watercolor inspiration.

My Grandma Carol holding my son, last summer. Isn't she beautiful?!

Today is the birthday of one of my favorite people on earth, my Grandma Carol. I owe her not only for raising my incredible mom, but also for teaching me everything she knows about art!  She studied art in college and is a watercolor artist by profession.

My cousin and I were the oldest grandkids, so we got extra spoiled. During the summer, we would fly to grandma's house all by ourselves and spend a couple of weeks with her painting and reading at the beach, oh and eating lots of Brown Cow ice cream.

She taught me that there wasn't just blue; there's cerulean, cobalt, and ultramarine. Or that people didn't just have to be skin colored, trees weren't just green, and water wasn't just blue. She made us practice really looking at nature and people with an artistic eye. She always encouraged our creativity and still tells me that even the best artists create 50 versions of something before they come up with something they like. She still enters art into shows and wins!  Here's examples of her fabulous work (or at least those I could get off of her facebook page, sadly all of my paintings of hers are still packed in storage).

My cousin and I collecting shells during one of those summer visits.

I was lucky to have my grandma travel with my mom and I to France where we visited Monet's house in Giverny. This is her version of Monet's Lilies.

A couple of years ago she was a missionary with my grandpa in the Philippines for two years. I love that she didn't stop painting even then and spent time teaching others her tricks!

Now her passion for art continues to the next generation. This is a painting that she did of my daughter (watercolor is her favorite medium too). The painting was selected to travel all over the state for the Utah Watercolor Society.

Happy Birthday Grandma Carol! xoxoxo