If you read my August newsletter (which went out yesterday), you'll know that I'm a bit behind on everything as of late. 

Thus, it will come as no surprise that I've been making my way through my list of commissions pretty s l o w l y this summer, tackling them as best I can and getting them done just in the nick of time (always on time, of course, but not nearly as early as I'd like). 

The pieces shown here today have all been gifted already--which is typically what keeps me from sharing right when I finish a project--so I've included each piece with a little description about who/what it was for below...

Painting above: A gift for my dear friend Jessica and her baby, Samuel, who I visited last week. Their nursery is decorated in yellow, grey, and white, and their bedding is below (which I tried to match without being *too* matchy-matchy). Fun, right? 

Drawing below: This was a special birthday gift commissioned from one friend to another--the commissioner had me do this family "sketch" and then framed it for her friend. It was really fun working from photographs of everyone (including the dog!) to capture this family's essence in simple black + white lines. 

Painting below: Another gift from one friend to another, this painting was a birthday + anniversary gift and is a painting of the family's dog, Koli, who passed away earlier this summer. He is such an adorable dog and I was honored to have the chance to memorialize him in this way. 

I received a note from the commissioner after the above painting was gifted and she said that when the giftee's daughter saw the painting, she gasped and said, "That's our favorite dog Koli!" Totally warms my heart.

And that's it for today! Gotta keep plugging along...

{Also, FYI, there's currently at least a 2.5 - 3 month turnaround time on custom orders--depending on the scope of the project, of course--so if you're interested in commissioning something, please be sure to keep that in mind and order early! Rates + details can be found here.}

Have a wonderfully creative day, everyone!

I've gotten a bit behind on my commissions lately. Why? I was pretty focused on painting buoys for The Little Beach Gallery, my consulting workload has picked up quite a bit over the past few months, and well, Costa Rica. Not complaining, just needing to get back on the wagon and finish up the projects that are due this summer (STAT!).

That being said, here are three quick recent commissions and the story behind them...

ABOVE: A couple commissioned this watercolor sketch of their dog Franny for their wedding table numbers/centerpieces. They got a double-sided frame and each table had this image of Franny on one side and a table number on the other. So sweet, huh? If Ben and I were to get married now instead of pre-Sayde, you better believe that she would play a HUGE role in all of our wedding decor--so I totally love it and get it ;) 

BELOW: A gift from a daughter to her parents in celebration of their 60th birthdays. This painting includes an aerial shot of their favorite local pond (a beach-like pond here on Cape Cod), and two smaller images of their beach chairs sitting on the beach + a view of the pond. This pond is a very special place to them, and the painting was a total surprise. I hear they were thrilled!

BELOW: A wedding logo commissioned by a newly-engaged couple to be used in their save-the-dates + more. Obviously, we did two versions--one of just the couple, and one of the couple and their dog, Moe. Can't wait to see how they use this sketch in all of their wedding decor and materials! The bride-to-be said that this logo is the first thing that her fiance has been excited about in the wedding planning process ;) 

Fun fun fun!  Now back to work...the week after a retreat/vacay is rough, ya'll. For realz. 

[But totally worth every minute of being away!]

Last year around this time, I delivered a big batch of beach + buoy-inspired paintings to The Little Beach Gallery, a fabulous gallery here on the Cape that shows some of my work (You met the owner, remember?). 

This year, although I wasn't able to deliver the same number of paintings (And have actually been wondering how I found the time to paint SO many last year?), I was able to make another drop-off last week. 

Here are the pieces that were included in that drop-off:

This last one is hard to capture via photograph, simply because it's SO long and appears super tiny on the screen, but it's a wide piece of weathered wood with--you guessed it--colorful buoys painted on it! Click on the image below to enlarge it a bit:

So, there you go--just a few of the paintings that I've been working on over the past couple of months. 

Happy *almost* summer, everyone! Hope your day is as colorful + bright as a freshly-painted buoy ;) 

{Oh, and if my beach and buoy paintings are right up your alley but you're not able to spring for an original right now, I have some prints of previous pieces available in my Etsy shop.}

I've finally painted a few bouquets and I have to tell you, they're so much fun!

