Happy Birthday/Christmas To Me!!!

So I bought myself a new macbook pro and got it this week! I'm so excited to make the move from Windows to Mac. Everything is very different from what I'm used to using. The only thing is, I don't have any pictures on this computer yet so I'll have to figure out how to get them from my iCloud to this computer so I can post more of the art I've been doing. And while we're on the subject of art, I haven't really been doing a whole lot lately. Work has been crazy with the holidays coming and going (yay for working in food retail. NOT!) and I've recently got into Smash* booking. You can all blame Lauren for that. So I might post some pages of my smash* book on here as well. Technically it's art….I think. Anyway, I'm off to figure out how to get my pictures on this computer, once I've figured it out there will be a new art post! :)

-Niko

Been a few weeks....

So real life has been keeping me busy and I forget to post sometimes...so sorry... anyway, I've been working on a ton of new projects! But, before we get started with that HAPPY HALLOWEEN to everyone! I hope y our Halloween is spooktacular!

On to the art now. To start off we have a painting I did for Halloween. I don't remember where I found this lovely poem/quote but I remember falling in love with it as soon as I read it. It's been on my phone for like 2 years and I finally painted it.

I don't like the spider web (i suck at drawing those btw) but that's the ONLY thing I don't like. The background is orange and splattered with purple. 

Next up is a commission I did for a girl at work, Sara. She gave me my choice of colors but she wanted a passage for the bible. She was going to give it to her dad (a pastor at a church) to hang in his office, so this is what I came up with. 

Again, it's splatter painted but with more colors. I had fun splattering this one.

Ok, next up is a commission I did for a different girl at work, Randa. She wanted the Serenity Prayer and anything pink. I did a basic painting for this one simply because this is all she wanted.

The last commission I did is for, you guessed it, another girl at work, Jillena. She didn't really give me any details of what she wanted but she wanted something Halloween. So after days of trying to come up with something and hounding her to give me any more details (which she didn't) this is what I came up with. This one has to be one of my favorites so far.

I think it turned out VERY nice and she was very happy with it.

My mom has her own beauty shop so I ran across this thing online that is called the Hairstylist's prayer (again not sure where I found it) and I knew she was love it to hang in her beauty shop. The zebra strips will be the DEATH of me and I swore I would never do those again EVER! (too bad I was wrong)

One of mom's customers is a nurse at the hospital and one day she was in mom's shop getting her hair done and she told mom that she LOVED the painting I did for the shop so my mom asked me to do one for a nurse and this is what I came up with.

The lady told my mom that all the nurse's she works with LOVED it so instead of hanging it in her office, she hung it in the nurse's breakroom. That is so awesome! My painting is in the nurse's breakroom at the local ER! :)))))

I have other things that I've been working on but I need to put them on the computer first. I hope you enjoyed this round of 'Art with Niko!'

-Niko

Been working on some new art!

So I know it's been a few weeks since I posted anything but I've been working my butt off at work AND I've been working on some new paintings. So I'll put four paintings on this post that way I can start with all the new art I've been doing, so let's get started!

I saw this saying somewhere on the interwebz and loved it so one day I just got the urge to just take random colors and just start painting with no goal in mind and I came up with the awesome background and thought, "this quote would go GREAT with this background." and that is how this painting was born.  

Next up is a small little painting I did when I was thinking about getting my clover tattoo. It's just a little something to remind me what my tattoo means and it ultimately made me decide what tattoo I wanted to get. 

This painting is one of my favorites. This was before I discovered that Sharpie paint pens are good for writing on top of paint. (which is what I use know anytime I have words that need to be written....it's SOOOO much easier!) Anyway, I have loved this quote since the first time I saw it. Funny story about this painting, I had it hanging over my bed for a while and suddenly one night it decided it wanted to fall on top of me and scare the crap out of me. Actually, I think there's a ghost in my house but that's another post for another day....

And finally, this is not really anything special. I was just playing around with paint and the background came out kind of crappy looking but the top colors are all bright and pretty and I really liked them so I decided to add this into my "art" stuff. 

And....that concludes this post. That's all the "old" art so the next post will start all the new stuff that I've been working on! If you want to see all the new art before it's posted on here please feel free to follow my instagram, Niko2theNiko (which is where I post all my art as soon as it's finished...plus all the other pictures I take in my everyday life.)

Hope you enjoyed this segment of "Niko has fun with paint." 

Not an art post!

So tonight I start working third shift. It's a huge weight off of my shoulders. I'm not in a position where I have to be responsible for anything anymore and I get more hours. Also, I don't have to run a register or deal with customers anymore! Most of the time, I don't mind dealing with customers but running a register is hell. I hated it with a passion. But now, I don't have to worry about it anymore. Now all I have to worry about is putting stock on the shelves. I can do that. I'm excited (and a little tired, not used to this whole third shift thing yet even though I do it every Saturday night) most people think I'm crazy for being excited for third shift but I am very much an introvert and I don't like people in general. I would much rather sit in my room, alone, playing video games or on the computer than go out and do stuff with people. My mom says that it's not good but that's just how I'm built. Anyway, I gotta go get ready for my first night on third shift. Wish me luck that I can stay awake all night LOL.

