My Work: Watercolor Landscape Studies

Over spring break our family took a road trip from the bay area to Las Vegas, to the Grand Canyon, to a friend's home in Arizona, to Santa Monica, and back home. Lots of driving. And lots of scenery.

About a year ago I went to a watercolor class at the local library where the teacher shared how she would paint on a train and the challenge was painting fast (like within two minutes) because you only have so much time before your view is gone. I thought painting landscapes would be a fun challenge and pass some time during our trip and it was! I couldn't do as many as I'd like because I am prone to car sickness but I was able to complete a handful. Here are my three favorites.

Highway 5 South

From the train ride to the Grand Canyon

Leaving Arizona

For these paintings, I used used:

• 6x9 in 140lb watercolor paper from Bee Paper Company that I found on sale at Michael's
• Winsor & Newton Cotman Box Paint Set
• Grumbacher Academy Size 12 Round Paint Brush

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

My Work: Bouquet Paintings

For the past few weeks I've been painting bouquets as often as I can and have shared many of them on Instagram. For inspiration, I've referenced bouquets in books, magazines, on instagram and pinterest, and fresh flowers on my desk from Trader Joe's (the best!!).

It's been fun painting arrangements in vases, some without, in various color palettes, adding details with color pencils or pen, and exploring different shapes and styles. 

In the Shop: Christmas Gift Wrap

PSA: Christmas is less than six weeks away! If you're in need of wrapping paper, I've got you covered.

Okay, so this paper is seriously so pretty and thick—but not too thick. It's quality paper and won't rip at the corners of your boxes as you're wrapping. If you're a wrapping paper fan, I think you'll love these!

You can choose a set of 3 sheets or a set of 5 sheets. Most of the designs are made-to-order just for you so expect to receive your paper 10-15 days from the date you place your order.  

I hope you love wrapping your gifts with these as much as I do!

Zipper Pouches

Over the summer I ordered swatches of fabric with my patterns for a potential project I decided not to move forward with (for now, at least)...but I was super happy with the fabric and loved how my designs printed on it, and thought you might too.

So I sweet talked my mom into sewing these mini zipper pouches (she said yes!), found some great quality brass YKK zippers, various fabric for lining, and we got to work.

View fullsize

Now I get to introduce these fun mini pouches to you which will be for sale next week when my shop opens on Wednesday 11/1. There's literally only one of each design (with a couple patterns showing up twice but in a different scale), and I have no plans to ask my mom to make more ;) so they're one of a kind and only available while they last.

They'll be available here starting on Wednesday: amandagomes.com/shop/zipper-pouches

Reflection and News

Here I am with my family last fall thanks to a fun photo shoot with the amazing Pictilio team. I’ve officially been a full-time mom for a year and can’t believe how fast the time has gone.

It’s been a great year, although it started off pretty rough. Let’s just say I was not feeling accomplished day-to-day as a mom the same way I was in my office job. ;) But I've slowly come to a place of resetting my expectations, and even though there are days I could scream (and do), I’m truly enjoying being with my kiddos and love having so much time to discover, snuggle and play with them. They’re growing too quickly and I’m grateful to have this time with them.

I’ve also officially been painting for a year now and I'm so happy to have found something I enjoy so much. Thank YOU for following along as I share my work…it seriously means a lot that you read my posts, leave comments on Instagram, and encourage me as I go. I appreciate you.

I often get asked when I find time to work on my art when I’m home with the kids, and the answer is that I mostly paint and pattern in the evenings, early mornings or for an hour or so during the day when the kids are occupied with legos or a video, but I also have all day Wednesdays to myself, thanks to my in-laws, so that’s a dream.

On a related note, you may have seen me post about my shop that will be opening in a couple weeks, and because of that, I decided to use my own name (Amanda Gomes) online instead of Delighted Creative Co. "Delighted" came from Delighted Magazine, which I published from 2012-2014 and featured things that delighted me: interviews with small business owners, stories from moms, recipes, tutorials, and lots of other fun things. (If you’d like a peek at past issues, click HERE). In a couple of days I’ll be transitioning to my new account, so if you start seeing posts in your Instagram feed from amandagomesdesign, that's me! 😊

Thank you again for being part of my creative journey!

Coming Soon: an online Shop!

Guess what!? In the next few weeks, I'll be launching a shop, right here on my website, where you can find goodies featuring my watercolor work! To begin, I'll have stationery, art prints, and a couple other fun items.

Speaking of fun items, here's a sneak peek at some zipper pouches that will be available. I had some of my patterns printed on linen cotton canvas and am so excited about how they came out. I think you'll love them too! I'm only making about a dozen of these and don't plan on stocking more so if you'd like one, be sure to follow me on Instagram for updates or join my email list (and get free downloads while you're at it!) to find out when they'll be available.

Stay tuned...