Creating custom artwork with Fifi Flowers

When I was designing my dining room makeover (you can read about it here), I wanted a Hollywood glam look. But I also wanted some colourful & fun elements in the room so it wouldn’t be too stuffy or serious. And I knew just what I wanted to get the look I was going for – artwork by Fifi Flowers!

I e-mailed Fifi and asked her is she could create a set of three 12” x 12” custom painting with an old Hollywood theme for me. Fifi loves Hollywood and she loves painting, so she was quick to say OUI OUI! YAY! This is how Fifi and I worked together to bring the paintings that I had in my mind to life.

First, Fifi asked me to send her images that I liked and that had elements I wanted to incorporate into the paintings. Fifi sent me some images that she found too.

Once I narrowed the choices down to my very favourite images, Fifi created some mock-ups putting together the different elements.

 

Next, Fifi created small thumbnail sketches based on her mock-ups.

 

I gave Fifi feedback on the sketches, and she modified them till they were just right. For example, take a look at the Montmartre Cafe sketch above – as you can see in the sketch below, the couple on the right side was replaced with a sax player.

And then Fifi changed the perspective of the sax player from looking up at him from below to looking at him from the side.

Once the sketches were done, Fifi created a thumbnail of each one and added all the black.

I told Fifi what colours I wanted, inspired by paintings from her portfolio.

We started out with pink, green, purple, and blue.

   

Very nice! But I thought they needed a little more colour to add some pizzazz, so I asked Fifi to use ultramarine blue and orange as well.

   

     

And then we hit on the perfect colour combinations :-)

Fifi’s final step was creating the 12” x 12” paintings. Just a few more bubbles in the glass of champagne…

 

And the final result, framed in Ribba frames from Ikea.

I ♥ my custom Fifi paintings! They’re exactly what I wanted – they bring the colour and whimsy that I was looking for into my dining room, and nobody else has paintings like them :-)

Merci Fifi!

Custom artwork isn’t as expensive as you might think, and the final result is truly unique, one-of-a-kind art that you won’t see anywhere else. If there’s an artist whose style you love, why not contact him or her and ask about getting your own piece of custom artwork done.

I’m linking up to Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch. The blog party gets rolling at about 9:00 tonight – don’t miss it!

Have paint, will spray

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I bought this cute painting from Fifi Flowers. I love the fluffy white puppy surrounded by bright & bold colours :-)

“Puppy Relaxing”

After he arrived, I set out to find a frame for him, but I couldn’t find anything that turned my crank. I looked around the house and happened to come across a frame that we got years ago for our wedding. I stuck him in it to see how he looked.

Not bad, but the pale yellow roses just wouldn’t work. Hmmmm… but it would be easy enough to paint the frame. Kelly at Arte Styling gave me the idea a while back to incorporate some fuchshia (I NEVER spell that word right!) – fucshia… fuschia… fushia… ARGH! Spellcheck please! – FUCHSIA into my dining room. So I pulled out a can of bright pink spray paint that I already had, sprayed on a couple of coats, and voila – a brand new bright pink frame with a little bit of funk factor :-)

The paint has a nice glossy finish.

This little guy is sitting on the sideboard in the dining room now. I’m hoping to have my dining room ready for its big reveal in a couple of weeks. And then I’ll finally be able to share the awesome paintings that I had commissioned by Fifi with you :-) This was the inspiration…

Just a small & quick makeover this time around, but sometimes it’s the little things that make a big difference :-) I did have a moment of guilt about painting the frame, but then I thought, is it better to leave it yellow and tucked away in a drawer, or paint it and put it out on display? Paint it, of course!

Take a look around you right now – do you see something you could bring new life to with a couple of coats of paint? If you do, what are you waiting for?! Go for it!

I’m linking up to Susan’s weekly blog party Metamorphosis Monday over at Between Naps on the Porch. Check it out, I bet you’ll find some makeovers that inspire you :-)

If you want your home to reflect who you are and what you love, drop me a line for an in-person or online consultation.