Happy Holidays!

Posted on December 17, 2020 by janellmithani

Wishing all of you a Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!

I hope to do more blogging about my art process next year and I am really looking forward to creating, teaching, and collaborating in the new year! I am hopeful I will be able to teach some art workshops in person next year as well as share my art in-person. I have missed that in-person human connection! 🙂

This is a sweet painting named “STAR.” She reflects my feelings of simple hope that I have for the new year. I created her for a Holiday challenge on IG the first week of December and I wanted to share her with all of you.

I hope you are finding safe and fun ways to celebrate this holiday season. We are having a very quiet Christmas and New Years. I am so looking forward to 20201! As I am sure many of you are, too! 🙂

Happy Holidays and I wish you a wonderful, creative, day filled with JOY, Janell

A New Painting of Tall Trees

Posted on February 4, 2018 by janellmithani

“Growing Tall” Acrylic on canvas, 12″ x 36″

This painting of trees growing in the forest is inspired by the trees I have seen on my trips driving through California and Oregon to visit my family. I used a narrow, tall canvas on this piece to emphasize the height of the trees.

I am busy working on three new paintings. Yes, I am working on them all at the same time. 🙂 I do this sometimes as one painting will need some drying time, so I switch to another one. I also think I create more pieces when I work this way.

Do you ever work on more that one project at a time?

I hope you have a wonderful, creative, day, Janell

Green, Trees, Painting, a Few of My Favorite Things…

Posted on November 7, 2017 by janellmithani

I love green! I suppose then, it is natural that the color green just seems to appear in most of my paintings. In this painting, I was feeling the need to escape and relax. I love trees and painting them relaxes me.

The title of this painting is “LUSH” 10″ x 10″, acrylic on canvas. Thanks for stopping by my blog, I appreciate you taking the time to look at my art.

Have a wonderful, creative, day, Janell

Samples For Upcoming Painting Workshops

Posted on April 6, 2016 by janellmithani

This week, I have been busy creating sample paintings for my upcoming workshops. It’s going to be a very busy spring and summer!

Trees, baseballs and arrows… A few of the workshops are for local library programs, so I created paintings that went along with their summer theme of “sports.”

I have a “Paint along with me workshop” for adults as well as a few painting workshops for teens scheduled for this spring and summer.

My niece loves arrows, and I am enjoying watching the Arrow TV show with my husband. Also, I shot a bow and arrow when I was a kid, so I figured I should include an arrow painting. Actually, I think it will be a really good instructional painting. I painted three arrows with each one having more details/difficulty, so they become more challenging as you paint each one.

This picture below shows the different sizes. (And notice there’s only a tiny bit of paint on my fingers!) 🙂

It was an interesting process to create a painting, knowing I would be teaching a beginning student how to paint it. I actually took notes in my sketchbook as I painted and wrote down all the paint colors I used. I also tried to keep the color palette’s pretty simple and used just two brushes. It was certainly a different process than when I paint my own paintings. But I did have fun with it, especially the little baseball. I think I may need to do a couple more sports balls… you know, just so I have more examples. 🙂

Have a wonderful, creative, day, Janell

Fairy Sketch #6, #7, and #8

Posted on May 6, 2015 by janellmithani

Here are three more sketches in my 10 fairy sketches challenge.

Fairy # 6, “Petal, hanging out in a grove of trees”

Fairy #7, “Ready for the Party”

Fairy #8, “Little Lamb” — I don’t know why, but lately when I sketch a fairy with curly hair she looks like a lamb to me! Maybe it’s the ears… 🙂

Have a wonderful, creative, day, Janell

First Painting for 2015

Posted on February 3, 2015 by janellmithani

This is my first painting for 2015. Can you tell I’m already thinking of spring? 🙂

Moss, acrylic on canvas, 24″ x 24″

I’ve been thinking a lot about the “WHY” I paint what I paint lately. I’ve always loved fairies and nature. I grew up out in the country and spent a good share of my childhood, hiking in the woods. In my paintings, I reflect on those moments and feel that my feminine characters draw strength from the trees, wind, and nature that surrounds them. One of the things that inspires me the most, is the strong stillness I feel when I am alone and surrounded by nature.

“Moss is a feminine character who draws her strength from the moss-covered trees that surround her. She came to me in my dreams, found her way into my sketchbook and inspired me to paint her with one of her beloved trees.”

Have a wonderful, creative day, Janell

A Tree Fairy Painting on Austrailian Paper Bark

Posted on August 27, 2014 by janellmithani

I love painting tree fairies and I have been experimenting with painting them on the bark of the Australian paper bark, Melaleuca quinquenervia trees. We have a lot of them here in Southern California. I love the organic shapes and the textures and feel painting on a natural piece of bark fits with my art. The paper-like bark peels right off of the trees and it doesn’t hurt the tree to harvest the bark.

This is an ancient art tradition of the Aboriginal people of Australia. They created wonderful dot paintings, often times telling the stories of their dreams. I found out about this style of art a few years ago when I was researching the art of different countries to teach in my art workshops for teens. It is still a popular art style, and I found many beautiful paintings on the internet. It has also become one of my most popular summer workshops.

I posted the sketch of my tree fairy a few weeks ago. The tree bark can be really smooth on the back side, but I really liked the front side of this piece of bark. Since it had a lot of texture, I decided to re-create my sketch to size, cut it out, and glue it to the bark as a beginning for the painting. I also applied a coat of gel to seal and smooth out the bark.

I attached the bark to my easel with a clip and began painting. I love the light in this picture. I have a wonderful south-facing skylight that lights my easel over my left shoulder. It was my husbands idea when we built the studio and I just love it.

Here is a picture of the piece against my wood floor. I wanted to see different colors behind it.

Now I need to figure out how to present and frame it. Hmmm….

Any ideas would be much appreciated! 🙂

Have a wonderful, creative day, Janell

A Tree Fairy Sketch

Posted on August 6, 2014 by janellmithani

I’ve had a couple of busy weeks teaching art workshops. So I haven’t had much time to paint or post to my blog, but I have been busy drawing in my sketchbook.

Have a wonderful, creative day, Janell

Mother and Daughter in the Wind – A Tree Painting

Posted on May 8, 2013 by janellmithani

Here is a painting that I finished recently. I was thinking of my daughter and that Mother’s Day will be here soon.

Mother and Daughter in the Wind painting by Janell Mithani

Mother and Daughter in the Wind, 8″ x 10″, Acrylic on canvas

I love trees and how they blow in the wind and how leaves sometimes just blow off in a group from a tree in a wind gust. I have been thinking of this painting for a while…how trees and people connect and how things in nature become representational of emotions we feel for each other. I have a feeling this is going to turn into a series as I am itching to do another one already. 🙂

I have been working on a new website dedicated to just my paintings. It is coming together and it is almost finished. I am so excited about it! I will post a link when I get it done.

Have a wonderful creative day, Janell