The Heart Finds Peace II

I loved my Here the Heart Finds Peace painting so much, that I decided to make my sister one.  I used the same colors we used in her giant three part painting we did a couple weeks ago.

I started out with a plain chevron pattern similar to the underlying pattern in my inspiration fabric (fabric also from Burkina Faso, Africa).  Next, I painted this gold arrow/chevron pattern on top.  Both patterns are so easy to do and the layering effect looks great.  Finally, I used a navy color to stencil in the words. 

Here is the end result:

 And both of them next to each other:

The Heart Finds Peace

I set out on creating a smaller piece using a 6"x6" canvas.  I drew inspiration from this fabric I got from Burkina Faso, Africa (left).  The same fabric I used for my fabric scrap keychain.  I love the colors and layers of patterns, so I wanted to use it as the background of this piece.

Months ago, I read the phrase "Here the heart finds peace" and it has been stuck in my head ever since, but I couldn't remember where I originally read it.  I googled the phrase and I found this quote "At this place abides happiness, here the heart finds peace." from Bavaria, 3rd, by Rodney Bolt.  I'm thinking I may have found this quote when I was reading a book that talks a little about the Neuschwanstein castle... who knows?!

I chose the font and layout I wanted using Adobe Illustrator and printed it out on some thick photo paper.  Exacto'ed out the black parts, taped it to the canvas, and 'stenciled' in the letters.

Once I pulled off the stencil, the letters were a little messy so I tidied them up a little, but I also like it a little rougher.

Sidenote: The low quality pics are from my computer since my camera batteries are dead and I'm too lazy to go buy new ones.  Anyways... Here is the final piece:

update:: I bought some batteries for the camera so here is a clearer picture:

Gold

I'm loving the gold accents and detail everywhere.  Here are a couple of my favorite gold inspiration photos:

Gold detail

Gold mirror

Painted bias armchair

Cultural significance

"In Ghana, the display of gold at the Ashanti king’s jubilee in 1995 was unsurpassed in splendor. This Adioukrou Queen Mother, attending the jubilee, indicates her status by wearing gold turtle & crocodile talismans in her hair."

Wedding invites

Gold Giraffe

I just wanted to share this little Giraffe thing:

BC got me this baby giraffe as a present about a year ago because giraffes are one of my favorite animals.  It started out all white and you're supposed to draw on it.  I always put off doing anything with it because I'm afraid of doing things that are permanent and not being happy with how they look.  Well I finally got the nerve and used the gold paint pen that I used on the lampshade and created this cute little thing.  I'm pretty much in love with it!

Thinking of renaming the blog soon... or more like naming it in the first place.