Last night I had the opportunity to check out a beautiful wedding venue called Waldenwoods right on Lake Walden in Hartland, MI.
It’s a serene location for an outdoor wedding with a country feel. The staff is relaxed and friendly and the food is terrific.
If you are looking for an “up north” wedding without the drive, this is the perfect place!

The sunsets on the lake are breathtaking!

I was so inspired by the beauty of the venue that I came home and started painting and created two paintings showing this amazing venue.

The first painting on the back lawn I posted on my painting website where you can actually zoom in to see close up detail.
http://arisingimages.com/painting/

This morning I completed a painting of a sailboat for a friend of mine. We were at their cottage up in Port Sanilac many years ago and I shot this photo from the shoreline while they were out sailing on Lake Huron.
I love the simplicity of this image.

For more info about our painting services, visit this page:
http://arisingimages.com/painting/

Here’s a close up on the boat:

This weekend we enjoyed a wonderful getaway with some friends. It was a chance to get away from kids and better yet, get to BE kids again.
From Friday night to Sunday morning, pretty much all we did was laugh. It was a great time and a refreshing few days.
We rented a house in Port Sanilac right on Lake Huron and got to enjoy the beautiful morning sun shining down on the lake.
We went for walks, played some games, and ate way too much junk food.
Thanks to everyone who made it a fantastic weekend!!

Here’s a painted image of the nearby lighthouse:

Recently we photographed the Crocenzi family at their Rochester Hills home. We wanted to do a mixture of a traditional family portrait along with a modern family portrait. I ended up doing a painting of the more traditional family picture as well.

Yesterday we spent a short time out at the Palazzo Grande banquet and event center in Shelby Township. They just opened up a couple years ago and have an amazing establishment for a Michigan wedding or event.
Yesterday they had a bridal show in conjunction with Viviano’s flowers and we were out there for a short time just to take some photos.

When I got home I spent some time in Corel Painter to add my own touch to the images.

Here are just a couple other photos that I liked a lot.

The last few days I’ve been working hard to create beautiful paintings from some of my travel photos. I’m really excited to show the latest pieces.
In a few days, I’ll be offering a service to take YOUR vacation photos and turn them into one-of-a-kind masterpieces.

This first one will go in our living room and it is a 55″x100″ canvas wrap.
If you want to be able to zoom closer to see all the detail and brush strokes, click here:
http://arisingimages.com/painting/amalfi/amalfi.html

Town of Amalfi along the Amalfi Coast in southern Italy.

Here’s the original:

This next one will be a 55″x183″ canvas wrap that is split up into 3 panels. This will be by far the biggest piece that I’ve ever printed and it will go in our living room.
It is a photo of Cliff Palace which is an ancient Anasazi Indian cliff dwelling in Mesa Verde National Park in south western Colorado.

Here’s the original:

Our recent shoot with Joey went really well.  My two favorite products that we offer are our paintings and our sports photos so I was excited to have the opportunity to do both for Joey.

We’re definitely hoping to do more sports layouts for some of our clients, especially the high school seniors who are into a lot of different sports and activities.

and here’s the painting that I did for Joey:

I just completed a painted piece from Sam’s photo shoot last week.  I love doing these because they are a super cool and unique way to present a high school senior photo.  Our goal is to stand out from the rest and this is one of our most fun and artistic products.

This afternoon I was working with some of Ralph and Devon’s photos and there was a photo of the Taj Mahal that they took while in India and I absolutely loved it!  I spent the afternoon playing with the photo in Corel Painter and Photoshop to turn it into some artwork.

Here’s the final:

Here’s the original photo:

These were also painted off of images that I took at the Easter service last year.

I just finished making a new wall display of images that I painted using Corel Painter. These images will be printed at Simply Canvas on their gallery wraps which look really cool, and then we’re going to hang them in our bedroom.

I played around a bit more this afternoon. I’m really having fun with this and am FINALLY seeing some skills develop. It’s been a long and frustrating road with this program, but I’m starting to get it. However, I still have a ridiculous amount to learn still related to brush work and artistry.