'BALANCE'

   Here's a custom sign I painted this past week and I love how it turned out. I'm not one to brag about my work, but I really wanted to share it and I also wanted to tell the story behind the sign.

   A customer bought a sign from me a few years back and recently he called to see if I could create another sign for his family. He said the subject for the sign was 'Balance'. At first I got a bit nervous...how do you illustrate 'Balance'? I did a small watercolor painting last year but it had a more child-like feel to it:

   But that wasn't the style he wanted. He wanted the word 'Balance' painted on the sign but he wanted the design to be clean and uncluttered. He explained that his family was constantly busy and always running out the door feeling overwhelmed all day. He said that he and his wife are making it a priority to teach their kids about keeping everything in 'Balance'. He wanted to see if I could create something to hang over their doorway that would be a last minute reminder as they headed out to face their busy days.

   Oh, Lord! How I understood from where he was coming! With 3 teenagers, running my art business from home, my husband running his own business which is located in a nearby town, keeping ties close with my mother-in-law and my siblings, track meets, baseball games, basketball games, choir concerts, plays, musicals, dealing with a moody cat, an overly anxious dog, doctor appointments out the wazoo...oh geez! Plus my oldest son is getting ready for college! I definitely need some balance, too! I told to him that I really 'got' what he was trying to explain!

   So, we talked for a while about what he wanted and as we spoke I got the idea of the yin and yang symbol. This is the end result:

   I took several photos of it with the hopes of someday being able to create prints of it.

   Some days I get really frustrated creating custom art for my customers. A few customers can be especially controlling and opinionated which makes me crazy. I just want to scream at them and say 'You need to trust my talent!'

   But for the most part my customers are fabulous and this is one of my favorite examples of the positive side of creating custom art! We talked, he trusted me and I created. Just what I want everyday!

   Okay...gotta scoot and get my day moving...more fun on the way...until then,