How I painted a canvas custom painting for a nursery

My husband's sweet friend contacted me and asked me to do a special painting. She is having a baby girl around late December and wanted to use the painting as the focal point of the room as well as the inspiration for wall color, bedding, etc. I also have to tell you that this gal is gorgeous. As in, we all wish we looked half as good as her while we were pregnant. She is a doll!

Now first off, what an honor! I know that when I was expecting my two pumpkins decorating the nursery was one of the most supreme delights. What you put into the baby's space or room defines you hopes for your sweet little baby. Working on this felt really special.

But...custom orders are intimidating! Especially to a newbie like me. You worry a lot about whether you are heading in the right direction. You feel really self conscious too. When you are painting for yourself it doesn't matter if you mess up. You just get a new sheet of paper or whitewash the canvas. When it is an order you don't want to waste time! Who wants to dilly dally? Thankfully this painting was a fun assignment and right up my alley. I enjoy doing whimsical, sweet, children's paintings.

 

These were the guidelines or suggestions I was given:

-Acrylic or Oil Paint
-Large canvas painting 2x3 feet (a really great size for a kid's room)
-Pretty
-Soft
-Calming
-Color: pinks, purples, yellows, soft blues, and greens
-Dahlias
-Little girl on a swing with dark hair and a white dress

And then the process:

So I first started sketching with a pen and paper.

Then I wanted to get a feel for the colors and the setup, so I made a collage in photoshop using photos I manipulated. You can do this too! Collect some favorite pictures from the internet from sites like Getty Images and use them as inspiration or a model for what you want to create. The internet is such a great resource for artists. Especially when doing human forms.

Collage made in Photoshop to give an idea for colors and setup.

Next came color blocking the sky light blue and the ground green.

Next I tried something different from normal: I mod podged torn tissue paper onto the canvas. It gave it a cool, random crinkle effect and since it was a lustre finish it had a glossy gleam to it. I made the mistake of painting a sky with gloss before, but I ended up loving the effect! When I painted images on top of it they would lack the gloss, so when the painting was angled a certain way only the background would gleam! The effect shows off most during sunset.

After that dried I started to work on the clouds.

Then came the meat of the picture: sketching the details.

I drew the tree limbs, the girl, and some flowers. I got bored drawing the flowers and just decided to paint.

And then finished!

I hope this helped anyone that is starting to paint or that is starting to get custom work orders! What is wonderful is that if you like it, then you can make art prints of it. Sometimes something that is requested isn't normally something you would do...but ends up being a hit! So take a chance on it.

Just be YOU :)

Vintage Style Airplane Painting for a Baby Boy Nursery

My friend Aaron is the sweetest and girliest girl I know.

She is in love with pink, vintage, and feminine things. What do you know she is expecting a baby and found out it is a....BOY! Oh, the irony! I can completely relate though, because I am girly and all I wanted was a girl the first time I got pregnant. Then came the ultrasound where we found out Calvin was a boy...and I cried. The ultrasound technician probably thought they were tears of joy, but I'll be honest--I was disappointed. My husband knew immediately and tried to cheer me up in the hospital parking lot.

I was hopeful that perhaps the ultrasound was wrong, so I tried to keep the tags on most of the baby clothes till after the baby was born. And then Calvin was born.

And he stole my heart.

No girl could ever take his place. As much as I dreamed of having a girl, he was perfect and irreplaceable.

I have a feeling it will be the same way for my friend. I know her style pretty well because she has the most fabulous instagram feed and a beautiful blog. AMAZING. This girl has style and an eye for beautiful things. She travels all over the world because her and her boyfriend work in the aviation industry and also fly planes. She takes pictures of pretty things in foreign places and even brings some home. I am going to do another post in the near future with pictures of her home and collection. Your jaw will drop. I promise.

So I knew she was decorating the nursery with airplanes and her style is vintage...so this is what I came up with! It is a large square canvas and it was painted with acrylics.

First I painted the background a muted tan color and then I went over it with a dry brush in blue for the sky. For the clouds I kept on layering the white until I came up with a consistency I was happy with.

I love how acrylics dry really fast. I was able to do some last minute touch ups before I even got in the car to go to the shower and I didn't have to worry about paint getting all over my car.

I just ordered a test print so it will be available in my shop soon. These are the pictures I will include with my listing:

Butterfly Silhouette with Tropical Flowers Painting

Here is my newest canvas painting!

 

Butterfly Silhouette with Tropical Flowers

16"x20" on a gallery canvas with acrylic paints. 

©Heatherlee Chan, Lady Poppins

 

 

I can't help but love it.

 

 

A butterfly? Check.

Pink? Check.

Flowers? Check.

Modern? Check.

Something my husband would not be happy if I hung up in the living room? Check.

