September 17, 2017
It's Been a While
It's been a while since I've painted or posted. It's been busy, busy, busy getting this house in shape. I did play around with some watercolors and did this frog a while back.
Welcome to Happy Abby Designs where you will find happy art and happy puppies.
September 17, 2017
It's Been a While
It's been a while since I've painted or posted. It's been busy, busy, busy getting this house in shape. I did play around with some watercolors and did this frog a while back.
September 3, 2014
Happy Abby End-of-summer Sale
I'm not attending the Farmer's Market anymore so I'm having a sale to give everyone in Helena an opportunity to shop and see new pieces that I are new this year.
April 13, 2014
Another Watercolor
I certainly have a bit to learn about painting trees and grass with watercolors. It's the layering thing. But I keep trying new things.
March 31, 2014
My First Watercolor Flowers
Oh, I think I'm going to enjoy painting flowers.
March 28, 2014
Parrot
My parrot doesn't have a name yet. I'm accepting ideas.
March 15, 2014
Watercolor Girl #29, Patti
Inspired by St. Patrick's Day. She was named not just for the day, for my friend Patti, who suggested her look.
March 15, 2014
Tuki, the Toucan
I finished Tuki a month or so ago, but it's taken some time to get him photographed so I can make prints, journals, magnets and cards.
March 10, 2014
Pixie's Birthday
Yesterday was my little Pixie's 3rd birthday. I did this painting in her honor last year. My little Pixie angel, although more pixie than angel, but I love her to death.
March 1, 2014
Who is your favorite Watercolor Girls?
Now that I'm done with all of the watercolor girls I'd really like to know which ones everyone likes the most. So I've created a poll so you can tell me. Once I've established the favorites I'm thinking about giving away a print. Hmmmm. So tell me what you think.
Jump over here to take the poll.
March 1, 2014
Watercolor Girls #28
Well I said I'd paint one girl each day in February and I did it. I finished this one right at midnight on the 28th. As she is my last girl in this challenge I decided to name her Abby, after one of my adorable Yorkies; the same Abby that my business is named after. I learned so much from this challenge. I'm really liking watercolors now, although I'm not done with acrylics.
If you would like to see the step-by-step process for Abby, you can see the series of pictures on my Tumblr page.
If you would like to see all the girls in an album you can check out either my Flickr or Pinterest page.
Abby
February 27, 2014
Watercolor Girls #27
Madi
February 26, 2014
Watercolor Girls #26
Kylee
February 25, 2014
Watercolor Girls #25
Bella
February 24, 2014
Watercolor Girls #24
I named her Lemon because I made "lemonade out of lemons." I used some new watercolors on her and am not happy with how they worked. So seeing as I considered her to be a flop anyway, I decided to try out something new. No loss, right? I have wanted to try outlining in a real loose manner, kind of sloppy, which often, done correctly, looks pretty cool. I think it actually made her look better than she did. So Lemon isn't a complete loss. And I learned a bit about my new watercolors so I won't ruin a more important piece. It's all about learning.
Lemon
February 23, 2014
Watercolor Girls #23
Sara
February 22, 2014
Watercolor Girls #21 & #22
Better late then never. I didn't finish #21 on the 21st because I was just too tired after a long day at work. Oh well, I'm getting caught up.
Frannie
Taryn
February 20, 2014
Watercolor Girls #20
Ashley
February 19, 2014
Watercolor Girls #19
As usual, there are things I like about each piece, in this case the baby penguin, and then the things I don't like, more that I don't like. I really need to practice fabric. I love all the shadows and shapes as fabrics hangs or flows around objects. I will definitely work on that more in the future.
Anastashia
February 18, 2014
Watercolor Girls #18
I thought it would be fun to add a duck on a leash, instead of a dog. I like it, but a bird loving friend advised me that people actually do put leashes on their pet birds. Who knew? Certainly not me. What I also didn't know, as I was really just making up the idea (or so I thought), is that one should use a harness if leashing a bird. I collar, as I depicted here, would break their neck. Oh that would be awful. So if you have a bird that you would like to take for a walk, please be sure to use a harness, not a collar.
