Kindness in refusal

"It's kindness to refuse immediately what you eventually intend to deny." - jimmy collins | watercolor by courtney khail 

I read this quote a little while back in an interview and it resonated with me. So often people feel it's kinder to "slowly" or "gently" let someone down - whether for an opportunity, a date, what have you- than to simply just be upfront and direct. I've never agreed with that feeling. We've all been on the receiving end of false hope, and it never makes the reality any easier. (Honestly, I'd argue it makes it worse. What many people consider gentle or kind, is actually just prolonging the discomfort or hurt.) So I urge you to always be direct and honest about all of your intentions. In the end, it's the kind thing to do.

Above all, try something

It seems as though a lot of people get wrapped up with resolutions in the new year. Instead of getting too specific (and then, let's be honest, just abandoning the resolution all together because "you've already messed up") let's go easy on ourselves this year. Just try something. Try something new, something that challenges you, or something that excites you. Life is way too short for the "what if's" anyhow.

courtney khail watercolors on food network's blog "the dish"

Sometimes you find good news a little later than expected, which is exactly what happened here. While testing SEO and other things that I act like I understand for my site, I stumbled across this little gem while googling my artwork. Apparently last year, Kelly Lanza (of Oh So Beautiful Paper) included my pineapple painting in a piece she wrote for the Food Network blog. Such an amazing surprise! Thank you so much, Kelly!

You can see the whole piece (as well as a ton of other pineapple goodness) right here.

From The Studio: Tomatoes (watercolors from the garden)

Happy Friday everyone! After a whirlwind morning of forgotten appointments, phone calls, and errands, I'm finally able to sit down and get this published (and eat lunch.) So how is your Friday going? Hopefully a little less chaotic!

But enough rambling. Let's get to the art.

When I first planted a garden out back I had very (very) low expectations. The kind of expectations that can only come after you've killed more plants that you can remember. Pretty much, plants come to die in our house. Succulents, bushes, trees... I've somehow killed them all. So while I was wandering around Home Depot's garden center picking out tomato plants and herbs, I tried to convince myself I didn't care if they lived or not. I mean, let's be honest, it's not like we wouldn't have food if my garden died. But I couldn't completely squash the little voice in my head that said "but how cool would it be to have a garden like Papa's or Uncle Steve's?" (My papa had the best garden growing up that was tucked all along their backyard. As for my uncle- well he can pretty much grow anything. Corn stalks taller than me, tomatoes and squash plants that overflowed with vegetables... it's kind of amazing. Even more amazing- I didn't inherit ANY of those skills.)  And in addition to not having those skills- I was trying to figure out how to garden in a desert.

I felt like the deck was stacked against me, but lo' and behold I didn't kill the garden. Quite the opposite actually! Our tomato plants are overflowing with the sweetest, sun warmed treats ever. Our rosemary is thriving, our mint fills the air with a beautiful aroma- it's really amazing to see how well everything is doing. (It's also nice knowing I don't have to keep them alive forever. As soon as summer is over and the temps drop, I'll let them die slowly and watch as the snow eventually covers them which is kind of poetic on it's own.)

But back to the tomatoes. They are so colorful and vibrant so of course, I couldn't help but paint them. (And then paint them some more...)  Hope you enjoy them as much as I do! (And don't forget the sale in the shop! Just type in "JORDANS29" for 29% off your order.)

Win a spot in my watercolor class!

via courtney khail

You've heard me talking about it and you may have even watched the blooper reel-but today's the day you can enter to win a spot in my class! It's super easy to enter and you can enter 4 different ways. You must leave a separate comment per method in order for it to count (Ex: if you tweet it and Facebook about it, you'll leave two separate comments letting me know you did both.)

How To Enter:

1) Leave a comment on this post letting me know you want to win

2) Tweet about the contest and include the link in your comment. Don't forget to include @courtneykhail and the hashtag #creativelymadewatercolors

3) Facebook about it and include the link in your comment

4) Follow me on Pinterest and pin the image above (and of course, come back here and leave another comment letting me know you did that!)

