Six years ago, my sister had her first baby. A boy. Cooper. He was born about a month before Ethan.
They are good buddies.
That picture makes me long for summer. Not to talk about the weather on my blog, but yesterday was so beautiful, it made me remember how much I love warmer weather!
Anyway, when Cooper was born, I painted a picture for his room. It was an alphabet picture with his name on it, like the ones you see in pottery barn only well, not as cute. It's hung in each of his (I think) four rooms, which makes me so happy.
Then, my sister asked for one for my niece's room. Flowery. I obliged. I don't have a picture of that one either, but I have a picture of my niece:
They look really tan. It would be so nice to be tan right now, wouldn't it?
My niece is half of a pair. Her twin brother is Eli.
He's a sweetie...though in this picture, the two of them were actually being little stinkers, spraying the other kids with the hose. I admit, it made me laugh, but I think Ethan and Cooper were less than thrilled.
(Do you hate me for posting summer photos in March? When spring is just...almost...here...?) :)
So, then my sister had another baby three months ago. And I am loving painting lately, so I painted a picture for her, inspired, of course by Kelly Rae.
And I sent it off like a good aunt, knowing that a piece of me was in her room too.
I should add that my sister lives in Georgia, so she's far away and I don't get to see my nieces and nephews nearly as often as I'd like, so it's kind of fun knowing that my paintings are in their rooms.
So, that's three paintings...but four kids. And I'm told when Lilah's painting arrived, there were tears.
From this sweet guy:
And yes. I felt like a total schmuck.
I'd tried painting something for Eli many, many times. Tried and failed.
So finally, I resorted to using some serious inspiration. The Land of Nod catalog. And I'm glad I did. Sometimes you just can't come up with something, and in those times (and in this case because I wasn't selling it)...you have to learn from the pros. And in my mind, in the world of kids' art...Land of Nod is a serious pro!
So, last week, I finally finished one for Eli.
I did a mixed media painting with some old Chatterbox papers and I really love how it turned out. I added a ladder to the fire engine after I took this, but you get the basic idea.
I think painting art for kids' rooms is probably going to become my favorite thing to do! I am toying with the idea of entering an art show, but the thought of being the only one there with art that looks like a kid did it does wear on my nerves a little bit! We'll see. It's not till July so I guess I have some time to decide...
Anyway, that's my new painting. I hope it makes it up to my sweet nephew!
Happy Thursday!