Becky
February 17, 2014
Watercolor Girls #17
I kind of overdid the stripes on this one and I made a couple of mistakes, but nonetheless, I think it's my favorite so far.
Shelley
February 16, 2014
Watercolor Girls #16
I did some cool new things with this one, but I also kinda screwed up some things that I know better (hair, collar...) That's why I'm praticing.
Susan
February 16, 2014
Tuki, the Toucan
Tuki is my 6th (arcylic) bird. Clearly birds take considerably more time to paint then the watercolor girls.
February 15, 2014
Watercolor Girls #15
The whole idea behind this challenge is to get practice and find my style. This is as close as I've gotten. I like these eyes better than any so far. Still working on hair (styles and colors), body posture, and adding other things to the painting.
Lily
February 14, 2014
Watercolor Girls #14
Oddly enough, I find that the girls that I feel most comfortable with don't come out as well as I expect. And yet, those that I lack confidence in often are the ones that I am happiest with. Hmmm. Lots to learn.
Lucy
February 13, 2014
Watercolor Girls #13
A pretty little girl in a pretty little pink dress for Valentine's day, tomorrow.
Valerie
February 12, 2014
Watercolor Girls #12
Heidi
February 11, 2014
Watercolor Girls #11
Delilah
February 10, 2014
Watercolor Girls #10
Eep (The Croods)
February 9, 2014
Watercolor Girls #9
Mitzy
February 8, 2014
Watercolor Girls #7 & #8
A feel like I've redeemed myself after yesterday's girl. I like this one much better. At first I named the one in jeans Lane, but then I had a request to rename her to Berkley, after my great niece. So the next one is named after my other great niece, Brett.
Berkley
Brett
February 7, 2014
Watercolor Girl #6
The Olympic opening ceremony is on TV tonight. I've been sitting in front of it, painting my 6th Watercolor girl. I guess I was a bit influenced by the Olympics. I'm not really thrilled with this girl, but this challenge is to get practice. Not every one will come out so great, but I will show them all.
Nina
February 6, 2014
Watercolor Girl #5
If you follow my art you probably know that most of my paintings have some story behind them. This watercolor girl is no different. I woke up today to a balmy 24 degrees BELOW zero. My truck wouldn't start so I had to walk to work (it's only a mile, ha). I have the gear to walk in these temps safely and this is pretty much how I looked this morning. Yep, I looked like a fuchsia snowman, but I was warm. This girl is named Dawn.
Dawn
February 5, 2014
Watercolor Girl #4
Lisa
February 4, 2014
Watercolor Girls Challenge
I painted the first watercolor painting of a girl February 1st, then I painted the cheerleader on the 2nd (Superbowl), and a couple of days later I decided to challenge myself to do another girl every day for a month. Practice makes perfect, right? So stay tuned for a lot of girls this month.
Alice
Karen
February 2, 2014
Superbowl Sunday!!!!
Enough said.
January 22, 2014
Dancin' Puffin Raffle
You could win an 8"x10" Giclee print of this cute little guy.
January 20, 2014
Serenity Prayer, There are SO many variations
I saw yet another version of the serenity prayer today.
January 4, 2014
Happy New Year
My New Year’s Resolution is to clean out and reorganize my creative spaces. That means clearing out some inventory and having a sale, many sales actually, throughout January. I'll have a different sale every few days so there will be many opportunities for some after the holidays savings. Keep checking back to find out about the latest sale.
September 22, 2013
More Birds
These birds take me a tad longer to paint than my Paisley Cats, but it's worth the extra time. They are quite rewarding.
July 23, 2013
Birds
I recently started a series of birds. I thought it might be fun to paint a different kind of animal, one where I have LOTS of colorful choices. My first bird in the series was the Lilac-Breasted Roller. I know this now, but I didn't know what it was while I was painting it. It took some googling to figure out what beautiful bird this was. So lesson learned, the second bird is a Western Tanager, a bird that lives right here in Montana. What bird will be next? I'm not sure yet.
June 5, 2013
An elephant, an ostrich, and a lady bug...
They're finally done, but they don't have names yet. I really want something like Ozzy and Harriet, or the Three Stooges, etc... You get the idea. Jump over to my Facebook page and see how you can help me name them and possibly win an 8"x8" matted print of these three friends.
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