I want to go crazy painting flowers and try all different mediums and colors and techniques and bouquets, but alas, life, holiday commissions, and other work (which I love, don't get me wrong!), is calling, so I may not be pumping them out over the next couple of months as much as I'd like...

In the meantime, however, here are a few recent, playful acrylic paintings of floral bouquets. All are available in my Etsy shop ;) 

Above: Soft Pastel Bouquet, 8" x 8," Acrylic on Mounted Hardboard (1.5" profile--ready to hang). $125. Available here. 

Above: Lilies + Yellow Striped Wall (2), 6" x 6," Acrylic on Mounted Hardboard (2" profile--ready to hang). $98. Available here. 

Hope there's more where these came from soon! 

I hadn't realized it until I started putting this post together, but all of my recent commissions have been given as gifts from one family member to another. 

Isn't that sweet? I think so. I wish one of my brothers would give me a custom painting... (Ha! And hint...hint...and maybe someday? Pretty please?)

That being said, this blog post obviously has two purposes: 

• To share some of my fun recent commissions with you
• To share a friendly reminder that if you want to order a custom painting for the holidays--and ensure that it's finished and in your hands before December 20th--you should try and get your order in to yours truly by this Saturday, November 1st. I'll still be taking orders after this time, I just can't guarantee that you'll have it by December 20th (the scope of the project/painting will likely dictate the timeline). You can read ALL about my holiday painting packages here. 

So, here are some of the recent commissions that I've finished--the ones that have already been gifted to their giftees (!): 

1. The above painting (of two dogs in tees, which is a look that I love) is a gift from a recent bride to her sister. Her sister, who was her Maid of Honor in her October 24th wedding, is pregnant with her first baby. This is a painting of her two dogs (aka her first two children) getting excited about their new family member ;) 

2. Both of the below paintings are gifts from a big sister to her younger siblings, as a thank you for being the Flower Girl and Ring Bearer in her wedding last year (she was a little belated in thanking them, but they understand because they're really young). Each painting is made up of things that the little brother/sister loves, and includes a special note from their big sis. So sweet. 

3. The painting below was a house-warming gift from a mother to her son + daughter-in-law (also my good friend, Sara). This is the fam standing in front of their new house in Washington, DC:

There's just nothing like family love, is there? So many thoughtful people in the world ;) 

Learn more about my holiday commissions here. 

[I know, I'm sorry for bringing up the holidays before Halloween. I really, really, REALLY am. But someone had to do it, right!?]

Those of you who attended Love Yoga Fest have already seen these greeting cards, but for the rest of you, ta da!  My new[ish] greeting cards are finally available in my Etsy shop.

All of these cards are reproductions of past originals that I have done in either watercolor (yoga illustrations) or acrylic (beach paintings). All yoga pose cards are 5" x 7" and the beach-inspired cards are 4" x 6." 

You can pick up some of the beach-inspired cards at The Little Beach Gallery here on the Cape, and the yoga-inspired cards will be available at the Tranquil Space Boutiques starting next week. 

If nothing else, they're fun to look at, right?

You can purchase 8-packs of the yoga pose greeting cards for $25 (comes with 2 of each design), 9-packs of the beach-inspired greeting cards for $25 (comes with 3 of each design), or individual cards for $4.50 (5" x 7") or $4 (4" x 6"). 

Enjoy your day, bloggies!

It's that time of year again...I'm cleaning out my studio and I need your help! 

How can you help? By taking some of my older paintings off of my hands at a very discounted rate ;)

In order to make things super easy to move out, I've created a separate Labor Day Art Sale page on my painting site, where I've listed all 20 sale items at their discounted prices. 

Here are the details: 

• All paintings listed in on this page are original works of art, created by yours truly, that have been heavily discounted from their original prices simply because I've had them for too long and need to create some space in my studio.  
• All prices listed INCLUDE shipping (and for items priced at over $75, include shipping insurance). 
• Where listed, pricing includes a frame + backing OR just backing (which means it may not be framed, but is ready to hang on the wall!). 
• The sale will take place from today (Monday, September 1st) through Sunday, September 7th, 
  

You can check out all of the pieces here, and if you have any questions about the items for sale contact me. 

