Creative Dawn

So, last fall my friends and fellow Parrotheads honored me with the request to paint a Chuppah for their wedding.  "Yes of course I would love too" I said.  "What is a Chuppah?"   Basically, it is the canopy under which the wedding ceremony is performed and symbolizes the home.   This was a daunting task for me for a few reasons, one because it was for there special day and two because painting on fabric like silk was new to me.  The only requirements were dolphins needed to be included and the colors.  For months I thought about what to do and finally, this past spring an idea came to me.  I drew up the designs and sent them to the couple.  Yeah!  They approved!  OK, now how to paint on silk...yeah for you tube.  Found a great tutorial and went to work gathering the supplies needed.  I can do this!  Uh-Oh...just totally ruined that piece of silk.  :(  Better get more.  With just a few w...

Wow!  I am nearing my 400th post, time to get busy blogging here.  Lately I have been paint obsessed.  Anything I can get my hands on has ended up with an artistic touch.  The bargains at Goodwill have been too good to pass up and here are the first few items that I have finished. This cute wooden dolphin was fun to paint, it has a Hawaiian tribal type of design.    This copper colored fish started out with a dated color scheme from the 80's, now it has a fun fresh coat of paint and a new life. Finally this fish was a great bargain for just a few dollars.  It is a cutting board that had seen better days.  My dilemma with this one is how to hang it, the weight could be an issue and it is about twenty inches wide and about a foot tall.  

I have posted quite a few Adirondack chairs on this blog and will probably post many more.  The chairs are fun and the opportunity to paint them came about because my husband broke his leg in 2000.  Weird huh!  We are in a Parrothead club and went to see Jimmy Buffett at Alpine Valley in Wisconsin.  My husband had broken his leg early in the summer and he wanted me to paint it with a tropical design because we were going to see Buffett.  The then president of our Minnesota club, StMinnesomeplace, saw the cast and asked if I was able to paint some chairs.  Well, sure, why not!  Thus Dawn the Artist came to be, that is how that name was started.  I just finished the chairs that will be auctioned off at the end of March and got news that the club founder, the one who asked my to start painting chairs had passed after a battle with cancer.  Jerry was my inspiration to start painting tropical designs.  It was because of him...

Hello!  So, I'm slacking a bit but no worries, Christmas is approaching and there will be more posts as gifts are created.  Plus, there is something in the works that is a bit more time consuming.  That should be finished in the next week...hopefully. A very wonderful lady that has me paint a lot of stuff recently asked me to paint a small table top for her.  You know those round tables that are fairly inexpensive? That is what the 'canvas' was. She is in the Parrot head club so of course it had to be tropical.  This is the only picture taken of it.  The final design had a small beach chair added, but oops, it slipped my mind to take a last photo. She is going to put it on top of the milk can from a previous post. (March 31, 2011)  

Hello all, hope that the new year brings you lots of creative ideas! So, since I currently work at a fabric store, I see lots of cool fabrics and get inspired almost daily.  About a month or so ago this awesome jungle fabric came in and I decided that it was a must have.  My first idea was to use it for painting inspiration and that is exactly what it was used for.  This coffee table was a purchase from a thrift store for 2.99 and it had seen better days.  The top was scuffed and scratched so it was perfect for the Creative Dawn touch.  It only needed a bit of light sanding before painting.  I did not trace or make stencils for this project.  It is all free hand.  :)  I turned out great and it is a wonder whimsical piece to add to my decor.  Now to figure out what to do with the fabric...maybe pillows...hmm.  But that will probably be another post.

I decided early in the day that today's post would be cards with a new design.  My stockpile has been getting low lately.  Initially the idea was to do a flip flop drawing but it ended up being fish.  First a simple stencil was drawn out and then each one was given a unique pattern.  They turned out cute!  This is a great design because it can be used for men, women or kids and the butterflies and shoes are more feminine.

