A Painting a Day - Day 57

Happy Halloween!

Painting 57 is my last Halloween themed picture with an owl and some happy trick or treaters.

I wish the weather had been this nice here. Instead it was rainy with a little bit of snow. So we skipped the trip around the block and stayed home handing out candy to those who where brave enough to venture out into the nasty weather.

Hope you had a happy Halloween!

This 8 x 10 painting is available for sale for $50. If you would like to purchase it please email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. Thanks for following my art work! Hope you can come again tomorrow!

A Painting a Day - Day 56

Another spooky animal for day 56 of my 100 paintings in 100 days challenge.

This is a Little Brown Bat. They are native to Indiana, which is where I am. On a warm evening you can see them darting about. Little Brown Bats are not the cutest of animals but they have an awesome purpose. They eat mosquitoes. A lot of mosquitoes! Up to half their body weight. They also eat wasps and moths.

Bats have a bad reputation that is based on rumors and folk lore. This little guys looks fearsome, but he has his mouth open because he is echo-locating for his food and for his surroundings. He lets out a high pitched sound that human's can't hear but it bounces back off of objects like trees and bugs into his huge ears and he can tell with great clarity and quickness where those objects are and what they are. Amazing!

Little Brown Bats are in trouble. Many have come down with an illness called white nose syndrome. It makes it difficult for the bats to hibernate and they die of starvation. And people also kill them because they see them as a nuisance. Here in Indiana they are on the endangered species list. One way to help is to build a bat house. For more information about bats follow this link Bat Facts. For instructions on building a bat house follow this link Bat House.

This painting is 8 x 10 and available for sale for $50. If you would like to buy it please email me at lauraparkhurstillutrator@gmail.com. Thanks for following my art. Tomorrow will be another spooky animal picture for Halloween! Hope you can come by and see it.

A Painting a Day - Day 55

A scary spider for day 55! I thought this would be a fun opportunity to practice facial expressions and practice painting eyes. I love the way light gets caught and reflected in eyes. I never get tired of drawing and painting them.

I had to look through several spider pictures to choose one that would be big enough to make an impressive sight in my painting. Now if this was real life even a tiny spider could get that reaction if it was on someone's shoulder. I appreciate that spiders keep other pesky bugs down, but when I look at them they make my skin crawl. They need to stay outside and out of my house!

There was one spider that was photographed close up so you could see it's large eyes and my daughter says, "Aww, cute! Don't you think so?" Sorry kiddo. Nope. Spiders are not cute. Not cute.

This is my 55th painting and like all the rest before it, it is available for purchase to the first person to contact me at my email which is lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. It is 8 x 10 and is watercolor on Arches 100% cotton paper.

Thanks for stopping by to check out my artwork. Hope you can come by again tomorrow!

A Painting a Day - Day 54

Another Halloween themed picture! This is my 54th painting. From what I understand black is not used in traditional watercolor paintings. But I am enjoying using it in this and yesterday's paintings. I get the paper wet where I want the black to be and then drop the color into the moistened area. It spreads and makes really cool patterns, like lace or spider webs, soft and feathery.

I also wanted to create a feeling of shadow and light with the pumpkins. The shadows create a dimension to them while the bright light shining from within creates a nice contrast.

This black cat is painted on 8 x 10 Arches 100% cotton watercolor paper. It is available for sale for $50. If you would like to purchase it be the first to email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. I know decorating for Halloween has become very popular and more elaborate than it was when I was a kid when all you had was a couple of jack-o-lanterns on the front porch. This black cat would make a great addition to the ambiance of that spooky day!

Thanks for following my artwork. Hope you will come again tomorrow to see a new picture!

A Painting a Day - Day 53

For the Halloween theme I had to sit and think of what I wanted to do for today's painting. First I thought of a black cat, but it just wasn't feeling right today. A picture of a blue jay lay on my kitchen table and I recalled that blue jays are related to crows so I looked up a picture of a crow in a bird book. A page over was a picture of a raven. I had no idea they were so huge by the way and are not here in Indiana. But I then thought of the poem by Edgar Allen Poe and who better to recall at this time of year than that famous writer and poet of macabre stories and melancholic poetry.

