This piece of wood intrigued me and I wanted to emphasize the imperfections of my usual smooth “canvas.” This came together quite nicely and I had a blast with the background. I used blobs of brushed and smudged on soft-bodied acrylic paints and dripped rubbing alcohol into it while it was still wet. This technique makes the paint ooze to the sides of the alcohol droplets. I did this for quite a few layers until the canvas was covered and I could no long see the wood behind the paint. I used a leaf stamp to add a forest feel and punched some flowers from some textured white collage paper. The yellow flower centers are pieces of confetti that I layered with three coats of sparkle glaze. I used gold leafing to define her wooden knot and capped her off with a forested pattern beret. I used my finger to add a touch of glitter to the blue areas and let a dragonfly covered with mica powders land on the painting. She has a pale green rhinestone to let you know she has a twinkle in her eye! She’s cute and I love her dearly. I love how the colors blended together so well in the background. She truly does look like she’s out in the forest.Speaking of forests…..

I simply couldn’t resis making Frida Margarita! I used cocktail napkins that have summertime cocktails all over them for her dress and the drink as well as the flamigo. The flowers are resin embellishments that I got in the scrapbooking section of Fred Meyers. I used Beadz and stickles on her neckline to give that extra “punch” of bling. The pink stars I’ve had forever and a day and are actually bought from Avon for fingernail bling. Since my nails are always covered with things other than nail polish I thought I’d make use of them in a more creative way. I added a few rhinestones and left her without pupils just for added interest. She’s a small 4×4 that I will drill holes in for hanging with fun fur! I think she’s delightful! What do you think?!

It’s Good To Be Queen is a take on a journal page I did months back. This version is done on artist paper with watercolor pencils and dry brushed rubber stamping inks. I added some stamped images and a large letter Q. She’s a sassy queen with all the colors surrounding her. I also have the same queen woodburned onto a piece of birch and am going to do her up in different colors and mediums. She’s just so fun to play with that I couldn’t resist doing two. It’s interesting to see how different mediums take to different surfaces and you can learn a lot by doing one piece with two different surfaces. I keep a scrap paper and scrap wood to test my mediums before applying to my actual piece, this helps ease the stress of OMG am I going to ruin this painting ~ and it allows you to get a feel for how the paint/s will take to the sufaces.

Happy Hump Day ~ Today I’m making a pot roast for dinner with big chunks of potatoes, onions and a mustard/sour cream sauce to go with. It’s certain to be a hit! (… I hope…) Tomorrow I’m making some spicy Chinese peanut low mien. Planning a bit in advance helps me to organize my time better and not stress if I’ve overspend my time painting. If you have some hit recipes to share, please link them in a comment! Also, please post your current projects as well. I’d love to visit your blogs!