 

The last ten years I have been doing paintings as gifts, so the main goal was to make someone else happy. If I wasn't doing that, I was trying to paint something for our home that was something my love and I agreed on. But now? I just LOVE painting things that I get excited about! I'm sure if I weren't married with three kids I would have the girliest house. 

 

What things would you paint or create if the main goal was just to make YOU happy?

 

 

 

I have the original and prints available in the shop.

Vintage Dress Painting

I was itching to create something beautiful, feminine, and experimental.

I sat down and created this beauty:

 

I am in love.

 

It is 11x14" and on a stretched gallery stapled canvas done with acrylics.

 

You can buy it here.

I think I am going to create a whole series that has a similar feel to it.

Start looking forward to some vintage, abstract, shabby chic, romantic inspired paintings!

Colorful Desert Painting

My dear friend is moving to Arizona...

While I am so happy for her and her sweet little family, I am so sad to be 5 and a half hours away from her. We met in college thanks to her cousin and my dear friend Jamie. We've been there for each other as we've gotten married, had kids, made homes, and lost dear ones.

I told her that when she moved I would paint her a painting for her new house. I was shocked when she told me she wanted a desert painting. I imagined a boring, desolate desert and knew that there was no way I could paint that. My desert would have color, plants, be original, and idealistic.

And of course, after I was finished I wished I could keep it!

It's name is "Jackie's Desert" and it was painted in acrylic.

Till the next time we Skype, dear Jackie!!

Owl Family and their House Painting for a Baby Nursery

My dear friend Jackie is having her third baby! She is due within the next couple weeks and just had her baby shower. She got this cute owl baby bedding set from Target so I knew I had to paint something cute to go with it.

It's got a Papa, Mama, and three little girl owls. Their last name starts with a B so I was pleased to stand back and realize the owls are sitting on branches that form a B shape. What a happy accident!

No matter how hard I tried, I could NOT get a picture that represented the colors accurately. It is so pretty and soft in person.

I also added patterned paper for some of the leaves. It's one of my favorite baby paintings.

Here is the display at Target. This bedding inspired the painting.

I also made a pretty baby mobile to match. You can see it here.

Classic Winnie the Pooh II

Miracle alert!!

My Uncle Bob and Aunt Chrissy are having a baby! Little Ryan is due in less than a month and we are so excited to meet him. They've been waiting over twenty years for this sweet little guy and I'm sure he will have been worth the wait.

For such a blessing, I knew I'd have to get to work painting! Just like Natassia, Aunt Chrissy decided on a Classic Pooh theme for the nursery. I set to work on making some rendered reproductions of the original illustrations by Ernest H. Shepard. You can see Natassia's Pooh paintings here.

 Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, and Eeyore visit Christopher Robin at the tree house. The original only had Pooh visiting.

 Hundred Acres is flooded! I compbined two illustrations to make this painting. Pooh and Christopher Robin are in the umbrella while Owl sits on the branch talking and Piglet is calling for help.

 Pooh, his balloon (or rain cloud disguise), and the honey bees. It's pretty much the same as my last one.

Pooh and Piglet watching Christopher Robin nail Eeyore's tail back on. Piglet was added to this illustration.

Winnie the Pooh

As God would have it, my Twin (Natassia; born on the same day, one year apart) and I are pregnant at the same time with only two weeks between our due dates. Little Dante will be her and her husband Ray's first baby. I am sooooooooo excited to meet this little guy! I've even had dreams about how adorable he is going to be.

I knew Natassia was going to be decorating in Classic Pooh theme (of course! She's always LOVED Classic Pooh), so I set to work on making some reproductions of the original illustrations by Ernest H. Shepard. I had a hard time imitating his style, so I put my own flair into it. Here are the final pieces:

Fire Truck for the Little Fireman

 

Fire Truck with Dalmation Children's Painting by Heatherlee Chan 

 

I painted Calvin a fire truck for his room yesterday. My dad is a retired fireman, so obviously Calvin's got a love for big red trucks that have sirens and puppy dogs! We got him this Big Boy bed around February when we found out we were having another baby. He LOVES being in his fire truck bed!

Butterfly collection

Unfortunately, insects and butterflies creep my husband out. Therefore, the butterfly painting remains in the garage over my work area (that I never work at because it is too HOT!).

Sitting pretty in the country field

This painting is nice and big. It hangs right above our couch...just close enough for my 2 year old to knock it crooked ;) Although its colors are muted, it is one of my favorites!

A tall, sturdy tree

A tall, sturdy tree. Orginally created to hang in our dining room. Nothing spruces up a room better than a big painting!

What's that glare?

My original vision for this painting was to have the sunlight look reallyreallyreally awesome, but after I started painting the white I totally began to regret it. Now my pretty picture looks like I was trying to paint the coming of an angel or prophet...and was very unsuccessful.

 Oh, well. You win some, you lose some--right?