Triathlon Sunday

The day finally came for David to attempt his very first triathlon! Although the day was pretty icky, with rain and cold, and the transitioning between events didn't go quite as smoothly as David would have liked, he did AWESOME!!! Keep in mind he just started swimming a couple months ago for the first time. He had a couple friends coaching him in the mornings before work and boy did it pay off. He got 9th out of 95! Way to go hun! Your amazing!!!...in so many ways. Your one of the most determined individuals I know. Your always pushing outside the box and learning new things along the way! Your such an inspiration to me and I'm so thankful to have you in my life! I love you a ton. Congrats!!

While daddy was out on his bike ride, Kaelyn was busy flirting. Oh my! At least he seemed like a sweetheart and was the same age. Ha,ha!

Touched Creatively Coming Soon and Updates!

Wow! Have I been busy! Sorry to those who have been checking my blog and haven't seen an update for awhile. The last couple of days I spent some much needed time with family, which was a lot of fun. Now that I'm back home, I'm overloaded with work. Of course I bring a lot of it on myself! That's what us artists do. Our brains never turn off. So that brings me to tell you about my new adventure. My husband and I are always bouncing off ideas with one another and due to that I am starting a magazine. David sparked this idea on April 1st. In one day I had the name of the magazine, Touched Creatively, with all the ideas of what I wanted it to include. Several artists from across the U.S. will be featured and I only have a couple more to hear back from and I will have a full issue! Very exciting! I can't wait to share these amazing talents with you! So, not only do I have to design the magazine, I have to be the editor, design and launch a website, and promote it as much as I can. There is so much information I want to share but you'll just have to wait until the website launches by mid-May and the first published issues will be up for purchase hopefully by the end of May...keeping my fingers crossed(and praying!) that everything goes smoothly! One thing I will share with you now is the logo. (colors will vary)

We'll be watching David do his first triathlon on Sunday. Will be exciting! Have a great weekend!

Featured on Pecannoot!

Talented Artist, Jess Gonacha, featured my "Inner Strength" acrylic painting on Pecannoot today. She is a sweetheart who has a fun blog idea involving art showing abundance. She also has such a creative imagination for her own paintings and design work. Here is one of my favorite pieces she has done. Your awesome Jess! Check out her etsy shop or website to see more.

the bird lady by Jess Gonacha

Weekend Full of Family and Food

Happy Easter! The busy weekend is over. My tummy is still over flowing with all the goodness I ate Saturday and Sunday. We definitely weren't hard up for food with the three family Easters we attended. There were lots of Easter baskets, eggs, food and chatting. Kaelyn was sure entertaining this Easter and enjoyed many firsts like going on an Easter egg hunt and dyeing eggs. You would have thought it was Christmas with all the goodies she got from her relatives! Can't imagine what it will be like next year! Here are a few shots of the fun...

Friday, I spent almost all day in the kitchen making food for the weekend festivities. Thought a fruit pizza would be good for the Saturday brunch. A bunch of good fruit always looks so refreshing. Then there is Kaelyn on her first egg hunt, but it took her awhile to get the hang of it as she just wanted to play with grandma's cat!!! She had lots of fun dyeing eggs and liked being able to throw the egg into the colors!

Then a photo of one of the most memorable parts of this Easter was the exciting news Kaelyn shared with an egg she had received earlier in the week from England. She's having a new cousin in September!!! We are all excited to meet the little one!

And we definitely can't forget to thank the Lord for making all this possible. We are so very blessed!

New Painting "Seeking Your Path"

Here's my newest acrylic painting I completed early this last week. I was struggling with the colors because every time I look at anothers artist's work with bright colors it makes me want to go brighter, but after three tries I ended up back to my earthy color palette. I thought maybe it was just my style but when I painted at the open studio yesterday I did come out with a brighter painting...its not finished yet. (that one is going in the direction of being a kid painting...Kaelyn loved the colors) Anyway, I guess these colors just fit my theme the best, and was just meant to work out the way it did. I titled it "Seeking Your Path" and it was inspired by Ralph Waldo Emerson's quote, "Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." We need to be inspired to make our own path in life and not just be a follower. Sometimes it takes a lot of encouragement and faith to follow our heart and dreams, but life goes by so quickly so why not take the chance and leave our own trail!? No matter what happens you will learn something new and you won't have to regret not trying it in the future. Hope you enjoy it. Prints are available in my etsy shop if your interested.

