Mother's Day Art

Rebecca Rhodes Ladikos.  Circa 1987.  Copyright RRL.

The next few days we’ll be featuring some of our favorite Mother’s Day artists.  The first two artists that are featured belong to that heart- warming group that mothers everywhere recognize. Children. Many mothers have artwork from this talented group gracing their walls and refrigerators.  Today’s selections come from a collection known as “our children”.  In my mind, they were the finest little artists around in the late '80’s and early '90's.

Our daughter Rebecca, did the first piece above, an explosion of vibrant colors in an expressive, watercolor palette, around the age of eight. The color combinations and styling hint at a future talent now showcased at Velvet Lime Designs, as she splashes us with color selections and ideas for artwork that inspires.

  

Caleb Rhodes. Circa 1991.  Copyright CR

Our son, Caleb, did the second piece, an architectural study in pencil and watercolor, at around the age of eight also.  The linear projections, lines and “scaffolding” reveal a passion for building structures that is now seen in his projects at Green Friendly Homes. http://www.greenfriendlyhomes.com/

We love creative expression around here and we’re especially fond of the ones made by children.  We’d love to see yours and share them with our friends!  So, send us a copy of your favorite little artist’s work to: info @velvetlimedesigns.com

Look for originals from Marybeth’s girls tomorrow!

Celebrating “our little works of art”,

Laura

How to Enjoy Life

How to enjoy life:

Slip into a sparkly new pair of sandals. It doesn’t matter if your polish matches.

Or, if it's even still there.

Walk on freshly fallen cherry blossoms.

Dance under cherry trees.

Let "snow-petals" fall on your face in spring.

Find someone to hug.

Be Still

Pause.

"Be still and know that I am God "

Psalms 46:10

Enjoying life with our new sandals, blue polish and moments of stillness,

The Velvet Lime Girls

Special thanks to Laura's granddaughters, Sophia, Lilly and Alexa.

Painted Planet Licensing Group

Gratitude. It’s the overwhelming emotion that mounts in our spirits, swells up through our expressions and spills out into every crevice of our lives lately.

G R A T I T U D E.

Here’s one of the reasons why…

Painted Planted Licensing Group is now representing our artwork!

http://www.paintedplanetlicensing.com/velvet-lime-girls.html

We’re thrilled beyond expression as we busy ourselves around our design studio pouring out new artwork in a continual stream. Like young mothers about to give birth, we’re filled with that amazing burst of energy that comes shortly before their little “dream” meets the world. Overwhelming, overflowing, creative energy just floods our studio each day as we begin to give birth to the dream we’ve nurtured for over 4 years … creating artwork to encourage & inspire.

It’s so moving when other people believe in your dream. We honored that Jan Draheim, President of Painted Planet Licensing Group, picked us to be a part of the team. And we’re soaking up the art direction that Creative Director & Art Licensing Consultant, Julie Hosley, is providing. We love working with these girls!

So, if you feel a little breeze lately, it’s just the whirlwind of creativity we’re stirring up here in our studio under our new licensing name … Velvet Lime Girls. We hope you’ll be seeing a lot of us! J

Thanks for all the encouragement so many of you have given us. We have treasured every phone call, email, comment, tweet and expression you have given!

With Gratitude,

The Velvet Lime Girls

Accolades for Velvet Lime Designs!

Velvet Lime Designs received accolades last week from a very discriminating art collector. We thought we'd share the photos taken in our studio as this art collector pointed out her top choice in our new collection.

For those of you who haven’t met this art collector before, we’d like to point out that she is also Rebecca’s daughter and my youngest granddaughter, Alexa! We just love it when she gives us her opinion!

Some of our new artwork is blurred out for now in these photos and will be making it’s debut at a later date ... but we just love celebrating a compliment from such a discriminating audience!J

Sunflower Smiles

Sunflowers make us smile. Every time. Their perky little faces bright with noonday sun just sunbathe you in happiness. When they first uncover their little faces, releasing their solar flare, the whole world lights up. They stand there in the rain, wind, heat and neglect … sunshine spears, unmoved by circumstances. Then, something amazing happens … they sink their roots down deep into their source and grow. They grow tall … I mean really tall. A towering presence in the flower garden, they become lighthouse beacons shooting down every melancholy thought with their shafts of light. They become bigger and bigger everyday … better and better.

We can be like them. An ancient writing of prose says, “our paths will be brighter and brighter” (Proverbs 4: 18). It means better and better. Like sunflowers, we can begin to tower over circumstances and challenges as we let our roots sink down deep into our source, our God. No matter how challenging a day may have been, we can pull from our source and become a shaft of towering sunshine in our own little world.

We hope our sunflowers make you smile today ... and shine. J

The Velvet Lime girls

HOPE

Weave HOPE into your heart today. Hope – an earnest expectation, an anticipation, a belief or a trust. It’s more than a word. It’s a force that undergirds you and carries you forward with a strength that is beyond yourself. Hope is the silent strength that supports your dreams. When it’s woven into your heart it enables you to soar above any obstacle. Let this new artwork send you soaring with new hope today.

"Hope does not disappoint us ..." Romans 5:5

Laura

Thank-you.

Thank-you.

It’s a word straight from the language of the heart.

When it’s expressed through the creativity of two young girls, it’s as refreshing as a bright open-faced sunflower. Marybeth’s daughters, Madison & Katie, gave me these hand-crafted cards yesterday and I was thrilled! (The girls have been a secret source of inspiration at Velvet Lime Designs on several occasions). As they handed me the cards with a giant bouquet of sunflowers, I was touched by the detail in the cards. The hand drawn letters became a canvas for their tiny drawings of grapes, tomatoes, flowers, and stars. And their color combinations were absolutely spontaneous and inspiring.

We love it when our inspiration comes from places like this … no need for a fancy inspiration conference, expensive get-away, or luxurious vacation (although we would graciously accept any of these) J … our inspiration was carried to us by two little sets of hands.

Inspiration really is everywhere. We hope you find yours in the small things today.

Laura