Let's Paint a Rooster

> Welcome. I am so happy that you stopped by. My front door is always open to invite you in to sit and relax with a cup of hot tea while I share with you the inspirations for my art. I am painting a whimsical Rooster painting today and would like to invite you to paint a Rooster with me. I have always wanted to have enough land to have a charming little chicken coop, however, I live near the ocean where the lots are small and we do not have room for chickens. Since I do not have any real Roosters to show you, I will show you the Roosters in my kitchen.Bentley, my Studio Assistant, is waiting to bring you inside to look for rooster inspirations in our kitchen.

This mosaic tray with the whimsical rooster is one of my inspirations.

Finding inspiration . . . . .

I have lots of blue and white in my kitchen and am thinking about painting a blue and white Rooster.

Fall flowers on patio off my kitchen. The blue Rooster pillow is one of my inspirations for a whimsical painting.

My apron has whimsical rooters frockling about.

More blue and white roosters

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There . . . . .

Roosters on my kitchen chandelier.

Everwhere . . . . .

More blue and white Rooster inspirations.

With all of the blue and white inspirations I am ready to start painting. If you would like to paint along with me you are welcome to copy my sketch. I sketched a very simple Rooster that should be easy for beginners. I paint on canvas, however, you can paint on wood, slate, or anything you want to. I like to base coat the white canvas before I start painting as it is easier to see the sketch. I paint with Liquitex acrylic paints as they are non-toxic.

After the sketch, I decide on the background and decide what to paint. .. then lightly paint in the background to get the feel of how it will look . .. by painting with watered down paints it is easy to change the background . Next I paint in the darks - notice I painted in the blues on the body of the Rooster and lightly painted in the feathers to get the feeling of how the Rooster will look with a blue body.

Next, I painted in the feathers and darkened up the background. Since the painting is so whimsical with blue feathers, I decided to add some geraniums for the Rooster to stand in - I felt it added another touch of whimsy. Add a tiny white dot to the Rooster's eye. You can paint your Rooster any color - if you want a more traditional Rooster, you can paint the body and tail feathers brown, black or any traditional color.

The completed whimsical Rooster.

"For the Lord is good and his love endures forever." Psalm 100:5

Thank you for stopping by. I love hearing from you and sincerely appreciate your visits, comments and those who are following my blog. Please let me know if you have any questions or would like to see me paint something special.

Have a lovely week. Blessings, Erin

Winter Pansies

> Welcome. I am so happy that you stopped by. My garden gate is always open for you to come in and sit and relax with a cup of hot tea while I share with you the inspirations for my art. We are still having unusually warm weather for January in Southern California and today is a perfect day to sit in my garden enjoying the sunshine. My winter pansies are in full bloom. For those of you who are snowed in this week, I hope that you will enjoy your visit. Pansies do very well in our winter weather and the only flowers blooming in my garden at this time.

Bentley, my helpful Studio Assistant, is in the garden looking for inspiration.

Finding inspiration . . . . . .

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There . . . . .

Everywhere . . . . . .

Enjoy the beauty and quietness of the flowers.

"In quietness and in trust shall be your strength." Issiah 30:15

I picked a little bouquet of pansies and arranged them in a blue and white pitcher sitting on a blue denim table runner in the garden. I loved the look and decided to use this as a still life set up to paint.

Here is the completed painting.

Thank you for stopping by. I love hearing from you and sincerely appreciate your visits, comments and those of you who are following my blog. Please let me know if you have any questions or would like to see me paint something special.

Have a lovely week. Blessings, Erin

My Art Studio . . Here. .There . . Everywhere

> Welcome. I am so glad that you stopped by. I thought it would be fun to share with you photos of my art studio and where I paint since I receive so many questions asking: " if I have a studio and where do I paint and create?"

I started off painting at Cannery Paints located in Newport Beach, California. Cannery Paints (http://www.cannerypaints.com/) is located in the old historic district filled with art galleries and fun and funky little shops. The Cannery was a real working cannery located on the Newport Bay and is now a popular restaurant. Marilyn Poliquin is the owner and fabulous Artist in Residence and has been a mentor to me for years.









Interior of Cannery Paints

I love the old paint splatterd tables.

"Tools of the Trade"

When I am not painting at Cannery Paints I paint in my home studio or in my garden. Let's head over to my house and I will show you some of my favorite places to paint :

Here . . . There. . . . .Everywhere . . . .

Sometimes I paint in my office/studio - this is also where I blog. This is a spare bedroom and I put curtains over the closet doors to give it the feel of a studio/office.

Lots of sun shines in the windows and I can keep fresh potted plants in the room for inspiration.

The green wicker chair has been in a lot of my paintings - usually I paint it white in the painting.

Now let's go into my garage. I have a huge garage with lots of built in cupboards where I store my canvas and supplies. I faux painted bricks and flag stone on the floor.

More of the faux floor. I bought the work table at a garage sale for $10. and painted it green. The chair was free.

I white washed the interior garage doors with white to give the background a barn-like feel. I also divided the garage into two spaces - one for my car and the other for my art. I bought the white washed storage bins from Joanne and they are perfect for storing art books..

The market umbrella trimmed with lace is one I use at art shows and store in my studio. The jelly cupbard is used to store "props" that I use in my paintings. I also used old shutters to enclose the studio from the rest of the garage.

I also bought the storage boxes on the floor from Joanne and use them to store file folders with art materials.

This is the other side of my garage. I store my paints in this old cabinet and hung up white curtians to conceal the washer and dryer area.

When the weather is nice I like to paint outside on the patio off my kitchen or in my garden where I can smell the flowers.

Thank you for stopping by for a visit. I love hearing from you and sincerely appreciate you comments and those of you who follow my blog. Please let me know if you have any questions or would like to see me paint something special.

Have a lovely week. Blessings, Erin