Here is a little bit of the poem to have as reference for this illustration.

'Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,

In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore;
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door—
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door—
                Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
“Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou," I said, “art sure no craven,
Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly shore—
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night’s Plutonian shore!”
               Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.” '

Thanks for coming to see my art again today. This 8 x 10 illustration is available for sale for $50. If you would like to purchase it, please email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. The first person I hear from can buy it. Hope to see you again tomorrow.

A Painting a Day - Day 52

I know I am late with this by about 9 hours, but I am giving myself permission to be human. Gotta sleep sometime! Plus the weekend was busy with activities for my kids and time with my husband. I want to have a ccareeras an artist, but what good is it if I neglect my family?

This is Halloween week so I thought I would do a few paintings of animals that might give some of us the chills. The sound of wolves howling can send shivers up our spines. Wolves howl, not to scare us, but to communicate with each other. Members of a pack will howl to call to one another because their territories are very large and they will become separated when hunting. They also howl to let rival packs know where their boundaries are.

This painting is 8 x 10 and done on Arches 100% cotton watercolor paper. New kind of paper calls for some adjustment in technique. I think it has a bit more of a painterly look. It is available for sale for $50. If you would like to own it, please email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. The first person I hear from can buy it. Thanks for coming by to see my work. Sorry it is a day late. Hopeful I can get a new painting up for today later tonight. See you later!

A Painting a Day - Day 51

This painting is from a sketch I did last year. Sometimes a piece of art needs to sit and rest. When I went back to it for this 100 day project, this seemed like it had potential to make a cute painting that reminds me of my daughter and the delight she has in her face when she has a surprise for me.

I went back to the 5 x 7 size for this illustration. I think the size makes for a more personal piece that looks nice on a bookshelf or desk.

Because I am going back to a smaller size I am going to leave the dollar a day increase which I have been doing. From on, all 5 x 7 paintings I do for this project will be available for sale for $25. Pricing my art is a challenge. There is the desire to be compensated for my talent and time. But I don't want to alienate potential buyers. It is a narrow path to tread.

If you would like to purchase this cute little kitten, be the first to email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. It is $25 and the first person I hear from can buy it.

Thanks for checking out my art work. Hope you can come by again tomorrow for a new painting!

A Painting a Day - Day 50

I am now officially half way there!! I can't believe I have gotten this far. Day 50 has been a busy one too. I wasn't sure I would get a painting done. But here it is.

This painting means hope to me. Hope is something we have to reach out for. It is something that is so easy to lose but makes life worth living. And it is something we have to believe in to receive. You have to believe there is a reason to hope.

This is actually my second attempt at this picture. Previously I did it in colored pencil but didn't like the way it turned out. I like it much better in watercolor. Just like hope, it is worth the struggle.

This painting is 8 x 10 in watercolor and it is available for $50. If you would like to purchase it, please email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. The first person I hear from can buy it.

Thank you for sticking with me these past 50 days. I appreciate every encouraging word. Hope you will continue on with me for the next 50 days!

A Painting a Day - Day 49

Wanted to do something fun for today's painting. I really had to think to come up with enough animals to fill the space. Every time I thought I had it full enough I would see an open spot!

I wanted to convey the feeling of relief that Noah felt when the little dove returned with that olive branch. Knowing there would be an end to the confinement in that ark would have called for celebration. Which is really an image of God's gift of grace to humanity through Jesus Christ and when we receive that, we have reason to rejoice!

This illustration would be perfect for a children's room. There are lots of details to look at.  It is 8 x 10 and it is available for sale for $49. If you would like to purchase it, please email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. The first person I hear from can buy it.

Thanks for coming to see my artwork again. Hope you can come again tomorrow! I have no idea what I am going to paint, but I will come up with something!

A Painting a Day - Day 48

My dad has always said owning a horse is like owning a boat. You have two good days; the day you buy it and the day you sell it. He bought a horse for me the summer I turned 16. I guess other girls would have wanted a car.

Receiving my horse was a good day. But there were other good days. I remember the thrill of riding home really fast in the snow and how it flew off of my horse's hooves. I remember how beautiful our horses where when they would gallop across a field. I remember how fun it was to go on a ride with my dad and have his company all to myself. I remember getting caught in a rain storm at the far side of our farm and sitting on my horse listening as it poured down on the roof of the a old barn which stood back there.

