Tag: snow

Acrylic painting, Uncategorized

A Creative Gift

jillrholland

farm-painting

This acrylic painting is 24 x 24 on canvas.

My son asked me for a larger painting for Christmas. He wanted an outdoor theme and maybe with deer. I wasn’t sure if I could pull that off. As the time became closer I realized I haven’t started the painting yet. I was considering a cabin in the forest. I also knew he has said his least favorite animal is a deer. Go figure! After I pondered over it I decided the building would be a barn. We have a red barn on our property but not exactly like this one. I also decided it was going to be Winter because as I looked out my window and I saw snow.

I could have added deer, turkeys or pheasants because that is what we see on or around our property. However, we had horses, chickens, cats and dogs. Then it hit me, or my heart, he loved our golden retriever. She died of cancer and he has begged for another one. The dog is our beloved friend, Shawnee.

This painting was completed and wrapped before he came home for Christmas break. When he opened it, he was silent, then said, “is that Shawnee?”. I wasn’t sure if he was going to cry or not. This wasn’t what he asked for but it became more personal then he ever thought it would become.

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Acrylic painting, Uncategorized, Wood painting

Board Paintings

jillrholland

board-paintings

I love to paint for the different seasons. The hard part is to put them away but when you bring them out again, you fall in love all over again. I have been painting on wood for years. I would say just as much as I have painted on canvas or paper. Wood paintings from Christmas has been done the most from wall hangings to ornaments. Of course many things I have painted have become a gift here and there.

For the boards I have recently painted, I started with Let It Snow. I used a 8 inch by 4 ft pine board that I had on hand, painted with acrylic paint and applied a clear varnish for protection. I love snowmen so this was fun for me to paint. I decided to show the owners of Creative Spirits, which is my part time job. After discussion it was going to be added to the line up. I had to re-create my first snowman and came up with the Fall theme and then Christmas. I keep thinking of more ideas and I have found I like to think skinny.

Please notice these have a copyright from Creative Spirits. 

Acrylic painting, Uncategorized

ADDING LIGHTS TO A PAINTING

jillrholland

img_4574

I did this painting in early December. It is a 24″x 24″ stretched canvas painted with acrylic paint. I decided to keep this for myself. I keep my snowmen/Winter decorations out all Winter. I haven’t turned the lights on since Christmas though. My closest hobby store is Hobby Lobby and I was looking for mini white lights, that were battery operated. I bought some but they were a little longer then I would have liked. I was envisioning very small lights. I know they are out there but I haven’t found them yet.

What I did to add the lights was use my X-Acto knife and carefully poked a hole through the canvas. Make sure you don’t go to deep because when you put the light through, it will go through to far. I recommend just until it get to the plastic part of the light. My light set was a 20 ct. Make sure to place the holes in a random position but spread them out to equally fill the space.

Problems with this project: These lights took 4 batteries and didn’t last long. I used Duct tape to hold the wires down. I don’t think this worked the best. A better way is to put a backing, such as foam board, on the back of the canvas to hide the wires but have access to be able to turn the lights on and off.

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I also added a glitter paint to this painting to add another visual element. If you live around snow, you know that it can “twinkle” in the correct lighting. This is just a small bottle of DecoArt, champagne glitter. This takes much longer to dry then regular acrylic paint.

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I had a lot of great responses to this painting so I did three smaller version on 10×20 canvases.

I hope adding lights to your painting doesn’t frighten you. It can be hard to actually cut your canvas. Lights can be used on paintings for stars or a word. Sky’s the limit.