Romantic Country Magazine.....

I was proud to find out a few weeks ago that my "Sweet Spring Bluebirds" emu egg jewelry box would be appearing in the favorite finds section of "Romantic Country" magazine, summer 2009 edition. I'm excited to say the magazine just came out and I was able to pick up a couple of copies at a nearby bookstore.

You can click on the photos to read the caption and view larger images.

It was very exciting to send my egg away in the mail to be professionally photographed for the pages of this beautiful magazine. Thanks go out to Fifi, the Editor In Chief of Romantic Country, who was so sweet to work with and did such a beautiful job on the photos.

Next time I'll try to post about what has been going on in my painting studio these days... I hope everyone is enjoying some wonderful June weather.

A Sampling Of Projects

I seem to be going in so many different directions these days.....I've been trying to finish up some things and start up others. For instance, I got this tin out weeks ago, applied gesso and then stuck it under a pile of papers and photos in my studio. I had put it aside to work on my Chickadee & Petunias Faux Window. Now that the window is finished, the tin made its way back out of the mess it was under to start being worked on.

I had to start by deciding on a design that I wanted to paint on the tin. You will be able to see the design a bit better in the below photos but the one above shows how I approach the creation of the sketch itself. It is easier and more functional for me, when painting on a tin like this, to draw the design on tracing paper first. I've actually used two pieces...one with the actual design and one with the shape of the ceiling tin outlined on it. This allows me to move the sketch around the tin shape in an attempt to dertermine the best placement. It basically lets me play around all I want without committing to a final position for the design until I'm ready.

Here you can see the outline of the tin and the basic sketch. A birdhouse and a little chickadee. The birdhouse is resting on some Lilac branches.

This photo shows the very beginning stages of painting. My birdhouse and chickadee have been positioned just the way I want them....transferred onto the tin and I've started painting the background at this point. I'll be showing the progress of this tin as I go alone.

Now on to something totally different...... I don't do mailboxes on a regular basis anymore but I was recently contacted by a long time customer of mine who wanted a very special mailbox for his mother for Christmas. He sent me a photo of an Easter cross and asked me to create my own version for this mailbox. Above and below show the finished design on both sides.

Last but not least, I started to think about what I wanted to do with this egg over a year ago. Nothing was really grabbing me and so, I put it in a box and forgot about it. Just this week I was saying to myself...."what did I do with that egg?" The time has come for this Emu egg to be painted and I know just what I will do on it. I will show the finished piece in a few weeks. It seems like there are so many projects these days......and so little time.

Sweet Spring Bluebirds Emu Egg Jewelry Box

My first of the 2 jewelry boxes with the curved vertical cut is finished. Emu eggs are big and sturdy and measure about 5 1/2" tall (7" with the stand) and 10 1/2" at the fattest circumference.

So as you might know by now if you've been reading my blog, I start with the egg with its original color, which is a dark and may I say luscious green/black. The surface of the egg itself is very textured and can be fun, if not challenging to work on. I basecoated the egg a pale blue and white and then sketched on my design.

I like to create the design on these particular pieces so that it flows well around all the sides of the egg. I like to have visual interest that is well proportioned and try to carry the design to both halves of the egg. I decided to paint some sweet spring bluebirds, a mother and a baby actually, perched on winding vines.

This is a close-up of the smaller, baby bird. The vines are full of little purple flowers and crystals in different sizes and different colors for lots of sparkle.

This is a view of the back of the egg and as you can see, I've carried the design all the way around and also, when I basecoated the egg, I painted the hinges the same color as the background.

The top is open here, with the inside lining showing.

Last but not least, don't forget where it all stated, the two eggs that I received in the mail are below. This is what the egg originally looked like before I started working. I've got some ideas for the second one, we'll see what I end up doing with it. The bluebird egg is available at my ETSY shop: http://www.eleganteggart.etsy.com/ .

Special Delivery

I was thrilled when I went to the front door to get the mail today, to find the new Emu eggs that I had ordered. I fell in love with the vertical curved cut and just had to have them. They will be jewelry boxes when I'm finished, lined with fabric and fully painted. I'm not sure yet what I'll paint on them but I will think of something good. These are the before photos and in the next weeks, I'll hopefully have finished one of them and will be listing an after photo.