I remember the day my dad sold our horses. It was the winter before I got married. They had become wild from lack of attention. It was time for them to have a new home. I didn't tell them good bye. But I have those memories and there were many good days.

This portrait of an Arabian horse is my 48th painting in my 100 day series. It is available for sale for $48 to the first person to email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. If you would like to buy it please drop me a message!

Thanks for coming buy to see my work. Hope you can come again tomorrow!

A Painting a Day - Day 47

Summer is passing away so quickly. But I still see butterflies here and there. This was a really great year for them. I loved seeing all the monarchs. I saw a zebra swallowtail in my front yard which was pretty special. A couple of tiger swallowtails came by too.

This is the eastern tiger swallowtail. They have some orange on their lower wings while the western variety has only blue on the lower wings.

This butterfly is my 47th painting. It is available for sale for $47. If you would like to purchase it, please email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. The first person I hear from can buy it.  Thanks for checking out my art today. Please come back tomorrow for another new painting!

Pet Portrait: Comet and Rose

 Finished this pet portrait for a new customer over the weekend. It was such a wonderful feeling to bring it to her home and see her
reaction. I was so glad to know I had exceeded her expectations and captured the spirit of her beautiful greyhounds (which were super sweet, by the way!)

I thought it would be fun to share the process of the painting here on my blog.

I started with a sketch which I did from a photo the customer emailed to me. We discussed over email the size and details. I told her I would not proceed until she approved the sketch, which she did!

I then transfered the sketch to Arches 100% cotton watercolor paper by using my light table. I love this stuff! It is worth the extra money because of the way the paint goes on it. Perfect. The light table I use it an ArtGraph light pad. It is so easy to store and to move around in my small space.

 Here I have colored in the eyes. It seems like no matter what, I don't love a portrait until the eyes are done. Then there is life. I love painting and drawing eyes.

 When I started painting in the brindle of the other dog, I was really intimidated. But as you will see, it came out lovely. Beautiful pattern. You can also see in this picture that I have added ears to the brindle dog. I saw another picture of the customer's dogs and found some where the ears where up. Just had to add them in! The customer agreed.

 I was really getting excited at this point. It amazes me that my hands can do this stuff!

Here they are all ready for a nap! The customer asked for red pillows and a blue collar and I think they will be perfect with her decor in her home.

It was such a pleasure to create something she can treasure for years. And I loved meeting her and her sweet dogs!

If you would like to have a pet portrait done, please feel free to email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. I would love to hear from you!

A Painting a Day - Day 46

Sometimes when I am painting I feel so nervous. It squeezes my chest and I can't breathe. Irrational as it may sound, I completely expect to ruin every painting I start. The perfectionist in my is my saboteur. She likes to sneak around inside my head and just when I think she has finally been subdued, there she is again, warning me of the certain impending fail that is about to happen.

Funny thing is, every painting seems to work out okay. Not to say that everyone of them is all that great. But none of them have been right down awful!

So I struggle to let myself create because it is risky. What if I waste my time? What if I can't get one done before I fall down from a lack of sleep? What if I fail?!?!? What if, what if, what if, blah blah blah! So much useless worry.

This little sea horse if my offering for today. It is painting #46 and it is available for sale for $46. It is 8 x 10 and ready to frame. If you would like to buy it please email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. The first person I hear from can purchase it. Also, I am continuing to take requests for future subject matter. After all I have 54 more days to paint! Please leave a suggestion in the comments below! As always, thanks for coming by. Hope you can make it back tomorrow!

A Painting a Day - Day 45

Well I am back to it. I got a few things done, some things caught up and some extra sleep. I have to admit that every time I post a painting, I wrestle with self doubt. I am rarely satisfied with my paintings when I post them anymore. I think the 8 x 10 format is hard to finish in a day. So don't be surprised if I go back to 5 x 7 simply because that size is better suited for finishing a painting in a day.

As I have been doing these paintings I have enjoyed all the experimenting I have gotten to do. This painting I did with a loose feel to the green background. I let the water and the paint do what it wanted. I like the edges it created as the painted pushed against the water.