I'll announce the winner next Monday on the blog, my twitter feed, and my Facebook page, so make sure to follow me on those outlets to see if you won! You'll have one week to claim your prize.

And even if you don't win, I would love for you to come join me! The class is only $10 and the videos go live on August 5th (in just two weeks!) They are available for 6 months (so no rush or pressure to finish them right away.) In addition to creating (at least) 3 fully finished paintings, you'll learn about what supplies you need (and why they range so much in cost,) the do's and don't of setting up a composition, a little color theory, how to create depth in your images, and much much more! Hope to see you there!!

The rules: You can begin entering today (July 22, 2013) at 10:30a MST and the contest will end July 29, 2013 at 12 noon MST. The winning entry will receive one (1) spot in my Summer 2013 Creatively Made Watercolors class (valued at $10.) The winner will be picked using random.org and the winners name will be released on twitter, the blog, and facebook (so make sure to follow me on those outlets and include your handles!) If I do not hear from the winner within one week of the drawing, another winner will be chosen. This prize cannot be redeemed for cash. Only 4 entries per person are accepted; winners are responsible for all taxes and fees associated with prize receipt and/or use; and the odds of winning depends on the number of eligible entries received during the promotion period. 

Blooper Reel (Have you signed up yet?)

Creatively Made Watercolors with Courtney Khail (The Blooper Reel) from Courtney Khail on Vimeo.

My parents are in town visiting for the week (yay!) so I've been spending some quality time with them instead of the computer. BUT I wanted to wish you all a happy Monday as well as share a video I created last week.

While taping for my Creatively Made Watercolors class, I realized three big things. One- Always make sure the camera is filming. (I don't want to admit how many times I had to redo an entire lesson because the camera just shut off and I didn't realize it. Luckily, practice makes perfect. Or kind of perfect.) Two- talking to yourself all day makes you a little crazy. So crazy that you may just start singing to the camera despite not having the best singing voice. And three- watching yourself on video is incredibly funny. So entertaining in fact, that I thought I'd create a "blooper reel" of sorts and share it with you all. There were so many other bits I couldn't fit in this video without it becoming super long, but hopefully this gives a little insight into what goes on "behind the scenes." (and let's you see just how much I talk with my hands. I mean seriously. I'm going to poke someone's eye out one of these days.) 

One "slip up" in particular- which has long since been edited out to protect those with fragile ears- was during the last lesson. I was trying to say "pull UP method" and I accidentally said "pull OUT method." Ever awkward, I tried to cover it up (and give some advice?) by saying something like "Oh that's inappropriate. And definitely doesn't work so don't do that."  I think I then realized I was making the situation even worse, which then of course proceeded to my laughing hysterically for like 2 minutes. But like I said, it's been edited out, though even the best editing couldn't hide the laughter in my voice.

So yep. I can't wait for the class to launch (August 5th!!) and hope to see you all there. If you haven't signed up yet, but want to learn how to watercolor or get a refresher, get on that! It's super easy. And inexpensive. And awesome.

Craving: Mothers Day Gift Guide (for the gardener)

Mother's Day is just around the corner so I thought I'd put together a few gift guides based around three different paintings I've created. Yesterday was for the traveler, and today it's for the mom who always has fresh rosemary, sends you photos of  her first blooms, and goes to the nursery so often they know her by name.

1. Give her a watercolor of her favorite flowers- to last even after growing season is over!

2. Add a little extra color to her herbs with these beautiful ceramic markers

3. Because she can't keep using the kitchen scissors

4. Bring out her inner child (and let her spread the beauty) with fun seed bombs

5. A beautiful bright bag to remind her of her favorite hobby

lemons, limes, and oranges (oh my.)

So apparently you all really like the citrus- all of my citrus paintings sold out in less than two weeks! (Which is still incredibly surreal and I can't put into words just how grateful and moved I am by all of your support. I always said I wanted to be an artist when I grew up, and it's just amazing that I've gotten there! Of course that also makes the assumption that I've "grown up" and well, I'm not 100% sure that will ever happen. Let's just say I've grown a little older.)