Happy Labor Day, everyone!

PS. My September Newsletter goes out tomorrow morning! Not signed up to receive it yet?  You can do so below: 

As usual, this summer has been a summer o' wedding commissions. It's funny, as my custom painting/custom item business has grown, I've realized that it comes in two basic seasons: holiday gift season and wedding gift season.

I've also found that people seem to have no problem spending money on art for others (so sweet!)--especially when it comes to gifts for big events like a new baby, wedding, or holiday--but that they seem to have a much harder time justifying spending money on art for their own home. 

But you know what, you guys? You deserve art! Buy yourself that piece of art that you love and don't feel guilty about it. Commission a painting by a favorite artist or buy a print that goes perfectly in your living room and will make you happy every time you look at it, and you won't regret it. At least that's been my experience when buying art for myself ;)

Anyways, I've gotten off track, because today is all about sharing a few of the fun wedding-related commissions that I've done this summer. I can't share everything now, as there are still a few pieces that have yet to be gifted, but here's a small snapshot of what I've been working on over the past few months...

Above: A cake topper inspired by the couples' dog and cat. They sent me pics, I found figurines that looked like their pets, and then I painted the figurines' fur to match the coloring of their pets' coats. Simple and straightforward ;)
{Get your own in my Etsy shop.}

Below: A wedding gift from a sister to her brother and his wife--a painting of the church where they got married. 

Below: My second Dia de Los Muertos-inspired cake topper, customized for the bride + groom who purchased it! I used cloth from the bride's actual dress to make the skelington bride's dress (and made the dress in a similar style as the real dress), personalized the groom's clothing, and matched the colors to their wedding colors. {Get your own in my Etsy shop.}

Below: Sadly, the images of the next commission didn't turn out so well (I hate when I do that!), so you'll have to just picture the final product through two different pics--the first, details of each of the dresses (the bride's dress and a bridesmaid's dress), and the second, a zoomed-out version of the final painting, framed (with a slight reflection of me in the glass...whoops!).

The story behind this painting? It was the gift from a BFF (also a bridesmaid) to the bride, and it was a total surprise. Such a good friend!

Below: Lastly, we have a simple "Wedding Logo Sketch" that was commissioned by a couple who wanted to use these images as a part of their wedding materials. I love it that they had me include their three dogs! I gave them a version with the whole fam included, and then one version with just them and one version of just the pups ;) 

I love weddings! I love commissions! What a wonderful summer of painting it's been. I'll share the rest of my summer commissions as we move into fall and all of the surprise gifts have been given...

You can learn more about commissioning a painting here. 

I couldn't write about Love Yoga Fest yesterday because I was so tired from the weekend that I honestly couldn't form cohesive thoughts around it. I'm still recovering, but my mind has settled a bit, I've unpacked all of my supplies (holy materials), and I've now had a bit of time to reflect...

What was Love Yoga Fest? Cape Cod's first yoga festival, put on by four fabulous yogis in the community and filled with yogis from all over New England (I even talked to someone who came down from Montreal!). There were classes taught by teachers from the Cape, Boston, + beyond, a bunch of fabulous local + handmade vendors, and a performance by MC Yogi + DJ Drez (amazing). 

I had a booth at the festival all weekend (see above) and taught a community class on Sunday. Ommmmmmm.

It was incredible to see the Cape Cod yoga community come together in this way, and I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude for the fact that I am now a part of this vibrant community, even if I am still a "newbie" in many ways. I feel like it's a sign that the year that I move here, Cape Cod has it's first yoga festival. Don't you think? 

As for my booth, it was really fun showing my art in this new environment and creating a little pop-up shop for the weekend, but I have to say, I now know that I am not cut out for the craft show/festival life. I could never do this every weekend, as many artists do! It was exhausting setting-up, breaking-down, and manning the booth all weekend, and although I was happy to be there, I had a hard time not being able to run around in the grass, take all of the classes I wanted to take (there were so many amazing ones), and come and go as I pleased. 

