Cupcake's Creations

a trio of pink Irises 18

Mona Pendleton | Tuesday, June 7, 2016 @ 9:55 PM | Iris , Oil Painting

Hi there! I hope you are having a great week! I'm having fun painting Irises. Today I have a trio of pink Irises to share that I painted on a 12" x 12" gessoed board:

My source of inspiration was this photo that I found on the website, "Paint My Photo" courtesy of Debra Babcock:

My goal was to paint a bit more impressionistic Irises. When all is said and done, I am gaining the ability to step back, look at my painting and see where I could make changes. I think I "over stroked" the Irises on this one but it was a learning exercise :)

I started this painting by first sketching the Irises on the surface:

followed with a random application of various acrylic paints:

For color inspiration, I joined along with the current Berry71Bleu color inspiration story:

I'm also linking this painting to the Paint Party Friday site:

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Be Sweet ;)

a luminescent white Iris 24

Hi there! I hope you had a great weekend! While Scott and I were in the Los Angeles area for a weekend get away recently, we visited the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden. We photographed so many beautiful flowers including the white Iris shown below:

I've seen so many beautiful paintings featuring various Iris's which inspired me to try to paint this magnificent flower. I referred to one of The Beauty of Oil Painting books by artist Gary Jenkins as I painted this luminescent white Iris on an 8" x 8" gessoed board using acrylics for the background and oils for the rest:

I was pleasantly surprised with my first attempt but I can definitely see where I need to make stroke improvements. I squeezed out more than enough paints on the palette so I'm going to make good use of it and have another go.

Here's what the background looked like before I painted the Iris and foliage. As you can see, I sketched the Iris prior to painting the background:

For color inspiration, I joined along with the Color Throwdown color challenge:

I'm also linking to Paint Party Friday:

Many thanks for stopping by ~ I hope you have a great day!
Be Sweet ;)

a trio of roses 26

Mona Pendleton | Sunday, June 5, 2016 @ 9:55 AM | Beauty of Oil Painting , Gary Jenkins , Oil Painting

Hi! I hope all is well with you! I'm still here, living the dream and enjoying life :) Although I had a project to share, it's been over a month since I took the time to craft for various reasons. I sort of lost my crafty mojo along the way. Not sure if it's related to the 6 years non stop of blogging, dt responsibilities or a combination of various things. I may have one more Prima project to share then my term will be complete. I've stepped down from the other dt's that I was on, just lost the interest to craft. I've been quite busy taking care of my family, myself and completing domestic projects around the home. I've always been involved in fitness since childhood and that has carried over into my lifestyle. Being a woman nearing 50, maintaining my girly shape has become even more challenging but I'm always up for the challenge :) I spend many hours a week exercising either indoors or outdoors. It's a lot of hard work and dedication but is so rewarding. Here I am at the gym :)

My sweet husband built and surprised me with this rose garden for Mother's Day!

Another HUGE project that both Scott and I tackled was replacing our outdoor couch cushion coverings. I received a quote for $1,200.00 to replace the cushions which I thought was quite outrageous since I have the ability and skills to sew! I cost us $250. to do it ourselves! Scott cut ALL the fabric and I did all the sewing :) Here's the before picture:

and here's the after:

Here's my little helper Gretchen putting the cushions through quality control :)

Scott made a custom cabinet to store my paper organizer in. Here's a few pics along the way. Once he built it, he base painted it brown so when it was distressed, the dark brown surface would peek through:

I painted it using Martha Stewart chalk paint:

We both worked on sanding it to distress it, Scott applied the antiquing glaze then I applied the polyurethane:

and here it is in my craft room :)

Feeling refreshed after a month's break from creating, I pulled out my paints and palette last night and followed along with Gary Jenkins Old Fashioned Roses video tutorial. This is a 12" x 12" gessoed board:

I need to get the hang of a paintbrush in my hand again. Just like anything, practice, practice, practice...

I'm linking this to Paint Party Friday:

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Be Sweet ;)

Dream 18

Mona Pendleton | Tuesday, May 17, 2016 @ 9:34 AM | Julie Nutting , Prima , Vintage Emporium

Hi! Today I have an over sized greeting card to share featuring the beautiful Julie Nutting "Gina" girl stamp. I love her sweet elegant style which compliments the products included in the beautiful Vintage Emporium collection.

I stamped Gina on various patterned papers from the Vintage Emporium collection then carefully trimmed around the stamp "body" and clothing so I could give her a paper pieced outfit. I surrounded her with lots of pretty flowers from the Vintage Emporium collection as well as die cut foliage: