Celestial Folk Art Series - Pisces

There's a half finished to-do list in my sketchbook. It's all the constellations that I'd love to paint in the near future. And for most of them, I have NO IDEA of how I'm going to paint them.

As for Pisces, this idea came to me from outta no where. I was just doing some routine stuff and BAM! I just saw it in my mind's eye.

I don't even think I sketched out an idea, I just picked up the brush and started painting. Most of the background and the waves came out perfectly, but the fish...well, I had to step away from the canvas for an evening and work it out in my sketchbook at home.

It started coming together, though. Like I hoped it would.

Lots of little brush strokes. I don't paint with a completed idea in mind. I just kinda let it BE.

Just following my gut. Adding more and more little details. There are times that I think OH NO I ADDED TOO MUCH, but I try to work through that. Usually I don't have to rework a painting too much. 

The canvas is sitting on my trusty easel from college.

All finished! 

Fish one details.

Fish two details.

And star details.

This will be on display during my show in March and April. I'm crossing my fingers that I'll have enough paintings to fill the walls...and I'm in full freak out mode. Perhaps I can turn this nervous energy into productive paint mode. One can hope, right?

Fifty Suns and Moons Project Complete!

When I first started painting little suns and moons, I made the joke that I should just paint 50 of them. Make it a whole series, y'know. And look! It became a serious goal and after several weeks of chugging away, I am done!

Honestly, I'm so proud of myself. Usually I lose interest in things like this and end up dropping it for something new and interesting. But I did it! Yay!

They look so neat together!

Almost half of them have been sold or given away. 

The rest are on my bigcartel shop: http://fawne.bigcartel.com/

Just the other day I thought "why didn't I do a time lapse painting video?" so maybe in the future I'll paint another one and record it. That should be fun! 

My next project is another doozy: 40 8x10 owls. Just wait until you see those!

Travel: Southeast Alabama

Last weekend I took a short trip to my friend's house in southeast Alabama. It's become a tradition that I spend MLK weekend with Amber for her birthday. Before I left my house I looked for some possible interesting roadside attractions on Roadside America.

My first stop was the "World's First Drive Thru Art and Antique Gallery" in Seale, Alabama. It snuck up on me and I had to do a quick u-turn. I've heard about Butch Anthony, his Museum of Wonder, and the Doo-Nanny festival from folk artist friends. I think I could've drove down the road to the artist's house, but it was really early in the morning and I kinda chickened out.

The Drive Thru Art Museum was worth the stop! I LOVED it!

It's composed of three shipping containers and full of interesting antiques and art.

Of course, I forgot my regular camera at home so I had to use the camera on my phone. I think I got a few good shots here and there. Taking photos through glass is a challenge.

The containers were covered with bits of art on the outside. I wish I had some magnets of my own to leave.

It was a breath-taking collection of curated art and antiques. The sign said DRIVE THRU but I parked and walked around, pressing my hands and face up to the glass. 

Now I'm wondering how I can do my own large art installation!

A Dollar General sits across the street. Definitely not as interesting. 

After Seale, I stopped in Clayton, Alabama where I found the whiskey bottle shaped tombstone. 

From Roadside America: An unusual granite sculpture marks the Clayton Cemetery burial spot of William T. Mullen, who died in 1863. The tale behind the whiskey bottle-shaped gravestone is that Mullen's wife followed through on a threat of posthumous humiliation if he didn't stop drinking. He didn't.

There was a collection of coins inside the top of the smaller tombstone. I checked my pockets, found some change, and left my own offering.

I'll have to post more about my travels to stranges places in the area. About two years ago, Daniel and I took a trip across the state of Alabama and hit several interesting places but I never posted about them. Perhaps I can make it a monthly/weekly thing on the blog?

Making: A Street Puppet

Puppets! I love 'em! I was brought up with Sesame Street and Muppets and found myself quite fond of large street puppets as an adult. It's been an interest I haven't explored until just recently. After multiple viewings of Beauty is Embarassing (Wayne White is my spirit animal!), watching an artist buddy prace around in her own huge puppet at an art festival, and seeing a large puppet at the Wild Rumpus in Athens I knew it was something I had to do.


