New Orleans.

Lucky for me, I was born in this crazy city! I have a great big cajun family that loves to play, cook, and curse. I moved away as a kid but took trips back and forth a few times a year until I moved back for college. Since I was a lil' gal, New Orleans has been close to my heart.

The culture in Louisiana is unlike any other throughout the rest of the country - no exaggeration. And if you've never been there, it's something to see for yourself. The warm weather, the fried food, and mainly, the jazz. You don't have to pay for a show to get it. You just have to go outside and walk around. You're bound to run into somebody, somewhere, who's playing some kind of awesome music.

And you won't only see it in person - circling Jackson Square you'll see hundreds of different paintings of New Orleans that artists are selling, and many of them are based around jazz. That little walk to see all the art is one of my all time favorite things to do in the city.

I've done a New Orleans themed piece before, and before I even started, I knew I wanted it to be crazy colorful. I also knew I wanted some crooked buildings, just because I wanted some crooked buildings.

I decided on two musicians with some really big instruments, cause that's the whole point ..right?

I wanted their instruments to be much bolder than their bodies, so the musicians themselves stayed semi transparent.

Now, she's all framed and ready to hang somewhere musical! I plan to do more similar pieces, because people [my family, haha] seem to love them! And because I have a lot of fun with all the color and the variety there is with the different instruments.

I love this city, and if you haven't gotten there, get there!

Geaux Saints!

Kara Spicuzza Welborn

New Orleans

18x24 [22x29 with frame]

framed and ready to hang

will make you Saints fan

contact user email address for purchase

$230 SOLD

Etsy - We're up and Runnin'!

Finally finished the profile and got everything uploaded on Etsy! Check it out for a full list of prices. Contact me with any questions you might have!

http://www.etsy.com/people/KaraWelborn

Kara Spicuzza Welborn

Colored Water.

When I was in Bali, I spent a good amount of time with watercolors. I didn't bring my paints, and all anyone else had that I could borrow, was watercolor. Nothing against watercolors - I love them. But they can be the most frustrating thing ever. A straight line that stays put? Yeah right. That guys eye? Just faded 75% from when you last looked. Picked up your piece before it was dry? The dreaded water runs. Ayy yi-yi.

But, when you get those waters just right. Oh momma, it can be great. So, with more traumatic experiences than I'd like to admit, at least something good came out of it. Though this time I wasn't actually using your typical children's palette of primary watercolors, I went wild with my water and big brushes.

I tried to trace out his features in white to get the perspective right before I totally went for it. I went over it again in black, made some corrections, and worked on the shading.

So, since I was in Bali while working on my watercolor skills, it only seemed appropriate to paint a Balinese fisherman. I'm really happy with how the colors turned out - there are real water spots! [And not just ones that happened by accident. So, that's a plus, ha!]

Hope you enjoy!

Kara Spicuzza Welborn

Colored Water

18x24 [22.5 x 28.5 with frame]

framed and ready to hang

acrylics by BASICS

brushes by Princeton Art & Brush Co.

contact user email address for purchase

$230

Gustav and his Gal.

First off, this was not due to my own creativity! Although, I do wish she had been my idea. I painted her after one of my favorites by Gustav Klimt. I think the colors were initially what drew me to this painting. And perhaps that's why my version is an extra bright replica. I spent the whole evening with a friend while working on this piece, and have lots of memories of talking and laughing as she came together.

As she has hung upon my wall, waiting for this moment of being blogged about, she has gained a large amount of attention due to her size [well, not HER size, but the canvas on which she rests]. She is one of my larger pieces and demands attention because of it [well, she's also naked]. But for all of those reasons, the gal catches your eye.

Gotta say, I'll miss her!

Thank you, Gustav, for your brilliant work!

Kara Spicuzza Welborn

Gustav Klimt

24x36 [30x42 with frame]

framed and ready to hang

acrylics by BASIC

contact user e-mail address for purchase

$140

Bali - It's just how you picture it.

Seven months ago [wow, I can't believe it has been that long], I left for Bali, Indonesia. A 16 hour flight to Tokyo, a 6 hour flight to Singapore, a 12 hour layover, an unfortunate 2 hour delay, and a 2.5 hour flight to Bali, was ALL worth what I was able to see and experience throughout my summer there. I worked as an intern with a church surf ministry/international hostel at the Bali Surf House. Yep, it was as great as it sounds. These people running the Surf House are constantly pouring their energy and love into their guests. It was an experience of a lifetime - no kidding.

With Bali being an island and all, there are bound to be some fishermen. Bound to be a lot of them. Every day at sunset, the beaches fill up with fishing boats that are pushed into the water by hand. This was one of my favorite photographs from the trip, taken at a beach called Padang Padang (where scenes from Eat, Pray, Love were actually shot!).

At Padang Padang, while the sun was still out, sometimes you'd catch the fishermen out in the shallow water with their lines. It's so beautiful that you could literally just hold your camera up and shoot without even looking through the lens. Every angle is a good one. Every sunset makes you want to cry. And almost every picture I took home looks like a preset wallpaper on a Windows computer. I knew that painting something from a place that is so insanely beautiful would be... tough. I chose to do an all blue and white acrylic piece, and with all my initial hesitation, I was surprised at how much I loved its turn out!

This painting not only holds memories of the most beautiful place I've ever seen, but also of the trip that Ryan proposed. After being in Bali for a little over a month, he flew out to travel and spend time with me. The day before we flew home, he gave me a ring!

Hope it makes ya wanna fly to Bali and see it for yourself!

