Brenda Thour's Art Blog: 2013

Thursday, December 5, 2013

December Newsletter 2013

Sorry if this is a repeat for some of you. I am trying to tie my newsletters with my blog and my goal is to write a monthly newsletter.

Cardinals on Snowy Birdhouse Wrist Watches by bmthour
View Cardinals Watches online at zazzle

Cardinals on Snowy Birdhouse Ornament by bmthour

Home Sweet Home

I can hardly believe it's December already. I hope this season finds you and yours well.
The idea for this years' Christmas painting came to me when I was doing a Commission for a very sweet lady as a Christmas gift. It was of a snowman family (which I can't show until after Christmas). In the painting she wanted a male and female cardinal perched on a birdhouse in a tree. I was really loving how that part was turning out, and that's how Home Sweet Home came to be. Home Sweet Home is an 8x10" oil painting on black canvas, and I love how it turned out! That's right, I said black canvas. If interested in seeing the original you can find it in my Etsy Shop. Useful, fun and unique Home Sweet Home gifts can be founnd in my Zazzle Shop and CafePress Shop.

If you are interested in having a commissioned piece done just email me at bmthour@comcast.net.

MY Big News
Back in October I decided to quit my part time job after 16 years and become a full time Artist. I am loving that I can dedicate all my time to my artwork and not be too exhausted to do it.

Home Sweet Home Sweatshirt on CafePress

Click on the link below to go to page

http://www.cafepress.com/brendathour.1190972240

Until next time, I Wish you a very
Merry Christmas and a Blessed and Happy New Year!

Brenda Thour aka luvs2paint

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Sunday, November 24, 2013

Home Sweet Home Original Painting and Gift Ideas

Here are just a few gift ideas created with my new painting, Home Sweet Home. The original is an 8x10 oil on black canvas, framed and ready to hang. If interested you can find it Here in my etsy shop.

Cardinals on Snowy Birdhouse Stamps by bmthour
Buy postage stamps.

Cardinals On Snowy Birdhouse Drink Coaster by bmthour
Create unique custom made coasters at Zazzle

Cardinals On Snowy Birdhouse by bmthour
Shop for a card with zazzle.com

Cardinals on Snowy Birdhouse Ornament by bmthour
See other Cardinals Ornament

Cardinals on Snowy Birdhouse Ornaments by bmthour
See ornaments online at zazzle.com

Cardinals On Snowy Birdhouse Coffee Mug by bmthour
Browse Cardinals Mugs

Cardinals on Snowy Birdhouse Place Mats by bmthour
Browse other place mat designs on Zazzle.

Cardinals On Snowy Birdhouse Printed Napkin by bmthour
Shop for another napkin.

Cardinals On Snowy Birdhouse Shirt by bmthour
Browse custom tshirts online at Zazzle

Cardinals on Snowy Birdhouse Trifold Wallets by bmthour
Find more wallets at Zazzle

Cardinals On Snowy Birdhouse Pull Over Sweatshirt by bmthour
See other Cardinals T-Shirts

Cardinals on Snowy Birdhouse Organizers by bmthour
View Cardinals Planners online at zazzle

Cardinals on Snowy Birdhouse Pillows by bmthour
View more throw pillows.

Cardinals On Snowy Birdhouse Jewelry Boxes by bmthour
Shop for another gift box

Cardinals on Snowy Birdhouse Locket by bmthour
Make a personalized necklace online

Cardinals on Snowy Birdhouse Wall Skins by bmthour
Make your own custom wall graphic designs online at zazzle.com

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Snowman and Deer Gift Ideas

Deer and Snowman Midnight Snack Drinking Glass

Deer and Snowman Midnight Snack Charm

Deer and Snowman Midnight Snack Earrings

Deer and Snowman Midnight Snack Shower Curtain

Deer and Snowman Midnight Snack Cutting Board

Deer and Snowman Midnight Snack Cookie Jar

Deer and Snowman Midnight Snack Key Hanger

Deer and Snowman Midnight Snack Coffee Tray

Deer and Snowman Midnight Snack Queen Duvet

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Nassau Harbour Lighthouse - Commissioned

Monday, July 1, 2013

Busy Little Hummingbird

Last January a bunch of my family members and a couple of friends took a cruise on Carnival Cruise Line. It was a blast! One of the stops was Honduras.

I was walking around with my husband, dad, brother, sister-in-law, and brother-in-law and this beautiful little hummingbird flew right in front of us and started enjoying the flowers like hummingbirds do. Unfortunately I didn't have my big camera with me and so I wasn't able to get any pictures because I was having trouble with the focus in zoom mode. My brother-in-law had his camera, so it was "Curt to the rescue!"

He and my sister are very supportive of my artwork and are sweet enough to let me use their photos for reference material for my paintings. Curt especially is big into photography.

Busy Little Hummingbird is the painting I created from the shots that Curt took.

It is listed in my Etsy Shop and will soon be in my Zazzle shop too, under "Birds".

My hat saved me from a lot of light rain and drizzle and will never be the same again. Can you say forever floppy?

This is my dad and brother in Honduras and it rained for a part of the time, but was warm.

First day on the ship. Me and some of my family members.

(Photo taken by Ronda Reimer.)

More family members lounging around.

(Photo taken by Ronda Reimer.)

My guys!

Left to right: Curt, dad, brother and hubby!

Hope you have a great day!!!
hugs,
Brenda

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Sleeping Buddies II Commission

I received a request from a customer on Etsy from Germany. She saw my little Sleeping Buddies aceo on google, which was already sold, and wondered if I coulde paint her a bigger one but with a brown bear, light brown mouse and green background. I was delighted to and quickly replied to her request.

She decided on a 5x7 and so I quickly sketched him out on a piece of paper and then quickly colored him in a bit with colored pencils to get a feel for it.

Because of the texture on the canvas, I usually like to draw my painting on a piece of paper and then trace it onto the canvas by scribbling on the back of the paper with pencil and then tracing it. I've tried tracing paper but that leaves smudges all over the place.

I started by putting in some of the shadows on the bear, and then working from there.

I then painted the little mouse, making sure you could clearly see the mouse among all that brown.

Got a little carried away with the background before I remembered to take a picture. This little guy begged for purple flowers with all that green.

I find that I get better results if I walk away from the painting every now and then to get a fresh look when I come back. I pretty much finished him after a couple of hours.

The next day I did a little tweeking and painted the sides.

Here he is on my desk drying next to another painting I am working on. Actually when I finished painting the sides of Sleeping Buddies II, I decided to paint the sides on the cat painting, still haven't named it, so it can dry and I can finish with the last bit of details.

Here's Sleeping Buddies II. The picture is bad because the paint is still wet and I took it in my studio instead of outside, which is what I'll do once it dries before I ship it off to Germany.
Here's a link to the original Sleeping Buddies in my shop .

I hope you enjoyed going through the process with me, it was a lot of fun for me to share.
Have a wonderful day!

Hugs,
Brenda