My parents have been making me jealous updating their kitchen with new flooring, granite countertops, and tile back splashes. As they removed everything from the walls to paint, I thought to myself, I can’t let them put that old ugly shelf back on their wall. Their brand new kitchen deserves a new painting! I thought what a perfect Christmas present it would be.

I started the painting in my office before Thanksgiving and had my family over. I thought if I keep the door closed hopefully my mother will not peek in. But ofcourse, she had to give my aunt a tour of our new house. As they entered my office, I thought hopefully they will not turn around and see the painting. Sure enough, they did! I just held my breath and hoped I could keep a straight face and lie. As my mother examined the painting and said how she liked how I did the edging with the torn raised wallpaper, she asked “Where is this going?” As I laughed inside, I responded with a straight face “I’m not sure yet.” and she bought it! Then she said, “You know you could paint me a painting one of these days.” And she’s said that a couple times since then. I just think Christmas is almost here only a few more times to lie.

The other tricky part about this painting is I had to quickly guesstimate what size would look good in the space and my mother keeps changing the color of the wall! But I think I finally have her convinced that yellow on top and red below looks the best. It will also match the painting very well. I will post a picture of the finished painting on my parent’s wall after Christmas.

While I was in NoDA watching the Thunderoad Charlotte Marathon, I noticed these posters all over the Neighborhood Theater.  I was able to go the very last day. It was exciting getting to see local artists and their work. There were paintings, photographs, jewelery, arts and crafts for sale in many different styles.

I was able to get two Christmas presents, one for myself (my husband bought me a beautiful green scarf) and one for my brother. I found a display of flattened and melted down wine and beer bottles, for the use of clocks and nightlights. I thought this gift would be perfect for my almost-21-year-old brother who is still afraid of the dark! I was so excited and went to the conveniently located atm right inside of the the theater to withdraw cash. The $2.50 fee was worth it! I wish I had gone earlier in December and I would have purchased some jewelry and other items as gifts. I can’t wait for next year. I did email the NoDaRioty to ask if they could have the event more than once a year, then I could get gifts all year round.

I wish I would have taken my camera. But I was able to find some photos from the last year’s show.

Baking is not something I typically take time to do. It usually takes a birthday or a holiday to get me in the baking mood. For some reason my family only tends to bake at Christmas time, it has been a long tradition to bake several different types of cookies for Christmas. As I have started helping more of the years the recipes become easier, and I think why do we only do this once a year? Oh yea.. time!

But I think my favorite part is getting to decorate the sugar cookies (besides eating them). Using cookie cutters to cut out angels, Christmas trees, snowmen, teddy bears, stars and candy canes. Then the best part comes the decorating, this could be one of the reason’s why I am an artist today. As far back as I can remember my brother and I would get to decorate the cookies with different colors of icing and sprinkles. I think my designs have gotten better over the years! I wish I could find pictures of some of the ones I did when I was little, I’ll have to try and dig them up.

As fewer people show up for Christmas, our amount of baking never seems to decrease like you would think. So it becomes what I take in to work potlucks, parties, and this year I have neighbors; so I’ll be making tin-fulls of cookies to give to them.

OffBeatEarth.com - Interesting, humorous, random art

trendir.com - Trendir is your source for latest Home Decor Products and Trends in High-End Luxury markets. Enjoy the sense of style. Identify with the best in contemporary decor!

MySmallHomestead.com - Canning, Carnivals, Farm Animals, Farm Life, Gardening

blogohblog.com - Inspiration for creative business cards

thecoolhunter.net - The Cool Hunter celebrates creativity in all of its modern manifestations. Since its inception in 2004 The Cool Hunter has become the world’s most-read culture and design site, a leading authority on all things creative and a truly global hub for what’s cool, thoughtful, innovative and original. We value global relevance, not trends, channeling our discoveries to our worldwide audience. The Cool Hunter is a natural fit for its readers - creative influences who stay in the know and ahead of the curve

Bathroom before redesign (Already removed mirror and towel bar)

I was stuck with starch white walls, standard bathroom mirror, over-sized and outdated towel bar and toilet roll holder, and classic 90’s shinny gold light fixture.

Bathrooms are a good place to put wallpaper and patterns on the walls. I found wallpaper that I wanted to put in my 1/2 bath.

Only problem, it was going to cost me over $200 just in wallpaper for that small space! So I decided on the alternative, paint. Only $20 from Lowe’s, now that’s a price I can live with. But I still wanted some pattern and texture to add interest and separation from the other rooms.

I started by ripping down all of the outdated fixtures, and patching the walls. Next, put on a coat of olive green as my base. I really liked the pattern of the circles, but wanted them to be more organic. So I used a metal can and taped fabric over it to make my stamp. I think it turned out better than the wallpaper.

To add the finishing touches, I had my husband help me install the new modern mirror/medicine cabinet, towel and toilet roll holders with a dark bronze finish. I was able to paint the light fixture to make it look like the other brushed bronze items and switched out the globes. Saved me about $75 with not replacing the entire fixture.