Kara Spicuzza Welborn

Bali

16x20 [20x24 with frame]

framed and ready to hang

Acrylics by Winsor & Newton

Contact user e-mail address for purchase

$249

In My Dreams (Literally)

Since I was a little girl, Europe has seemed this far-off, magical paradise where people take naps every day, drink tons of wine, are fluent in 7 languages, and walk around the market buying fresh produce all the time.

Well, apparently it's true!

At least in Auxey-Duresses in eastern France. This little gem has a town-wide day of wine tastings... Anybody wanna tell me why we don't do this is America? What a dream come true.

During the wine tasting, Ryan shot an amazing photograph outside of a chateau. Yes, a real life chateau.

So with this photograph in mind, and recalling some recently gifted painting knives, I thought I'd give it a shot. I'd never used painting knives before, so I read up in a couple books and did a little YouTube-ing. I went for it, and this painting ended up being 100% done with knives.

It really was a challenge moving from a paintbrush to a knife. It feels completely foreign and the outcome is a totally different style from what I'm used to. And I only almost cut myself once!

Working with the texture was awesome. I wish the images could better display all of the variation you get from the different types and shapes of knives. Also, the knives don't like to pick up much paint if it's mixed with water, so using my acrylics without any variation of consistency was a big change.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out! I'm excited to keep using all my knives! (for painting. heh.)

So, where's that wine??

Kara Spicuzza Welborn

Chateau Francais

18x24 [23x29 with frame]

framed and ready to hang

Acrylics by Winsor & Newton

Contact user e-mail address for purchase

$249

The Demand for More Crazy Fingers.

I had the artsy-est, funkiest roommates ever in college. Each one of us was always bringing out a new creative side in another. Many 'a nights (maybe TOO many 'a nights!) were spent in the living room, drinking wine, and painting/drawing/crafting together. We started off with an "art wall" that was just one single wall, completely covered in art. It eventually turned into all 4 walls of the living room.

Danielle was handy with her charcoal.

So I gave it a try a couple times, and eventually got this.

He made his place on one of the 4 art walls and built his fame around those crazy, guitar playing fingers. It was pretty brutal (and I was pretty selfish) when it came time to move and I refused to leave him there.

Sad, untilllll! I decided to paint him.

My brilliant brother requested that I take pictures as I work throughout a painting. So, I did. Here is how ugly it is when it starts.

Then, crazy fingers appear (Danielle's favorite)...

And voilà!

Choosing colors for him was fun, since he was originally colorless, and the background idea came from a similar color scheme in one of Salvador Dali's paintings.

Love how rustic looking he came out!

Be back soon!

Kara Spicuzza Welborn

Vietnam.

All the credit for this painting goes to my husband, Ryan. Two years ago he left for a trip around the world - literally. Lucky for me, he took this awesome photograph in Vietnam. Out of all of the insane pictures he shot, she was my first choice in attempting to replicate.

 The funny thing about this painting was the color.

A couple years ago I painted something for my mom that was all blue and white. After that, I got on this crazy blue kick and started doing everything in different shades of blue. She was the first of my paintings since then that was back in full color.

Hope ya love 'er like I do!

Peru.

In 2008, I took a trip that would change my life.. in more ways than one!

I flew down south to Lima, Peru for an internship working with an organization named Frontline Peru. We traveled throughout the country working with churches, families, and children - helping in whatever small ways that we could. Cusco was where

I truly fell in love with this country.

A friend of mine took a photo of a little boy in the streets.

I held the photo dear for years before attempting to paint him.

Not only does this painting bring back a flood of awesome memories from an amazing trip, but it reminds me of the summer that I met my (one day) husband! Not long after this photograph was taken, I met Ryan in line at the check-in counter in the Lima airport.

Thank God that our flights were delayed!

We sat on the floor and talked until it was time to part ways.

3 years later, we got married.

To me, this painting stands for one of the biggest learning experiences of my life thus far. It reminds me of amazing travels and time well spent with people who were so satisfied in having so much less.

It reminds me of meeting my husband.

The Child.

I had so much fun with this painting. Who didn't love this book as a kid? I think it was the first time I watched the movie preview that I decided to paint something out of the book. After flipping through, I decided on the cover.


Where the Wild Things Are

The characters in this story are so easy to relate to. Especially after seeing the movie, I felt so much like Max. Being at a point in life that was super confusing and unreliable, I just felt like running - not away from my problems, but to an adventure and place where I could refocus. So, I painted.

The Beginning.

I've always colored in books, sketched on the backs of tests, and drawn with pen on the palm of my hand. But it wasn't until college that I really started to paint. I'd had a lesson here or there, and grew up with some talent in my family, so art was usually near. But there is something that stirs inside of you when, for the first time, you finish painting something, leave it be, and then return to it the next day, STILL feeling as though there is nothing about it that you'd like to change. Most of the time, you catch something you should have touched up better, or a line or shadow that's not quite right. You could go on for months, looking at that painting on the wall and pointing out what you should have done to make it better. But looking at YOUR painting, and knowing that it's complete, is the most satisfying feeling.

The first time I ever felt that feeling was when I sat at my parents dining room table, Googled "Rastafarian guy," and decided to paint.

He was one of the first attempts I had ever made with acrylics, and I haven't left them since. If this painting one day sells, it will be hard to let go of. Feeling so proud of my work after finishing this piece was one of the reasons I fell in love with painting. I know it may seem funny to be so sentimental about some color on a brush, but soon after this point, art became an emotional outlet for me. A stress relief and an ego booster. The satisfaction that comes from finding that outlet is... awesome.

Hope you love him as much as I do!