Open Studio Art Day!

If you live around the Lake Preston, SD area and love doing art(painting, drawing, collage) or even if you've always wanted to try it, bring your own supplies and meet at the Lake Preston Community Room this Saturday. You can work on a project from 10:00am to 3:00pm. If you're unable to spend the whole day, come when you can. Another open studio will be held on May 2. So mark your calendars! Also this time a potluck will be held over the noon hour, so bring a dish to share.

This event is hosted by the Prairie Lakes Area Arts Council.

The cute spring graphic above is from house of three.

Photo Editing: Before and After Shots

I love, love Photoshop!!! It is such an amazing program and I am always learning something new with it. I thought I should show some before and after photos so you get an idea of how much you can change a photograph. The options are really endless but here are a couple photographs showing some of my editing skills. Hope you enjoy...I loved doing it!
These photos are from the photography shoot I did for Chloe's baby announcements. Like I said, I am not a professional photographer...very obvious from the before photos. Kids don't stay still for long, and I liked Hailey's expression on the top/left one but Chloe's on the bottom/left so I combined them and changed the color to sepia with a touch of a lighting effect. Thought it turned out pretty cute of the new sisters!
Below is one of the photos I used for the baby announcement (shown in a previous post). As you can see, the background didn't matter since I completely deleted it to have a fun spring green color.
So if you ever want any of your photos to get a new fresh look, let me know. The only thing that I need to work from is a clear and a fairly large digital sized image.

"Flying Home" in Memory of Cole Ruotsala

This is a photo of the entire "Flying Home" acrylic painting that I previously posted about and only showed a small portion of. The story of three year old Cole is heart breaking but through it all you can see God working and reaching out to so many through this family. It is absolutely amazing! It all started the end of July 2008 when young Cole was complaining about stomach pains and when his family got it checked out it ended up being a horrible cancerous tumor. In only eight short weeks after the stomach pains, Cole went to be with the Lord! I can't imagine having your whole life turn up side down so quickly and to loose your child at such a young age! Cole's parents showed amazing faith through their devastating loss and kept writing journals on Caring Bridge website from the start of their son being in the hospital all the way to the present. They have started C.O.L.E.'s foundation (stands for Caring Openly, Loving Eternally) where people are able to join and offer prayers and support for other families and children going through struggling illnesses. It really means the world to these families to know that there are other people out there that show they care and try to help out in many different ways. The family is trying to get as many people aware of children's cancer to try and find a cure so other families don't have to go through the pain they are. Please visit http://www.colesfoundation.com/ for more information. Thank you Ruotsala family for sharing your story. You have helped make me a better person by strengthening my faith and opening my heart to offer other struggling families support and encouragement and I am not the only one. Cole's Caring Bridge site has had over a million hits! There word is spreading so I encourage you to read their story!!! Your able to read their entire journal so if you get some time do so!

Meaning behind "Flying Home": The lower right represents a storm which was the eight horrible weeks that Cole was sick, the tragedy, how real life is on Earth, that things aren't perfect. Then it goes to the angel wings. God took Cole home so their would be no more struggling and life would be perfect. Cole is finally free. He served God and his job on Earth was complete. The doves flying represent the faith and peace. Cole is happy and looking down to us from heaven. His spirit is with us forever and he knows he will get to be with his family again someday. Overall the painting is a great meaning of how we are simply visitors here on Earth and God can take us away at any time. Appreciate the small moments in life, we never know when its our last or our loved one's!

Spring Fling Festival

Saturday was a beautiul day to enjoy the outdoors! The Spring Fling Festival was an interesting event to be apart of. It was held in a quaint little town not far from where I live. There weren't many craft/art booths but it was sure a great place to socialize ecspecially for my elders who grew up around this area, and the food was really good!! It may not have been a big money making day, but you may have called it more of a swap. Instead of going for a profit I got this amazing rug for my daughter's room. She kissed it as soon as she saw it! She's only 13 months and wanted to buy something from every vendor...oh my! She was sure great entertainment! Here are a couple photos of her with the rug. I love the colors!!! So bright and cheerful!

Adorable Baby Girl Announcements!