Laters
-Niko

Raise your voice

I saw this quote somewhere online and it really stuck with me. I always have to remind myself to not get angry but just to let things roll off my shoulders. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with this painting but i got the words painted and then I was like "OH! flower." but then there was this big empty space so I added a bee. :D

You'll Be The King and I'll Be Your Lionheart

This painting is one of my first. I fell in love with the song King and Lionheart by Of Monsters and Men and just the word Lionheart. I am very much an introvert, so it kind of reminds me that even if I'm scared of a situation or what not, I should always be brave. So I painted this and hung it up right beside my door so I see it everytime I leave my room.

Also....the red background kind of blends in with my red walls....I didn't think about that when I painted it.

Oh the things you will do!

This painting is my "Dr. Seuss painting." It started out as just wanting a painting that had a yellow background because I do a lot of black backgrounds. Then I had all these pretty colors and I kept adding and adding and the way the colors turned out reminded me of something out of a Dr. Seuss book. So I searched and searched for a quote that I liked, and I found a couple that I really liked but this one has always been my favorite. And this time, instead of painting on the words, I used a sharpie paint pen to write them in. This has proven to be the EASIEST way to paint words and I like it. :)

Coke bottle cherry blossoms

This painting is my most recent one. I'm am absolutely IN LOVE with this painting! I saw it done similarly on Pinterest and decided I had to do it myself. The one I saw on Pinterest was done on a plain white canvas but I love green so I decided a little color would be nice. I didn't have a brown so I made it using blue, orange and red and it turned out beautiful! And then there's the cherry blossoms. I took an empty 20 oz coke bottle and dipped the bottom into the paint and it makes perfect cherry blossoms. I love the way the colors look together, the green and the pink really pop. This is by far my favorite painting so far.

Double Rainbow! OOOOOOOH

This is one of my latest paintings. I saw the quote somewhere while surfing the web and it just stuck with me. I found a thing of sticky letter stencils and I tried using them but they didn't work out like I wanted them to. I still like the painting a lot though.

The quote says: Count your rainbows, not your thunderstorms. 

July 19th 2013

Time for more art!! This particular project was actually supposed to be a four piece project but it turned out to only be three. I wanted to do the stages of a day. Dawn, Day, Dusk and Night, but the Dawn and Dusk looked so much alike that I just made one and it can be which ever one I choose at any particular time. ^__^

Dawn and Dusk:

It actually didn't turn out how I wanted it but I kind of like it. Not my favorite out of the three pieces but it's ok. 

Day:

This one I really like. It actually looks like you're looking up at the sky on a sunny day with little, white, poofy clouds floating by. The color was perfect. But out of the three pieces this is not my favorite piece either. It's in second place. 

Night:

This one is my absolute favorite out of the three. I used a metallic silver for the moon and the stars so they almost glow when the light hits them. And I used a grey for the clouds. I used a napkin (taco bell napkin lol) and dunked it in the paint and used that to make the clouds for both this and the day painting. I love how you can see one of the stars through the cloud. Like you're actually looking up at the sky during a cloudy night. I really impressed myself with these paintings. They're some of my favorites. 

Prepare For Trouble! Make It Double!

Lauren and I have been working on a painting for like two months now. It took us three sessions to finish it but every time we worked on it, it got ten times better. All the of the painting and art was shared. It's very much a two person painting. It's a map of make believe worlds complete with sea monsters and pirate ships and all kinds of fun things.

Worlds listed are:

Top left panel-
Narnia (with a giant wardrobe)
and Sherwood Forest
Hyrule (with the Zelda symbol)

Bottom Left Panel-
Wonderland (with a heart and a crown)
Amee
Remalna
Oz (with a colorful hot air ballon)
and a giant octopus in the ocean

Top Right Panel-
Alagaesia
a giant red dragon
Sinnoh (with the pokemon Cherubi)
Jurassic park
Treasure Island (with a trail and X)
A compass rose
and the top part of Middle Earth

Bottom Right Panel-

Middle Earth (with Hogwarts)
Kaeleer
Askavi
Chaillot
Cildru Dyathe Island
Neverland
and a giant pirate ship

Lauren and I had no idea we could draw this awesomely but we surprised ourselves. I hope you like it.

Art art art, EVERYWHERE!!!

Ok, let's start off this 'new' blog with an art post. This was the first painting I did on a canvas.

It didn't turn out like I wanted it to but I really liked the end result. This pretty much started my painting obsession, which is why it hangs on my wall. 

Guess Who?!?!?!

Well it's been a little while since I've done anything with this blog but I'm back! I'm going to use it to post my art projects and some other random things that I do. I hope you enjoy everything, so just sit back and enjoy the ride!!!