A beautiful idea

An idea is percolating in my little head...

My hubby is my pilot and together we love adventure....

While on our adventures, I'm the documenter of the beauties we discover...

I'm the artist and my pilot helps me find the best shots....

I'm seeing a way of life coming together....

That just might change me.

Camping, School, Work and everything in between!

I need a million extra hours in the day. What in the world. I'm sure you know the feeling.  There's just never enough time in the day for everything you have to do and everything you want to do.

Like blogging. :)

Bryce and I recently went on two AMAZING trips and I'm dying to blog about them and post my zillions of pics. We flew to California for our 6 year anniversary, rented a Camero Convertible and drove Highway 101 down the coast from San Fransisco to San Diego. Then for our summer trip and Rowley Family Reunion, we got all our gear ready and made a camping road trip out of it. We started from home here in Texas, drove to Palao Duro Canyon and camped. Next day we drove up through Santa Fe and almost to Durango, and found an amazing spot up in the mountains and camped. The next day, Sunday we got up and got ready for church, headed down the mountain and went to church in Durango and then headed up to Telluride, CO. We camped that night up at Alta Lakes, CO. It was seriously the most beautiful place!!! We were going to stay a second night but had troubles with the truck so we left the next evening and camped in Moab, UT. The following day we drove to Heber  City and stayed at my sisters house and saw her family and Eric's family. Then headed into Logan and saw some old friends. Then went to Bear Lake and met up with my family for our family reunion!! It was so fun and awesome to see everyone. (Except Jana's family :( but at least I saw her back in March for Kimi's shower in VA!) Once it was over we drove super fast back to Texas......PHFEW!!!! It was a crazy but totally awesome trip. I can't wait to post pics!!!

In the meantime I can do a wordy post about what's going on with us these days.

I'm learning more about blogging. As you can see up top, I've added PAGES. I was crazy excited (like total nerd excited) when I found out I could add that feature. I'm so behind the times but ... that's ok. I also added LABELS. I've seen them on blogs alot in the past and never felt like I needed them but in the last year or so, I get so many hits from women looking up info on IVF or quilting or my Art or whatever....I figured it was time. :)

Bryce: oh man, he's kickin butt in school. He's getting so close to finishing. We can taste it! Last week he was turned over from his normal instructor to a more advanced pilot for some fine-tuning and then just yesterday he was turned over to the chief pilot. They went on a two-hour flight and the chief pilot just sat back and let Bryce 'teach' him. He was telling me last night about the flight and all the awesome maneuvers he did and how one of them he did it 'passably' but wasn't amazing so he asked for some tips so the chief pilot demonstrated and talked him through and then let Bryce do it.....and it was perfect! He was super happy. Bryce loves perfecting his flying. :)
So when they landed, he told Bryce he'll be more than happy to hire him when they have a slot open up (and after he actually takes his tests!) The school is expanding so they're expecting to need more pilots in the next few months so we're hopeful that he'll be hired on as a Helicopter Flight Instructor once he finishes here in 2-3 months. (hopefully less).
So I'm really proud of him. These tests are seriously intense and he's doing fabulously.

My art business is picking up - which is awesome. I just have to find the time to do it all!! I have several orders to fill (2 acrylic paintings, curtains, two possible quilts and nursery decor). I love the variety! I'm feeling more and more hope that this will continue to grow so that down the road, I can stop working outside the home and be able to focus solely on my Art/Sewing/Crafting business....and hopefully babies, of course.

Work is the same for me. Still driving 45 mins to work every day and draining my gas tank way too fast.

I'm still working with the YW in our ward. I'm the first counselor so I'm over the Mia-Maids. Right now we only have two active mia-maids so we combine with the Beehives. But we're considering making a couple changes so that my girls can feel like they are their own class still. .... it's a work in progress.