Okay, really it was the model that made this announcement so cute! I couldn't wait to meet the newest addition to the Haines' family. Chloe is a sweet heart and her sister couldn't be more proud of her! I would never call myself a photographer and I will only take pictures for my closest friends and family. (If you want an affordable professional photographer I suggest getting ahold of my sister-in-law, Amy, from Designer Genes...her work is shown below in an older post.) I love the editing of the photos! My little one year old side kick cried the entire time I was photographing adorable little Chloe. Poor Cammy and Chris who had to listen to her!! Sorry guys, it was just a bad day in Kaelyn land! I was worried that a lot of them would turn out blurred since I was holding Kaelyn while snapping quite a few but they actually turned out pretty well. Of course since I'm not a professional there is quite a bit of editing to be done but hey thats the fun part for us designers!!! Seeing all the photos made me wish I had some like it of my own. They just grow up too fast and being so sick after bringing Kaelyn home from the hospital... pictures were the farthest thing from my mind. Maybe I'll get another chance if we are blessed with more kids someday! Anyways, moving on, if any of you have good quality photos you want fixed up, just let me know and I would love to help you out! So here's how the announcement turned out:

Front:

Back:

On to working on getting ready for a mini art/craft show on Saturday. Always something going on. Then hopefully I can get back to remodeling Kaelyn's room!!! Never enough time in a day!

Business Cards Arrived!

Since I had to have more prints of my artwork professionally printed I thought I should design some new business cards to help promote my new etsy shop and get them printed at the same time. I used my painting, "Autumn Breeze" for the front. I was so excited to get them today and they printed out so well! Such a beautiful day today. Kaelyn and I are headed to the post office...we finally get to walk there! Yippee!

Bitter Sweet Painting

Here is just a small part of my newest acrylic painting. It probably has the most meaning of any of my artwork. The family who it was done for has not seen it yet so until then this is all I will share. When I am able to post the entire painting I will also share a bit of the story of how much they have impacted my life in so many aspects. I will never be able to thank them enough for sharing their stories and changing so many lives!

Artist's Inspiration

Out of the many talented artists on the internet, here are a a couple of my recent purchases that have really inspired me. Cori Dantini's print "the grand reach" was purchased from Etsy. I loved it from the moment I saw it. It also correlates so closely to my life. Growing up on a farm in South Dakota and where I'm at today...taking a reach into the creative world, where your mind never stops running. Its also the feeling of freedom to follow your dreams even though you don't know the outcome. I can totally relate to a lot of what is in Kelly Rae's Taking Flight book. It gives great support and ideas along anyone's creative path. A print was included with the purchase of the book which was so much fun!! My husband actually bought it for me for a birthday present...I probably gave not such a subtle hint that I really wanted it. I love both of their work.

Limited edition print "the grand reach" by Cori Dantini

"Taking Flight" to give your creative spirit wings by Kelly Rae

Tuesday's Snow Storm

Here are a few shots looking out of our house on Tuesday. I really hate to be cold and would really like to live by the beach but there is such a simple beauty in the snow if you take the time to look. I absolutely love looking at individual snowflakes. They are like bits of magic...each one is unique. I didn't get to capture any of that this snow storm...and I kind of hope I won't until next winter. Today is much sunnier and warmer, ready for spring and to play outside.

frost on the window

Some Favorite Music

I'm busy finishing up another painting. I won't be able to share it with you for awhile but I'll share what I'm listening to while I'm painting it. Here are two of my favorite singers at this moment in time. Priscilla Ahn and Amy Seeley. Both are so easy to listen to and little Kaelyn loves to dance when she hears them! So cute! Check them out if your interested.

Priscilla Ahn, I'm loving her song Dream

Amy Seeley... just listen and enjoy :)

"Weathering the Storm" Acrylic Painting

Here is my newest painting. This is my personal favorite. It was fun and everything just flowed from start to finish...which doesn't usually happen. I usually have everything a little to planned out, but this time was different. I slapped paint on a 11.5" x 16" board with a palette knife and went from there. When I got this idea in my head I had the hardest time sleeping, I just needed to get it started. So here is my meaning behind "Weathering the Storm": Whether it is ourself, a family member or a friend, we all know someone who is going through a storm in their life. Everyone’s struggle is different just as every storm isn’t quite the same. To me it is comforting to know that God is always by our side through the good and the bad. Every situation is a blessing, it may just take a little searching to find the positives, but they are there. Changes will always be made through the storms, but allow it to be a strengthening experience. Have faith and allow God to bring you through the storms of life.

