First attempt at stained glass.

I signed up for a stained glass workshop and had a great time learning how to cut and grind glass and then soldering it all together. I had no idea how stained glass was made prior to taking this workshop.

I made a gift for my mom--a bluebird of happiness.



The project involved glass chips in my fingers and a small burn from grabbing the soldering iron holder rather than the handle. But I made it out alive and I'm happy with my first piece.

Hanging in the window.

This week.

I continued the momentum of painting on the weekend into the week. Our two older kids are with their grandparents and cousins this week so it has been easy with just Quinn. He goes to bed easily and earlier than the older two so I've had more time to focus on painting. Two nights this week I worked on my huge 2' x 3' canvas. It's slowly getting there. I hope to sell this piece when it's finished.

A little teaser...

2 Moms to Be

We celebrated our friends Colleen and Meredith's baby shower this weekend. As part of their gift, I painted a small canvas for them.



The background represents the Pride colours. They met at Toronto Pride so I thought it would be nice to incorporate that into the painting. Besides, what is cheerier than rainbow colours?

2 Moms. Acrylic on canvas.


Good luck to the new moms-to-be! I can't wait to meet your new little boy or girl!

Go, Go Power Rangers!

Ian was turning 4 and his parents asked for a Power Rangers painting for his room. I had previously painted a Lego guy for his big brother, Erik. (Posted about that painting here.)

Since Erik's painting had a shiny silver background, I knew I wanted to have the same for Ian's so they would go well together in the boys' room. I decided to try and make the Power Rangers spell out Ian's name with their bodies.

Did you know that there are many variations of Power Rangers? I didn't. I had spied his birthday cake pictured online so I went with the Samurai Power Rangers with their complicated masks.

Power Rangers spelling "Ian". Acrylic paint on canvas.


I hope Ian enjoyed his birthday painting and had a great birthday! Happy 4th, buddy!!!

Owl Family

My sister had a baby on March 10th and had requested a painting for his room. A while back she had sent a picture of one she liked on Pinterest to me. Then she couldn't find it again when I asked for it. My wife searched for it and finally found the exact painting and I got down to work. I wanted to finish it in time for the baby shower on April 6th and I did. I modified it slightly and just used it as a rough guide. I also added their almost 7 year old daughter, Mia, as the original only had parent owls and a baby owl.



It's an acrylic painting on a 2' x 3' canvas.

Isabelle

I created a little sign for my cousin's baby, Isabelle. They live on a farm that used to be a dairy farm so I decided to incorporate that into the sign. This is acrylic on ceramic.

Work in progress.

I'm working on a large piece--it's a 3' x 4' canvas. I'm so excited to get this one done. It will take a long time but I'm hoping that I can make time to get it finished. My new goal is to make more time for my art. This piece will be for sale once I'm finished.

Elephant Eating Fries

I received a request from a good friend to paint a picture for her nephew Mahdi. The request was unique and I knew it would be a fun painting to create: an elephant eating french fries. The only other information given to me was that it should be in bright colours.

I decided that it should be a fun painting with a cartoonish quality. I had some ideas in my head and kind of went with whatever came to me as I put it together. I started with a bright blue sky and green, textured grass.

Acrylic Painting on Canvas


I used the shiny acrylics that are easy to work with versus the duller, expensive acrylics I use for serious, life-like paintings.



I added the monkey to add a little fun to the fries. The bird was added to incorporate Mahdi's name in the painting.

I hope he likes it. It was a lot of fun to paint--there is more freedom in creating silly paintings.