Nursery Lyrics Painting

I have had the privilege of painting for lots of little girls! I have painted for seven nurseries/bedrooms so far and one new client this week! And I LOVE it! Butterflies, flowers, and pink are a few of my favorite things. But, when I got a chance to paint a custom nursery lyrics painting for a newborn little boy this past month, I was thrilled!! His mom had picked out two amazing songs she wanted painted on canvases and I had the honor of painting and illustrating the lyrics for her. Below are some pictures of these two Custom Nursery Lyrics Paintings. The first song was Tender Shepherd and the second one was Hold on to Jesus. Below are the step by step pictures of each painting.

I believe Tender Shepherd was originally written for the musical Peter Pan by Carolyn Leigh and Mark Charlap. Here are the lyrics my client chose to have painted:

Tender Shepherd Tender shepherd, tender shepherd, let me help you count your sheep. One in the meadow, Two in the garden, Three in the nursery, fast asleep. Tender shepherd, tender shepherd, let me help you fall asleep. One, close your eyes, Two say your prayers, and Three, safe and happily, Fall asleep Now it's time for this sweet boy to close his eyes and go to sleep. Tomorrow will bring a brand new day, full of fun and things to do.

I painted the background first. I have been painting a lot of skies lately! The sky is ever-changing and so much fun to capture, particularly setting suns. I thought this sky would be relaxing to go along with the nighttime theme of "Tender Shepherd."

If you read the lyrics of Tender Shepherd it talks about one, two, and three groups of sheep. It was fun finding the right place to put each group.

Once the background was painted, I added in the lyrics. My hint: I use chalk to draw straight lines on the canvas so my lyrics would be straight. : ) I then used a pencil to write the lyrics. I painted over the pencil marks with black acrylic paint and simply wiped off the chalk lines.

And the painting is complete!

The next painting I did was for "Hold on to Jesus." A song by Erin O'Donnell, who I just found out attended my alma mater, The University of Miami!! Here are the lyrics my client chose to have painted:

Hold on to Jesus Hold on to Jesus, and cling to his love rest deep in his mercy, whenever things get rough don't lose sight of his goodness and don't ever doubt this truth, that when you hold onto Jesus, He's holding onto you.

I decided to paint this in the style of Zenspirations, a style of art by Joanne Fink. You can learn more about her and her artwork here. When I first read the lyrics I imaged a little boat in rough waters with a sun shining to give hope in the storm.

Just like, Tender Shepherd, I painted the background first, then added in the lyrics.