The painting really makes me think of my aunt who lost her battle to cancer. She was an amazing person who taught me so much. I miss her alot but I know she's in a much better place now. Her "storm" lasted for days (months)...which through all the pain she was really able to strengthen her faith. She never complained about the horrible things she was going through and that is why I painted the text I did on the painting: limbs breaking, soul searching, roots strengthening. Our outside can become weak at any time, but its our inside...our soul that needs to remain strong. Our faith is what will endure forever.

Update on Kamalee

Thought some of you may be interested on an update of our niece Kamalee's heart surgery. She's done with the worst and is now recovering. Everything sounds like it went really well. Thank God!! Her family really appreciates all the prayer support. Here's a picture of the little angel. Can't wait until I can hug her again!!

Enduring Arts is on Etsy!

I finally have my etsy shop up and running. There isn't too much inventory right now but I hope you enjoy browsing through the few pieces of artwork I do have on there. Etsy is an awesome place to shop for unique handmade gifts! Check out the other crafters and artists. There are some truely talented people out there! Your welcome to visit my shop at http://www.enduringarts.etsy.com/ and come back every so often to see if there are new items!

Fighter Pilot Drawing and Another Prayer Request

I did this pencil drawing quite awhile ago by request of my brother, for a bunch of new pilots in Texas. Jason is an amazing fighter pilot! It certainly takes a person with great determination and a strong faith to do the things he does. He is currently deployed and I ask you to pray for his safety and all the other men and women who are currently fighting for the peace in the world. They are amazing individuals and I'm thankful they have the strength to leave their families to fight for others. God Bless you all!

Designer Genes Photography and Prayer Request

So here is more information on the new Designer Genes Photography business and a few of my favorite photos that Amy has taken. First I'll share a little about her. She is an amazing person as well as photographer! Amy (and her husband Justin) have a beautiful little girl, Kamalee who was born with an extra chromosome. Kamalee inspired Amy to jump into the photography business and this is how she came up with the name 'Designer Genes'. Thank you Amy for having me design your logo and I wish you the best of luck! Okay on to some of her amazing work!!

This is one Amy took of Kamalee and I want to add a special prayer request for her. She will be having open heart surgery on February 26th. So please pray for her and her family that all goes smoothly.

On to a happier note, here are more examples of Amy's work:

Aren't they fun!? She's also very affordable. Her website isn't finished yet as she has been extremely busy with clients and now her daughters surgery so if you have any questions or want to set up a time for a photo shoot contact Amy at amy@designergenesphotography.com.

Happy Birthday to my Mom!

Happy Birthday Mom! Her birthday was actually Friday so we took her out for supper. Here is a drawing I did of her awhile ago. She's the little toddler. Isn't she adorable!?! She's with my Aunt Sandy who is such a great supporter of my artwork!! They are both such a blessing to have in my life! This is just one of the many pencil drawings I have done. Maybe I'll eventually get some more pencil and charcoal drawings/commissions posted on here. Right now I'm busy working on another painting and trying to get over a flu bug!

New Acrylic Painting "Inner Strength"

Here is my most recent acrylic painting on wood (with digital color enhancement). I incorporated a design pattern I made from a few weeks ago and also painted the text "rise above your vulnerabilities, believe in your inner strength". This bird was hanging onto a bush right outside my window on a very windy day. I knew I had to photograph it to eventually put it into a painting. Watching the little bird that day made me realize what an amazing strength they must have to hang on to a branch through all kinds of bad weather. We can definitely relate that strength to our lives. Some of us have huge boulders laying in our path, but with great determination and believing in our inner strength anything is possible. We are able to rise above any boulder standing in our path. Be like the bird, hold on and believe in your strength. Free yourself and fly to a more peaceful destination.

My etsy shop should be opening the end of next week. Prints and cards should be for sale there if you are interested. Hope you enjoy it!

Logo Identity Design

Another part of the Wisp Woods identity package design was the Etsy Header. So far the logo identity includes the logo itself, business cards, vinyl graphics for the vehicle, product showcase book, Blog header and the Etsy header. My goal in creating the identity system is to always have unity within all of the pieces along with a touch of variety so the design always stays interesting. Feel free to check out some of Wisp Wood's small wooden products that are for sale at www.wispwoods.etsy.com .