Please, watch this documentary when you get the chance!


As with most projects, I start out with a vague idea in my head. I had a little sketch of an angel in my notebook, but other than that, just kinda winged it. The head is made from pink insulation foam from Home Depot. The hand is styrofoam covered in spackling paste.

NOTE: Don't make the hand out of foam and spackle. I just used supplies that I had around the studio. The spackle made the hands too heavy. Just trust me.

Painting the face. I took the photo with my feet for size comparison. I used pipe cleaners and hot glue for the eye lashes.

Wings from cardboard. Heart from cardboard and a battery operated string of LED lights. There's a painted hand.

A friend let me have a backpack frame and I used plastic zipties to attach two pvc pipes to the back. They're duct-taped at the top. This is the basic frame for the body. 

Ribbon as hair. There's a halo made from wire and a battery-operated string of lights. This puppet was going to be part of the local Christmas light parade so I made sure to light her up as much as I could. 

I used sheer curtains as her gown.


HERE'S ANOTHER TIP: Make sure your puppet can FIT into your transportation. I did not think of this until the DAY of the parade. I had about two inches to spare, but that was after about 20 minutes of wrangling the puppet into the back space of my Rav4.

Here she is all put together. There's a panel of tulle in front of my face. Enough to cover it but I could still see. We estimated she stood at a little over 9 feet tall. 

I made star luminaries for my daughter and her friends to carry in front of me. And my husband is hugging the puppet because we thought it would be funny.

Such a fun project! Since she was made of foam and fabric she didn't weigh too much. It was a mild night with no wind so I had very little trouble walking the parade. The hands became to heavy so I had my husband and friend carry them as they walked next to me.

As for the parade watchers, they seemed to like it. I heard lots of OOOOOhs and AAAAAAAhs and some EW CREEPY from little kids. But hey, it's all good. I tried it and had fun, that's all that matters.

I can't wait to make another one!

Painting on Walls: The Southern Pooch!

As a small town artist, I get asked to do a variety of things. My last project of 2014 was painting a large dog on the side of a building. I was super excited to accept this challenge!

I didn't design the logo. I only put it on the wall.
This is the first afternoon. I was sure that I could wrap this up in a day or two, but I was totally, totally wrong. Painting on concrete walls is tedious work!

Ok, I admit: I had a bit of a bratty artist moment after this afternoon. It was taking longer than I thought and I couldn't even reach the top of the dog's head with my small step-ladder. I berated myself for not knowing what I was doing. But this was the first mural I've painted in a very long time...so surely there's a learning curve, right?

Rainy weather set me back a few more days, but it was enough time to get my head straight and back in the game. My dad gave me one of his ladders and it helped out tremendously.

And it all came together in the end! I'm super proud of this!

I added little footprints on the other side. While I was painting I had several people stop and ask for my business card. So perhaps I'll be painting more murals soon?

The dog's name is Flash and he belongs to the owner of The Southern Pooch. 

So much fun!

This Week in the Studio No. 5

This Week in the Studio: Mostly a bunch of cleaning. And some painting. 

Trying to finish my 50 Suns and Moons project.

Coming along...

And here's Number 50! All done! I'll post about it sometime in the next week. 

Updating my shop too! Check it out: fawne.bigcartel.com

Making of a Cover: 52 Hertz

Kitchen Drawer Illustrated is a community based publication and possibly one of my favorite things in the Middle Georgia area. They're always featuring super neat things from nearby towns: businesses, artists, musicans, events, history, etc. They even did a "Day in the Life" of me a few years back. I blogged about that here.

"Do a Cover for Kitchen Drawer" has been on my to-do list for a long, long time. I even mentioned this goal to several members of the KD staff. It's good to get your goals out there in the universe, right? Perhaps I thought if I kept saying it outloud I might get the initiative to actually create something. But I had no ideas...yet. 