I am also enjoying painting dogs. When I was growing up it was horses, which I still love to draw and paint, but dogs come in such vast variety that each one I do is so different even if there are close similarities in individuals. It's been fun studying the different breeds.

This German Shepherd is my 45th painting and I could tell I was refreshed because he evolved on the paper very naturally. It is painted on 8 x 10 paper. This painting is available for sale for $45. If you would like to buy it, please email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. The first person I hear from can purchase it.

Thanks for coming back to see my art work and follow my 100 day challenge. Almost half way there! I can't believe I have come this far. Hope you will stick with me to the end!

A Painting a Day - Day 44

I am amazed everyday since I started this 100 day challenge at the response I have gotten from people I know and people I only know online. I so appreciate it. It has been inspiring and energizing. I have not worked this hard since I had a newborn!

I am going to say that I need to take a few days to catch up on somethings going on in my life. It's like that sometimes. You make plans but things come up and put a bump in the road and it's not necessarily a bad thing! But there are only 24 hours in the day. So over the next few days I am going to catch up and I will have a new painting to post on Sunday evening.

This is a painting I did about a year ago. It was hiding in a folder. I thought if someone would like to, they could give it a new home. I painted it after I had seen an I MAX movie about dolphins. They played with a piece of seaweed under the sparkle of the surface. It was so beautiful that I need to capture the memory.

This painting is for sale for $44. If you would like to buy it, please email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. The first person I hear from can buy it.

Thanks for being a part of my art journey. Thanks for your encouragement. Knowing people are visiting my art has given me the energy to get through these 44 days. Hope you check in again on Sunday evening and I will pick this up again! Promise!

A Painting a Day - Day 43

Today I wanted to get back to telling stories. This is from Aesop's story of the fox and the crow and the price one pays for their vanity. In the case of the crow, she lost her cheese to the flattering fox.

Illustrating for stories has had a special appeal to me since I was in high school. In sophomore English we studied the Odyssey, I drew portraits of the major female characters as well as the main Greek goddesses who lived on Olympus. Drawing pictures for a story helps to make the story feel closer. I think children love illustrated stories because of that. Pictures invite them into a book. Words make the pictures happen. Words in well told stories are like an elegant drawing with a satisfying composition. Illustrations are like color added to the drawing, enriching and enlivening it.

This illustration is my offering for day 43. It is available for sale for $43. If you would like to purchase it please email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. The first person I hear from can buy it. It is 8 x 10 and ready for a frame. I think it would look lovely in a child's room or any room for that matter!

Thanks so much for coming to see my art today. Hope you can come by again tomorrow for a new painting!

A Painting a Day - Day 42

Time Management. I am failing at it.

But with every failure there is the opportunity to learn and do better the next time. So much of it is about making choices. Now some choices are already made, like my family needs to eat and I am generally the cook. My house gets messy and training kids to clean up after themselves takes time, as does the actual cleaning. My other job takes time. I can't just paint full time - yet. And even if I could, I would still have to manage projects to fit them in and then have the discernment to know when I can't make a deadline. Other things though are choices... like that television show I am addicted to. Maybe I need to go cold turkey. And Facebook, though it is making my connections with people possible during this project, I don't really need to stare at another cat video. The little things are like termites in the frame of a house. Over time, their little jaws can eat it all away.

So I need to cut out distractions. I need to work more and zone out less unless the zoning out actually benefits and doesn't just waste time. If I want to succeed at this, fat needs to be trimmed.  Entertainment tends to be the fat right now. It can wait until later.

Finearttips.com has a lot of great articles to help artist with their careers. Here is a link to a helpful article on time management.

This is painting #42. I am posting late again because of poor time management. But I will figure it out. I know I will. This painting of what are commonly called parakeets but are actually called budgerigars, is 8 x 10 and available for sale for $42. As I researched for this painting, I found out these little birds are from Australia originally. The wild ones fly in huge flocks looking for water and food. They all are green like the bird on the left. Since their domestication, they have developed mutations which have resulted in the blue color of the bird on the right, but also birds that are all white, all yellow and variations in between. Cute little birds! And they are happiest when they have a mate.

