Still Life

I started painting.

I put it out into the universe in January and just like that, the universe echoed "SO SHALL IT BE!", clapped it's hands, and I've been painting.

I'm happy.  I'm really happy.
I've been wanting to paint and draw for a long time, the last time I did any amount of painting was just before Chloe was born in 2012. 

Sadly, I haven't taken my camera out much to document all the pieces I've been working on, though you can find a tonne of them on my Instagram account.  I started off with a fun mermaid + unicorn duo in shades of pink and red for Valentine's Day.  That's all it took!  Then along came orders for Family Portraits and this special Wedding Gift!

I'm really enjoying this medium.  As a Jane of all Trades, my creativity thrives when my brain is able to exercise multiple areas of itself rather than repeatedly lighting up just one spot.  I think it is also just my personality to want a little bit of everything, variety is truly the spice of life. 

I'm really excited for this year as I juggle multiple mediums and projects and I look forward to new things and hopefully collaborations!

Thank you to everyone who has hit me up for painting in the last couple of months, I am so happy to be adding art to your life!

xo
Phanie
 

Paint Night No. 2

These nights are just so so awesome. Food, drinks, and meeting new people while creating an awesome piece of art for your home!

We feasted on 3 homemade pizzas with the help of my friend Sally

Cardamom sweet potato with olives and curry roasted cauliflower
Pesto with roasted cherry tomatoes, red onion, and rosemary
and
White pizza with garlic-parsley oil, shaved parmesan, prociutto, and arugula

It was an intimate group of 4 ladies I just love.  Such different and yet so very spectacular human beings.  We had a lovely time and created stunning pieces that are now all up in their homes!

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Beautiful work ladies!

Paint Night No.1

After a million revisions, Paint Night was relocated and whittled down to a tight group of 4 ladies.  This was not the original plan, but it ended up working perfectly for a simple test run.  If we are defining success by delicious food, wet whistles, and attendees who had a great time and left happy with their final product, then in spite of a sudden downpour, Paint Night was a definitely success!

Downpour?  Yes, we had a very unexpected 20 minutes downpour midway through the event (as well as all day Saturday...), so these photos are actually a compilation of 3 different days of documentation.  We all had to scramble to bring everything inside: the table full of paints, the food table, the rug for chilling, and of course all the easels with their canvasses.  The rain failed to dampen our spirits and we continued on drinking + painting in the middle of my living room!  Snacks and dessert was served just before Kevin arrived home.  He was probably expecting/hoping to return to a quiet home, however, he was instead accosted by a room of roaring ladies forcing him to play "guess whose painting is whose" followed by a critique of each piece.  Best.

Alright, enough chatting, onto the photos...

RECIPES
Crostini Platter via The Artful Desperado
Chocolate Cake inspired by ILĀ


Mega thanks to Kevin for the insane amount of work he did throughout the week helping to prepare everything from designing + building easels to slaving in the kitchen making all the delicious food and sangria for our lovely guests.  Big hugs to my buddy Dave for helping me to streamline my ideas and keep my mind focus while accompanying me on the grocery run!

Stay Tuned for PAINT NIGHT No.2 coming this July!  Date to be announced!

 

ART CLUB | Day 1: Colour Theory

As with any job I take on, no matter how big or small, my Motherhood anxiety kicks in and i procrastinate by stuffing my face or scrolling through my FB/IG feed.  I'm not sure why I was having anxiety over leading kids through an art project but it was there.  Day 1 was a success and I am now super stoked for Day 2, no anxiety.  So, because I had my hands full, this post looks more like photos of my house as opposed to photos of the kids in action.  That said, I think it turned out to be a pretty sweet environment for the kids to work in, especially considering it's my dining room.  I made my first trip to Welk's back in January, and one of the purchases I made was an art card collection of one of my favourite artists/topographists: Jessica Hische.  It's been on the backburner to have a set of the Alphabet framed for the hallway but it just hasn't happened yet.  I have also had this giant blank canvas sitting on our wall for probably almost 6 months.  These two potential projects came together perfectly as the backdrop and display board for this Art Club class!  HA! 
 

Day 1 would focus on basic Colour Theory.  What better book to start with than Peter Reynold's THE DOT.  If you haven't read this book, pick it up.  We've had it for a few year's now and it continues to be an inspirational favourite.  And if you have read THE DOT, then you can probably guess which book is hiding under it...  FIND OUT TOMORROW!

Can I just say that after a year of living in our little ranchero, I am finally falling in love with what is happening!!!  I LOVE IT.  I had 2 girlfriends over for a Birthday Breakfast and asked Kevin to throw on some Velvet Underground on the record player.  When I saw that he had put the sleeve up on the shelf with Andy's Banana I wet my pants a little.  This is now the designated record spot.  It has changed since then, but what better record cover than this for Art Club, right??? SWOON.  That's Chloe's self-portrait from the portrait painting session I led last month for Eve's birthday party.  And those super rad fantastic crazy animals are the ones from Mexico that I said I never wanted to show anyone.  I went back to Welk's last week and bought a bunch of mini succulents for these new little shelves.  The cute bowl beside the record was part of a pair, the other pair being the one that Chloe accidentally broke in the store and therefor we had to buy them. 

Alright, enough of my gloating, onto the nitty gritty.  The kids blew my mind.  I designed a simple Colour Wheel template the night before because I only work at the 13th hour.  I was surprised when nobody knew what it was and had never done one before and then I realized I had never had my kids do one either.  THEY were surprised to find out that I had painted the entire wheel using nothing but the Primary Colours.  We began with Primary, of course, then moved onto Secondary.  PIECE OF CAKE.

Tertiaries proved to be more challenging as they had to mix the Secondary Colours a total of 3 times.  Everyone needed a little assistance with a colour here and there, and everyone took turns holding out their brushes asking me "IS THIS THE RIGHT COLOUR!!! IS THIS OK?!!!"  I was impressed with their perseverance, nobody gave up, and there wasn't a single complaint.

Inspired by THE DOT, I had them move onto a few projects that required more mixing: Painting a GIANT dot in their favourite colour, painting different sized dots in different colours to represent each person in their family, painting a dot by not painting a dot (negative space), and then painting a dot party! 

Each class ends with a button making project where they use what they have learned that day to make a button to take home, sort of like a badge!  I'll try to take more photos during tomorrow's class, hopefully it's a sunnier day!