The Lost Boys (a custom art piece)

Here is the final version of my custom Lost Boys themed watercolor painting!

My wonderful, longtime internet friend Courtney is expecting a baby boy this fall, and she asked me to make a custom piece for his nursery! She wanted it to be Peter Pan's Lost Boys themed, and the room will have a woodland theme. So that pretty much gave me the creative freedom to design whatever I dreamed up! (and I LOOOOVE Peter Pan.)

This is 11x14, and I used an amazing new smooth watercolor paper for it. Plus new water color paints= such a difference in the quality! I incorporated a quote I love from the book version of Peter Pan, in my newly-learned calligraphy (plus I know my friend Courtney loves modern calligraphy). For styling, I love it paired with this wood frame. It really completes the feeling of the piece!

Overall I love the storybook page feeling of it. I'm so thankful she asked me to do this! It was so fun. 

xo, Michelle

Follow me @maryandluna on your favorite social media: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook. See my art in my Etsy shop or on maryandluna.com. 

if you're interested in a custom art piece like this one, please email me and we can brainstorm ideas! I absolutely love making things for a specific person in mind :)

fairytale photoshoot: 3 month old baby Juliette!

I'm SO excited to share these photos from a shoot I did with an adorable little 3-month-old baby girl named Juliette. I approached her mom at pre-school (for one of my babysitting jobs), and asked if I could use her baby in a shoot to help build my portfolio! Luckily she agreed :)

I learn so much from each shoot. But this one was a major point of growth for me.

First of all, the weather. Oh my gosh. We had the most unusual 60mph hot winds, and I was so nervous the shoot wouldn't work. Somehow we managed to shoot for 45 minutes in the crazy wind, despite tree branches actually falling on me & Juliette's mom. We were blocking the baby! And somehow the little rockstar baby fell asleep! I would have loved to shoot longer, but I did what I could. Somehow despite cutting the session in half due to the wind, I still ended up with a handful of photos I love. That was majorly confidence-boosting for me.

Second, this is the first shoot I've done with 100% my own styling, the right lens, the exact lighting I wanted, and Adobe Lightroom for editing. I location-scouted for a very specific setting. (I wanted it to look like a forest. Not easy in a beach town!) I could go on and on about how much of a difference this combination made. Finally my work looks like me. I could not be happier, and I can't wait to shoot more and more and continue to build my portfolio and take on clients! I really love doing this. It's another creative outlet for me, and I love capturing sweet babies and making parents happy.

So here are my favorites!

xo, Michelle

If you're in the Orange County, CA area, and would like to do a baby or child photoshoot at a low-portfolio building rate, please email me!