He said:

Of all the things my amazingly talented wife has created, this is definitely in Tier 1 in my book. Wow! This is my aunt’s childhood violin. She wanted to take it out of the case it’s been in for years and turn it into a piece of art. Recognizing Brianna’s talents, my aunt asked her to do her thing with it. It is exquisite. The scene is beautiful (I’ll let her describe it) yet the history and story of the wood and instrument is integrally displayed. Seriously, I’m in awe of this masterpiece!

She said:

This is one of my favorite projects of all time, ever. I love unconventional canvases, and instruments are way up there on that list. We were visiting Dustin’s aunt, and she asked if a violin could be painted — she was looking for a way to display her childhood violin artistically. I emphatically said YES, and she asked me to do the honors. I was SO NERVOUS about this one! I knew I only had one shot at this. I took my time coming up with a concept that would do it justice, and the image that kept coming to me were Aspen trees and mountains. Their back balcony has a magnificent view of the Rockies. 

To begin, I grabbed an old hymnal I have for art making and flipped through it. I found a hymn for travelers, which fits them so perfectly, and cut strips out of it. The music staff and lyrics resemble the lines in the bark of an Aspen, making these the perfect tree trunks. I decoupaged them on using a gloss gel. Then it was time to paint! As always, I let my instincts guide me on the colors I selected. I painted in the mountains, the leaves, and ground brush. When the whole thing was dry, I sealed it all with several coats of gel gloss, and she was done! I handed her over to the resident strings experts (teenagers in orchestra) to restring it. Dustin built a custom stand to show it off, which turned out beautifully!

I won’t lie, I was incredibly nervous presenting it to Dustin’s aunt. I had so much joy in creating this, but was still afraid it wouldn’t quite match up with her expectations — art is such a subjective thing! I had no reason to fear, though, as she LOVED it!