The other hilarious thing? Ben was my coverage for when I had to teach and when I took class, and if there's someone who is REALLY not cut out for this kind of thing, it's my husband. You guys, he was spazzing out! Before I left him, we had to practice how to talk to people when they came into the booth (a hilarious role play, obvs), and when I got back to relieve him, he was so happy to see me that I thought he'd cry. 

So maybe we're not the best booth couple? But luckily, we still had fun ;) 

Here are a handful of snapshots that capture a few of the scenes from the festival...

Similarly, in preparation for the event, I made a few new paintings and loads of new greeting cards. Here are three of the paintings (which can be purchased in my Etsy shop): 

Above: Beach + Buoys #2,  8" x 8." Original available here. Print available here. 

I'll share my new greeting cards with you next week...

A big thanks to everyone who stopped by my booth, purchased one of my paintings/cards, signed up for my newsletter, and came to my class! It was quite the weekend ;)

See you next year, LYF!

Over the weekend, I delivered a second batch of Cape Cod-inspired paintings to The Little Beach Gallery. And wouldn't you know it, surprise, surprise, I've started painting the beach!

It's funny--when I moved here I thought to myself, "I'm not going to become an artist who paints the beach, because it's so cliche to do that when you live near the beach..."  But here I am, 9 months later, and I can't hold it in any longer--I must paint the beach! It's just too pretty not to paint!

Thus, this small collection of paintings (and there are more on the way!)...

All of the above paintings are now available at The Little Beach Gallery here on the Cape (except the two that sold, obvs). 

For those who don't live on the Cape, good news! You can now buy select prints from both my Buoy collection and the above Beach collection in my Etsy shop. Check it out here (lots more new items coming soon!)...

Oh buoy! I'm so excited to share my newest paintings with you! They're all Cape Cod inspired, and more specifically, are inspired by all of the lobster buoys that I've seen since living here (they're everywhere). 

I'm not sure why, but over the past 6 months I started becoming really enamored with these buoys--and with the colors, the stripes, the various shapes, and the fact that these objects, objects that were previously foreign to me, are simply a part of the landscape here on the Cape. So, I decided to do a little series focused on these oh-so-very New England objects. 

All of these paintings are now available at The Little Beach Gallery in Hyannis (remember my Q&A with the owner of this gallery?), and you can take a look at them below...

All of the paintings were done using acrylic on hardboard, and for the most part, are mixed media, as well. 

Oh, and remember when I mentioned lugging a piece of driftwood home from a walk on the beach? Well, I finally used the prized piece of wood for something--this mini buoy sculpture (see below)! I thought it would be a fun companion piece to the paintings ;) The buoys are made out of clay and acrylic. 

Here are a few shots of the paintings hanging in the gallery: 

Pretty playful, right? I hope you like them! I had SO much fun working on these whimsical little pieces. 

Although I haven't talked about it much recently, I've been busy painting away over the past couple of months. I've been working on a few fun commissions, making some work to show in a local gallery (yay!), and experimenting with some stuff of my own, and am excited to share three recent commissions with you today. 

The first two--the painting above and the painting below, were commissioned by a third-time commissioner (so sweet!) who wanted to commemorate her recent trip to Angkor Wat with her BFF.  

I painted these little paintings for her, and then mounted prints of each of the paintings so that she could give them to her friend as a gift. Genius way to make a custom painting go further (and share the love!), isn't it? 

Up next, a graduation gift for my brother's girlfriend, commissioned by her parents. They wanted to give her something that would remind her of her time in school, so they came up with a way to capture some of her experiences/favorite things without being too literal. 

A few snapshots of the painting process and then a pic of the final product are below: 

Oh, painting, how I love you so. 

Also, I wanted to extend a BIG thank you to all of my fabulous readers who continue to think of me for all of your custom painting needs ;) It's a pleasure bringing your visions to life!

[Interested in commissioning a painting? Learn more about the process here.]

Happy Monday, everyone!

It's that time again...today we're breaking down the stages of a recent painting commission! You can view the final version of the painting above, and the various stages of the creation process below. 

