Painting Restaurant Chairs

My beautiful and dear friend Becca is opening a vegan/organic health juice bar and bistro called "Veg Out", everyone in town is so excited for it and I know with Becca at the helm and as the owner, it'll be a fantastic success and a lovely place to veg out. Becca commissioned me to paint 20 of her chairs...she told me she wanted strawberries and vines and for each chair to be different from the next...

So I started with a really bright and basic colour palette...

and I free hand drew the designs on each chair...it was really weird, it was as though each chair told my hand exactly how it wanted the design because each drawing and each chair happened without any fuss and felt very organic...

It took me 40 minutes to an hour for each chair...

...several of the chairs (yet to be photographed) had the vines going down the legs and up the back spindles, those took abit longer...

I have 2 more chairs to go, 10 bar stools and possibly a pillar/wall...

I honestly don't have friends hire me for work very often so I am so pleased Becca asked me and trusted me to add my bit of whimsy to her place...I'll post again when I've completely the other stages. I was thinking of video taping myself doing some of the other painting and then asking Jonathan to make it into a cool YouTube video for me...hmmm maybe:D ha ha.

Some More Older Portraits

Good Monday Morning. After a busy weekend of 'playing' outside, having my mom over for lunch in the gazebo, letting the furry hearts run around the yard and visiting a friend in the hospital, I am really looking forward to a busy and productive week in the studio. However, I must admit that part of me is over in Germany with my dad right now, so in that vein I thought I would show you a few more of my old portraiture work and then we'll get back back to some brand spanking new imagery. The above portrait is my grandma and grandpa.

This is a dog portrait that I did years ago. The family had it commissioned as a surprise for their dad, it apparently hung in his office for years.

I love doing couple portraits, this was a local couple whose daughters commissioned me to make this as an anniversary surprise.

This was another commission which was unfortunately not accepted or paid for! The woman wasn't very happy with it but in my defense the reference was horrible and I did the best I could with what I had to work with. Regardless, I think it is still a pretty nice couples image, apparently it was taken shortly after this couple was engaged in 1944.

And I'll end with another family portrait. This is my dad's great great grandmother I believe. The background of the photograph was very cluttered and busy so I just added a few of the simpler items which I think brings the eye towards the lovely woman and her handcraft.

Well that is about all for today. There is alot to catch up on and get into so I shall get on with it right away. Be Well everyone and happy creating.

Judit Gueth Designs

I have to bring some attention to my best friend and very talented designer Judit Gueth. Judit has her own line of wallpaper and hand-tufted rugs. Please do check out her website at http://www.juditgueth.com/.

Judit did a wonderful article about me and my work in her October 2007 blog, http://prettystylish.blogspot.com/2007/10/illustrator-mandy-saile.html check it out.

Here are some photos of Judit's work and for all of you local people, don't forget that I sell a small sampling of Judit's fabric cards here in my studio. I think her designs look so elegant in frames and I have about 6 or 7 hanging throughout our home.

Judit's wallpaper is a fast growing success and people are using her koy fish designs often for such things as spa's or as seen below, in a chiropractors office space. Judit welcomes custom work and will work with you to come up with exactly what you desire. Give her a call soon however because soon she'll be too busy to entertain all commissions, she's been getting alot of press and exposure which is wonderful for this very talented designer.

For more info about Judit Gueth, please visit her website or her blog www.prettystylish.blogspot.com or simply click on the link in my 'other great blogs'.