When the mood strikes...paint!

Hey Happy Tuesday! We intended to pop in and say hi yesterday but we really lost track of time. We were completely immersed in several projects and we simply couldn't get ourselves to stop. As usual we were jumping from task to task, balancing work stuff, house stuff, studio stuff, life stuff. Some cleaning happened, some organizing happened, some more trim was painted, walls were patched and sanded, furniture got rearranged...yeah one of those days. And on top of that we were going over ideas and lesson plans for our upcoming classes that we are teaching at Art Is You in May! We are so excited  about them! We blogged about them here, and we'd love for you to take the time to check out all the details...and by all means...sign up and join us if you can! 

I'm not a gal who self promotes a whole lot, but when it comes to these classes, I have no problem shouting it from as many mountain tops as I can. Because I KNOW that you guys will absolutely love your experience. I KNOW that you'll learn a lot and laugh a lot. I KNOW that you'll whole heartedly impress yourself and unearth talents you didn't know you had. Come on down to Dixie to get your hands messy, expand your creative repertoire, and make some fabulous artwork in the process!

Artwork that's similar to what you're seeing in this post. You'll explore the many facets of mixed media...you'll learn all about layers and shading...experience first hand how to render cute girls' faces...create fun and fabulous backgrounds. It's an in-depth course...and "in-depth" doesn't mean that it will be hard. Nope, just the opposite. "In-depth" means that you'll get to take the time to really figure out what works for you. We won't ever quickly skim past the details. We'll stop, slow down, and offer you every bit of our 20 years of professional experience.   

Ok, end of sermon...lets get back to yesterday's fun project! 

We love combining our cute girls with textured and layered backgrounds. When it comes to creating backgrounds and layers, you'll notice that most artists have their go-to colors and textures. We're no different...we work within our own little comfort zone, we've got our special "tool box", our specific color palette that works for us. Very often we'll collage our backgrounds because we just love the extra bit of texture that patterned papers will bring to a piece. But yesterday's piece was all about paint. 

I honestly didn't have anything planned. I just let it all happen. Maybe the only thing I knew for sure was that there was going to be some black. Just like in our decor and my wardrobe. Black is necessary. Black balances our candy colors and sweet pastels.  

So...this piece was a lot of fun to work on. I rendered the girl all on her own...as you can see in the first pic at the top of this post. And as you can see, this girl has come a long way from that first photo. She started out as just a pencil sketch on water color paper and initially her coloring was very subtle. I had painted the canvas with a vague idea of how much space she'd occupy and approximately where she'd be positioned. I brought the background and the girl to a certain level of completion, and when the time was right I brought them together so that they could be completed as one cohesive piece of artwork. Doing it this way is a lot of fun. It's kinda exciting when you combine the two elements and see that you've got this whole new piece of artwork. After I adhered the gal to the canvas it was like starting all over...which really was fun. I added more texture, layered on some mediums, splashes of paint, sketchy pencil work...lots of stuff. 

Here she is hanging up. I like how it looks almost as if that is a window behind her...a glimpse of night sky. 

After painting this piece yesterday we got so excited about our upcoming classes. One of our classes focuses on abstract painting. And the other will feature portraits like this. We'll spend an entire day teaching all the techniques, tips, and tricks, so that in the end each student will have at the very least a go-to set of skills...a head start for future paintings. 

And once you've got your go-to "artist tool box" the sky is the limit! Whenever in the mood, you can paint a pretty girl, create a vibe, conjure up a dream world, and make fabulous artwork. 

Here is another painting that I worked on recently. A perfect example of what will be covered in our Abstractions class. I can't describe the joy I experience, starting with a blank canvas and building layers, creating movement, expressing a specific mood. I'm telling you...it's addictive, 

I really like how soft this piece turned out. Aaron says its his new favorite painting of mine. But seriously, he says that about each new one I do. He likes to point out his favorite areas of my paintings. What we refer to as "the sweet spot".

And now that the house is coming together we are able to hang art. It has been so long and we are really excited about it. Here are some of our personal favorites. Some are mine and some are Aaron's. Can you tell them a part? The two of us stay within our shared color palette which matches our home decor. But if you look closely you may be able to tell the difference between our respective paintings. We work in completely different styles, and in our classes we will both be teaching our personal methods..our favorite techniques and styles. It's fun to see how students drift toward either Aaron or myself based on the commonalities they sense in their own style. With abstracts it's all about two things...method & color. You wouldn't believe what a world of difference color makes. Imagine the above abstracts rendered in jewel tones, or earth tones even...with each student there are endless brand new possibilities. And this excites us so much!