The basics: the commissioners came to me (back in January) requesting a painting of radishes for their kitchen. Their nickname for their daughter is radish, so it's very sweet and meaningful. They sent me just a few requests--they needed a specific size painting to cover up their circuit breaker box (genius!), they had an inspiration image that got them thinking about a radish painting, and they knew some of the colors that they wanted included in the painting, so that it would go with the rest of their kitchen and the other art in the room. But otherwise, I was free to play! 

From there, we worked together to come up with a composition that they liked. I sent them some watercolor sketches and questions, and they responded, choosing composition #2 (you can see the options below). From there, I went for it! I sent pics along the way, and played with it until we were all happy. 

You can see that I reworked the background quite a bit,  going through a couple of changes before deciding on a final look...

There you have it! Weeks of work simplified into 10 basic images ;) Luckily it's the creation process that makes this whole thing so enjoyable (and addictive!). 

Thanks to the commissioners for asking me to bring their radish concept to life! It was SO much fun. 

Will you look at this dog?!  Freaking adorable. This is Amos, one of my more recent painting commissions, and one of the many dog commissions that I've worked on over the past couple of months (I partially credit all of these dog commissions for my yearning to adopt Sayde in December!).

Amos' mom is one of my former yoga students, and it's funny, because about a year ago we had a conversation about how badly we both wanted dogs. We got married around the same time, and shortly thereafter were talking about how we both had the "adopt a pup" itch, but couldn't do it quite yet due to our life circumstances.

So, how wonderful is it that we both have dogs now!? I was beyond honored when she asked me to paint her sweet boy over the holidays, and had so much fun capturing his playful spirit. 

Therefore, I bring you today's post--breaking down the Amos painting process. 

I think this is an interesting one to share, because you'll see how the painting started off looking quite goofy/off, and over time, transformed into a more realistic portrait. 

You'll also see that in order to shake the "off" feeling of the painting, I realized near the end that I needed to paint over the right eye and re-do it. Ugh. I didn't want to, but I did. And this is why painting is such a good lesson in non-attachment...

And that, my friends, is a glimpse into the painting process. 

Every once in a while, you have a wonky eye that throws you off, but as long as you're okay with painting over your mistakes and trying again, it all works out...

You know those things on your to-do list that aren't a "must," but are more like a "I really should do this/I really want to do this"? Those things that remain on your to-do list week after week, as you move them from one piece of paper to the next? You want to get to them *SO* badly, but you can never seem to find the time...

Well, that's what updating my painting website had become. A to-do list constant. I think it had been written on my daily/weekly lists since about September. Seriously. And I know, that's ridiculous. But (BUT!), this past Friday afternoon I finally got the MUST DO THIS NOW bug. So I sat down, and started revamping my website. OMG.  

At 7:30 Ben came home with dinner, and I finally pried myself away (Nooo! Must keep working!) to eat and enjoy an evening in with my hubby and pup. 

Oh, but the relief of having finally tackled this beast! And now, my painting site has been updated! Thank the lawd. There is just something so invigorating about doing that thing that has been on your mind for months. Even if it only really matters to you (which is definitely the case in this instance). 

But anyhoopers, this post was actually meant to be a short one, in which we chat about the two little paintings above--both done recently and and made with lots of love. 

Here are the stories behind them:

• Wedding Dress: How gorgeous is this silvery-hued Jenny Packham wedding dress? The painting was commissioned by a groom's mother and is a painting of his bride's (her new daughter-in-law's) wedding dress. The commissioner and the bride picked it out together on a girl's weekend trip to NYC, so it holds a very special place in her heart. She's hanging the painting in her guest bedroom as a surprise for her son + daughter-in-law, so that they'll find it in "their" room the next time that they come to visit. How sweet is that? 

So there you have it--two simple watercolors with a bit of purpose behind them. I love how even a very basic, sweet little painting can mean so much to the recipient.

Oh, and btw, I can't tell you how good it felt to make this week's to-do list this morning, and NOT include "revamp painting website" at the bottom. 

What longstanding/repeating item can you mark off of your to-do list this week? I encourage you to think about it and then get 'er done, because it feels OH, so good to do so...