Anyhow, I was wandering around the grocery store and stumbled across key limes. Cute, little bursts of beautiful lime gradients that I promptly tossed into my cart. And because I rarely can think of just one thing at a time, I of course started thinking of what I could make with the key limes after they were painted. I'm so not a fan of key lime pies (too tart, too fake tasting-reminds me of that episode of Dexter where he searched and searched for the "perfect key lime pie.") so I asked around and my good friend Mel sent me what looks like the most amazing cheesecake recipe ever. I'll keep you posted on how it goes! Hopefully I do it justice.

After doing a little dance in my head about the key limes (or maybe I actually did that in public. Who knows. I've sometimes caught myself singing along in my head to whatever music is playing overhead and then having a moment of panic that I was actually singing out loud.) the beautiful display of yellow lemons and bright orange tangerines, naval oranges, etc. caught my eye. Amazing how inspiration can come that quickly! As soon as I saw those together, I knew I wanted to incorporate that into a painting (which is how the orange and lemon painting arose.)

How do you like these? Anything in particular you'd like to see me create in the future?I kind of want to try artichokes. Wouldn't they look cool?!

And on a completely unrelated note, I successfully patched our bathroom ceiling yesterday! We had a roof leak soon after moving in and because we'd only notice it was leaking when it snowed (and thus it was too wet to fix) it took a really long time to get everything back in working order. Even after it was though, I kept a Tupperware bin under it anytime we left "just in case." Yep, I'm a little neurotic. (I prefer to call it prepared though.) So now that it's (finally) sealed up and dry, I thought it was about time to make it pretty again. So far so good! Now I just need to prime and paint. (Which may happen in 5 minutes, it may happen in 5 days. We'll see.) Y'all get anything accomplished from your to do lists this week?

Both pieces copyrighted by courtney khail stationery and design. You can find all of my work right here!

Seen: courtney khail's custom paintings on design crush

via design crush

Kelly wrote a post about my new custom paintings (and one I made especially for her!) over on Design Crush this week. I'll tell you all more about the paintings soon, but first- Read the post here.

Studio Sneak Peek: Painting with Amy Osaba

This past week I had the opportunity to hang out with Amy Osaba and paint some of her amazing creations. First off, let's talk about Amy. She is awesome. Super warm and welcoming. She offered me something to drink within .5 seconds, introduced me to her family- which by the way her sons are adorable (her oldest called my work phenomenal. He is 7 and completely melted my heart) and her mother is hilarious- and didn't seem to mind at all when I sat in on the team doing their thing. (Even when I picked up shears- is that what they're called?- and asked to help with the prep.) So yea, she's pretty cool and I'm thrilled I was able to get to hang out with her.

Now let's talk about her work. If you haven't seen her pieces yet (where have you been?) go take a look at her website. Or any wedding blog for that matter because she's loved by all of them. Each piece has a unique organic feeling-nothing is stuffy or overworked and yet they all have some unexpected twist to them. It's almost as if the flowers are dancing with each other- the textures and colors pushing and pulling your eyes around the arrangements. (And seeing as Amy used to be a ballerina, this makes complete sense.) As soon as I saw her work, I knew I wanted to paint it and finally (after psyching myself up and telling myself to stop being such a chicken) I sent her an email and asked if she'd mind.

Luckily, she didn't mind at all.

And after two phone calls for directions, various conversations ranging from how Amy Grant's Baby, Baby was stuck in my head to why we didn't like the fact that Taylor Swift dated Jake Gyllenhaal, 100s of beautiful flowers, 1 mini art lesson with her son, and 4 hours later- here is what was created. (even if it goes without saying...all images copyright of courtney khail)

Thank you so much for letting me come over, Amy! I had such a great time and can't wait to do this again. And I promise a painting will be on the way to you shortly!