Category Archives: Commisioned Work

Commisioned Work, For Sale, Holiday items, New

Holiday Stockings with Cavorting snowmen

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These large personalized holiday stockings are created completely from scratch.   I painted this first set of stockings for a family with two young daughters. The snowmen are having a lot of fun, one of them is very partial to pink boots!! Everyone loves the face on the little snowman on the old wooden sled. Chickadees, Holly and berries with red satin ribbon make for a sophisticated look for Mom. The houses in the snow references the Dad’s profession as an architect.  I ended up updating it which is why there are two versions of the Jared stocking!!!  I placed the painted cotton fabric on quilt batting and machine quilted around the larger areas, and stitched straight lines of quilting on the back side.  The approximately 16″ tall stockings have a satiny lining and a cuff on the top with the painted name name of each family member..  A sturdy loop is stitched into the top back edge.  If you are interested in having me paint stockings for your family please contact me through this site. Orders for this year’s holiday season must be received before October 31 of the current year.  4 stockings for $400, 2 for $250.

Commisioned Work, Table

Peony Table

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The client brought me her daughter’s old table and requested Trompe L’oeil pink Peonies.  Although flat objects are easier to paint in a ‘Fool-the-Eye’ style, I was delighted with the challenge.  Trompe L’oeil should tell a story, so I included a scissors which is still wet from cutting the flowers.  A lady bug has come in with the blossoms by accident.  Water droplets on the leaves, petals and scissor blades add to the realism.  This table came to me in a dry, stripped condition with damaged areas and a request for a subtle color scheme.    I pulled out the details of the table itself with simple taupe, grey and cream which also helped down play the missing molding on one corner.   A peony is a flower with multiple layers of petals and is not exactly easy to paint.    For those of you who are interested in my process, I included a photo here of an early stage of this piece.  You can see that I have painted the leaves, but the highlights of the flower petals have  been done in just white, allowing the background to show through for depth.  The next step was a pink wash over the whole blossom.

Chair, Children's, Commisioned Work

Child’s Rocker with Trompe L’oeil Marbles

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What a joy to paint this child’s rocking chair! I painted an old fashioned freight train across the back rest and kept the color scheme low key.  Of course I couldn’t  resist adding detail to the cars.  But the best part of this piece is the Tompe L’oeil on the seat where I painted a few leaves and two marbles.The light glinting through the glass is what makes it all work! My grandson was eighteen months old when he was shown this chair and his little hand scrabbled at a leaf trying to pick it up. Is that affirmation or what? The rear side of my painted chairs is never ignored. In this case I thought a little red caboose would be very appropriate, do you agree?