Christmas is just around the corner. I’m not done …yet. /SIGH! I’m working feverishly on the last remaining things I wanted to get done before the big day. With only a few things left to do I’m anxious about getting them done in the St. Nick of time! I can’t share them here as the people they are for are actually the only family members I know that visit my blog. Thank you Brandie… and the hubs. I do however have something I want to share with you that I hope you’ll take the time to check into. I’ve met a girl online whom goes mainly by M. She’s hosted a 3 week challenge on a Ning site that after the 3 weeks, and then 3 weeks again, and possibly again, lost popularity and Ning being the ningypoo’s they are, they closed her site. The good news is… She now has a new site called Heart’s Desire for Joy and is offering daily inspiration for free. Her content is solid, her message is awesome, she is truly one of the most inspiring people I’ve come across on the Internet and she’s not snarky at you for succeeding! She’s a very warm-hearted person that you can’t help but fall in love with. Please drop on by, check her out and see what inspiring messages she has to offer. Inspiration is never a bad thing! There are already a lot of really inspiring people that have joined her community so you ‘ll be sure to find something you can relate to. It’s a place of friendship, sharing, discussing woes and working them out…. and so much more. For the most part I’m not one to promote things on my blog, but I believe so strongly in Heart’s Desire for Joy that I really do truly hope you stop in for a visit.
I made this post on some of the Ning sites I belong to and wanted to share it here.
As one often does at year’s end, I’ve been looking back at my artwork over the course of the past few years and I’m amazed at how I’ve improved. With practice one can do most anything.I love what I do so the practice is play for me. I’ve been forced in many cases to work around things that don’t look quite right in a painting or I don’t have the right element for.This helps to teach us and helps us grow as artists as well as building our character.I’m pleased with what I’ve learned through my art and how it helps to heal some of the sorrows that life dishes out.Art has the ability to take pain and turn it into beauty while at the same time healing our hearts and helping us forgive and grow.Art is an amazing tool in life. It’s a gift that literally keeps on giving and I just wanted to take this time as the year winds down to express to all of us that we here hold a very valuable ability to heal ourselves, help others and bring beauty to the ugliness that life can bring. Keep creating, keep bring beauty to your world and share your talent with whoever will have a look!
The Power of Pink! I’m happy to announce that I will be teaching an online class of how to make these fun ceramic trivets. I’m getting the software and video camera for Christmas so sometime in January I’ll be able to show you step by step how this process is done. This particular trivet was made for my Mother-in-Law for Christmas. And I had a very fun time creating in Pink! If you visit here often you know my love for the color pink! You also know how I love the challenge of making something that takes me out of my comfort zone. I’m always excited about using new products and new mediums and would rather buy art supplies than clothes any day! (Oh how my wardrobe is suffering… I’ll need to buy something to wear for Christmas!) As I’m pretty much a stay at home kind of person due to my lifestyle and my creative juices pouring themselves out daily onto one canvas or another… paint stained hoodies and yoga pants are my standard. However… showing up at the in-laws dressed in my artist attire would embarrass me horribly! Not to mention those who are with me. So…. A trip to my favorite clothing store is impending whether I like it or not. I’m so excited about learning video editing and presenting techniques to you and I promise this will be done in an affordable fashion! And it’s more than likely you’ll only have to buy a few supplies at minimal cost.. one of which is from the dollar store! The possibilities for this technique are endless and I’m very excited about sharing what I’ve learned by teaching myself this technique.
This painting is inspired by an article/project from the Sept/October issue of Cloth*Paper*Scissors. I absolutely fell in love with the fabric dolls and bought the fiberfill to start making them. As you know I’ve been so engrossed with painting that adding another project is always a challenge. I happened to have a long narrow wooden birch canvas left and thought ~ HEY! Why not do a painting of one of these adorable dolls!? So here she is. I still plan to make some cloth dollies as they are just to cute to pass up. In the meantime however I have this sweet bee to look at and inspire me. Whatcha think?
This painting was created after a week’s worth of fiddling. I kept trying new things with this. I started with the wood burning of the girls face and used some gorgeous blue/green napkins my niece bought me. I wanted more layers so I dripped melted crayons on it in pearl yellow and pearl blue, I used my mini iron and blended the colors together a bit. There are creases and textures and sparkles from the pearls in the crayons. I added some flowers cut from paper doilies and some flowers painted on with Twinkling H2Os. The center of the paper doily frames the 3D flower that I used modeling paste and a stencil to create. The leaves on the painting are from tea bags of Tea Forte’. I added rub ons and stamped words to express what this painting is all about. I also used rubberstamping on some of the edges and on her hair to blend her to the background more. This piece is finished off with fiberous fringe and beads to make it pop! I don’t often work with these colors so it was a fun challenge and making the background a beautiful mess is also an expression of how love can prevail. Look beyond the mess to see the beauty that truly is. * This photo was taken late in the day and doesn’t have the clarity I’d like it to have. The lighting wasn’t what I normally like. To see a smaller “crisper” image of this painting click here. Enjoy and Happy Friday!
