Farewell Alabama

 

 

My husband's flight training is winding down, and it is almost time to say "farewell" to Alabama. We have made several friendships that will be hard to leave, but it is always fun to have friends all over the country and the world. Good friends are hard to find, and we have been fortunate to find several.

 

We truly enjoyed our time here and will never forget Alabama!

Training

Training

 

My husband had to leave for one of his many military trainings. While he was gone, I saw his boots and wanted to capture a simple memory of him.

 

When he was done with his training and saw the drawing, he asked me why boots? I had to think about it. Boots are what get you to and from where you need to go. While everyone looks the same in their uniform, (which of course is the point) the boots have a different wear pattern. I was going to re-work this drawing before posting, however when I went to grab his boots, they were his flight boots, and not the summer boots. They had a totally different wear pattern and look. Each of his many pairs of boots are different and are worn for different reasons, flight, summer, winter, and special training. 

 

I have come to understand so much more about the military in my short time as a military wife. I understand why everyone has to look the same; the same uniform, hair cut, and boots. It is hard to tell individuals apart, I didn't see my husband when he was standing three feet from me. He of course thought that was hilarious. When everyone is the same, or at least looks the same, you begin to notice the tiniest differences. For me at least, I notice the boots.

Urban

"Urban"

 

As busy as city life can be, everyone likes to get away every now and then. Sometimes the city life can be very oppressing. Each person has to choose their own path, and mine has definitely lead me out of the city, of that I am thankful.

Steps of a Mural Painting

 

Step #1

After meeting with my client; talking about what she wanted and envisioned and showing me some pictures, I came up with this sketch. I used a long/wide sketch because the client had said that the wall was 3'x6'. The client approved the sketch and I went to work.

 

 

Day #1

I prepped the wall, that included washing off the wall with a wet sponge and some dish soap. After letting the wall dry, I taped the edges. I then wet a sponge and added some gesso. The original wall did not have much texture to begin with, but the gesso wash that I added helped in filling in some of the texture. I also wanted to add the gesso wash to the wall to make sure the paint would stick. The gesso wash dried quickly and I sketched out in pencil what I was planning on painting. Pencil is much easier to erase and change than acrylic paint.

 

*Side note: I was talking to my husband and he asked how big the wall/mural was. I promptly and confidently replied, 3'x6. He said so about this big, and demonstrated on a wall. I looked at him, laughed and then demonstrated about how big it was. He looked at me confused and asked if I had measured it; my prompt reply was nope. I had just eyeballed it and knew that I could paint it. Long story short, the wall is closer to 3.5'x 9'. 

 

 

 

Day #2

I like working the whole piece, no matter the size. I painted a base layer. With the base layer painted I could see how the paint was working with the wall and lighting.

 

 

Day #3

I again worked the entire piece, by adding more layers. The biggest change for Day 3 was the addition of the poppies. Other layers included highlights and shadows.

 

 

Day #4

The biggest thing on this day was the addition of the highlights to the fields. I was pleasantly pleased with how well the poppy fields look. I liked how the piece looked, and was mostly finished. I say mostly, because I had worked on this piece for 4 days in a row, and wanted to take a step back and look at it again with fresh eyes. I also wanted the client to look at see if there was anything else she wanted.

 

 

Day #5

I came back about a week later to double check, the client had asked for more bushes in the middle ground. Besides adding more bushes, I also made some of them bigger. The size of the bushes in the middle ground really added depth and perspective. I was also able to add more shadows and highlights to some of other areas. I am really happy with the final painting.

 

Easter Egg

So when "EGG" came up for illustration, I wondered what it would look like if the traditional sizes were reversed. Pictures always seem to show the Easter Bunny huge, hopping around around. . This bunny definately can not hop around with his current load.

 

Happy Easter!

Swim

 

"Swim"

 

It is always fun to go to a pool in the summer time and see kids practicing their swim moves. My favorite has always been diving. The smooth and gracefulness of a dive has yet to be mastered by most kids and usually ends up being a magnificent belly-flop. Undaunted, the kids will pop up out of the water and try again, and again, and again. They can go all day!

 

Just like having the sparkle shoes makes you run faster, having all the correct swim gear makes you a swimmer. Water wings, inner tube, life jacket, and fins complete this little boys swim attire. His gear is complete as he is about to gracefully belly-flop into summer.  

Little Red Wagon

When I saw the word of the week, "eye glasses", several ideas played through my head. I thought of several play on words and other ideas, but none seemed to be my style. I thought of having someone running around with flight goggles, but I had already done flight ideas two times in a row, so I thought I should branch out.

However, the flight idea did give my another idea. I have very fond memories of me and my sister flying down my grandparents hill in Grandpa's little red wagon. Our safest hill we decided was one where, at the bottom of the hill we had to turn sharply to avoid going through Grandma's beautiful flower beds. We thought that we would just stop after the flower beds (7 and 8 year olds do not have much of a grasp on physics). Physics still apply to kids, thankfully just past the flower beds was a bed of ivy and a fence blocking a steep hill. A bed of ivy does wonders at stopping a little red wagon, and when the ivy didn't work the fence always did.

After our afternoon of fun, we looked back at Grandma's beautiful flower beds. Our 7 and 8 year old intentions of avoiding the flower beds had failed miserably. We brilliantly thought to fluff the flowers back up to where they looked a little less run over. After much fluffing and leaning we went in for dinner thinking we were brilliant masterminds. Grandma never said a word.