Showing posts with label artwork. Show all posts
Showing posts with label artwork. Show all posts

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Fresh and Airy Art Studio


 I just recently got around to giving my art room a fresh coat of paint and a carpet removal. For 2 years, I tolerated the electric lime and raspberry splashed on the walls of this room, for lack of energy and lack of time. I just couldn't bare to paint another room or rip more strips of carpet. 

Before:
 

But now its done and I can paint and create without getting a headache!  

After:




First up was removing the beige carpet, already spotted with multiple uh-ohs from paint splatters and spills. After tossing it all out, I gave the subfloor a sweeping, caulked and wood-filled the gaps, and then sanded it all lightly to make smooth. I used SW Porch and Floor Paint in Glidden's Olivewood (2 coats), coated with Pro Finisher Water Based Polyurethane (2 coats) then installed quarter round to the base board. Phew!! The floor process was a little tiresome, but not difficult to complete. 

Finally, the walls were painted in SW Fragile Beauty.

It's fresh and clean. An airy, blank slate for injecting color into works of art. 

 

I still use my Meemaw's butcher block that I painted white and stocked with art supplies. 
(On the shelf; my abstract straw art from first grade :)




On one open wall, I hung my open back frames that had been dispersed among closets and shoved in corners. Now they're visible, accessible, and look pretty cool while waiting for the canvas to fill them.


On the opposite wall I hung random pieces of art, paintings that don't have a place in our house, and some paintings just waiting to be painted over.

I love the color and sheen of the floors and they wipe up easily. 
I keep the bulk of the art supplies and crafty things tucked away in the closet to maintain a clean and open space.

I keep it quiet in here. 
Billie Holiday sings. I paint. 
Winning combination.


Have a wonderful weekend!
Katie

Monday, January 7, 2013

Arkansas Will Never Yield, No 2

 My friend Fredisha has been saying for years that when she finished dental school and had her own place, she wanted a big razorback painting like one I auctioned off for the boys club a few years ago. She kept her word and now has this 24x30 painting to make a statement in her own dentist's townhouse.



It was nice to paint during the holidays with Christmas music playing in my newly redecorated art room that I can share soon.

Keep in Touch!

The Grays


Monday, September 17, 2012

Vintage Travel Trunk

My Aunt Susie has this old...Old...OLD...family heirloom black travel trunk that she is sure was brought over from Italy when the family came to America.


She asked me to do a little something to make it more special and I bounced around several ideas for a few weeks. I was going to mod-podge a map of Italy using scrapbook paper but couldn't find any after several shopping trips. Then I had the idea of painting the top to look like a blown-up version of a vintage postcard from Ancona, Italy...where our family is from. It was a really easy project and just took me a day to finish.

I primed the top with spray primer, using just a light coat.


Then I painted the base coat a creamy, light tan; the color an aged postcard would be. She plans to put it by her sunroom, so I used a black paint pen to script the following quote, translated into Italian:

::Home sweet home:
Where ivy grows, roses bloom,
and sunlight fills my favorite room. ::

I sanded lightly by hand to distress age it, then top coated with 2 coats of a water-based poly.

Here's the finished Product:


The "stamp" has the year they immigrated, 1902, and the city they were from.


I wrote the English translation on the inside of the trunk.


I think it turned out classy, eclectic, and hopefully special.



Until next time!
Katie

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

G for the "Old" Grays


 You know what I love? Crossing things off a list. The act gives me an adrenaline rush like a current of bubbling satisfaction like you wouldn't believe. I crossed 4 projects off my chalkboard to-do list in one Saturday last weekend. And only 4 remain on the master list of "Summer Projects." I can't believe it! I lost count of the total, but my summer was dedicated to getting things DONE. Sure, the fall list is already waiting for as soon as summer ends, but for today:

  

...I'm pretending my list looks like this.  Will it ever? No of course not! But what is there to do if there's nothing to do? Exactly. Good point huh?

One of those 4 was a monogram painting for the "old" grays (Sean's parents) that his mom had asked for. She wanted a big G to go over her piano in the kitchen, as she is finishing up her kitchen update. 
I used a wood letter ($2) and mod-podged scrap book paper on it to place in the center of the canvas, then painted the design around it. 
 

 Beneath it is the "Est. 1984", the year they were married, and their initials. 


I had it finished as a surprise when they got back from St. Louis for a wiffleball tournament. I decided to forgo the trip to work on some things and have a weekend of non-rushed project time. And it felt amazing!
 
And she loved it:)

With Love,
The "New" Grays

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Hadley's Artwork

 Sweet baby girl Hadley will be here NEXT WEEK! My bff Lindsay will be welcoming baby girl number two on the 1st and it is so surreal to think it's been almost 2 years since I finished big sister Avery's artwork for her nursery.