I’ve been preparing my materials for the 3-Week-Challenge workshop. I’ve finished both of the journals I’ll need for it and am ready to share. The art journal is cardstock cut in half/hole punched and bound with snap rings. The cover is made from a green folder left over from college. I used cardstock in brown and stamped the lines down it with dark brown ink. The leaves and flowers are cut from the folder and carstock – I used an oval punch for the flowers. I added some dried statice, the roof is cardstock with stamped flowers and cut leaves. I finished off the flowers on the roof with tiny pink rhinestones. The door is a wine bottle label that I saved. (Yes, I bought that bottle of wine just for the label. =)) The doorknob is a pink brad as I used metallic ribbon for the door tie. The girl is painted on watercolor paper and mod podged onto the cover. Inside the cover are my YES’S for the challenge. This took a bit of time to do but it was so fun I didn’t want to stop!
Part of the 3-Week-Challenge is to keep morning pages and a journal is required for that. I purchased one at Wal-Mart that I thought was very pretty but upon getting home and putting my glasses on I noticed it was creased on the cover. =( Oh well, I can fix this I said! Then I proceeded to cover it with paper that pretty much matched the existing colors of the journal. Lots of pink, orange, and brown. A must for Autumn! It turned out rather cute. Now~I’m outta here to work on finishing up some Christmas gifts. Happy TGIF-Eve Day! Go Create!
This was created for Project Suzi this past week. I LOVED the process of this peice and am happy with the results. This is my first Frida Kahlo painting. I used lots of layers and rubberstamping for the background. The dress and flowers in her hair are collaging papers embellised with stamps, acrylics and what-nots. The lettering was done with Photoshop so it can be altered at a later date if desired. I am currently working on finishing a few paintings for Christmas – and getting ready to start a few more- along with making my journals for The Three Week Challenge that starts on November 23. Check it out and see if it’s something you might be interested in. I also ordered a few books including – The Artist’s Way & Taking Flight
It’s been a while since I’ve bought any books so I’m really excited about the growing experience of reading these two. They seem to go hand in hand. I’ll find out when I get them. Hopefully that will be soon! I’ll be working on my art journal cover for The Three Week Challenge today and hopefully have it posted tomorrow, it’s also my entry for Project Suzi which is due on Nov 22. Along with working on journals and Christmas presents I’m also trying to get a plethora of other projects that are piled up on my desk ~~ there is never enough time in the day for all the things that need to done! I want TIME for Christmas this year. =)~~ What’s on your Christmas wish list?
I spend a lot of my evenings sketching and practicing my faces in my sketchbook so I decided to give it a spiffy cover yesterday. I LOVE pink so naturally it was my color of choice for this project. I used sticker tapes for the lace at the bottom and pink and white polka dots on the left side. – Napkins for pink daisies. – Ribbon, eyelets, collage papers, heart punch, rhinestone, and a stencil for the pink polka dots. I also used a bit of iridescent medium and some rubberstamping ink to add pink tint to the otherwise white lace tape. Lastly, I inked the edge of the journal as well to add a bit more color.
And here’s the lastest entry into this sketchbook – I got the idea for this drawing from an anime series my DH and I have been watching in the evenings called Air TV. If you like anime, I recommend the series, the last few seem to be repetetive of the priors but the story itself is quite creative. I enjoy getting ideas for art from such stories. The world around us is so creative that it’s hard not to get a plethera of ideas!
I used metallic gel pens for the “feathers” and a black sharpie for the black on the costume. I didn’t use a blending tool for this one as in person the “lines” look pretty cool with the complimenting line from the ink on the feathers. When I get a light tent I’ll have more fun with photos and print making. =) ~The wish list continues to grow!~ What’s on your wishlist this season?
On my way back from the mailbox yesterday I picked up some leaves that were laying on the rain soaked ground. I wiped them down and used several different colors of rubberstamping ink to stampe them onto this cardstock. I used a brayer to apply pressure to them. I’ll spray this with a workable fixative and see what I can add to it as the days go by.
Today I am finishing my Frida “Inspiration” card for Project Suzi – I’ll post her later -she’s really looking awesome and she’s ALMOST done! =) YAY! Lots of pink and purple and gold, very delicious with color, color, color!
I’ve been busy working on several pieces and getting ready for Halloween. I did this journal entry as a Halloween challenge for Make it Mondays. It’s rather Day of the Deadish with the amount of skellies in it. I call it Skelly Mosh Pit. The little guys look to be marionettes. It was fun to create. I simply made a skelly head template to trace and did all the black in sharpies, the rest is watercolor penciled and then washed over with a waterbrush.
My Frida picture is coming along great and I’ll be posting her when she’s done. I plan to upload her to photoshop when she’s half done to play w/her there as well. I’ve not done that before w/my own work. So it will be interesting to see what I can do digitally to her. Most of the time I prefer the dirty fingers style of art, but I wanted to try a few things with Frida without making them permanent to the origional piece. I need to get myself some workable fixative soon as I work in soft lead and tend to smear a lot. I’ll be ordering or heading to JoAnns in the next few days. I checked Google to see if hairspray would work as a workable fixative but most ppl say Nay! It will yellow within a few days to a few months. This little guy just flew into our window. Our living room has a wall of windows overlooking a gully of trees. We have lots of racoon, squirrels, birds, deer and an occasional unwanted possum venturing around. He made a big thump when he hit the window so I went to check on him. He’s doing much better now so I tossed him a slice of bread to soothe his wounds (and his ego.) He’ll be fine. I think I’m more rattled than he is.
I lost my bird book when I moved so if anyone can identify this little guy please let me know. I adore his coloring.
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