This idea is from in a magazine that was in the break room at work.  It is called Southern Lady and it would not be a normal choice for me to buy, but it was there and it looked interesting.  It is a simple idea for felt, yes felt, napkin rings.  The pattern is easy and very pretty, but I had to put my own spin on it.  The original is no sew and quick but my decision was to make a more complex design that was sewn together.  The design is a hibiscus flower and fits in perfectly with much of my decor.  This is another idea that could be easily adapted to different design that are seasonal or just other flowers It is great to be able to take an idea and make it work for you.  Look around you, the world is an inspiring place.  Learn from others and take it one step farther!  

This is a fun drawing, reflections of a beach through sunglasses.  This is not a perfect drawing and after finishing it I realized a bit of a mistake but I still like it.  The beach scene is not lined up perfectly in the lenses.  It's minor and it doesn't really take away from the picture too much. Time to relax with a bit of wine and enjoy a beautiful summer night, the memories will carry me through that long Minnesota winter!

Hello all!  Here is part two of my coaster post.  Makes you want to have a fruity umbrella drink doesn't it?  All that I really have to do is add a coat of sealant so that they don't get ruined.  I also couldn't decide whether or not to add the drink names on the coasters.  It is nice that they are simple but after looking at them, something is missing.  Suggestions are welcome!  Unless an idea strikes, they will remain as is.  

  What a beautiful day!  Read the Sunday paper, went for a walk, relaxed and painted.  I actually painted outside to fully take advantage of the weather.  Since tropical things are on my mind because of yesterday, the project for this post is featuring refreshing summer beverages.  This set of coasters is from a great thrift store and cost 1.91, what a bargain.  The original style is definitely from the seventies.  At first the plan was to make each coaster a different color, but that just didn't work.  A neutral color worked much better with the colorful cocktails.  With the distraction of the weather only three and the holder were finished today.  The others should be done for tomorrow. Hmm...why does a margarita sound good right now?

Today, Jimmy Buffett is performing at Alpine Valley in East Troy, Wisconsin.  We usually go every year, but the funds were not available this time.  It is a bummer because in a few days my hubby will be 40 and it would have been a perfect way to celebrate but we made the best of it and had fun hanging out at home.  Yes, I am a dork, but at least I am fun and creative.  We dug out all of our Parrothead decor and put it up in the garage and on our vehicle.  Dinner was cheeseburgers on the grill in our own little paradise.  Of course the music was Buffett and we had a few Landshark beers.  Yes, the festivities of the concert would have been awesome, but it was still fun with just the two of us. The weather here is a bit unseasonably chilly so you have to think warm!  My artwork for the day is of the tropical nature and also great way to get into the spirit of the day. Fins up!  

My husband is not in the medical field, but he loves to wears scrub style shirts in the summer.  When he first asked me quite a few years ago to make him some, I thought he was weird!  I finally decided to get a pattern and make him one.  He of coarse wanted something in a tropical style.  There was so much variety and so many fun bright colors to choose from and once I made it, couldn't believe how simple the pattern was.  Now, I try to find new fabrics whenever I am shopping.   We were on a cruise a few years ago and people were asking where he got the scrubs and were surprised when they found out the shirts were homemade.  L ast year we went to see Jimmy Buffett, since we live in Minnesota and the closest he usually performs is at Alpine Valley in Wisconsin.  We get on a bus with numerous other Parrotheads and travel across the two states partying the whole way.  Along the way, we stop here and there and at one particular...

Last day in March, I am sooo excited for warmer weather.  This also marks seven monthes down and five to go.  If I made it this far then anything is possible.  You can paint just about anything, believe me I have.  This is a metal milk jug that someone asked me to paint for them.  The lady that requested this wanted a postcard type of design with a Jimmy Buffett. theme.  This was the result.  The most difficult thing to deal with was the size and the fact that it is round.  At about two and a half feet tall it wasn't easy to set it on anything and if I laid it down it rolled and also was a bit heavy.  In the end she was very happy with it.  I painted Margaritaville and The weather is here, I wish you were beautiful, two Buffett songs in one decoration.

