Kid's Room Painting Inspiration

I am an art teacher, but I am also a crafter and I love to try out just about any craft idea that comes my way.  I have to do it, and I have to do it now, which also means I don't always have the right materials for the project, but since I have been doing this for a very long time, I welcome any opportunity to improvise.  I have taught painting and drawing for many years and love to incorporate both into my craftwork as well.  There are lots of crafters who are not artists, but I consider myself lucky to be able to do both.

 I found a site that got my wheels turning, and although I got inspiration from this project, I turned it around to be my own.  I handpaint stools mostly with my favorite theme, teddy bears, and personalize them, so this project was not a far cry from what I usually do, only on a different surface.  My daughter, although a few years away from starting a family, had mentioned she liked the name Ava, so I chose that name as the departure point for this first personalized painting.  I formulated a theme as I was painting a background, made a bear fairy template using a member of my bear collection as a model, and began working.  I am always amazed at how my original idea undergoes a metamorphosis along the way.  It's added to, subtracted from,and tweaked until I reach the desired result.

I was very happy with personalized painting #1, but during another of my nights of waking up at least 4 times, a thought came to me and I began a second child's room painting, this time using the word imagine.
I wrote the word out using various fonts for each letter, turned the i into a tree, added some fanciful creatures interacting with the word, some glitter paint and finished painting #2.  I forgot how much I love painting, since I often go back and forth between mediums.  I don't teach painting this year.  With the advent of graphic design, I have been busily teaching several classes of graphic art and don't get much of a chance to paint anymore.  So when the opportunity presents itself, I fall in love all over again. 

This weekend is supposed to be a snowy one, so I have already resigned myself to the fact that I will be staying in, doing laundry, vacuuming, shoveling the driveway, but, best of all, planning out my next project.  Today I will make a quick stop at the craft store to pick up a few things I might need, then to the grocery store to join the "stock up  before the storm" crowd and I will be all set to begin my next adventure!