"Troisième Presenting" a Canvas Diptych - Peacock & Ballet Inspired

Good morning everyone!  Today I am very excited to show you a painting project.

My daughter is my biggest fan to say the least. She makes me smile, giggle, feel loved and I adore her like any mother would. I have been wanting to do an art piece for quite some time for her room that she could keep forever. We are military so painting her walls is something she can't keep with her.

"Troisième Presenting"

An Acrylic Painting with Pastels on Canvas

Troisième Presenting 2' x 4' (Click on image to see larger)

This painting was inspired by my daughter, her face, her body, her eyes and her passions. She loves to dance and for almost two years now she has loved peacocks and everything that has to do with peacocks. It started with a Peacock Princess Costume for Halloween in 2012. Then her love for the bird and colors moved into making Peacock Ornaments for her little Christmas tree she gets to keep in her room. I started to see a trend in her clothing choices from pink to peacock colors as well. In 2014 her birthday party was an international theme with the focus on India and the colors of a peacock. Now we have moved to a new home, in a new state and one thing we did for the kids was let them redecorate their rooms to help them get excited about our family's transition. Can you guess what she chose? She calls it...

 "Vintage Peacock" 

Troisième Presenting Diptych Piece #1

Troisième Presenting Diptych Piece #2

This painting was created to go in her room, solely inspired by her. It is called "Troisième Presenting" because her arms are in the third position for ballet (bringing in her love for dance) and the representation of a peacock plumage in all it's glory with the hair, peacock feather stencils from The Crafters Workshop, the colors chosen and the peacock feather in her hair.

Close Up of "Troisième Presenting"

My daughter had input through almost every step of the process this piece went though. She even made the suggestion to lightly color in the eyes to match hers, a beautiful light blue.

"Troisième Presenting" close up of half of face

The peacock thing has gotten out of control here, but out of control is how we have fun in our family. I too went as a peacock for Halloween the following year using her tail we extended with longer feathers. I have made a Peacock Tutu Halloween Costume with coordinating hair piece. I have made an adult sized peacock tail for a local art gallery owner. Her peacock costume inspired an entire altered dress, pair of wings and a peacock crown that was created for +Elena Lai Etcheverry at +Charity Wings for the Live Stream from CHAW (The Winter Craft and Hobby Association Trade Show). The Peacock Couture Outfit was again used during the CHA Gift Lounge at the 64th Emmy Awards. It is currently entered into a craft awards called "The Craftys". You can go vote for it there though the 26th of May.

I created this piece while taking two online Bloom Girl classes from Jamie Dougherty. They were her Bloom Girl Workshop 2 class and her Bloom Girl Elements class. I highly recommend +Jamie Dougherty 's classes. She gives thorough instructions and support. She teaches how to use acrylic paints, PanPastels, India Ink and other products properly within her project.

Thank you all for your time. If you desire to learn how to make such a project then please check out these classes. I would love to know your thoughts about this project as well, please be so kind to leave me a comment below and follow me here on my blog or on Facebook on my artist page L. Grace Lauer Artist.

Mixed Media Artist and Paper Crafter
Coordinator for Party Time Tuesdays Challenge Blog

National Dance Week Celebrations - Dance related creative Projects

Happy National Dance Week!   

April 25 - May 4, 2014 is NDW, a week to celebrate dance and promote fun fitness! So I have compiled a round up of all my dance related projects. 

Paper Crafts:

Trinity was a hula dancing girl before she started ballet "Hula Kids"

This is the name plaque for my daughter's bedroom door "Trinity's Studio"

Birthday Party:

My daughter's love for ballet all started with Angelina Ballerina. Of course she had to have a Angelina Birthday Party, these are the invitations. At witch we surprised her with her very first ballet lessons... that was the beginning of her love for ballet. 

Her party was a smashing hit where I dressed as a dance madam and taught all her friends a quick ballet dance they preformed for their parents when they were picked up. The guest gifts were handmade tutus and hair pieces, we had a child sized Angelina Ballerina to pose for photos with, everything was frilly pink and of course there was the Angelina Ballerina Cake, handmade by me!.

 

3D Projects:

 As a piece of her room decor I created this shadow box "I Love Ballet"

A few years of dance and she wanted to be a 3D Paper Doll Ballerina for Halloween.

