AUNT.ART.ica

John and I are now an uncle and aunt to a precious little boy, Austin.  He was born on September 6th, weighing 8lb 9oz.  We can't wait to meet and hold our new nephew.  He is so precious, and we're so happy for his wonderful parents, Trevor and Jordan.  Congratulations!  We love him so much!

And I couldn't stand for his walls to go bare!  I begged Austin's parents to let me paint some art for his room, and they let me!  Jordan and Trevor chose not to find out the sex (which is the way to go in my opinion:) and therefore had to choose a more neutral bedding.  They went with the Ben collection from Serena and Lily.  Here are some swatches:

I'm a sucker for seersucker, so this fabric won me over from the start.  The blues and oranges were great colors to work with, and especially meaningful to Austin's UNC and Princeton alum parents:)  I'm pretty sure Austin will have the cutest nursery in all of NYC.  Here's his art from his auntie...

a 10x30" name canvas

a series of 16x20s with the animals from his bedding....(and of course some polka dots on the border)

all together now....

a close up of the stripes:)

Welcome to the world, Austin!  You are such a little stud.  Your cousins can't wait to meet you and play with you.  We love you!

For the Love of Bluffton

Below is a little artistic shout out to Bluffton, my current favorite town.  My town.  I heart this place.  Sure I join in the grumblings  about the lack of Krispy Kreme and other things we all miss from home, but in 6 short years, this place has won me over.  There's only one place you can find Cahill's Market, Gigi's Boutique, and the craziest Christmas Parade this side of the Mississippi.  Welcome to Bluffton.

When I moved here 6 years ago, I quickly went under the rapid fire lesson of SC rights and wrongs....

When you live in SC, you...

-Pull for a team that wears garnet and black or orange and purple.  Even if you really don't care, you have to lie and say you do.  Usually you choose the team that the majority of your present company pulls for and go with that one. (I would never do that.)
-Realize that the state flag is best thing going.  It's on everything!  Keychains, license plates, Tervis tumbler inserts, and even bodies!
-Learn that the state tree is NOT a palm tree, but a palmetto tree.  I made this mistake.  Once.  Never again.

So, this painting has a palmetto tree on it.  NOT a palm tree.  It's a 20" square.  Light teal background with a pluff mud brown border.  Packaged and ready to go.

I want a pony.

Here were my instructions....Ballet.  Horses.  Pink.  Brown.  Erin.  Wait....ballet AND horses?  I immediately felt intimidated by this 11 year old girl.  She's already 100% more well rounded than I am.  And she's 11!!!!   I'm 28 and afraid of riding a horse.  I've only ridden once.  My horse's name was Jazz. I should have known better.  Jazz rhymes with Spaz.  

Here's the finished product...The "Erin"!

The coolest thing about this painting is that Erin's Dad ordered it for her.  I thought it was sweet.  

Erin, you have cool hobbies.  You're like a jock(ey) and a ballerina all in one.  You have a cool dad, a cool piece of art on your wall now....  And a really cool name.  :)  Enjoy!

Happy Labor Day!

In honor of Labor Day, I thought it best to give a shout out to those who labor the hardest:  TEACHERS!  Thank you, teachers, for all that you do for our children.  You're under appreciated, under paid, and under thanked:)  It's time to change that!  So...appreciate your child's teachers, pay them in cute canvases and thank them once in a while!  (or all the time)

Wait.  What's that about paying teachers in cute canvases?  Oh....here's one:

That's right.  Cute hand painted canvases have replaced the apple as teacher's favorite gifts!  You didn't know???  Well, it's not too late to jump on the bandwagon.  Go appreciate your child's teacher today with one of these!  It's the beginning of the year and therefore a great time to brown nose and earn those straight As!  :)

Thank you, Teachers, for all you do!  You're the best!  Except for you, 6th grade social studies teacher of mine.  You were the worst.  Your sign would read "Beware of Mrs. _____".  I can paint those, too:)

Happy Labor Day!!!!

Stone

Baby Stone is only a week old. I got to meet him today in the Preschool drop off line. His big sister and my Jack are in the same class together. He's chubby and cute and oh so sweet. It was so fun doing this painting for baby Stone.

Reason #1: It reminded me of what a small town we live in. Their neighbor purchased this painting for Stone. We all know each other from different areas of Bluffton. I saw Stone's Mommy and her very pregnant self in the drop off line all the while knowing that I was painting something for her baby when I would go home that day:)

Reason #2: These bubbles, the colors and the octopus! Okay, so that's 3 reasons in 1, but you get the idea. I usually allow 2-3 weeks to paint once I get all of the info from a purchaser, but this one flew by because it was so much fun to create! My parameters were mint green, baby blue and ocean theme.

Welcome to the world, Stone! I get to see your chubby little cheeks every Tuesday and Thursday! :)