• Made my Day

    Made My Day: Red wild flowers

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    Painting by Hand-Painted Weddings.

    Over the weekend, I went to a different farmer’s market than I usually visit on the weekends since I was going to the Renaissance Faire during my usual farmer’s market time. Side note: The Renaissance Faire is so fun! I totally recommend visiting one if you get the chance. We went to the Renaissance Faire in Lancaster, PA, which is connected to a winery….yum! We even dressed up in Renaissance attire this year. You should have seen the looks we got when we stopped at a rest stop along the way for Starbucks!

    Anyways, back to the farmer’s market…there was a lovely vendor selling bouquets of wild flowers mixed with sunflowers and zinnias. The bouquets looked so cheerful, I had to have one. Unfortunately, the bouquet didn’t last long but I was able to get a painting of these small red flowers I had never seen before as the leaves started to wilt. I am loving how this painting resembles botanical watercolors in it composition.

  • In the Studio

    Commissioned Watercolor: Start to Finish

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    Yesterday I showed you one way I work from photos, and today I’m showing you the more literal way I sometimes work from photos for commissioned watercolors. In my commissioned watercolors, I start with a pencil sketch. If a client wants me to crop out sections of the photograph or zoom into an portion, that is even more fun! While I was lucky in the case above in that the photo was gorgeous to begin with, there may be instances where a beloved photo did not turn out as you intended, or has a distracting element in it that you’d rather have removed. Turning not so good photos into watercolors is a great way to showcase the reason you love a photo and turn it into a piece of artwork that will last for generations to come.

    To view the work in progress post for this painting, go here.

    Top photo by Maryanna Scarpato. Painting by Hand-Painted Weddings.

  • Inspired by

    Inspired by Antique Bird Cages

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    Aren’t these antique bird cages beautiful? I spotted them in May during a trip to Terrain at Styers. This is the view into the cafe area. I spend hours in this shop every time I visit. There is so much attention to detail put into the interiors. It is very inspiring.

    I am sharing the photo along with the painting to share with you how I work from photos. Sometimes, especially for commissioned watercolors, I paint a much more literal interpretation of the photo given to me. While other times, I use artist’s discretion and pull elements of the photo into painting, especially when I will be adding text at a later time. One of my tricks is that I scan the paintings as I add elements. For example, I am thinking about also adding the diagonal wooden column and the hanging plans to this painting, but I have scanned it already so I have a digital copy without these additional elements. This practice allows me to use the variations in the different related pieces such as in an RSVP card and an invite.

    Antique Bird Cage Invitation is now available in the Hand-Painted Weddings Invitation Shop.