Has it really been a year?

Where does the time go? I cannot believe it's been a year since my last blog update! Let me get you caught up. We moved back to Omaha in March and made several improvements to our house. I was still painting during the remodel, just walls instead of canvases. When it was all said and done, I painted every room in our house! We love being back in Omaha and constantly feel spoiled to be able to spend so much time with friends and family.

Once I got my paint studio (which consists of a craft table, tubs of my paints and paintbrushes and my Ott light) set up in our basement, it was back on for Annie M's Art & Design! I even started teaching some classes at Uncorked. Uncorked is a paint and sip studio located in Bel Air Plaza off of 120th and Center. I've only taught a four classes, but LOVE it! I'm currently working on some new paintings for Uncorked so I can offer a few different class options. If you're looking for a fun night out, check out Uncorked's website at www.uncorkedomaha.com. They also offer a kid's area, Canvas Kids, for kid's classes and birthday parties.

I've still been painting my florals, but have also been experimenting with some texture and different painting techniques. I'm loving the look and fun color combinations! Here's what I've been working on...

 
 

What a great saying, right?

 

I painted these for my best friend, Libby. She just had
a baby boy, Joey.





I made these Personalized Name Meaning
Prints for my best friend and sister.
For sale for $15! I can send a pdf or print out.

 



 

 

A car, A horse and A few flowers



I've spent this past month working on the paintings below. They've been a lot of fun and it's fun to get compliments from Stella, as she is a fan of all three. I could probably paint a blank canvas any shade of pink and she would love it, but it's still nice to hear!

 

The horse is for my friend, Lisa, to give to her sister, who is expecting a little girl soon. Lisa has ordered several kid paintings from me and I always love to paint them. This is one of my absolute favorites, though!

 

24" x 36" Heather's Horse



 

The car and flowers are for my cousin, Matt and his wife, Kira. They have Hayes, who will be two in January and Sydney, who is just a few months old. Unfortunately, I don't get to see them much because they live in California. I'm hoping to see them over the holidays or I'd love to make a trip out there to visit. Until then, I hope they enjoy a little piece of me in these paintings. My aunt, Marilyn ordered the paintings for them. Hayes loves cars and Sydney's room is decorated in pinks and browns.

 

12" x 16" Sydney's Flowers

12"x 16" Hayes' Car

Busy Summer!

How did it go from April to August already? Time really does go faster the older you get! We had a fantastic summer filled with HOT days at the park and pool, a trip to the Quad Cities to visit friends from Springfield, a trip to Chicago, an adults trip to Kansas City and we just got back from a week spent in Omaha. I managed to keep busy with my painting, so I'll catch you all up!

Alison's Flower

This is a 24" x 30" canvas I painted for a friend, Alison, to give to her mom for Mother's Day. Her mom loved the gift!

Bree's Bloom

This is a 36" x 36" canvas I painted for our friends, Bree and Kevin. They've been doing some re-decorating in their home and wanted a new painting for their living room. I loved the background of this painting. Simple and modern.

 

Macy

I LOVED painting this 24" x 24" canvas for our friends, Trevor and Wendy. This is their adorable dog, Macy. It was fun to see Macy come to life and I got a kick out of it when Kolar saw it and giggled like crazy.

Ikat

I painted this one night when Sam was gone. I had used a new texturing medium, which makes the canvas feel rough to the touch and adds some dimension. I love the way it turned out...now I just need to find the perfect spot!

Bathroom Blooms

Okay, maybe not the most appealing name, but I did paint this for our guest bathroom, which is navy and yellow.
This adds the perfect pop of color!

 

Jackson's Jungle

Michaela, a friend from college, contacted me about painting a mural for her son's nursery. I had a lot of fun painting this one and hope that Jackson loves it as much as I do!

 

Porkchop, the Boston Terrier

This was a first for me! About a month ago, Joy, a friend from high school, contacted me about painting a picture of her beloved Boston Terrier, Porkchop. I was honest in telling her that I had never painted portraits of animals (or humans) for that matter, but that I was up for the challenge! I'm not going to lie, I was a little nervous. Luckily, Joy had faith in me and once I started sketching Porkchop, I really began to love this project. Joy had sent me a few pictures of Porkchop, of what she was looking for and just asked that I include bright colors. What you see is Porkchop dressed up as a ballerina one year for Halloween.

"Porchop" 20" x 20" Canvas

Freeland's Flowers

I just finished painting this for our good friends, Jeff and Sarah. They have a beautiful home and this is going to hang in their kitchen. The painting is 30" x 40" and I'm actually having a hard time letting go of this one. It looks great in our house and makes such a statement! I hope they love it as much as I do.

Gia's Elephant

This is one of my favorite paintings! I painted this as a gift for my best friend, Libby, and her husband, Chris. They were pregnant with a little girl and I wanted to do something for the nursery. They had an adorable elephant lamp and pillow for the nursery and were decorating the room in pinks and greens. Libby thought going with an elephant theme would be cute, so I came up with this. I loved creating something so girly and I played with texture a bit, too. The centers of some of the flowers are fake fabric and paper flowers I attached to the painting. There is also some "bling" with a few gemstones glued on the flowers. The painting is 30" x 40" and hangs in sweet Gia's bedroom. I found out recently that Gia has to touch the elephant every morning when she gets up. That makes my heart melt.

Paintings for Clara's Closet

These are paintings I did for Clara's Closet. Clara's Closet is a DARLING little spot in Elkhorn, NE. It's the perfect place to host little girls' birthday parties. Kids can choose from a huge assortment of dress-up clothes, get all dressed up, get their nails painted, put on "makeup" and have a fashion show, wedding or tea-party. Check out the link below to find out more.

http://www.dressupparties.net/

My sister asked me to paint these and I had so much fun with it. I loved "doodling" the backgrounds and using all the bright colors. I think they are going to look great at adorable Clara's!