I am very happy with the end result!

Bathroom redesign complete! (The picture is a little skewed - two images placed together)

cgtextures.com- CGTextures strives to be the worlds best texture site. Making textures should be about creativity, not about spending hours looking for the right image on the internet. I hope that by supplying good quality textures in an organized manner, your everyday work will be easier and more enjoyable.

stripegenerator.com - Tired of pixel-by-pixel painting, trying to create seamless stripes textures? Here we are! Enjoy using stripe generator! Unleash your personal style, experiment and download the tile. You can use it directly in your css file or as pattern in Photoshop®!

pandora.com - When was the last time you fell in love with a new artist or song? At Pandora, we have a single mission: To play music you’ll love - and nothing else. It’s my lazy way of listening to free music when all I have is a computer.

thinkgeek.com - ThinkGeek started as an idea. A simple idea to create and sell stuff that would appeal to the thousands of people out there who were on the front line and in the trenches as the Internet was forged. From programmers, engineers, students, lovers of open source, to the masses that helped create the behind-the-scenes Internet culture. ThinkGeek started as a way to serve a market that was passionate about technology.

topsecretrecipes.com - Ever wonder what the recipes from some of your favorite dishes at chain restaurants? They have recipes from Burger King to Olive garden. Although, you have to pay a small fee to view most of them, there is also a good amount viewable for FREE!

thesurfacestore.com - Interior wall removable vinyl graphics. My favorite, that I’m thinking about purchasing is under garden > Magic Tree.

photojojo.com/timecapsule- With a Flickr account you can setup to get emails of pictures from a year ago. A great, easy way to view those pictures you forgot about.

Some 30 days later, I have finished my first painting. As promised, here is the finished product:

What I love about this painting is not only the end result, but also what I have learned. Having a plan was essential, there is no way it would have come out the way it did without a good plan of action. Patience is key, unless you are going to paint like Pollock by throwing the paint around. I did not have a deadline since I was the client for a change, and it was wonderful and calming to paint a few hours each day. Once I started to become tired or agitated I stopped, because I knew if I continued I would make poor decisions and ruin the painting and craftsmanship. I did not want to rush through it, although, my husband did not appreciate the couch being in the middle of the living room so I could paint it hanging on the wall. I had no choice, I was out of room!

The style and subject that I choose I believe was a good choice because I could skew the tree without it looking strange, especially working with a large size canvas; and it was fairly easy to paint. One major lesson learned, was if you know you will need to be using the exact color over a large area, make sure you have plenty mixed and put it in a container with a lid. That way you don’t run out and have to try mixing the exact color, because it’s not possible.

I am very happy with my painting and proud. It definitely puts a smile on my face when I walk into my living room. The paint colors, size, and canvas material is what makes it original, even with using a famous picture as my inspiration.

Read “Painter? Well maybe.”

A common question that I get asked is, “Where do you get your inspiration?” I should really start answering, “Where don’t I get inspiration from? It’s everywhere!” There are many sources of inspiration for a designer/artist. From commercials, internet, peers, to everyday life. Inspiration is everywhere, you just need to realize it and capture it.

When I am in between projects, I try to spend my time searching around the internet using StumbleUpon and bookmarking my favorite sites with GMarks, browsing around AIGA.org, learning new tutorials for the different programs I use, picking up print materials that interest me, subscribing to graphic design firms’ newsletters, visiting bookstores to flip through graphic design books, purchasing graphic design books/magazines, and many others. Some of my favorite magazines: Communication Arts, HOW, Print, I.D., Step, and GD USA. While most are costly, you can usually get the first issue free, and cancel your subscription if you are not happy with it. Some of the books that have helped me are: “Graphic Design that works” by Rockport, “Stop Stealing Sheep & find out how type works” by Erick Spiekermann & E.M. Giner, “Best of Brochure Design” by Jason Godfrey, and many others. If I had the funds to fill a library of my own, I would. I like going to the bookstore to look through them and then buy cheaper from amazon.com.

When I’m working on a project, I can be going for a jog, out shopping, or watching TV and all the sudden and idea will just hit me; sometimes even out of the blue, which I know usually happens to most of us designers. When the mind is free to wander it will! I have a handy little note pad that I keep with me at all times, so I write my ideas down so I don’t forget them.

Where do you get inspiration from?

I did things a little backwards, I started journaling before I realized I wanted to add a blog to my website. That is why I have past articles and I am just now making my blog live.

My mind usually never rests, I am always thinking up some new creative project that I want to work on. I enjoy learning new things, sharing with others, and continuing to grow as an individual and a professional graphic designer. This blog will not only be about graphic design, but also art, photography and anything else that falls under creative. I am a creative thinker at heart, and I did not want to limit this to just graphic design, because there is more to me than that.

Keep up with my journey of exploring my creative ideas. Please feel free to comment on the posts. Add this blog to your RSS feed! Thanks for reading.

– Amy Lynn