Good Morning Sunshine! Upcycled Mixed Media Collage

I have been swamped with my day job and my little ones so I have had ZERO time to create anything for about the past five to six months.  A sweet co-worker of my totally deserved a special piece of art to show her how much I appreciate her efforts with coordinating various aspects of my business.  I am a total thrifter so I have taken a new approach to my art which I am super excited about.  It's really fun to see how my work has evolved over time.  Upcycling precious vintage treasures is such a fun and environmentally responsible way to create!  I started with a vintage metal ivy tray to use as the foundation.  The silver portion of the flowers are mini vintage tart molds.  The cardboard letters are from two 1950's Scrabble games.  Aren't they just such colorful and darling little tiles? I am thrilled with the way this one turned out and she was too!

My first Sister/Brother custom canvas!

I was hired to create a special Sister/Brother canvas for someone.  Her daughter is five and her son is two and she gave me this quote to use.  A lot of the little details I added were things that she shared about their likes, nicknames etc.  It was really fun to do something new but the boy hair was definitely challenging for me.  I do this as a hobby and I don't consider myself a professional artist.  I have never taken a class (maybe I should!) but she was beyond thrilled with the final product!!

Self-acceptance frees you from being a beautiful flower stuck amongst the weeds

Wow, this quote is so amazingly powerful and it is one you can really stop and think a lot about. I have so many favorite quotes that it's so tough to decide which ones to use each time I create a new canvas.  I tried a different font, and it's honestly not my favorite for this canvas but I love how the flowers turned out.

Sunshine!

I wanted to do something with this cute piece of wood that I have had lying around.  I have been taking all of the pictures of my art with my iphone so the quality isn't that great.  It's so much more vibrant in person and I just LOVE it. I brought it to my office and hung it next to my desk.  It definitley brightens up the space and is a great reminder to have close by.

Summer Swim Team!

My two girls' summer swim team season just wrapped up and I wanted to create a fun canvas for their head swim team coach.  We have a community pool in our neighborhood so the head coach is also a neighbor. She is so amazing and spoken words wouldn't have been able to express my gratitude for all she has done.  I was really excited once I put the finishing touches on this canvas and couldn't wait to give it to her.  Our team name is the "Monarchs" which is why I made sure to include some butterflies.  My girls and I gave it to her after the awards banquet and she seemed to really like it.

Happiness comes from within

I wanted to branch out and create some new flowers and am excited with the way this turned out!

A collage inspired by Emily Dickinson