Avery's nursery was gray, pink, black and white, and this is the piece I painted to go over her crib.
 

With those same gray walls, Hadley's nursery will be gray, red, black and white, and here is her painting!
 

 ...to go with this awesome bedding.

A whole new look for another precious baby girl. Here we go again!

You can also see nursery artwork for Davis, JonBraxton, and Hollice

~Katie

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Dandelion Abstract


 I felt like our mantle needed a big statement piece to brighten up the room. And I love how this painting did exactly that.
 My aunt gave me a bunch of large canvases from her attic that I could paint over.  I used aqua, turquoise, yellow and gray for this abstract of a blowing dandelion and was able to knock it out in a couple hours...


You really notice it as soon as you walk in the room. First, I "drew" the dandelion and the pieces blowing in the wind with elmer's glue and let it dry over night to raise the dandelion off the canvas for a little texture. Then I painted over it all.
 

The living room is almost ready for that "after" picture:)

Have a great day!
Katie


Sunday, July 1, 2012

Nursery Art

 It's July. Seriously?  Our summer is flying by, jam-packed with traveling non-stop and so many activities. I haven't been posting my artwork lately, but that's not because I haven't been painting. My brushes have been used so often once summer hit that they just stay in the fridge between paintings. I'd sure like to wash them and hang them up for a while but I've got a list to accomplish and a set time to do it in! 

We're leaving for Jamaica next week for our early first wedding anniversary trip (already!!!) but I'll have lots of posts of new projects ready to go.

I recently painted 2 pieces of nursery art for 2 very dear friends...And I still have one more to go! 


Meghan delivered baby girl Davis in May and wanted a chevron piece with her initials. This one I barely wrapped up in time...I had an oval canvas that I thought would be adorable in a nursery. But when I painted the chevron pattern on, it turned into an easter egg...Disaster. So I started over and the final result was much much better!

 

The next one was for Hayden's soon-to-arrive baby boy, JonBraxton. She sent me a picture of a sock monkey to match his bedding. I cut and braced 4 wood planks together and put a gray wash on it for the background.     


He turned out pretty darn cute!

Last up (well, hopefully for a while:) is Lindsay's number 2 baby girl, Hadley, due next month. 

But next up for me is a week of sun, water, and drinks with my husband on the island of Jamaica!

Stop back soon!
Katie
 

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Commissioned Baseball Player Portrait

My friend Jessica, a fellow OT and former classmate of mine, asked me to paint this portrait of her husband Brian from his college baseball days as a birthday present. He is now a teacher and baseball coach for Greene County Tech. A photograph capturing this play hung framed on the wall in their home. She told him it fell and was going to be reframed...but instead it was on its way to me via the US postal service! I didn't take a pic of the original photograph, but here's the "artist's rendering"...


Close up:


Need any unique birthday or wedding present ideas? Message me for sports portraits, pet portraits, last names/initials, or any home decor art for a one of a kind gift!

XOXO,
Katie

Saturday, December 4, 2010

My own Art Studio!



I knew as soon as I saw this room upstairs that it was THE room. The room that would be the perfect space to create and store all my artsy stuff...I originally wanted to paint my art room an airy light aqua blue, but we ran out of painting steam a kitchen, a bedroom, and a laundry room later.



And then, the watermelon pink and electric lime grew on me, as it was oddly reminiscent of my adolescent bedroom (right down to the exact colors and two toned walls). AND THEN when I got all my junk in there, I started realizing how many pink and green color combos I had done without realizing. So it was meant to be, at least for now, and now it stays.

My painting table is the old butcher block from my Meemaw's kitchen.

Here's the butcher block BEFORE, sitting sad and filthy in a garage.


Here's the AFTER with a scrub down and a fresh coat of paint.


Impressive!

I already had the chairs and the shelf was rescued from the attic.

I strung wire from each side of the window and use clothespins to hang ideas and inspiration pictures.



I made these glass jars to use in the pantry but loved how the colored pencils looked displayed in them instead.



My mom's easel and my meemaw's brush basin.

My abstract straw art from 1st grade!


Sean, his mom and grandma checking out the studio at our housewarming.

I love painting up here! Even more, I love not dragging my equipment to whatever surface I was painting on that day...bed, floor, bathroom counter.

It's peaceful and quiet and overlooks...well, the street. So it's not exactly a "room overlooking the river" but it's just perfect for me.


Monday, November 1, 2010

Framed T-Shirt

I am definitely a sentimental person. Each piece of art on display in my house has some special meaning. I have such vivid memories and sentimental attachment to a school play we did in the 1st grade...It had an "around the world" theme where select students dressed in boy and girl pairs from different countries around the world. I was half of the Italian pair. My mom made my little Italian girl costume from scratch and the boy's grandma made his. Each pair walked across the gym holding hands and said into the microphone, "Hello, from _____" in their native language.

