sample sale!

When you teach and demo art for a living, you end up with a lot of samples! I spend so much time filming videos, practicing techniques, exploring ideas and warming up and the result is a ridiculous amount of art. So I've decided that every once in a while I will be offering a sample sale! I've got a big batch of floral paintings in the shop today. While they are original paintings, they are still experiments, samples for classes and my warm up painting so they are priced to sell! You can head on over to the shop to see everything HERE

And for those of you who aren't in the market for original art, I've got a set of 6 floral notecards and envelopes measuring 5" x 7" that I created from some of my favorite paintings. Details HERE

happy mothers day!

fruit pizza

We love our sweet treats around here so I am always trying to make things that are a little bit more healthy! One of our favorites is fruit pizza. It's yummy, colorful and fun to get creative with.

INGREDIENTS:

Toppings:
Favorite fruit- I used dragon fruit, strawberries, raspberries, kiwi and black berries
Yogurt

No bake crust:
1 1/2 cups of crushed graham crackers
1/3 cup of melted butter or more depending on the 
1/4 cup brown sugar

Mix graham crackers, sugar and melted butter.
Press mixture into a round plate.
Chill for 1 hour.
Add all those toppings and enjoy!

a peek inside my process

painted patio umbrella

I have full blown spring fever which means I have been spending a lot of time on outdoor projects! One of the big things on my list has been a whimsical umbrella for our deck. We've got plans to spend a lot time on our deck this summer so I wanted something fun to create a little shade for our outdoor meals.  

I was on a budget for this project and we also don't have lots of room for a giant umbrella so I went with this umbrella from IKEA, it was only $14.99 and it was about 63" which was perfect for our space.

I wanted to completely re-vamp the umbrella so I started by painting over everything! I used house paint and it took me two layers to get those green areas covered up. 

Then I got busy adding details! I used Golden High Flow Acrylic Paint for this process. It's my favorite supply for doing line work with a brush on just about any surface. It has the consistency of ink but it's (VERY) permanent.

My plan was to paint a really decorative mandala that would compliment the pattern on the surface of our deck. This process was time consuming and took me DAYS to finish but the end result was totally worth it! 

NOTE: For those who will ask- no I did not seal it. We get so much rain here (even in the summer) that I only plan on using the umbrella on sunny days. And no, I am not that worried about it fading. In fact, I welcome fading! My goal was to create a whimsical umbrella to last us for one or two summers.

happy weekend!

365 sketchbook from Megan

Hello everyone! It’s Megan from Makewells, and I’m here with an update on my long-ago- completed 365 sketchbook project! Yep, almost a year ago (WHAT?!), I wrapped up this monstrosity of a project, and it was so much fun!

You can read my post from waaaaaaaaaay back when (I was less than halfway) here, and see the whole collection on Instagram by searching #makewells365.

So, yes, I did it! 365 days in a row of filling up my sketchbook with whatever struck my fancy that day! It was quite an accomplishment and I’m so happy I stuck to my goal! So today I’ll share a glimpse into the project, and some tips on sticking to a daily creative challenge.

Your goal can be as specific or general as you want! Maybe your goal is to work for 10 minutes a day in your art journal, or to draw a flower a day on sticky notes. Mine was pretty broad: fill up one page in my sketchbook each day and post it to Instagram using the hashtag #makewells365.

Other than that, it was a wide open road of possibilities each day! For me, that’s freeing. (most of the time). But if you need more “boundaries” to help you along, give yourself a theme or a couple more rules to stick to!

You will not make art that you like 365 days in a row. Give up that goal, throw it out the window, and just keep making things. There were days I did not really like the way my page turned out. Many of those days actually. But who cares! It was my sketchbook - and I had 364 other chances to “like” what I made. Just make stuff. Enjoy the process of making - that’s why you are creating, right?

If it’s just too daunting to go for the marathon, start with the 5K. I won’t pretend that 365 days in a row didn’t feel crazy daunting at times. So start slow if you need to! Try a 30 day creative challenge, or 100 days.  Take little steps to develop the habit of creating daily and soon it will be as instinctive as having your morning coffee.

Trying to set up a time each day to create is a wonderful plan - a schedule really will help you develop a habit... but be prepared for days that it just isn’t going to happen when you want to.  Because guess what, you never know what your day holds!

There were quite a few nights I begrudgingly sat down to work in my sketchbook, annoyed that I’d skipped my “morning routine” and had saved it for the end of the day. But every time I sat down, I always ended up being happy I was creating. :)

So there are 4 little tips to help you get started with a daily creating project!

I’ll be starting my 2nd 365 Project on June 1st, and I can’t wait!

And be sure to check out my new lettering courses here!

Xo,

Megan

Instagram

Website

mothers day sale!

Ok friends, it's a tradition around these parts to have a Mother's Day sale! Many of my readers, customers and students are mothers and daughters and one of the best ways I can say thank you is by having a sale. While Mothers Day is still another two weeks away, so many of you give my classes for gifts so I've got all my online classes marked down for the next 7 days for all those Mother's Day shoppers.

You can head on over to the shop HERE for over 60 classes to choose from!

And this week I am also giving away a digital download FREE with every purchase! Simply make a purchase and we will email you this fun little 8 page download!

This eight page download includes pretty paper that I created from my drawings and paintings. My hope is that you will use it in your Mother's Day gifting or even in your own creative projects!  

dresser turned planter

We have finally reached an end (or at least a break) in the rain here on the Oregon Coast. This means it's time to start all of my gardening projects! First on my to do list is getting our deck cleaned up so we can spend lots of time eating outside this summer. Last year I painted an epic floor mural on our deck which has made this space feel so much more special. This year I decide that I wanted to bring more planters and greenery onto our deck. We have a MAJOR deer problem in our neighborhood so it would be nice to use this space for flowers and plants that those pesky deer like to eat. 

After a lot of brainstorming, I decided to repurpose an old dresser and turn it into a planter! I've had this thrifted dressed in my different studio spaces for the last 15 years and it was just filled with junk. So I cleaned it out and gave it a quick coat of paint.

Next I opened the drawers ( I only used two of them) and screwed them into place so they would be secure and open. We also attached a bracket to the back of the dresser and wall so that it wouldn't fall forward or move around.

The next step was to begin planting! I used one of the drawers for plants in pots so I could switch them out and move them in the coming months. 

Then I lined the other drawer with plastic and drilled a couple of holes in the bottom of the drawer. I added soil and planted directly into the drawer.

The result is a really whimsical and colorful planter! I love that an old piece of furniture can totally be repurposed for the garden!