Last Day Lament.

Today is my last day of summer vacation. I have loved every minute of being off. Even though I didn't actually go anywhere special or do anything particularly fun or adventurous, I enjoyed all of my free time and felt very happy being home in peace with my family and pets. I discovered a new hobby and got to share it with many people which brought me so much joy. 

The above photo of me was taken at a church where I was invited to speak and show my painted rocks to a group of teen girls that came from troubled homes. We had a rock painting session and the girls really got into the whole idea, so much so that they didn't even realize that they had missed their lunch time. On a later date, they were planning to go on a field trip to hide their rocks. I wasn't allowed to take photos to protect their privacy, but I was honored to be invited and spend time with them. 

I painted a LOT of rocks this summer. Many I gave away, many were commissioned or sold, but I'm still painting more to display for sale at a fall market event in October. I'm trying to make at least one rock a day until then. Here are some rocks I've done recently. I will add notes underneath each one.

This rock was made for a giveaway basket for our local rock group. We had a drawing after we hit 500 members. As of today, we have just over 800 members! Rock painting has really caught on. We even had someone post photos of residents at an assisted living center getting into the spirit. How great is that?

Here is the lovely gift basket the admin of our rock group put together with my crab rock in the center of it. I donated some plain rocks and funds for the added art supplies as well. A local lady won the basket and she and her daughter were very happy. We're having another giveaway when we hit 1000 members, which, at this rate, won't be too far off.

I could probably make a living doing pet memorial rocks. This was done for a close friend who commissioned me to make this for a family member of his who had just lost her cat. I couldn't say no. He paid me more than I asked for, which was nice.

Another pet memorial rock for a recently deceased pup.

In case you didn't know, the latest decorating craze is "Farmhouse." I wanted to do a farm animal, but had  trouble finding inspiration until I saw this donkey. I thought it was cute. I want to do a cow also.

This was commissioned by a friend who wanted something dragon themed for her son.

The same person wanted this for her daughter who is a swim coach for a team named the Seahorses.

This is very recent. I wanted to try this effect. I'm very happy with how it came out.

Here is another version I did yesterday.

I wanted to try a sunflower. I think I went for too much detail in the center. Flowers can be very difficult to paint, so my hat is off to those who are good at it. I saw a tutorial on YouTube on how to paint lilacs using q-tips bundled together. I tried something similar on a smaller scale and made a vase of lilacs as a gift for someone. It came out fairly good, but I forgot to take picture of it.

I had a wedge shaped rock that just told me it was supposed to be an orange slice.

This was fun. I even managed to get an orange peel texture on the rind by dotting it first and then painting over it, similar to how I did the football.

And that's what I've been doing all summer long. It has been a self discovery of sorts and quite an interesting journey. You may recall that these were the first rocks I painted back in June.

I've come a long way since then.

In other news, hubby and Megan traveled to St Augustine, Florida last week to deliver some Black Flame Creations merchandise to Aunt Matilda's Steampunk Trunk. It was a very successful trip and hubby did an artist appearance there at the store which is fabulous. They said that the area was just beautiful everywhere you looked and full of tourists. We watched a live cam from inside the store last night and it was non-stop people. Hubby will be selling this way, on consignment, from now on. No more conventions. If you are ever there, please stop in and check out all the cool stuff.

Hubby with the store owner. Yes, she dresses up like that every day!

So, tomorrow it's back to the real job. We have a newly hired assistant manager and I've heard nothing but good things about her, so I expect it's going to be a great year!

Rock on and steam on, people!