If you would like to buy this painting, please email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. The first person I hear from can purchase it. And if you have a suggestion for an animal you would like to see me paint, please leave your suggestion in the comments below. Thanks for coming by to see my artwork. Hope you can come by again tomorrow for a new picture!

A Painting a Day - Day 41

I have been taking requests for subject matter for my 100 paintings. This is a bearded dragon. Like the hedgehog and the opossum, I have never done a detailed picture of a lizard before. I wanted to experiment with this because I was leaning so heavily on the reference photo. The pattern in the background I did with a resist that kept the paper white in the places it was applied. I used it on the lizards scales too. I also let the water and color puddle where it chose to create a cloudy effect on the background and the lizard itself.  I like how it turned out.

This was also and exercise in sticking with a job. I am finishing this really late and I knew once I got the sketch done that this was going to take a lot longer to execute than some of my other paintings. So every time I felt the urge to stop and take a break, I resolved to stay with it. All the little detail take time, but in the end it is worth it.

This 41st painting is available for sale for $41. It is 8 x 10 and ready to frame. If you would like to buy this painting, please email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. The first person I hear from can purchase it.

Thanks so much for coming to see my art. Hope you can come by again tomorrow!

A Painting a Day - Day 40

If I could sum up this day in one word it would be: distracted. All day long it has been a battle to stay focused on doing my art and I can say, I got hardly anything done except my daily painting, communicate with a few customers, eat lunch with my husband, take my kids to their martial arts class and collapse on the couch because I just could not stay awake. None of those things are without merit. But it is hard to stay on task when there are so many tasks needed to be done. But that is life and I am in the middle of life today.

And I really REALLY needed that nap. I could have easily slept about 5 more hours. 2 was way more then I had planned on.

So tonight I am going for cute and fluffy because it makes me feel better. This little puppy with his orange flowers is my 40th painting. I can't believe I have made it to 40! Gotta celebrate that. And he is available for sale for $40. It is 8 x 10 and ready to frame. I think he would look perfect on the wall of a nursery or a child's room or in the room of any dog lover, especially one who loves schnauzers! If you would like to buy him please email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. The first person I hear from can purchase him.

The most amazing thing is not that I have painted 40 pictures in 40 days, but that you have come along with me on this daily discipline. Thanks so much for following my art. It means so much to me. Please leave a comment about what you think of my project in the comments below. I would love to hear what you think.

A Painting a Day - Day 39

When I was growing up, drawing horses was my escape. I loved to make their necks long and graceful, more like a swan then an actual horse. Their manes and tails would float around them like flames. I would make their eyes large and expressive. In the lines that formed them, I would get lost by creating something ideal and lovely, dreaming of real horses and wishing I didn't feel so lonely.

Growing up is hard work and kids find different ways to cope, some good, some harmful. I can't say that escapism was the best way to deal with my feelings, but I didn't know a better way and I was too afraid to find a different way. In a drawing of a horse I would feel their power and freedom. I wanted both of those things and felt they were completely out of reach. Living in the fantasy I could identify with the creatures I was drawing.

Giving them up for a while was part of becoming mature. I have learned how to reach out to people and overcome my loneliness. I have learned that freedom and power are a state of mind as much as feeling like a victim is. Escaping into a fantasy never helps. Now I can draw the horses and just love their beauty and their form because they are amazing animals. I see my own beauty too now.

This horse if my 39th painting in my series of 100. It is 8 x 10 and available for sale for $39. If you would like to purchase it, please email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. The first person I hear from can buy it.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog. Reaching out to others through this medium has been such a blessing! I'm glad you are here and I hope you can come again tomorrow.

A Painting a Day - Day 38

My family wanted a dog. I did not. My son was 5, my daughter was about to turn 3 later that year. We were working on potty training. I told my husband I would consider a puppy after I had everyone out of diapers because I knew who would be potty training a dog. That was not why I didn't want a dog. I felt fear towards dogs. I felt like they were smelly and obnoxious. The experiences I had had with dogs growing up was not warm and fuzzy. Mostly they jumped on me and made my hands smell bad. And one did bite me. But my husband and my son wanted a puppy.  So I went looking.

