Murals

I have never painted anything on this large of scale, but boy are these artist amazing.  First one was painted by my friend  Emily, she is so talented.  After we stopped at her mural we stopped in her studio/shop Mucho Mas in downtown Phoenix.  The kids and my sister got to meet her.  She was so generous with her time and has the best loving energy.

This is a mural painted by my friend Emily Costello (Instagram @emcostelloart) in Phoenix.  

Another large wall mural painted by Emily Costello, Mucho Mas Studio Phoenix.

Mural of Chef Silvana Salcio Esparza by Lucretia Torva.   @torvasm
 I love the strength this mural represents and the "Si, Se Puede" tattoo!  Chef Silvana is one of my favorite people.  I don't know her personally but I have met her,  I donated masks to her cause she was feeding so many people during the covid shutdown.  

My sister showing her angel wings.  Grant, Nebraska   @popperposies

A storage shed in Winslow, Arizona.

 

Balance

 A year ago, Lake Louise, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada.  Yeah, it's that beautiful.  

Calm the mind

Roosevelt Wall Art

Several months ago I was out looking for some interesting background wall art for senior photo ideas.  I remember noticing some cool stuff along Roosevelt Road, downtown Phoenix.  Here's a sample of what I found!

This was a huge painting along a side of a building.  Very colorful but not really my style.  Other than the design on the left side of this where the blues, pinks and orange are.

I like this, but again, not for photography background

I really like this and could see the feather section as a background.

Okay these next two photos are the same wall art.  I love love love this!!  I especially love the turquoise car hood with the birds!

This the rest of the same wall.  I just love it and you really have to study it to see all the elements.  This is in an alley way/parking area.  Let me tell you a little something about this wall/business.  It's called greenHAUS boutique + gallery, 222 e. roosevelt road.   Cole Reed is the owner/designer.  The gallery part of her building is full of art, gifts, vintage & antiques, furniture made from re-purposed metal finds, lots and lots of very interesting pieces, and so much too see.  I recommend a visit to her business.  She is the designer and builder of this wall of art!

This is the opposite wall of greenHAUS boutique/gallery.   This piece of wall art is by Lauren Lee, muralist/fine artist.  It's beautiful!  Love the colors, love the size, love everything about it.

This is close up of one of the birds!  It's so awesome.

Interesting tidbits of this particular building and area along Roosevelt Road.  Over 28 years ago we moved to Phoenix and the building next to greenHAUS was where my job began as a probation officer.  We called the building Chesterfield and it was a crazy place.The training department was housed in Chesterfield and I was introduced to Phoenix traffic, Phoenix heat, Phoenix monsoon season, Ridos tacos, and had no freaking idea what I got myself into....haha.  It turned out to be a great career.  Where greenHAUS is located used to be The 222 Bar.  This whole area was underdeveloped and not a fun place to hang out.  Now it's a really neat area, lots of art galleries, neat  and unusual shops, and the area is the center of Phoenix 1st Friday Art Walk.

Now see this freaking cool wall...see the no trespass warning sign!!  OMG this would be so perfect for a background.  But no way in to this area and believe me I drove all the way around it from every direction looking for a way in!  This building is next to greenHAUS and Cole Reed even took me into this building, it holds a coffee shop and gallery.  I didn't notice the wall until I drove away!!   You can bet I will ask about it the next time I stop in to greenHAUS.

Merry + Happy 2014!

Merry + Happy 2014 was this year's season greeting on my card.  Years ago I helped with a photo project for my husband's family reunion.  I has a collection of slides that needed to be converted to .jpeg files.  I remembered seeing on very cool photo of a house in a very winter setting.  It was Grandpa John's farmhouse.  I printed it on a large 11"x13" format.  I stared at it for several days trying to figure out how I could use it in my card.  I started painting on it.  I used acrylic tube paint with a medium clear glade to allow the paint to stay wet longer.  It worked perfectly. 

I used my camera to take a photo of the painting so I could download it on my laptop.

I decided to make the photo look like one from the 60's with the white border and date

I printed our greeting and a little something about the original photo on the back of the card.  Cut, scored and folded about 100 cards.

 I added glitter to the green glitter to the tree, white glitter to the roof on the house and black glittler on the snowman's hat.  I printed on a canvas photo paper which gave a really nice finish.

I attached the photo to the card stock with double stick tape and some decorative tapes on two of the corners.  I loved the way they turned out!

Happy 4th of July to everyone!

It's 4th of July!  Good food, great friends, summer time fun & feeling very patriotic.

Have a great holiday and be safe.

Found this great painted American Flag

on the side of a building in McCook, Nebraska.

A great background for a photo opt!