It's not too late to sign up! Come for both classes or just one! Stay over night or just make a day trip of it if you are local enough! We can't say enough good things about Art Is You Art Retreats. Any fears you may have...seriously, throw them out the window! These are full day classes...One on One instructions! Plenty of time to learn, practice, create, and chat. You will leave confident, armed with new skills, and ready to create.

And we are offering a special discount! If you use a limited time promo code you can get $60.00 off your Art is Dixie purchase price!  When you register for either of our classes enter HOLIDAY (all caps) into the Event Code box on page 2 beside the package of days selection, and you will get $60 off your total registration.

Hope your week is off to a great start! Thanks so much for popping in! 

Love from NJ!

xo Jenny...and Aaron says hi!

Friday Favorites

Is it Friday already?! Wow, sometimes the weeks just fly by. This week is a special one for me...and for anyone else out there who is just so darn sick of Winter. Yep, Spring officially began this week! Of course you'd never know it unless you were told...the weather is the same as it was last week...cold and grey. But I'm hopeful that it will change sooner rather than later. All the home projects we've got going on will transition nicely into Spring cleaning...and within a few weeks we'll have a redecorated and reorganized home, and the curtains will be fluttering in the warm sunny breeze. I can't wait! But lets not get ahead of ourselves...there is work still to be done. At the moment me and Aaron are taking a tiny break from painting, and I thought this would be the perfect time to share my Friday Faves with you all. 

So lets start with these great looking bars of soap. I'm an absolute sucker for beautiful packaging. These pastel wrapped  Barr-Co Soaps  are just so classic. The type face brings to mind an old fashioned pharmacy, and the classic printing combined with the lovely colors is so pretty, yet not too girly. 

Theses three bars would look very happy in our Salt Water Taffy striped bathroom.  

 They're made in small batches by a husband and wife team, and they feature ingredients like oatmeal, shea butter, vitamin E...

When I read that the "Marine" scent is "evocative of flowers growing near the seashore" I was sold!

I nearly spit my seltzer when I came across this Sweatshirt. I know that me and Aaron are prime candidates to wear this shirt. And we've got many artsy friends who can totally wear this shirt and the statement would be very accurate! ha!

How beautiful is this rug? My gosh. It's the Chanda rug from Anthroplogie. Everything about it works for me...color, pattern, style...wait, I lied when I said every thing works. The PRICE maybe doesn't work for me. Well, for the size you see above the price doesn't work. But...

...take a look at it in 2' x 3'. It's way more gentle on the wallet. And it's SO cute! 

This is one of the cutest littlest tutorials ever! What a perfect tiny lamp! And it totally reminds me of a real life human sized lamp that I love from Land of Nod. But I'm not sure if I have the right spot in my home for the real life lamp...seriously, I can make this tiny version to tide me over.

I Love the idea of wax sealed letters. Of course my mind instantly goes into Game of Thrones mode when I see a wax sealed envelope. Those medievals had such garish and strong design sensibilities though. My personal seal would be a cute one like this Dandelion Gold Plated Wax Seal Stamp from Back to Zero on Etsy. 

Like I said, Spring has officially arrived, but apparently Mother Nature didn't get the memo. I'm dreaming of warmer weather for all sorts of reasons. One of those reasons is the change of menu. I don't know about you guys, but me and Aaron like to eat things that are evocative of the current season.  These mini lemon meringue pies are adorable and exactly what I am craving right now. They're bright & sweet, and I bet they taste like citrus & sunshine. 

And last but certainly not least...This adorableness that you are viewing is courtesy of my sweet friend Kate from Scathingly Brilliant. Yep, these are just a couple of pics from her kitchen make over tour! Can you even handle this girl?! This was a 100% "normal" kitchen before Kate got her hands on it. 

You gotta check out her blog post featuring this makeover. You won't believe it when you see the Before pic. And we are so delighted to see our Ice Cream Cone diecut hanging in such a place of honor. We love Kate and we're constantly amazed at her ability to make everything in her life so darn scathingly brilliant!

