When Life Hands You a Shed....Name Her Frida

"I paint flowers so they will not die." 

— Frida Kahlo

    It has been a busy summer (actually year, of not blogging). But a lot of projects were conquered. This the last one started and finished is a little shed I like to call: Frida. If you have known me long you will know that I have a bit of a fascination with flora and fauna, oh, and wings.  My beautiful friend presented her quandary that she wanted an artist to paint her shed. I racked my brain and thought, why not, why should the fact that I've never painted a mural stop me?  So without further ado, Ladies and Gentlemen: Frida.



    The idea was scribbled out on a notepad and folded into sections when the time came to draw it out on the wall. (Here is a link showing you long hand how to do this:) http://design.tutsplus.com/tutorials/how-to-use-a-grid-to-enlarge-an-image-while-drawing--cms-20593 
    I used chalk to show up on the wall that I painted first. I wish I could say that I'm the type of artist that freehand draws but mostly I work from several pictures. (I mostly prefer realistic looking things, the easier to "cheat" with pictures.)
    Once I finished painting I cut mirror bits to glue onto the dragonfly wings. Mosaic is my first love and I wanted to reflection close to the water.



 Here is the design that I fit the glass into. I loved mixing the mediums and will most likely do it in the future.

 Here is the finished lakeside. What a blast having boaters pull up close enough to throw out a few "hoorays"!   I knew I wanted a sunflower on the street facing side and to surprise the client, I added in a portrait of her adorable kitty, Sneetches.  Here is the initial layout. I ended up changing the background color to the same blue-green on the other side to make the flower pop.

 I thought this was the finished deal until I woke up the next day and decided to write some beloved quotes all over the flower, the cat even got to wear one or two. And here is Miss Sneetches inspecting her portrait. She would not sit still long enough so I had to work from pictures:)

 Here are a few closeups of some quotes.

 The final final shed picture. What a blast! I put a few coats of marine varnish on it to save it from our harsh Michigan winters. It could probably use a couple more just to be safe. So thankful for the opportunity to create such fun artwork (thanking the divine thoughts that inspire me as well:)