No Regrets Abstract Watercolor
Never regret a day in your life.
Good days give happiness.
Bad days give experience.
Worst days give lessons.
Best days give memories.
(source unknown)
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Never Regret A Day
Art
My First Portrait Subject in Watercolor
My Sweet C – 8 x 10 watercolor – 300 lb Artistico Fabriano
I am typically a more “impressionist” style amateur watercolor artist. (At least that is what I consider myself.) I don’t necessarily try to exactly replicate something, but more try to interpret my impression of how it makes me feel.
As many of you know, I am a new grandma for the first time, and ECSTATIC doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel about that!
So you are probably not surprised that the first subject I chose to attempt a watercolor portrait of is my sweet little granddaughter.
I didn’t do her beauty justice, but the process of looking at her picture and painting her brought me a lot of joy. It was a fun experiment. I was hoping it would be nice enough to give to my son and daughter-in-law for a Christmas gift framed, but I am not happy enough with how it turned out, so that idea didn’t work out.
I decided to post it anyway, though, as my first watercolor portrait. Hopefully I will look back some day and compare it to something much better.
My sweet granddaughter, on the other hand, is absolutely perfect!
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Baby It’s Cold Outside
Seymour Snowie – Watercolor Holiday Snowman with Cardinal – 4 1/4 x 5 1/2
Baby It’s Cold Outside…
I swear everything reminds me of some song.
No matter the discussion, I typically can break out into song about it…
or at least have a song running through my head at the same time.
(If you are anywhere nearby, you will likely hope it only runs through my head as carrying a tune is not one of my stronger talents!)
This time of year,
everything brings to mind a Christmas Carol.
It started snowing yesterday!
And turned C O L D!
I really can’t stay…. but Baby, it’s cold outside….
I’ve got to go away…. but Baby, it’s cold outside….
December snow is the best snow. It is when most of us actually get excited to see snow – as opposed to March snow – when we are usually soooo over it!
So I was inspired to paint this chilly little guy – Seymour Snowie.
He is a holiday snowman, and he is chatting with his little friend Cameron the Cardinal. I think they are so GLAD it’s cold outside! At least Seymour is.
Wishing you cold, snowy fun outside, and warm comfort inside!
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
(PS – I thought this might make a cute Holiday Greeting Card or Holiday Thank You Note, so I made these little cuties into cards for our McKinneyX2Designs ETSY shop. You can check them out here!)
Paint and Imagine
Watercolor Iris Painting – 7×9
When its dreary and rainy,
but you’re dreaming of bright and snowy…
think of flowers,
remember the sunshine…
paint purple puddles,
imagine they are irises.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Chalk Paint Shabby Chic Dresser Makeover
I am having a lot of fun creating a special room in our house for our new granddaughter.
How fun it is to be able to create a “girly” room in one of the bedrooms previously occupied by one of our sons.
I hope to show you more as we finish; but for now, I’m excited to show you what I did with this beat up old little dresser we have had hanging around forever that has served many purposes through the years.
It is a little funny that I’ve taken something beat up and transformed it into another “beat up” look. (The guys just don’t get it at all that I PURPOSELY rubbed and chipped off the paint!!) But I’m loving this “Shabby Chic” look achieved with White (Magnolia) Chalk Paint, sand paper, and some Clear and Antique Wax.
I had planned on painting it white, but then saw a friend show on Facebook how she transformed a piece with Chalk Paint and decided that is exactly what I wanted to do. Considering I had this little dresser already, supplies cost about $15. I only used half of the container of paint and just a small amount of each of the jars of wax, so plenty more for other projects. Other than the paint and wax, all that is needed is a paint brush and some fine sand paper.
I watched this series of brief Youtube tutorials while doing this, and it only took a few hours to complete.
Looking forward to sharing more as we progress… like how I turned bumper pads from a gorgeous bedding set I acquired into window valances (because bumper pads are now a “no-no” in cribs) — but I couldn’t pass up using the gorgeous pink and green paisley luciousness!
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Three Things We Cry For
Hazel Eye with Tear Drop Watercolor 5×6 Fabriano Artistico
“There are three things we cry for in life:
things that are lost,
things that are found,
and things that are magnificent.”
– Douglas Coupland, author, artist, designer
Wishing you many tears of joy experiencing things that are magnificent!
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Oh Christmas Trees – In Pink & Gold
Pink Orange Gold Watercolor Christmas Trees 5×7
O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
Thy leaves can be so changing;
O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
They need not be unchanging;
Not only green like everyone;
But you can be whatever you want.
O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
Pink and Orange and Gold look good on thee!
Embrace the magic!
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
The eARTh without ART is just…. “eh”
Acrylic Abstract Painting 16×20 Jodi McKinney
On a recent evening out with friends, we passed a little ‘hole-in-the-wall’ diner in the Bloomfield section of Pittsburgh that had a sign above it saying, “The earth without art is just ‘eh’.” It caught our attention, and it has been in my mind ever since.
This crazy acrylic painting evolved over the course of several days. While far from fine art, it was a fun, creative experiment.
It started out being blue and brown and white to match a recent bedroom redo.
The next day it became an ocean and sky scene… then back to an abstract the following day with drips of gold.
Around the fourth day, I decided it needed some red. The red was too bold, so I added white to tone it down and “pink” it up a bit.
And on and on it went until I splattered white and tar gel with a toothbrush on and decided it was time to quit.
It has all kinds of crazy things going on over many layers, but there is something about it in the end that I kinda like.
Maybe because it reminds me that….
the earth without art is just “eh!”
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Dripping with Joy
Dripping with Joy,
Oozing Happiness,
Splashing Jubilation,
Expressing Elation,
Painting with pure Pleasure.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
A Painting for a Proud Grandpa
Wayne’s Pride & Joy – 10×12 Watercolor
A sweet friend of mine is a very proud Grandpa.
He shared one of his favorite photos on his iPhone with me last week.
These are two of his grandchildren.
I believe this was at Halloween
when they were dressed as a fire fighter and a police officer
leaning on a fire hydrant
watching the community parade.
I hope he enjoys this sweet surprise and it brings him joy,
because it would be hard to image a greater joy than that of being a grandparent.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
P.S. Here is the iPhone photo Wayne shared.
the creative life in between 