 I hope you enjoyed this dance round up of our lives... here is a quick photo of another crafty dance project that I have not blogged about yet.

My daughter was cast as the Scarecrow in her ballet class's version of the Wizard of Oz. I had to craft a straw hat that was pretty with girly flowers on it to match her costume. I also added burlap patches to the tutu for her. It was a 99cent Only Store sun hat and the flowers were extras from the pony tail hair piece ordered with the costume.

Please see more of our costumes in the following links:

Angel Warrior with Articulated Wings
Jack Skellington  - Disney's Nightmare Before Christmas Puppet Costume

Parks and Recreation's Leslie Knope Wedding Gown Tutorial

Moon/Lunar Fairy - with articulated wings

Tron Lightcycle
Peacock Princess with articulated tail
Iron Man - 3D
3D Paper Doll Ballerina
Literary Work of Art

Certified Helmar Educator

Decorating Doors with Helmar

Hello everyone! I am so excited to share with you today a sign I made for my dear daughter. Last month I shared with you all a sign I made for my son's bedroom door. My son loved it so much and my daughter envied it as much so I had to make her one also! Best Creations "Ballet Princess" papers made it so easy!



Like a lot of girls her age she is into ballet and all things pink. She absolutely adores this sign. The ballerina has been fancy cut out of the Best Creations "Ballet Princess" line and I added a tutu with some Helmar 450. Look at all this wonderful glitter. That all came on the paper, perfectly sealed and no flaking!


The sign is an MDF base shape that I got a long time ago on clearance. I used Helmar Premium Craft Glue to adhere the paper to the sign. Then, I layered Helmar Crackle Step 1 and Step 2 over the paper. I ran a dark pink chalk ink over the edges to highlight the crackle. I really LOVE this stuff!



The Best Creations line "Ballet Princess" also has some wonderful sayings and signs. This frame was blank and I added some stickers to title it Trinity's "Studio". The stickers were white and I painted them with some Smooch. I love changing things up! I used Helmar's Liquid Scrap Dots to raise and adhere the stars and Helmar's 450 to adhere the flowers, the eyelash ribbon, beading and grunge board letters.


I hope you have enjoyed all the wonderful Helmar posts this week and in the weeks to come.

The Angelina Ballerina Ballet Birthday for my Beautiful 5 year old

Welcome all you Angelina Ballerina Fans!

 Last weekend my daughter had her fifth birthday party. I cant believe my Baby Girl is five now. My outlook has to change about her because as my Aunt informed me, "Five is a big girl! Not a baby. Melanie (my cousin) has a baby. She wears diapers." So I may have to give up the title for "Baby" Girl... my Aunt does have a point... hehe. Anyways. The party was a blast and Trinity loved every minute of it. The cake I made for her as Angelina Ballerina. This was her theme she wanted as she is extremely into all things ballet at the moment.

The next photo here is of me and her and thanks to Miley Cirus' line of clothes at walmart I was able to create a Ballet Grand Dame. I know that seems crazy but the low waisted tutu attached to a tank top with a pair of black leggings underneath was just what I needed to go under this gray top I had. I thought the girls a little ballet dance to a rhyme and we made dancing ribbons as a craft.

This other photo is Trinity being stubborn with her toes where my DH and her were posing he was trying to get her to point her toes and be as graceful as a ballerina... NA she was in a playful mood and would not comply. He is the one that took the pic at the top of this post and did a great job helping me with the party and all the set up.

These are the tutus I made for all the girls... seven of them to be exact. I was able to create these with a no sew pattern and embellish them with some ribbons.

This is a picture of the Angelina Ballerina New Ballet Party Class. They had a wonderful time and it truly was a memorable event. Don't they look great! The life size Angelina Ballerina was made by me and the hubby.

I hope you all enjoyed these. I had a blast making the tutus and the dancing ribbons... but that cake. That was HARD... LOL. Glad you took the time to peek into the craziness that is my mind when it comes to my kid's parties. What can I say. It is the memories that last a lifetime that drives me to be like this.

Check my post with our 3D Tutu Angelina Ballerina Birthday Invitations. They were so much fun to make and I just love how well they turned out.