Minnesota spring/winter ugh!  To quote Homer Simpson..."lousy Smarch weather!"  It is sleeting outside and just plain gross!  Not looking forward to the drive to work tomorrow.  This is the month when one day is it 50 degrees and the next freezing but what do you do...I think about this day five years ago when my husband and I were barefoot on a beach in Jamaica and saying our wedding vows.  I remember the warm sand in my toes and the cool breeze in the air.  Wish I was there.  What does that have to do with my blog today?  Well, I had the most unique bouquet ever!  I got lots of shells from the craft store and some other supplies and created a shell bouquet.  When we were on the plane for the trip I had a special carry on so that it didn't get damaged.  To attach the shells, I had to use a floral wire/stick and hot glue it into the shells.  Once the glue was set I stuck the picks into the foam bouqet base and used more...

Last night while I was watching a movie with my husband I felt the need to do something but could come up with any ideas.  This is what happened, I grabbed my notebook and just started to doodle.  I ended up filling the entire back cover.  It can really help to get the creative juices flowing by just mindlessly scribbling and filling a pages with squiggles and miscellaneous blobs.  After a while it was like a game to come up with a new shape.  Get that brain working! On to the post for today.  Let me say something about winter, ARRRRRRRRGGGGG!  Is is over yet?  To fight off the chill sometimes you need to think about hanging out on a beach with a tropical drink.  I know the drinks are cold, but this is a mindset.  Margaritas, pina coladas and mai tais, give me a cocktail in a fun glass with an umbrella and I am there!  So, today we have a set of four cocktail cards.  Send one of these to a friend with a note to meet for drink...

What a weekend!  I spent it working on various projects and watching season one of Angel.  My husband stayed clear of me during the duration of my TV marathon.  You see, I went to the library yesterday and was excited to find the DVDs.  Buffy is one of my favorite guilty pleasures and had only seen a few episodes of Angel, so I figured why not!  It was a great way to hang out on a snow filled day in Minnesota.  Let's see, a bit of sewing, painting and planning my post for today and in the near future.  For today I promised to get away from felt so I painted instead.  This is part one of the set of beanbag toss game boards that I am working on.  A very nice man in our Parrot head club asked me to paint them for the upcoming event in March.  This is the same gathering that the chair and footstool are being auctioned at.  See the posts dated 1/22 and 1/24 for reference.  Yes, more tropical themed stuff, but as I menti...

A while ago, my mom gave me this jar and I shuffled it around the house trying to figure out what to do with it.  It came to me last night.  With the bathroom decor leaning towards tropical, I decided to fill it will shells.  These are also something that I had collecting dust in the house.  Now, filling a jar with shells isn't just dumping them in there and saying OK that looks good, no you need to show off the cool ones and fill the middle with the average ones.  It took me two tries to get it the way I wanted it to look.  There is a neat shelf in the bathroom that I had already decorated with shell frames, they were discount store finds from a few years ago.  I centered the jar and then on put my wedding cake topper on the lid.  I will get into my wedding stuff in some later posts, but the theme was obviously of the tropical nature.  I love painting and drawing and everything else, but it is really fun when you can quickly make something t...

Remember I mentioned some time ago that people mostly want me to paint things for them in a tropical theme...well, here is another one and I promise you that after this I will go onto new ideas.  Actually I have something in the works that is the opposite of tropical.  I'll save that for another day.  Someone in the Parrothead club asked me to paint a small table for his wife.  There were two Jimmy Buffett songs that she liked and wondered if I could incorporate one or both on the table.  I was able to do both and it really turned out well.  My favorite part is the top with the sunset.  The design was inspired by a postcard that I had from Hawaii.  I have a box full of postcards that I save from trips or from friends and relatives travels.  You never know when something in there may be useful.  Sometimes I must sound like a pack rat with the things that I save, but it is all very organized and I only save things that I could use.  ...