Gifts

I paint gifts for other people. Thanks to Mother's Day, my mom's birthday, and Father's Day happening so close together, I was back to painting.

For my mom's birthday, I did a small painting of her favorite perfume. Now she always has a full bottle of Cristalle!

I forgot to take a picture of the final painting.

For Mother's Day, I experimented with bleeding a second color before the first one was dry. I loved how it took on a life of its own. For Father's Day, I was inspired by an artist I follow on Instagram. Jessica was doing so many gorgeous starry night scenes that I knew would be perfect for my dad.

Sooner or later, I will paint for myself too!

BJ's Story

Growing up, I didn't realize that I was crafty or creative. I could brain storm with my mom, but I didn't feel like I could actually make what ever it was. I still remember when I was about 11 or 12, one of my favorite church leaders was trying to teach us girls how to sew a button. I was such a punk that night to her! I kept making excuses and complaining. I feel badly for making a simple lesson so difficult on her! That's how I felt about anything crafty like that. I just couldn't do it! At some point in high school, I started changing my tune. I still stayed away from anything that involve needles and thread, but I was helping my mom with some of her projects around the house. After taking Honors Physics, I helped my mom switch the order of the switches in the kitchen because the order that the builder put it in made no sense. Then we installed a new ceiling fan in my bedroom. Slowly but surely, my confidence was growing. After getting married, I have been busy with a wide variety of projects: painting furniture, assembling Ikea furniture, patching my husband's jeans, recovering an office chair, and making homemade presents.

A few years ago, I asked my husband to give me watercolor supplies for my birthday. I stumbled across Alisa Burke's blog about a year before and finally wanted to start being more artistic. I didn't do much with the supplies for a long time, but I had them. After getting an Instagram account, I started following many talented artists. After seeing their work for a few months, I thought to myself, "I can do that!" And so I did! I got out my watercolors again and went all out for my first painting.

Thanks to doing a lot of ambitious projects for my lack of experience, I was confident enough to do a watercolor of the Los Angeles Temple. Though, I still took my sweet time doing it. I started the sketch of it in August and finished painting it just a few days before Christmas. I took a hiatus and didn't paint until the following December. This time I painted the Oakland Temple in about a week and the Idaho Falls Temple in one day.

I started a painting using acrylics, but I like the first layer so much that I haven't touched it in months.

I go through sporadic periods of creativity and I hope that they will continue to get closer together.