My husband wanted a particular type of dog - a shepherd mix that would be similar to a dog he had growing up. Apparently they weren't making that kind of dog at the time in this area because there were only lab and pit-bull mixes. I looked for about a week in the paper and on Petfinder.com. Finally I found a beautiful border collie puppy and I called the rescue only to find out they had already found him a home (SHOOT!) but.... there was this little female shepherd mix that was SOO cute! I said, we were are looking for a male. But I said I would look at her profile.

She was SO cute! I showed her to my husband. A day later we brought Daisy home and she is my third child. I went from being strictly a cat person to totally loving her and that opened my heart to other dogs.

This pretty border collie is probably what the puppy I missed looks like now. I bet he is beautiful. But I am glad he found a home and because of that I looked at another puppy. Not only did she get me over my discomfort with dogs, but she has made me appreciate the love people have for their dogs and I love that I am getting the chance to do pet portraits now. Funny how life can be in one place and turn and send us in an unexpected direction and it was the way you had hope to go all along.

This is my 38th painting and it is available for sale for $38. It is painted on 8 x 10 watercolor paper. If you would like to buy it, please email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. The first person I hear from can buy it. Thanks for visiting my blog. See you tomorrow! (Side note: I highly recommend Petfinder.com if you are looking to adopt a pet.)

A Painting a Day - Day 37

Like yesterday, I am painting a subject I have not ever attempted before. Opossums are strange little animals, sometimes not so little. When I was growing up, I lived on a farm far from town. There was plenty of wildlife. On any given evening a driver might come across a deer or raccoon or fox or opossum wandering across a rural road. For the animal's sake as well as maintaining the condition of one's car, you saw them in time to slow down and even stop to allow them to get out of the way. I remember I always cringed when I saw an opossum. They gave me the creeps! Like a giant rat with a weird white head that seemed too skull-like.

I took this animal on as a subject because I am now taking requests and someone who purchased one of my earlier paintings suggested I paint an opossum. So, as I often do, I turned to Google for reference pictures. Seeing the creatures through the eyes of a sympathetic photographer they actually do have a kind of beauty to them. And they are cute with their babies on their backs!

So everything needs a chance to be looked at a second time. All of God's creatures have some beauty to them.

I did enjoy painting this. I experimented with wetting the paper and allowing colors to blend and push against each other. The foliage especially turned out well using this technique.

Painting #37, which is 8 x 10, is available for sale for $37. If you are interested in purchasing it, please email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. The first person I hear from can buy it. Thanks for coming to see my art and read my blog. It is humbling to know so many people are enjoying my art work everyday. I am so glad I can give that to people.

A Painting a Day - Day 36

Since I began this project, I have been trying so many new things. I can honestly say this is the first time I have drawn a kangaroo. A friend suggested I add this to my list of potential subjects. I like the comma shape they make when they hop.

If you have a suggestion of an animal you would like to see me do a painting of please leave it in the comments below.

Painting #36 is available for purchase. If you would like to buy it, please email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. The first person who contacts me, can buy it.

Thanks for visiting my artwork today. Hope to see you again tomorrow!

A Painting a Day - Day 35

For painting #35 I decided to illustrate an animal story. These are Bremen Musicians. If you are not familiar with the story it is about an old donkey whose master is about to do away with him so he decides to run away and go to Bremen to become a musician. Along the way he finds a dog who is in the same situation and he invites him along. In the same manner they meet a cat and a rooster who also join their merry band to become musicians in Bremen. Eventually they come to a little house which has been inhabited by thieves who are counting and devouring their loot. By now the sojourners are hungry so the decide to drive the thieves away. So they stand outside the house and make as much horrible noise as their voices will allow. Terrified, the men leave the house, running away into the night. Later, after the animals have had their fill and settled down to rest, the thieves return and send one of the number into the dark house to investigate. This creates a humorous scene with the unfortunate thief getting attacked by each animal and screeched at by the rooster. He is so terrified he tells his companions there is a witch with sharp claws, a giant with a club and an ogre with a knife that attacked him along with an angry judge on the roof shouting "Put the crook in jail!" Frightened by the "monsters" in the house, the thieves run away never to return, leaving the animals there to enjoy the abandoned farm.

In my illustration, I have imagined they actually made it to Bremen and are performing a jazzy tune in a popular club downtown.

