Pretty Paint Party Friday

 Happy Paint Party Friday....Most Tuesday nights I go to a decorative painting class. It's taught by my friend Kathy Anthony of Beyond Brushstrokes.

It's always fun to paint with friends.  This past month we were painting this beautiful stroke work design.

I'm not crazy about stroke work but it is good practice. It's one of those things that I make myself do...like landscapes I suck at them but I make myself paint them from time to time.

The other's painted it on a very large tray. For some time I have had this green bowl with the wood top and have wanted to paint something on it. So when this project came up I just decided to do it on it. It made it a little more challenging because that meant the design was much smaller than it was designed to be but it worked out okay.

And here is the finished product!

On another topic...here's LeeLu. The other day I was sitting in my sun room with my phone and she kept wanting to "use" the phone so I turned on the camera and took a photo of her. Can you hear her say cheese?  


For more Paint Party Features visit: http://paintpartyfriday.blogspot.com/ 

Pet Portraits

So lately it seems that I have become a pet portrait artist! LOL I have done a few in the past in watercolor and on porcelain but lately I've had a run of commission work.....so check out a few.

This one was done for someone who didn't have a King Charles Spaniel but liked them...I found a photograph of one of these animals online and used it for my study

.This one was done for a friend who's dog had to be put to sleep. She had his ashes in a box and wanted to have his portrait to be mounted on it. I also did one for my cousin. She wanted her cat's portrait put on a porcelain urn into which she wanted to put his ashes. Sure enough I found a porcelain urn and painted it for her but I don't have a photo of that one.

Then just a couple of weeks ago someone wanted me to do a plate of their son's girlfriend's cat. The photo was not very sharp. It was a bit blurred but I did the best I could with it. She seemed to like it alot. So much so that she has asked me to do another one of her cat. So I'm guessing that I will be doing more pet portraits. :)

Happy Paint Party Friday.  For more Paint Party Features visit: http://paintpartyfriday.blogspot.com/ 

Outsmarting the Kitties

All of you "Cat People" can probably relate to my story.  I have 2 cats..LeeLu and Lily. I spend more money at the pet store buying things I just KNOW the girls will like.  My husband  says, "You waste your money. They won't like that." I always want to prove him wrong.


My problem is I watch all those infomercials that make it look like your cat will love whatever the item is.This time I was sure that it would be different. So I go to the pet store and buy a self grooming cat brush (you know the one in an arch) and an emery scratching board (the one where the TV cat stretches and scratches and looks so happy).


I buy them, set them up-- No Interest.  I soak them in catnip--No interest.  OH, I thought, I can outsmart those girls.  I pull out the laser pointer. They love to chase it around. I point it under the arch of the self grooming brush thinking they'd go under it brush themselves and see how good it feels..nope. They just ran around it.  I gave up.  Then I decide well maybe they need a demonstration of how to use the scratching board so I kneel down and demonstrate scratching the board. I know I looked silly.  They watched and looked very interested. Then Lily decided it was more fun to put her paw under the board, playing with a toy she swatted under there. And LeeLu just walked away.


I give up...instead of outsmarting the kitties I think they have outsmarted me.

~~~The above ACEO Original Watercolor is available in my Etsy shop-Painted Panache by Joann Y Wheeler. http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=40817607