Three of our YW asked if I could help them make their own quilts. So we went to JoAnn's....twice and picked out their fabric. At first they were worried they'd choose similar fabric and they didn't want that to happen but once we got there, they all had TOTALLY different taste. One is doing bright colors, one is doing grey, yellow and teal and the other is doing a grey, mauvey pink and maroon quilt. They're all going to turn out adorable. Morgan is working on sewing her squares together and Hailee and Michelle are still cutting our their squares. Cutting is definitely the worst part, It takes forever and can be difficult at first to get everything perfectly square. The rotary cutter and big cutting mat is definitely a life-saver but it's still slow going when you need 80+ squares. :)

Art lessons have been fun. I'm still teaching Sheridyn once a week and teaching Maddi once a week as well. They're several years apart in age so I don't teach them at the same time. We've had fun this summer, painting outside and trying new things. That's my favorite part of teaching, is introducing them to new experiences and new mediums. I didn't paint on site until I was in college so I love giving them the opportunity to do it when they're so young.

I read DIVERGENT last month. Yup, I finally jumped on the bandwagon. I really enjoyed it. It was more violent than I had expected but overall I really did love it. I got it for $6 at Walmart....can't really go wrong with that price. So I'm excited to read INSURGENT next.

And that's all for the moment. But I'll be giving an update about ADOPTION soon. :)

Painting of a house: progression {Acrylic on canvas}

Here's my most recent painting! 

I just got to give it to my amazing friend Cindy for her birthday.

This her and her husband Brian's house that they've been in for over 18 years.

So here's how it went. :)

My canvas is 1ft by 3ft.

I did 3 coats of Gesso. Canvases usually come pre-gessoed, but I prefer to do enough coats to cover some of the canvas texture.

Here's my genius idea for between coats, waiting for each to dry, I won't want to wash my brush every time or let it dry out: 

Canvas drying:

Then I draw it out on the canvas (very lightly, otherwise the graphite from your pencil can get into your paint and make life miserable, especially for lighter colors)

Sky and roof:

Once I got the main colors of the house, I moved onto the foliage. I did quite a bit of detail in the house but knew I'd go back later to add more shadows and highlights.

Then the main portions of the tree branches and the foliage that was farthest away.

Then I started on the grass and underpainting for the driveway.

More detail on.....all of it.

And then the trees.....

More detail in the grass...

And more detail in the distant trees...

Once it's finished add a protective coat. I use Krylon Crystal Clear spray fixative. 3 coats

And.....here it is: 

Hand-Painted Arcylic on Canvas: Sunset from photo

This is what I love about what I do:

I LOVE that I get to coordinate with my clients and give them my artists advice along with options. 

I want them to have a say in their artwork.
I want it to be something that, not only did I hand-paint, but especially, is uniquely theirs.

(This is why I usually talk about "WE" instead of "I" when I talk about my process.)

My friend sent me a message saying her boyfriend is a photographer and she thought having one of his photos painted would be a unique and awesome anniversary gift.

Of course, I loved that idea and told her she could send me the digital photo when she chose one. Turns out, she really just couldn't decided. So instead she sent me four of her favorites and asked me to choose. 

We went with this one: 

We talked about dimension:

As a landscape, often a longer photo and thus, a longer canvas is the best option to highlight the scene. 

We then talked about size: 

What size wall do you plan to hang it on? 

Will it be a focal point on a wall or will it be hung with an arrangement? 

We chose a 12x36 inch canvas.

We talked about depth:

Do you plan on framing the artwork?

Framing is an extra cost but can definitely be worth the money.

If you aren't framing, the best option is to go with a gallery wrapped 2 inch deep canvas. This way the painting can continue around the sides and be included in the artwork. 

We went with the gallery wrap.

After that, it was up to me!

(In the photo below: you can see how the painting wraps around the sides so it can be hung As-Is)

Cost to client:

Painting from photo: 

Deep Canvas/12x36in/Acrylic: $250

Gallery Wrap add-on: $30

TOTAL: $280

Hand-Painted Acrylic on Canvas: Lake Atitlan, Guatemala

Cost to client:

Painting from photo: 

Canvas/12x36in/Acrylic: $200
Shipping: $15 (TX-UT)

TOTAL: $215

{Art Lessons: Watercolor}

This summer Kalli isn't coming to lessons but Sheridyn still comes a couple times a month on average. Things come up on their end or mine so we don't do them every week.

Recently we started using watercolors. Just getting the idea of them. :) Nothing fancy. 

Sheridyn brought a friend one week, so that was fun!

 They each drew a fancy flower they found online together that they wanted to paint and they each re-drew it themselves on water color paper.

Then I used elmers glue to trace what they had drawn.

 We used my hair dryer to get it to dry faster. 

While they dried they used a color wheel to choose their color scheme.

Then they got to start filling it it.

 They did awesome! I wish I had a pic of their finished products! They were great!

A couple weeks later, Bryce's sister Briley joined us. 

We worked on pattern in our water color.

We did an under the sea theme and made layers in the ocean.

 I did one too. They don't like it when I don't participate. lol

Girl's Camp Flag

My calling is in YW in my ward. (Denton Third ward)

This year for Girls Camp each ward had to have a flag representing their ward and they had to represent a country of their choice because the overall theme was the olympics. :)

We ended up doing Madagascar because we didn't think anyone else would pick it and Bryce knows the language and there's the kid's movie so we thought it would be fun.

I wasn't able to go because of work so I was stoked to be able to do the flag! One of the other leaders, Becca, came over and we planned it together and then I just made it happen.

It went way faster than I thought it would and got it done in one night. :)

 "Manao Ahoana" means Hello in Malagasy.

D3 is for Denton Third Ward

The tree is a baobab tree, native to madagascar.

We did the font like on the cover of the kid's movie.

And of course "We like to MOVE IT!"...

Which was prefect because the skit our girls did was a choreographed dance.

{Art by Cherise Larue: FB and blog based only! No more website!}

My business, Art by Cherise Larue, is now blog and Facebook-based only! 

I nixed the website. Not worth it right now. :)

But I'm still here!

Currently I'm working on a painting for the book cover of  my sister's upcoming novel! 

Can't wait to finish and post it!! 

Then I have a lovely photo to draw of one of the young women in our ward. My work has, unfortunately, been put on the back burner for a while but I'm trying frantically to get back to it! 

So, please please please update your link to Art by Cherise Larue.

www.artlarue.blogspot.com

Have a lovely day!!

Art Lessons

I draw, paint, sculpt and teach art lessons. 

I'm really enjoying teaching from home. It fun, relaxed and with my current students...it's giggles the entire time and I LOVE it.

The is Kalli and Sheridyn, my 8 year old art students. 

{Portrait drawing:}

 switch!

The finished work. This was their first attempt at drawing someone in person. We have a long way to go but it's so fun to see the things they focus on when they're drawing. They're loving textures. :)

 {Mediums}

 I wanted them to get a quick experience working with as many 2-d mediums as we could. 

{graphite, colored pencil, charcoal, oil pastel, water color and acrylic}

 The paper was split into 6 squares and the original assignment was to choose one simple picture. Like a sun or a flower. Something relatively simple and render it in each medium

BUT....they're eight, you know? They immediately got bored of doing the same thing more than once. Ha! So we changed things around and it was pretty much a free for all. And they had fun.

When we first started lessons and they immediately started getting pencil all over the sides of their hands and paint up their arms, they were so concerned and out of sorts about it.

In order to remedy this, I told them that to be a "real artist", you have to get messy. 

So now every time they point out the paint up to their elbows, I just tell them it means they're becoming a true artist. It's worked pretty well, I think.....

They love naming their drawings...

{Mother's Day Painting}

First: they decided generally what they wanted to paint, using some ideas I had found on Pinterest.

Second: Choosing a background color they thought their mothers would like. We used acrylic paint and they did really well! We had to discuss how to handle canvas so you don't dent the surface or get hand oils on it. We discussed paint strokes and how to treat the brushes. 

Third: While the background paint dried, they sketched their idea onto paper and got it all planned out and then chose the colors they would use. 

Fourth: Hair dryer so we could do the whole project in under 2 hours! Mother's day comes quickly when we only have class once a week!

Fifth: Painting their flowers.
Sixth: More hair drying and then picture time!!

Kalli chose an abstract version of flowers and, according to Sheridyn, it looks "African". Kalli used a permenant marker for the stems to speed up the process and help with the fact that painting strait lines is super hard. Then used q-tips for the flowers. She did fabulous! I was really proud of her!

Sheridyn chose a dandelion painting idea and added in the sun. She also used q-tips for the whites of the dandelions. She came up with the lines on the sun to give it more interest. She did great too! So awesome!

Can't wait for next week!