:

My camera does a terrible job with colors!  Here's another photo during the painting process.  See how the orange didn't photograph so well in the picture above.

I've been trying to sale my art and my quilts on the weekends.  So far I've sold something every weekend, all quilts, no paintings yet.

My idea is to leave my sign out all the time and then when I'm home, throw the quilts on the line like my "open" sign.  It's working pretty good so far.  I've sold 4 quilts and been commissioned to quilt 2 vintage quilt tops.

Although, while I washed my rails down before hanging the quilts, the wind picked up one day and really beat them against the rails before I knew it.  So I've got to wash a couple of them now.

I still have the white and blue quilt and most of the smaller baby quilts, wall quilts and table runners for sale.  If you are interested in any of them, email me at boutwell_d@bellsouth.net and we can talk prices.  Still plenty of time to get them in the mail for Christmas gifts!

Here's some close ups of the quilts and I also have buttoned neck wraps, crocheted.

Talking of Christmas....I can't wait to truly share what I've been up to.  Here's just a little taste and some big hints!

And in the midst of all of this...my sewing/quilting machine locked up!  I've taken it to the repair shop with prayers that it will be back very soon.  In the meantime, this is how I'm spending my afternoons and evening.

Back to the basics with needle and thread!

Brush Strokes

I love this time of the year.  I can look through pictures on Pinterest of Tumblr of Fall for hours. Then I usually want to recreate something I've seen.  I love to paint, but I'm not one of those painters that does well without a picture or visual to go by.  So I took my inspiration this week from these two photos and did my own version of Fall, at the barn and in the aspens.

Here's the Pinterest version:

 

And here's my version:



artist Deborah Boutwell

The camera doesn't really pick up the true colors.  This one turned out too dark.  I like my barn, but need to work on the trees and shadows.

 

I found a photo by James Kay that I really liked of aspens.  Click here to see his version.

And here's my version.

 

artist Deborah Boutwell

Ken said at first glance that my aspen trees looked like onions.  So, I guess they need more work.  I like how the base of the trees turned out and the three up front look pretty good, but I didn't capture the background of the golden leaves good enough.

Maybe one day, I'll paint them like my mother did.

artist Frances Lewis

Another Project Finished

...and it only took 9 years!!  But today I finally finished painting my kitchen cabinets!!!

Here's a picture of how they have looked for the past 9 years.  To the left of my sink, all the cabinets are hand painted (free hand) with sunflowers.  To the right......

 painted cabinets, but without the sunflowers.

Thankfully, I could still get the same paint so last weekend, I repainted them and got them ready for the sunflowers.  Adam removed all the knobs and then today pretty much insisted I finish them or put the knobs back on.

So....here they are today...the process of painting on the sunflowers, free hand, no transfer of design, just me and the paintbrush and all day on the floor!  My style changed a bit and I didn't have the same colors as before...but no two flowers are ever the same.  (Oh and just ignore all the dirty dishes you may see...I've been quilting and painting for several days now!)

I started by going through my old supply of paints and finding the closest matches.  I poured the paint out in clear plastic cups.  I thought about writing the colors on the cups with a Sharpie since I was working with several shades of the same color...but honestly...I barely had enough left.  Several of these were poured out completely for this project.  If I was going to be refilling the cups I would have done that though.

 I did draw lightly with a pencil, circles where I wanted the flowers to be.  Then I started painting all the leaves , stems, and veins.

 This little cabinet sits between the stove and the fridge.

 Then I painted on the 2 shades of yellow for the flowers, starting with the darker shade, letting it dry and then the lighter shade.  I'm not real pleased with the huge leave on the corner door, but I wanted something different on this set of doors since they are hinged together..

 .

 While the petals were still a little wet, I started adding the shades and highlights, blending as I went along.  Once they were all dry, I went back and added the dark centers.

They just need a coat of sealer and I'm all done....that will be tomorrow's job and then the knobs go back on.  No body had better spill anything on my cabinets before I get them sealed!