My Favorite Thing To Paint is Shoes!

My Favorite Thing to Paint is Shoes!

One of the questions I got this week is what is my favorite thing to paint.

Normally I don’t get questions like that so why not answer it in a blog post.

Painting shoes are a lot of fun, and so far I have painted over 100’s designs

in kids sizes as well as adult sizes.

I first started painting custom shoes, when one of my fellow designers, in one of my designer groups, asked me to paint a pair of shoes to match her outfit that she was selling. That experience let me to work with several designers on fun collaboration projects. With the success of my hand painted shoes, I decided to offer my shoe designs on my boutique website.

Here is a quick look at some hand painted shoes, check out the video below.

Shoes have a limited space to paint on, so I have to be creative on how I paint the design. The fun part is to get the clients vision painted onto the shoes. I normally paint both sides of the shoes and paint the child’s name or nickname on the back of the shoe, where the heel of the shoe goes up to the ankle. I always offer the free service to get your child’s name hand painted on the boutique shoes.

My favorite parts of painting shoes are the details. I love painting details and it’s usually the last step I do when I paint shoes. I love creating highlights to make features stand out more. It’s all in the details, some might think its nuts but I can’t send out a pair of shoes if I am not proud of the outcome of the design.

Another thing that I do with my shoes is I personally sign my name inside of each pair of shoes, so the child knows that the shoes where especially designed and hand painted just for them. As an artist I sign all my painted art works so why not shoes.

My most requested designs are on high top shoes and the favorite colors that my clients orders are black and red. The turn around time, on my hand painted shoes are normally 3 days, if I have the shoe size in stock.  I have to let each coat of paint dry for the maximum amount of wear and durability.

I only use the best quality fabric paint so I am happy to say that you can throw my Unique Boutique hand painted shoes into your washer. I wash my daughters hand painted shoes all the time.

My oldest daughter Aaliyah, loves the attention she gets when she wears them and thinks her shoes are really “cool” and that she has a OOAK (one of a kind design).

She is 7 and knows what she wants to wear, here is a recent picture of her when we went to Denmark for our summer vacation. She is sitting in Tivoli, in a well-known Danish restaurant.

To round out the subject of painted shoes, I do give out free pairs of hand painted shoes for my select clients. Furthermore I also give out my hand painted shoes as prices when I have contest going on for my Unique Boutique subscribers.

Hand painted shoes really rounds out a child’s outfit and lets them express their individual personalities. Besides that they are so much fun to paint!

You can check out my selections on custom hand painted boutique shoes and tell me what you think!

Thanks,

Maiken

My Passion is Art and Anything that Lets Me Create.

My passion is art and anything that lets me create.

When I was a little girl, I loved drawing and creating little art works that my parents would give away to their friends. Two trips ago when I went to Denmark about three years ago, one of my parent’s family friends came up to me. He handed me a drawing that I drew for him when I was five. I was touched by his gesture and was shocked that he had kept my drawing for 24 years. Sometimes a simple thing such as a drawing can make someone happy.

In my later years, I started painting and create hand painted clothing for my girl Aaliyah and after many compliments and suggestions I started my hand painted boutique clothing business Unique Boutique.

People don’t know this but I get such a great satisfaction to see my works come to life and best of all capture the imagination of a child. To see their smiling faces and get the many testimonials is really what keeps me pick up a paintbrush every day. The greatest satisfaction of all is when I get fan mail from children thanking me for the perfect outfit.

Sometimes I don’t reveal the design until its all done, so it’s a surprise for the clients, of cause those are the customers that gave me full range of the design or have purchased a custom item from me before. In this design process something magical happens. I look at the plain pair of jeans and just let my creativity go wild. I don’t even know how the design will turn out, I just go with the flow. In addition this is also what makes painting so much fun it’s like a new adventure everyday.

Occasionally I have the famous artist moods everyone has heard about. When this special mood happens it’s a fantastic feeling. I can create and paint for hours and will not stop until my hands get tired of painting. When I am in such a creative mood people know not to disturb me. Many times I paint until 3 AM before I put my paintbrush down. However, as crazy as it may sounds it’s really a true blessing. You get a burst of energy like no other and you’re in a state of great satisfaction and creativity.

People ask me don’t I get sick of painting so much, but in reality it’s a great stress reliever, its like therapy. Some people might take out their stress in the gym but I just paint and sew. In the end I will have a finished a project and feel awesome that I have accomplished creating something new.

Looking back I have always had a passion for art and art history. I think the first time I really notice art was on a ceiling mural in an old Danish church in Copenhagen. The massive mural took my breath away, and I had an A-HA moment. I thought wow to paint and create like that would be wonderful.

Here is a picture of two of my murals that I have painted:

     

Art is all around us and to contribute wearable art to children and expose them to the old art of painting is an awesome feeling. They take a little piece of me in every custom item that I create and I am very proud of that.

Ready for a Brand New Year!

Unique Boutique is ready for a Brand New Year!

We are now open again to take OOAK (one of a kind) orders again.

Of cause everything is on a first come first service.

If you have a special outfit in mind its best to contact us early on your project.

For the hand painted boutique clothing there is usually a 3 months waiting list
depending on the items requested.

But on the custom sewed Sets you can usually get them in less than 2 weeks.

As you know our business is a mom run business. We are really honored that you support a mom business.

We only take a limit amount of clients at a time so we can give you the best attention to your project and make sure its every thing you wanted it to be.

Hint hint I am a detailed freak so all items has to be perfect before I ship them out. Can't help it, its just the way I work.

Wishing you a great year,

Maiken