Another Sneak Peek Logo Design

Here is a quick peek of a new logo design for the upcoming Designer Genes Photography business by Amy Ulschmid. Note the circular green part of the logo is able to change to a variety of colors so it probably won't be green when you see it again. As soon as Amy's website is complete I will share more information with you about her work and the logo. Can't wait!

Amy Lawrence Logo Design

I couldn't wait any longer to share Amy Lawrence's Photography with you. She hasn't had time to get her website totally updated so you will only see the main logo I designed on the opening page. You can view my design with a cropped view of the background design below in one of my older posts. Amy's photography is gorgeous! She captures everything from engagement, wedding, maternity, delivery, and all the way through your child's life. Her elegant portraits are a true piece of art! Here are a few of my favorites:

New! Leave a Comment.

I decided to add a comments link. I thought it would be nice to hear some feedback about my art and designs, so feel free to leave a note at the end of the post. If you have any new ideas/thoughts, let me know. Always looking for new inspirations! I hope you enjoy browsing through my work!

Birthday Invitation Design

Here is how I used my origianl background design from my last post. It was fun to use a combination of fine art and graphic design to create it. I also took the photos and manipulated the backgrounds in Photoshop. It was hard getting the model to stay still once again. Most of the pictures were blurred as she kept walking at the camera! Ha! Overall, I thought it was a successful first birthday invitation.

Original Pattern Design

This past week and a half I have been busy working on the above pattern design, designing an announcement, working on art decor for my living room wall and starting a new series of paintings. Hopefully my idea for the paintings turns out well and then I will start my Etsy Shop. I created the above design to use on announcements and maybe a future painting. I first hand drew part of it and then transferred it to vector format where I made it into a pattern that can have numerous color options. I will post an announcement design within a couple weeks showing how I used it.

Sneak Peek Logo Design

Happy New Year! Well 2009 has started with lots of designing and some art projects. Thought I would share one of my latest logo and background designs for Amy Lawrence Photography. More information and pictures will be posted hopefully within the month, so be sure to check back!

Christmas Card Design

Merry Christmas!!! ...A little late I know. We have been so busy making gifts I haven't had time to blog. I thought I better get my Christmas design posted. I love designing holiday cards, announcements...anything with photos. If you ever want something designed or some of your favorite photographs you have taken manipulated to look like they are professional just let me know! I would be glad to work on them for you! Here was this years Christmas card design. Thanks to Amy Ulschmid for taking the family photo!! It was so much fun to design with it being my daughter's first Christmas! It was printed on stipple textured paper which made it even more fun.

Front View:

Inside View:

Back View:

The New Faith Painting!

Enduring Arts first gift gallery show was last Saturday. It was the first time to show my new faith painting to the public and get feedback. I was nervous and excited about the show. I wanted to know if I have been wasting my time the last couple of months or if it was worth doing what I love. Well, the new acrylic painting was a hit!! (Several other items below sold too! Grin!) The painting means so much to me and the awesome part was so many other people were touched by it and the story behind it! God really does work through people and He does want us to use our talents that He blessed us with!!! I never knew the affect it would have on others, but it was truly amazing and I will always treasure what people told me that day!!!

I made a print of the original...same size and framed it with an old window that was taken out of my house which is pretty old. The whole piece really brings together the past with the present and hopefully makes you think of the future. You have the old window, the modern painting and vinyl quote that says "faith dares the soul to go beyond what the eyes can see". Some of the words in the painting go along with the story that brings the past, present, and future all together. Anyway, I finished this piece the day before the show and it ended up selling so I never had a hanging shot of it but here is what I do have:

Some closer views:

Here is the story I had posted next to the painting: Faith is daring the soul to go beyond what the eyes can see. Think back about the story of Noah. For he put all his trust in the Lord. He did what was commanded of him even though he was unsure of the outcome. What an amazing faith he had in the Lord! The birds in the painting represent the dove and the life going forward. I believe we need to have faith in all aspects of our life. Don’t get stuck in a place where you are unhappy. Take a chance, make a change and have faith! You are unable to see entire sentences on the bottom of the painting. You don’t need to see everything to understand the meaning. This relates to our individual lives. We don’t really know what the Lord has planned for us but we can move forward and know that He is always with us and with Him all things are possible!