Pendants For Kathryn

I have finished the miniatures for kathryn's order. These were so much fun, I really had a blast painting them.

My favorites by far, are the butterflies. I took so many great photos of butterflies this summer, I really wanted to put them to good use and paint some on a few pendants.

It has kind of inspired me to do a whole series of butterfly miniatures now.

Kathryn's favorite themes were Hydrangeas and Roses so I did a lot whith those 2 kinds of flowers. I also tried to vary designs a bit to keep them interesting for both her and me.

I'm really looking forward to starting on the Emu Egg brides' box and should be getting that going later on in the week. I will post pictures of the naked egg before I start painting it so you can see what I'll be working with. I'm so into the idea of painting jewelry boxes now that I think I will get some more of these going and add a new section on my ETSY site, just for jewelry boxes.

Orchids In Bloom & New Miniatures

I wanted to post some photos of two of my Phaleanopsis Orchids that are currently in bloom.

This one is such a beauty, it sits on the side of my house, just inside one of my sunroom windows. "Kaleidoscope" has been blooming for 2 months now.

Since my move is next week, I haven't had any time to really paint anything at all, including orders. I've been spending my time moving my garden up the street and then most recently, trying to get the inside of our new house painted before any furniture gets there. I did make some time for some recreation painting for myself and painted 2 new miniatures. Well, I was at the garden center again a couple of weeks back and saw a table full of African Violets. I've decided to buy some to go on my diningroom windowsill. Seeing them at the garden center inspired me to paint the African Violet pin above. As always, the background is done in watercolor and the African Violets are painted in acrylic.

With this little pin I tried something different, I created the background using a thicker application of watercolor. I attached little porcelain roses and pearls . I had thought about painting a design around the edges but I felt it stood on its own without that. Both are available on my ETSY site.... http://www.eleganteggart.etsy.com/

This beautiful Phaleanopsis sits on my work desk and has also been in bloom for 2 months now. Pretty soon the last flower will be falling off.

Flower Carpet Roses & Dragonfly Egg

Something that just started blooming in my garden are my Flower Carpet Roses. I love, love, love these roses as they are so prolific with blooms all spring, summer and fall but they are also the most disease resistant roses I've ever come across. These particular blooms are salmon colored and I also have pink and red in the garden as well. They are the most beautiful, no fuss roses I've ever come across.

Well, my poor little Dragonfly Egg is no more.......a couple weeks ago, I was packing up my china cabinet for our move up the street. We're having movers but hey, I figured I would treat my china and precious items with a lot more care then they would right?? Well, it didn't really work out that way....this little guy came crashing down on my hardwood floor and smashed in a lot of pieces. Had there been carpeting, the little egg would have been fine but it just couldn't take hitting the hardwood floor like that, from so high up.

I had it listed on ETSY for all of a couple of days, until I broke it and had to take it down. I thought atleast it could appear on my blog and get its day in the sun, since that is the only glory this little egg will receive at this point.

Back To The Garden Center & Painting A Hummingbird

Today I went back to the nursery I love to shop at, actually, I visited 2 garden centers that I love. Chris and I made an afternoon of it, he went with me and we had lunch, dessert and yes, my extra hot vanilla chai latte with spices as well. Then we went shopping for some more flowers for my summer pots.

I bought some more Geraniums as well as Potato Vines to put in my hanging and large standing pots. I think the Potato Vines I bought last time, that I've already potted, have been growing longer and longer. They look very pretty potted with the Geraniums. I also bought Dahlias this year and I'm very excited about adding those to my potted collection. After talking last year with a lady up the street who loves her Dahlias, I decided to get some for myself. It was a tough decision let me tell you because there was a whole huge greenhouse filled with nothing but all different color and varieties of Dahlias. In the end, I settled on 3 I really liked, a red, a pink and a pinky/peach with yellow. They were all so beautiful, it was hard to decide.

Well, aside from buying plants, I have been painting as well. I painted the above miniature the other day after I saw a hummingbird right outside my kitchen window, he was flying around by my hanging Geranium pots. I was so inspired by this little guy, I got busy painting right away and the above is my own version. Now that planting season is here, I'll be mixing art and flowers a lot more in my posts. They are both interconnected for me anyway so I'll be able to show a lot of inspiration pieces.

The Dahlia is a flower that I haven't painted yet so, I hope to take care of that this summer by creating my first watercolor Dahlias.

A New Addiction

I've discovered a variation on a favorite surface of mine. I love painting decorative eggs and now I've discovered eggshell jewelry. I cannot tell you how much fun these were to paint. These pins are all handpainted onto goose eggshells. There is a pin attached to the back of each shell so it can be worn that way as a pin or could fit onto a chain or ribbon and be worn as a necklace. The above design is called - Ladybug - no surprise there.

These are called - Pink Roses - I look at each eggshell in size and shape and decide what the subject matter should be. I've done the backgrounds on all these eggs in watercolor, sometimes mixing several colors to get it just right.

Once the watercolor paint is dry, which is pretty quick, I then sketch out my design right onto the eggshell. Purple Hydrangeas above, as well as all the other pins have the main subject painted in acrylics, right on top of the watercolor background.

Once I'm done with the design, my husband Chris sprays them with a protective coating so the design is sealed onto the eggshell pin. It is the same finish he puts on mailboxes so it is extremely durable. The above is - Pink Tulips.

I painted my Dragonfly design on a burnt sienna background. I can do a little bit of erasing if I mess up my drawing , although it does sometimes take some of the watercolor paint off. I can go back easily though and do a quick fix. Some of the designs I thought needed a little something so I added Swarovski crystals to certain ones.

The Ladybug & Hydrangea pin was one of the first that I painted, I think I was hooked after that. It's actually quite different then painting on a whole egg, more difficult because you have a lot less space to work on, you cannot wrap the design around, all you have is a slice of the shell to work with. I actually went out and bought 4 new paint brushes just to do these because I didn't have small enough brushes already at home. I would not have been able to paint these without those tiny brushes.

Well, these are my first 6 and I'm now finished with number 10. I just haven't photographed them yet so, the above is all there is to show for now. I'll be adding the rest soon though....

I have them for sale on my etsy site: http://www.eleganteggart.etsy.com/