Ok, thanks again for checking out my Friday Favorites. My break time is over...there is a can of paint calling my name. I hope your weekend is off to a fabulous start!

xo, Jenny...and Aaron says hi!

Hooray! "The Sweet Life" hits stores this week!

Today was definitely a good mail day for us! And hopefully there's an equal feeling of excitement being felt at shops around the country...and the world. In our mailbox was a package full of items from our scrapbooking collection "The Sweet Life", which is the first offering from our partnership with Melissa Frances...and we couldn't be more excited about it. And if it arrived in our mailbox today, then that means that there is a pretty good chance that lots and lots of stores have received their shipments of the collection as well. Which is SUPER exciting!

 On the one hand it feels like we've been waiting forever for it to arrive...and on the other it feels like just yesterday that we were designing the stuff. A major highlight in the whole process was our trip to CHA. Just being there with the line and having the chance to talk with all the shop owners who will be carrying the collection was such thrill. Everyone was so enthusiastic about the collection...and probably one of the coolest things was how many times we'd meet someone at CHA and it turned out that they have been longtime readers of the blog. Also, so many shop owners came to check out our line after being tipped off by one of our faithful readers...which just totally melts our hearts. A huge thank you to all of you who have been cheering us on from day one! We hope you love the collection as much as we loved designing and painting it!

In today's package there were lots of goodies. Above you'll see chipboard pieces, Washi Stickers, Treat bags, journaling cards, and sweet saying stickers.

And this here is a very very cute mini book kit! It comes with everything that you see here! 

I love this tiny little "Sprinkle every day with Fun" element! Look at our tiny ice cream cone! 

There are so many sweet little bits to adorn your pages! 

It is really such a fun little kit! 

And the journaling cards are so adorable! They would be perfect for project life! 

I love seeing our bunny here rendered chalkboard style.

And treat bags! Aren't they so sweet?! You get this variety of 4 in each pack! 

We are just so excited to have these in our hands. Cannot wait to start creating and crafting! 

And of course our papers! 6 Double sided sheets! We blogged all about our special design process...each pattern is hand painted by us. 

Oh and I just had to share these pics that Carolyn Peeler sent us. Carolyn, who you may know, is the Senior Creative Director at Melissa Frances, and she was just in Norway teaching at a fabulous shop called Bikuben. We blogged about meeting the sweet owners Ellen and Egil at CHA, and later had a fantastic dinner date with them. Well, they carry "The Sweet Life" at Bikuben, and Carolyn took the trip there to teach some classes that featured our line. And from what we hear, they loved working with "The Sweet Life" collection! Carolyn asked the class attendees in the pic above to hold up their favorite papers! So fun right? Seriously, we LOVE putting our work in the hands of other artists and seeing how they go off in their own creative direction. 

And we just love these samples Carolyn colored using Copic markers. Above you can see the two sides of our paper titled "Mixed Media Doodles". One side has layers of vintage baking book pages collaged with some of our abstract painting strokes. And the other is an antique-y looking coloring book style page featuring Allie & Amy! some of our roses, a cake, cupcakes, a bunting banner, scrollwork, and other things that are ready and waiting for you to work your magic on! Perfect for Art Journaling! 

We will be carrying "The Sweet Life" collection in our shop very soon! But you can always let your favorite loal shop know about it as well! Thanks bunches for popping in and for being such awesome cheerleaders! We couldn't have made this collection without you all.

xo Jenny & Aaron

Mixed Media Cute Girl Ornaments Tutorial

Hey friends! Hoping your week is off to a great start. Yesterday I did my best to keep a handful of things all going at once...orders, house stuff, and a little Springtime or anytime project. I've been in love with feather trees for as long as I can remember. Im' sure that any Folk Art collectors reading this share my love. Feather trees were created in Germany in the 1880's and were originally made with dyed goose feathers attached to wire branches. These days they are available in all different colors and sizes. There are multi-colored, Valentine trees, Easter trees, even black Halloween trees. I had a black one, which I sadly lost to hurricane Sandy, but we are keeping this a happy post! 

This tree here isn't a traditional feather tree, but for me it works just the same...it's actually made of paper! The branches are festooned with a fringe of super vintagey looking book pages. I love how sepia looking it is, and it is the perfect backdrop base for all holidays. In keeping with the Everyday is a Holiday palette, tan works as instant age, toning down candy colors. I found this tree on ebay a few months back and I was thrilled. I had seen the same one go for around a hundred dollars, which I could never ever do. I got this one for a great deal! I love this tree. And inspiration for making ornaments comes a bit easier to you when you've got a great place to hang them.

