You Are My Sunshine

About a month ago, my friend Laura sent me a picture of a painting she had found online made by an artist names Shelley Levis of sowandipity.com (you can see a picture of it here).  She asked me if I could make something similar for her not-yet-decorated nursery (she is due in April).  I told her I would be glad to but that if she wanted, I could also show her how to make it herself.

This past Saturday, we got together to do just that.  My sister came too.  We were a bit worried about the weather as the news reports were warning of a major winter storm on the way.  The morning sunrise looked like this:

and you know what they say about "red in the morning"!

They arrived about 9 a.m. and the snow didn't start until noon.  Here's how it looked outside while we were playing inside.

We broke for lunch around 1 and drove a few blocks along snow-covered streets for a quick bite at a nearby Subway.  Once we came back, we worked right through until about 6 p.m. and by then, the snow had turned to rain and the roads were less risky.  Luckily, both ladies made it home with no issues.

Here are some of the work-in-progress photos:

Neither of them had worked in mixed media before so I had fun introducing them to a bunch of new products and techniques.  I have a feeling this won't be the last project either of them works on!

Laura and I worked on her big canvas while Janine worked on a small canvas of her own.  I showed them both how to add a background layer of papers, then how to start painting over it and adding textural elements.  By the end, all 3 of us had contributed to Laura's canvas in one way or another - a true collaborative piece of art!  Here's Laura holding our finished masterpiece:

As she was leaving, Laura said to me, "you're going to blog about this, aren't you?"  My answer? "Of course!!"