Obviously "Arrivederci" was a little too complicated for two 6 year olds, so we went with the more manageable "Ciao, from Italy!"
For the rest of the play, we all wore t-shirts with neon painted stick figures.

The boys wore neon hats and the girls wore neon bows. We sang "Love in any language" and We Are the World" and "Heal the World" by Michael Jackson, standing around a big earth on the gym floor. It was all so warm and fuzzy...and I LOVE warm and fuzzy:)

I still have that little shirt and I still love it.

I always love kids art that is framed and I knew I wanted this in my house, but I couldn't bare to cut the t-shirt up...I can still wear it after all:) So I folded it around a frame and called it a day.
Using a sharpie, I wrote lyrics from "Heal the World" in the corner.


"And the dream we were concieved in
Will reveal a joyful face.
And the world we once believed in,
Will shine again in grace."


I love the innocence and purity that children represent.
It has claimed a spot in a display cabinet in my kitchen...and it makes me smile:)


XOXO,
Katie

Friday, October 29, 2010

"For this child, I have prayed"

We had a baby shower at work for Chamblee, a physical therapist, who is welcoming a baby girl named Hollice soon. I asked for a sneak peak of pics of her bedding from our boss, and when I saw the yellow and green, came up with this...



This painting was a personal first for me in a couple ways. It was the first painting I ever completely free-hand painted, without penciling anything first. It was also the FIRST painting I completed in my new home art studio! (Which you will see soon...)

I came to the startling realization recently that my paintings will not be "Katie Marconi"s for much longer, so I'm going to try to do as many as I can while I can still sign that signature!


"For this child I have prayed, And the Lord has granted the desires of my heart."
1 Samuel 1:27

XOXO,
Katie

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Painted Wood Signs and Kitchen Art


Happy Labor Day Weekend friends! On this labor day weekend, I've been laboring away... continuing my quest to complete at least 2 projects each weekend. I've been a busy little bee the last couple days, and have crossed several projects off my list!

I showed you a homemade wood sign I painted a couple months ago. Here are two more I've completed for the new house. And Sean would want his shout out, I'm sure. The wood cutting was by him!


This one is for my kitchen, obviously! I can see it propped in a hutch or on the cabinet ledge.



This little bit will go in our guest room. I want to create a vintage-y cozy cottage and this sign will go on a dresser or chest. I found some OLD vintage photos of my Meemaw's out in the garage when I was rummaging and I can't wait to blow them up and retouch them.


I also finished a little art project for my kitchen I'd been working on. I did a colored pencil drawing of 3 spices inspired by Hannah Peyton's "Herbal Zest". I found some old, gold frames in the garage that contained water/sun damaged pictures.

{Before}

I cleaned them up and coated the frames with "Oil-Rubbed Bronze" spray paint, then placed my drawings inside, framed by white card stock.

{After}

They will be hung vertically beside the pantry when we're all moved in.

The biggest project of the weekend is ALMOST done and will complete this one...so stay tuned.

Monday, August 30, 2010

'M' is for McCorkle

I met my beautiful friend Kimberly {Kimbo} in OT school. We went through alot together in those 3 years, right up until the end when we found out on the same day that we had both passed our boards and were seated next to each other for our graduation ceremony because she is now an 'M'.

She married Brock McCorkle in December of 2009 in a fairytale winter wedding...

Isn't that the most gorgeous photo moment ever? They are a model couple. Seriously.

I was sick and couldn't make it to her wedding and she and Brock moved to Texarkana right after. I was too scared to attempt to mail a gift that couldn't exactly be replaced, so she received a very belated wedding gift on graduation day...in August!


She says they love it and I really hope so!
Oh, and by the way. Wedding etiquette says gifts can be given for an entire year after the wedding before they are considered belated...so maybe it's not so bad!

Kimbo, you're one of the sweetest, funniest people I've ever known! I am so glad we could enjoy this crazy ride together and I really hope yall will come visit sometime. Love you!


XOXO, Katie

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Bud Walton, Here come the Razorbacks!

For it's A-A-A-R-K-A-N-S-A-S for Arkansas!
Fight! Fight! Fi-i-i-ight!


My Dad gave me a program booklet a while ago, with a painting inside representing the inaugural Arkansas Razorback game at Bud Walton arena in 1993. The painting depicted a Razorback busting through the gym floor, and Dad asked if I could paint one like it for him. His birthday was July 21st and this is what he got...


Close up:
I was pleased with how it turned out. Only the best for the biggest Razorback fan!
Go Hogs!

XOXO,
Katie