When I got the email from KD about doing a cover, my first reaction was AW HELL YEAH. Then I thought Oh No I don't know what to do! Thankfully I keep a notebook on me at all times where I can jot down notes and ideas for future use. One of those ideas was "52 Hertz". 

From Wikipedia: The 52-hertz whale is an individual of an unidentified whale species, which has been detected regularly in many locations since the 1980s, calling at the very unusual frequency of 52 Hz. It appears to be the only individual emitting a call at this frequency and hence, has been described as the world's loneliest whale.

I had come across the story of the 52 Hertz Whale a few weeks earlier and I thought it would make a neat painting. And since whales are long, so I asked if it would be cool to do a "double" cover and have the image spread from front of back. The idea was approved and I was good to go!

As most of my ideas go, it starts with a late night and some spirits. 

The first layers.

Then details.

Little, little brushstrokes.

And the final product. It's a 24" x 36" canvas. Acrylic paint. 

He doesn't look too lonely, does he? My husband Daniel said, "Well, maybe he's not lonely. Maybe he enjoys his life very much." And I thought that was a good point. 

I've got to say, it makes one hell of a cover. I love it! So happy to be a part of this!

Thanks, Kitchen Drawer!

New Year...New Blog Post!

Hello 2015! It's so nice to see you!

Let me tell you, this year has definitely started off on the right foot! We've grown quite fond of Tybee Beach recently and we try to visit as often as possible. It's a quick (but boring!) drive and always so worth it! At the stroke of midnight on January 1st we watched fireworks being launched from the Tybee Pier. The temperature was mild so we didn't have to worry about freezing as we watched the spectacle from a blanket on the beach.

The next morning. A bit chilly with loads of sunshine!

The morning of December 31st I took a walk on the beach as the sun rose. Daniel and Maz couldn't be bothered to get out of bed. I don't blame them at all! It was windy and cold and due to the clouds, I couldn't see much of the sunrise. 

Thankfully, it came out in full force on January 1st. We explored the beach, hoping to find some shark teeth. 

We stayed at the Atlantis Inn and our room was titled "Under the Sea". It was delightfully tacky!

I took a total of three photos of the fireworks before I thought to myself, "Just take it in...you don't have to document it!"

Honorable Mentions: Our favorite breakfast on the island is by Sunrise Restaurant. Seriously, best shrimp and grits I've ever tasted! Also check out Lighthouse Pizza for the best pizza on the island! We stopped by Fish Art Gallery in hopes of meeting an interesting folk artist, but he wasn't in. We also checked out River Street in Savannah, but didn't take any photos. We bought a CD from Yes Ma'am, a band playing on the street. Turns out their vehicle broke down in Savannah and they needed to get home to New Orleans. I hope they made it!

* * * * * * * * * * *

I mentioned we were looking for shark teeth, right? Well we found some! We found out about the Megalodon: Largest Shark that Ever Lived exhibit at the Florida Museum of Natural History before we finalized plans for Tybee. Since it ended on January 4th we decided to take an extra day and drive down to Gainesville, Florida to see the exhibit. Daniel's obsessed with megalodons, and I have to admit: they are quite facinating!

I mean, c'mon...those teeth are bigger than your HAND! How exciting it that!?!

After nerding out at the museum, we ate lunch at Satchel's Pizza. It's definitely a MUST DO if you're in Gainesville. Hands down the best pizza I've had in a long time! Baked to perfection! So yummy! And the colorful ambiance! I was in my element and all googly-eyed. 

Satchel's is not only famous for super awesome pizza, but they also make their sodas in house! I ordered the Flight of All 6 Sodas and got to try each one. My favorite was the Ruby Root Beer, with the Lennie Lemon Lime as a close second. So good, so good!

Now we're back home, and after a Sunday to relax and get caught up on sleep I think we're ready to tackle the New Year and kick its butt. I don't make resolutions, more like a to-do lists and I'm just going to keep on keeping on and doing what I do.

And hopefully keep this blog updated more! Don't I say that every entry though? 

Here's to you, Twenty Fifteen!