... The World Would Be a Dark Place.

I'm so thankful for that quote. It's perfect! Thank you, guitar lesson teacher! My hobbies are experiencing a cross-over event hahahahaha ...

I seemed to be on overload with thinking of little projects over the past few weeks. It really started toward the end of February when my brain was frying through the social isolation of the pandemic, and I had to figure out new things to do! All of these projects are silver linings for me because they have been super fun! 

Some of my endeavors transform one of our ottomans into a painting spot:

Sometimes I'm on the couch with the ottoman, and sometimes I'm on the floor. Either way, the picnic tablecloth is often a life saver. 😉

Much like the stash of baker's twine I had that was just waiting to fulfill its destiny, I've had some mini canvasses on hand blankly staring at me. Then, one day, I was scrolling through a miniatures feed on Facebook and came across someone who made lovely, mini Van Goghs. I specifically recall her version of Starry Night as painted in non-traditional colors, like reds and oranges, and it inspired me to give it a try myself. Here's my first one:

I just love pushing acrylic paint around, so this was fun. I was reasonably happy with the outcome, but I kept discovering ways on the fly to work with the paint to make it look even better, and I decided I must try again focusing on my favorite parts:

I loooooooooved how this one turned out! With all due respect, I'm no fan of Van Gogh, so I didn't feel compelled to maintain the tree or the housing situation at the bottom. I continued to incorporate different colors because they appealed to me, and I love the turnout. I did go back through the feed to review the original picture I saw of Starry Night in non-traditional colors, and, wouldn't you know, my mind totally made that up because what I saw was a replica of the original in tiny form. I dunno.

Moving along, an artist I absolutely do love is Franz Marc. I was introduced to his work in an Art History class I took in college to fulfill a humanities requirement (I'll say it: ugh.). His is the only work that salvaged my interest in that class as well as the only reason I held on to the textbook. Years ago, I recreated his Blue Horses painting for our own home, so I thought The House needed a nod to his work:

This one is called Purple Fox. (Damn-betcha our Art History professor never tested us on the titles of his work because those would have been easy points. But, I digress ...) This, too, is in acrylics. And, this, too, will eventually be in real-people size in our house because we love it! 

Here these three are in the craft room of The House:

I also finally hung this one that I made a couple of years ago:

That's my own creation. No title as of yet. 😊

With the acrylics still out, I had to keep going! This time, I found inspiration from a sticker sheet I have:

With 2" x 2" canvasses in my stash, you know what's coming!

I really enjoyed creating these as it just takes me back to the days my own Boy fell in love with Toy Story and just knew he, himself, was Buzz Lightyear! Anyway, it was interesting to do these after having done that larger-than-life mural on his actual wall (see February's "Paintings Big and Small"). I didn't realize at the time of creating that mural the gift of space I had to work with color and shading. These little canvasses presented new challenges, so I spent some time deciding the extent to which I would work with them while keeping the project fun. I love how they turned out, and they look quite fab hanging in the room!

There's one more piece to show! So, there I was, back in early February, scrolling on Facebook, and I came across a stunning painting with the most vibrant colors! It is of a tree-lined pathway, and it looks like it was made by a rainbow violently sneezing on a canvass. It's SO beautiful! And, my mind made the leap that it is another Franz Marc piece given the colors. I screen shot it to one day paint.

Fast-forward about a month, and Easter rolled around. My Girl put a set of water colors from Target's new craft line in my basket, and it, too, possesses really rich colors. Yes, rich water colors. I said it. No, I did not think it possible. To me, this was the perfect time to attempt this painting!

I got back in my stash of small canvasses and went to work. I guessed canvass wasn't the best for water colors, but I wanted to see what happened. THIS is what happened:

TA-DA!! It's just ... yum ...

So, remember when I just knew I saw a Van Gogh replica where my recollection was completely wrong? That seems to be a theme! I recently researched and researched and researched Franz Marc's works to find the name of the original of this painting, and I just could not find it anywhere. Huh. That happens when researching the wrong artist! Sheesh. It turns out I simply made an assumption about the artist based on the colors and impressionist style. It's not Franz Marc, though. It's Leonid Afremov.

And, now, I have two, favorite artists. And, I know Afremov wasn't presented in Art History class because I would have remembered. Not that my recent recollections support that hahahaha.

This is another I want to work with for my own house. It's called Farewell To Anger. I took a little peek at info about Afremov, and he created most, it seems, of his paintings with oils, acrylics, a wide brush and a palette knife. I'll stick with acrylics as I know nothing about using oils and will leave that to the masters! I wouldn't mind trying this again in miniature in acrylics and with a canvass that is prepped with a few coats of gesso to lessen the canvass weave. But, until then, I think it looks just great displayed in the family room!

It just gets homier and homier!! That concludes this installment of the gallery around The House! But, I can't sign off without sharing a peek of a new resident:

That's Stretch. You see why. And, I had to have him. My Girl already calls this the animal hoarder house, so why not live right up to that! And, why not throw in a cat pic for good measure to wrap this up?

Let your space be light and bright wrapped in the aesthetics you love!