It was a grey day yesterday, and the house was really quiet, so after I checked some work off our checklist, I gathered up some supplies for the purpose of making ornaments for my Spring tree. I'm really happy with these sweet little girl ornaments. They are on egg shaped wood disks. So they can pull off an Eastery feel if paired with Springy things, and if not, they're perfect for year round display.

I gathered up some supplies without really knowing what I was going to do. Papers, paint, ink, string, and some favorite stamp sets. This part of the project is always the most fun.

One of my favorite artists is Ashley G. She is so incredibly talented! We were so happy to finally meet her in person at CHA where she debuted her line of stamps based on her original drawings. By far, our favorite thing at CHA! Above are the two sets I used for this project. You can find them in Ashley's etsy shop. 

I started out by painting the "eggs" with acrylic craft paint. 

Next, a Jenny trademark here...speckling! It's so hard for me not to speckle...it just makes everything I create feel right. To speckle these all I did was water down the left over paint on my palette, and then I dipped my brush into the color wash and tapped the front end of the brush with my finger, spattering each egg. The speckling is totally fitting being that real eggs are actually speckled.

 I really wanted these to have a very "loose" and whimsical feel. I didn't want them to be perfect...just perfectly imperfect. Of course if you are a neat freak, you could stamp your girls and color them in clean and neat with Copic markers. But what I did here is soft and casual, and I think really goes well with Ashley's loose drawings. I just traced the basic outline of each girl on white card stock and with  my finger tip or brush I blocked in the areas. I did this knowing that when finally stamped, the colors would be outside of the lines in some spots or not perfectly filling the lines in others.

You can see what I mean here, how the color just seems to almost accidentally fall into place. I stamped right over the dry paint using black StazOn ink. 

Next I speckled some red paint to take the whimsy and fun further. Anything but perfect.

I did graphics for each of the "eggs" and cut them out, then paired them with whichever egg contrasted best. 

I adhered each graphic using matte finish mod podge. I then stamped some hearts over some color that I brushed onto card stock. 

I cut out the hearts and added them to each ornament. After that I made sure to apply a topcoat of the Mod Podge to seal them and let dry. I used a blow dryer to speed things up. Next, using a brown paint that I watered down, I applied an antiquing wash. I just brushed it loosely around my girl and hearts. Then, with a piece of clean dry paper towel I blotted the wash away, just leaving a bit around the girls and hearts.

You can see how much of the wash I left here. It just adds another layer. You can also see that I added little pink cheeks to each girl. 

Next with my finger tip, I just rubbed a bit of paint in contrasting colors around the edges of each ornament. again, my whole point is to be imperfect and uneven. 

Next, I roughly cut a backing paper for each egg, and lengths of striped bakers twine. I found this adorable aqua twine in the dollar bins at Target around Christmas time.

I brushed an even coat of Mod Podge over the back, then laid the ends of the strings down, then laid the paper over, sandwiching the ends of string between the wood disk and the paper. At this point you should wait before brushing a topcoat of the Mod Podge over the paper. Give it a minute to adhere while using your fingertips to press out any air bubbles. Make sure to pay attention to the top where the string is sandwiched between. At this part press hard and make sure the string is sealed between. Then let dry. Once dry then trim the excess paper from the edges. Our trick is to sand the extra paper off with a piece of sandpaper or a sanding block...you could even use a emory board. It's super fast and easy. Now seal the back with a light even coat of mod podge and let dry.

Now to finish the ornaments, add some of your antiquing wash to the backs. Brush it on and blot it off using dry paper towel same way you did earlier. And that's it! They are ready to hang! 

This little gal kills me! She has a kitten in her pocket!

I love how "sketchy" this gal is! And her shirt is so fun! yellow with pink speckles! 

This may be my favorite. hmm

How sweet are these little friends?

This girl is so Mod looking.

And our sweet little kitty! Meow!

It was a fun little afternoon project. And there are so many possibilities! I love them for Spring, but I'm pretty sure they will be on display all year! They'd also be adorable tied to gifts. 

Hope you enjoyed this little tutorial! Now if Spring would just hurry it up and get here! Thanks for popping in!

xo Jenny...and Aaron says hi!