This illustration is available for sale for $35. If you would like to buy it, please email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. The first person I hear from can purchase it. Thanks again for visiting my blog to check out my work. Hope you can make it by tomorrow. I will be here, posting another fun picture!

A Painting a Day - Day 34

This painting is because everyone needs a hug sometimes.  I think this would look nice in a child's room or a nursery, maybe as a baby shower gift or a birthday gift for a little one.

So I am giving all of my viewers and fans a little bear hug tonight because I appreciate all of the encouragement and love I have received since I began this project. There are so many amazing people and I love that my art it creating a connection with them.

Painting #34 is available for sale for $34. If you would like to purchase it, please email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. The first person I hear from can buy it.

Thanks for coming by again today. Hope to see you tomorrow.

A Painting a Day - Day 33

I have not been this sleep deprived since my kids were tiny. Back then it was this irregular, sleep when you can, sleep in the middle of the day, sleep on the floor beside the crib kind of sleep. Now it is the going to bed way to late and getting up way too early because I have to do all this stuff. And it is all good worth while stuff. And I had read that starting a business was like this. You have to make sacrifices. I am sacrificing sleep. Painting every day means painting mostly when my kids have gone to bed. It means squeezing sketch time in while I wait for them to do their extra curricular activities. It means planning ahead while I drive to my other job.

I am sleep deprived like I was when had babies. Now I am creating something new just like I did then. It is not the same. A business is not as important as a child. But doing something for myself that lives or dies based on my effort is something that has challenged and enlivened me in a really amazing way. Not only that it has given me an opportunity to meet new people and catch up with friends I haven't seen in a long time. That also has given me new enthusiasm.

I am sleep deprived and I can barely follow a train of thought, but I know that doing this is creating something good in me. Not only because I am doing something profitable but because it is blessing other people. There really is so much on the internet that is dark. I get to give a little bit of beauty to people everyday and that is so worth it.

Today's painting is about sleep. This little fox is doing what I need to do. And once I post this, I am going to crawl into my bed and pass out!  This 33rd painting is available for sale for $33. It is 8 x 10 and ready to frame. If you would like to buy it, please email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. The first person I hear from can buy my little sleepy fox. Thanks for coming by today! Have a good night.

A Painting a Day - Day 32

A weird thing happened while I was painting this. I liked it before I finished it.

That never happens.

Usually when I am doing a painting, I go through a period of time where I hate the painting and worry that I am going to have to scrap the whole thing. This pretty much never happens, but I feel it any way. This time, I only felt that way when I was doing the shadows leading from the deer's legs across the grass and that was more worry than hate. As I filled in the colors for the background I just loved how the picture was coming together. I don't know what to make of these feelings. Is it a sign that I am really enjoying what I am doing? Or is it is a sign that my skills are improving? I am not sure, but I do know I will miss this one when it finds a new home!

Painting #32 is 8 x 10 and available for sale for $32. If you would like to purchase it, please email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. The first person I hear from can buy it. I am so glad you have come along with me on this journey. I am learning so much and I enjoy sharing it with you.

A Painting a Day - Day 31

A whole month has passed and a new month has arrived. I never thought I could be this productive or determined to stay the course. I think once you give birth and endure labor, you realize you can endure a lot and persevere through the most difficult trials. That has been my test at least.

I am finding over the past few days and paintings that I have to sketch more than one drawing before I feel comfortable with starting a painting. This started as a a sketch with one raccoon in a pumpkin patch. As I researched the furry little creatures, which are insanely cute by the way, I changed course and created this composition. It is more satisfying to me because the raccoon are clustered in the center and the blues and oranges help draw my eye around the picture making the animals even more the center of the painting.

I wanted to do raccoon because they remind me of fall. I remember reading books like Where the Red Fern Grows and Rascal. I never saw raccoon around the farm I grew up on, but I was definitely drawn to them. I even had a puppet raccoon that I still own. Somethings I can't let go of.

I am going to let go of this painting though. It is for sale for $31 as this is the 31st painting. It is 8 x 10 and ready to frame. If you would like to buy it please email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. Thank you so much for sticking with me on my 100 day journey. Hope you will come along again tomorrow.