Lakeside - Summer Sketchbook Project

"Lakeside", watercolor & ink on paper, copyright Erin Rogers Pickering

There is nothing quite like a weekend by a lake... so relaxing and restorative!  Quiet mornings of reading, sketching, walking, and canoeing. Sunny afternoons filled with boating, skiing, swimming and corn hole. Fun evenings playing board games and ping-pong, and roasting marshmallows over a blazing campfire.  

Great times with family! And our daughter now has friends her age at the lake... so the weekend was perfection.  And, hard to say goodbye to.

I finished up my sketch with paint this morning and it brought me right back to the peacefulness.   Looking forward to the next time and holding on to that relaxed feeling until then!!

Welcome... The Color of Doors

There is growing trend by us to paint the front door in a bright or unexpected color.  And, I love it.
From the charcoal grey house around the corner with the lemon yellow door.
To the colonial blue beauty with a vibrant orange door.
And, most especially the turquoise and teal gem-tone doors I have seen on a variety of homes.
I LOVE them!  So intriguing and inviting.

The Turquoise Door, watercolor & ink on paper, copyright Erin Rogers Pickering

This is not a trend where you then match all the trim and the shutters to the door - the beauty of it is the bright and compelling front door that invites you in.  Like a secret treasure chest, I would think entering a home greeted with color like that would be a daily treat!  
It would be for me.  

Unfortunately our front door is not a paintable surface or I might be compelled to experiment with a few choices, week to week.

Welcome, watercolor & ink on paper, copyright Erin Rogers Pickering

If our next home does have a paintable door, look out - the color fun begins!

All about Choices - Bridal Note Cards

So the best feedback I received on the Bridal flat note cards, was instead of one or other - offer choices!  Sometimes the answer is a clear as a bell... and yet you don't see  it!

Glad I asked the question.

There are 3 personalized options available:

1. Your name

2. "thank you"

3. Blank

So all bases are covered, I think.  If not these are customizable so I can add whatever the Bride may wish.

They make a great gift for a shoe loving bride to be!!

Bridal Flat Note Cards

I am all about the flat note cards these days.  Sometimes I get an idea in my head and it won't stop pestering me until I make it come to life!  And, I have learned not to ignore the incessant call of my creative imagination.  If for nothing else but to give me peace!

But, mostly because if I give life to a creative idea it increases the flow of more and more!

So today I am getting my first cards together... Bridal flat note cards. They are 5x7 printed on a creamy, smooth white card stock. Lovely to the touch, and will have matching envelopes.  

But, I am wondering... with or without the "thank you" printed on the top?  Would love any and all input.
Thanks! 

Girl's Room Decor, Creating A Bold Color Statement

Creating the accent pieces to put together a bold and colorful look in a girl's bedroom.

Colors of Life 4 Silhouette Girls with Afro Pillow by PralinePixiesEGP

Colors of Life 4 Silhouette Girls with Afro Desk Lamps by PralinePixiesEGP

Colors of Life Silhouette Girl with Afro Clock by PralinePixiesEGP

Girls Room decor switch plate silhouette afros by PralinePixiesEGP 

Girls Room Night Light Afro Silhouette by PralinePixiesEGP

And she can even wear the look, too!

Multi-Cultural Afro Silhouette Girls Hoodie by PralinePixiesEGP

Once Upon a Mermaid

Once upon a time there was a toddler who flitted from activity to activity like a bird from flower to flower. 
Focus was something she rarely showed.
Until the day she saw The Little Mermaid movie.  She was captivated, mesmerized, watching it with almost unblinking eyes. The music and story were magic to her and she fell in love with Ariel and all things mermaid! She wanted to watch it over and over until she had every line (and every song!) committed to memory.

It was the beginning of her love of mermaids, but she took all that she saw very literally.  At 2 1/2 she assumed a mermaid had to have red hair because that is what she saw.  And when she started seeing other movies and other princesses she believed that to be a princess (and to be beautiful) you must have peach skin and yellow hair. 
What she was seeing was starting to define her idea of beauty... and that's when we stepped in!

We tripled the amount of books in the house with princesses, heroines and main characters of color. The Happily Ever After series on HBO became (and remains) a favorite for a fairy tale fix.

On a whim I painted a mermaid girl in her likeness. She was enchanted with the idea that SHE could be the mermaid, and that a  mermaid could look like her!

I continued to create more and more art in her likeness, and we watched her beliefs shift and expand.
The power of exposure.