Eclectically Home Grown: September 2009

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

New Medium - Paint

When I got married I wanted a nice picture of me and my husband that would represent us. We aren't the regular large framed family photo sitting on the mantle people...

and I didn't want a blown up photo of us from our wedding either

- don't get me wrong -

both of which are great, but just not us.

Necessity is the mother of all invention so... I decided to make a picture of us.

I'm not really a landscape or realistic painter, but random painter - totally!

I took a photo of D and I from when we were dating. We were lying on a pillow in Forest Park having a picnic. The original photo itself wasn't the best b/c it had so many shadows...which got me thinking.

With a little tweeking of the contrast and brightness in Photoshop, I came up with an awesome

positive/negative space picture.

I painted it on a 3' x 6' canvas using two tones - black and white.

Here are some pictures of the process.

This one is of my brother and his fiance. It's a little hard to see the pencil lines in this picture.

I free hand the photo onto the canvas - on the bottom of the this picture

you can see the original photo.

Here's the work half way done. I modified their photo using three tones - black, gray, and white, rather than two.

Here it is completed.

The canvas for their's was 2' x 3'.

The painting doesn't necessarily have to be done on a canvas...it can also be done on a wall.

It also doesn't need to be necessarily black, white, or gray either. I can make it in any combination of colors.

2' x 3' Canvas Works
Two toned : $ 150
Three toned : $ 175

3' x 4' Canvas Works
Two toned : $200
Three toned : $250

Friday, September 11, 2009

Getting Ready For Fall

As I said good bye to Labor Day... I said hello to autumn. Ok, really it's still like 80 degrees here
in St. Louis. Our weather rebells against normal weather patterns and

randomly does whatever it wants. Tomorrow it could snow. Truly - ask anyone who lives here ;)

I digress - ok, so speaking of fall - I finally got around to making something that I totally wanted to have last fall - but never had time to make: a Cowl Neck!

Until last year I always thought of cowl necks having their home with a sweater. I'm not a turtle neck kind of person so when I saw a girl in a magazine wearing just the cowl neck I was in heaven. (I might possibly be the only person that didn't know about them but I'm so in the loop now.)

I can't wait to wear it with a t-shirt when the weather gets a little colder!

The Cowl Neck is approx. 66" total length & 7" wide

This particular one is a wool / acrylic blend.

If you are wanting one I can easily make it in any particular yarn type and in any color.

Cowl Neck: $40

This price is based on acrylic blend yarns regardless of color. For wool yarns please add $5 for supply cost.

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I've had a lot of requests for hats lately - children's and adult's alike. Here are some samples that I had a blast making.

This one is an ultra soft chunky wool that I've done in a cable pattern. Usually cable patterns are done in knit, not crochet, however I think it turned out beautifully - the texture of the wool is great with the textured pattern.

Don't you love the ear flaps!
The red hat is a chunky acrylic blend that I did in a Swedish type pattern.
I've officially named it my "Heidi Hat." It's a 0 - 3 month size and even though it's only the beginning of September I've put it on L-bug numerous times already!

The white beanie hat is for my cousin K and her little one EG. It's a simple single crochet pattern, but what I like most about it are the pinable details!
The chocolate flower with the fabric button center has a safety pin that I've sewn onto the back so it can be removed.