Miles Tiles: redefined

I was contacted a few weeks ago to do a painting for an old high school friend that I reunited with on Facebook. Chrissy, ahem, sorry Chris, I found out lives about 15 mins away in Fishers and prior to that we lived a few blocks apart in Broad Ripple. Small world.  Anyway, Chris' little boy Miles turned one last weekend and she wanted to have a painting done spelling out his name.  I had her look at some of my completed works for inspiration and think about some of Miles' favorite things.  Since he is only one, that doesn't always help.  So Chris and her husband, Brendan decided on a baseball vignette.  Brendan is a HUGE Reds fan so they wanted the team playing to be the Reds.  I inquired further and asked if there were any favorite players that I could include or a team for them to play.  Brendan was on it, he emailed a list of players and their positions along with the opposing team: the Cubs.  It was a ton of fun because then I could have my little players take on the identities of the real thing!  So cool.  What is neat about this piece is that Miles can enjoy this in not only his bedroom, but a playroom and honestly I don't think it will lose its relevancy, unless of course he decides the Reds aren't for him or he decides to form a garage band and baseball isn't his thing.  I don't think Chris and Brendan have anything to worry about, at least for about 15 years!  Here are my newest Miles tiles:

I want to thank Chris and Brendan for allowing me to work on this special piece for your little fellas big day!  It was so much fun to do and I appreciate all your input. We're looking forward to seeing you soon!  Happy Birthday little Miles!  I really enjoyed doing these canvas' for you!

Thanks!

big boys and bugs

A couple of weeks ago, I received an email from a friend from college.  Heather is a fabulous lady that I had many a laugh with during my last couple of years at Ball State.  She was in the graduate Historic Preservation program and I was minoring in HP.  If you know Historic Preservation and some of the individuals that work in that field, they can be, oh how shall I put it, kind of dry in my opinion.  While that may be true, Heather was far from dry and she and I were the comic relief and had a ton of fun, regardless of our situation and much to the chagrin of some of our professors. Fast forward to today, Heather wanted me to paint my great outdoors theme for her son, Asa.  This art piece would also be one of their gifts to celebrate little Asa's first birthday!!!  I was so touched that Heather wanted me to do something so special for her little fella!  Here are my not so great, don't do it justice pictures of little Asa's painting:

Here is what Heather had to say:

Hey Annie --

I got the package yesterday and wrote you a note, it is wonderful!! Everything is perfect and we're going to find a spot on the wall for it today.

If you know me, I am impatient, so I HAD to post this painting - I do have to say that I am thrilled with a handwritten note - it is a lost art - one that I love!  So thank you Heather for your note!!!  I am also thrilled to be doing a custom piece for Heather that she will be giving to a friend that has a little one a few days older than Asa!  Talk about confidence, she ordered that custom piece before she received her own piece, so thanks again Heather, I am so touched!!!

Speaking of pictures, I have to give a shout out to my friend Betsy for connecting me with a fantastic gal (and photographer) Leslie, who will be helping me out with my pictures from here on out (more on Ms. Leslie soon). I have been functioning on my mom's little point and click digital, it doesn't do terrible, as long as the lighting is perfect - which is not always the case.  I am looking forward to Leslie's wizardry of photography to capture what I see and eliminate the blur!  

Have a great day and Happy First Birthday Asa!!!