Emu Egg Butterfly Jewelry Box

I really ran a muck since my last post, I finished another jewelry box. This one I will be listing in my ETSY shop.

The star of this box is a butterfly that is perched on top of some burgandy, pink and yellow flowers.

This box opens to reveal a fabric lining, just as the brides box did. Rather then a curved horizontal cut, this one has a beautifully done straight cut. I have to thank Corinne for the beauty of these cuts because if she didn't do such a wonderful job with that part of it, it wouldn't look good no matter what subject matter was painted on it. Here you can see a close up of the hinge area.

I painted the whole box light pink, green & white, then built my design from there. The funny part way, I meant to leave it like the brides box that I painted, with the bottom half of the egg left its natural color. This however is where your best planned ideas go wrong. I was a bit sloppy with applying color to the top of the box, I really ended up having quite a bit of paint on the bottom half. I thought, hey no problem, I'll just wash it off and clean the bottom half up. Well, what a surprise, water, baby wipes, alcohol not even Goo Gone (which gets everything off any surface by the way) would work on this box. Turns out the shell is that heavily textured that, once you get too much paint on it, forget it, it's not coming off. This is where you have to be flexible in art and go with the flow. So, I decided that the whole box should be painted that base color, and so it was.

I also carried the design from the top half, to below the opening of the box on the bottom half. I really feel the design flows a lot better that way rather then forcing it to stay in one area. I really struggled with this box too....who knows why but it took me forever to get drawn out just the way I wanted it to be. Once it was though, I was able to dive right in and paint. From there on in it went pretty fast.

**I've decided that around mid month, each month, I'm going to be doing an "In The Spotlight" post on my blog. Here I will be featuring an artist whose work I love and greatly admire. I've got a long list of all different kinds of artists and craftspeople I plan on asking so I hope it will be a very varied display of work. I'll be posting my first artist next week so stay tuned. I hope you will all enjoy discovering some new and beautiful art work.

Emu Egg Bride's Box

My Emu egg bride's box is now finished and ready to ship out. I'll try to take you through the process of how I decided on the box design. Kathryn and I had originally discussed doing a silhouette of a bride in a garden. When I actually received the blank egg in the mail, I thought about it for a good 24 hours, mulling over differnt approaches to the design I wanted to do.

I originally decided to go with a profile image of the bride, holding flowers in her hand. I visualized the background as you see it now, that never changed but when I went to draw on a profile view of the bride, it just didn't work. The egg is so heavily textured that it was making getting any kind of profile detail very difficult. I decided at that point to switch gears and do a view from the back, of the dress, veil and one shoulder peeking out. I also decided against the silhouette idea and gave her a nice traditional white , shimmering gown. I used many different shades of paint in the gown to give it dimension.

I painted the sky and ground on first and then when that was dry, I started to draw the bride directly onto the box. It took me a few tries to get her gown just the way I wanted it to look. I also really love the black/green , rich and textured color of the egg itself so I didn't want the whole egg to be painted. I wanted the bottom half of the egg to retain its natural color and I think in doing that, it makes the design more dramatic and shows the beauty and precision of the cut in the egg.

I decided to adorn her dress with Hydrangeas cascading down from the veil and lower section of the back of the gown. Once I decided on those flowers, I decided to put them in the foreground as well, as if she were standing amoung them, ready to walk into the scene.

Here you can see some of the detail on the gown. I also added some Swarovski crystals on the lower back of the dress, just above the Hydrangeas. I wanted it to look as if that area was gathered up and the flowers were coming down from that.

I did something similar with her veil, I added 5 crystals going around the back, then added the flowers and greenery from there.

This view shows the box sitting on its very pretty wooden stand. I also liked having the flowers cascading onto the lower part of the egg itself, rather then just keeping them to the painted area.

This is a view of the inside of the box which has been lined with fabric. Because fabric and I don't really get along, Chris created the fabric lining for me. He did a great job with it too. From this angle you can see how large the Emu egg is and how much it would hold. I've put my wedding ring inside to give you an idea of the actual size. I had so much fun painting this one that I am adding a jewelry box section to my ETSY site. I've already started painting another one, this time with a floral and butterfly theme very similar to the pendants I painted a couple of weeks ago. Hope you enjoyed learning more about the process.