Nature Girl

I'm still taking the Painting Layers class with Misty Mawn and this week we did collage. I took a background from Week 1 and collaged a bunch of magazine images on it, painted over some and just let it take me where it wanted until I finally felt it was done. I'm very happy with this and thoroughly enjoyed the process of having no expectations of where it was going.

Skull Background

Here is another background I did during my class with Misty Mawn. I really like the darkness of it and the color combination. I've been having so much fun just letting myself go and not caring at all how it turns out and several times I've been really pleasantly surprised.

Running Scared

I am taking a class with Misty Mawn although we just had one lesson, I am thoroughly enjoying just playing with layers and layers of paint. The above piece is my favorite so far and it started out as a piece I was going to toss in the garbage. Sometimes that's when your best art comes forth because you really allow yourself to be free and try anything.

New Journal Pages

Finally I had some time to work in my journal. These are my latest two journal pages. On the first one I hand colored all the little squares in the hair. It took a really long time, but there is something relaxing about doing it. On the page with the girl with her hair up, I absolutely hated this page, but I stuck with it until I was at least satisfied with it. I tend to want to paint over everything or rip it up if I don't like it and I'm trying to teach myself to work through the problems.

Finally a New Painting.

Finally I've had some time to work on a new painting. I was goofing around with some Golden Glass Bead Gel in the hair and I used Golden Molding Paste in the background to create the animal skin texture. This painting has lots of glitter, which doesn't really show up here and lots of rhinestones on the skirt. Sometimes things just need to be glitzy.

Frida Journal Page

This was my first attempt at drawing an actual person, not just something I made up in my head. Although it's not exact, I feel I at least captured the likeness. I love Frida and her story. If you haven't seen the movie made about her life, I highly recommend it. Salma Hayek played Frida and she was wonderful. I am also working on adding multiple transparent layers in the background. Here I have about four or five different layers.

Another Portrait Journal Page

Here is another portrait journal page. This one incorporates dripping some of the paint down the page. I dripped the eye color onto her cheeks and neck and also let the fushia paint drip all hrough the background. This is my favorite portrait so far. I like everything about her except after I uploaded the photo, I saw that her eyes are totally different sizes. The strange thing is I hadn't even noticed it until after I uploaded the photo.

More Portrait Moleskine Journal Pages

I'm still working on my portraits from the class with Suzi Blu. I have been drawing faces almost every night and I think I see some improvement. The old saying is true, "Practice makes perfect." These are the last two portraits I have completed in my Moleskine. It is surprising how strong the pages are. I used to gesso them and then paint on them, but during this class we drew and painted directly on the pages. I have done them back to back and none of the paint or ink has bled through and, as you can see, I used many layers. It's been a fun class. I'm sorry to see it come to an end.

Inky Impressions 2nd Design Team Call

Inky Impressions Rubber Stamps is having their 2nd Design Team Call. All submissions are due by August 3rd, 2009. My submissions are above. The first is a card made with an Inky Impressions LiLi's secret stamp. I stamped the girl on canvas, then colored her in using Coptic markers. After that I sewed her into a little doll and put a magnet on her back. Another magnet was hidden between the layers of the card so that it is not visible, but the doll sticks to the front of the card. The doll then becomes a very cute refrigerator magnet.

My second submission is an altered project I did about a year ago that turned out fabulous. I painted an old small dresser with wicker white paint, then I covered the fronts of the drawers with Basic Grey papers. I then cut squares of the same papers and glued them to the top, making a kind of faux inlay tile look. To finish it off I stamped a few Basic Grey images on the papers for added depth. I love it and it is proudly displayed in my hallway near the entrance to my house.

There are so many fabulous ways you can use rubber stamps that are often overlooked. You can use them for cards, scrapbooking, home dec items and even on fabric or as little added elements to journal pages or paintings.

2nd Portrait - A Boy

Here's my second portrait in my moleskine for my Suzi Blu portraits class.

1st Portrait - A Girl

I've been talking Suzi Blu's portraits class and Lesson 2 involved drawing a portrait in our Molskine journal, shading first with graphite and then shading the face with colored pencils. The background of the page is left blank for Lesson 3, but this is what I've come up with so far. I'm in the process of working on a boy's portrait as well and I'll post that when I get it completed.

Sisterhood Through Art

This is a piece I'm doing for a mixed media group I'm in called The Creative Underground. The theme is "Sisterhood Through Art." My original idea was to add the word, "When I grow up I want to be just like you," but now I don't know if I want to add them or not. Since I haven't collaged them down yet, tell me which way you like it better, with or without the words and then in a few days I will decide what to do.

Backgrounds

I'm still busy with work so I haven't done much painting for the last week or so. I have managed to play around with some backgrounds, which is a good way to relieve stress, especially when you have no expectations, just playing around with paint to see what you might come up with. So here are three canvases that I have ready to begin painting on and hopefully next week I'll be able to start them. Until then...

Journal Page From The Past

I've been busy with work lately, so not a lot of time to create. I thought I'd post a journal page I did about a year ago when I first started art journaling. It was a time when everything was going wrong, or so it seemed, so I journaled that every black cloud has a silver lining.

I've started a couple new pieces. Hopefully this week I'll get some time to work on them and I'll post them soon. I'm also starting Suzi Blu's portrait class on Wednesday, so I'll be busy with that too.

Ice Cream Journal Page

Need I say more?

Happy Fourth of July

I'm finished. I decided the pastel colors weren't working so I went with lime green. I added a little bunny because last night I watched two bunnies hopping through the yard, playing as if they didn't have a care in the world. Since my little rag doll girl doesn't have a care in the world, I felt it fitting she be playing with her bunny.
Happy Fourth of July!!

What I'm working On

Here is what I'm currently working on. I used Golden Crackle Paste and got the most fabulous crackle texture ever. It's funny, sometimes it cracks just like you want and sometimes it has a mind of its own. I find it's just hit or miss. My little ragdoll girl will be swinging and playing with some sort of little creature, a teddy bear, a monkey doll, I haven't yet decided. I was trying to work with a high contrast between the vivid background and the pastel colors of the focal image. I'm not sure yet how I'm liking it, but since I'm just experimenting, I am going to follow it through.

New Painting

What an enjoyable weekend I had. No commitments, just spent the entire weekend painting. This is a painting I did while taking Wyanne's class. It was so much fun. I just slopped the paint around, made a mess and didn't fret over any of it. And, of course, I was happy to get back to using my favorite color, orange.

Isn't He Precious?

I don't know why, but when I'm making art just for the fun of it, I always want to add my little kitty in. He makes everything just seem sweeter. I got him when he was abandoned at just a couple days old on the steps of a vet's office where my niece worked and she convinced me to take him in. Well, as you can see, he has the good life now.

Working in Grey

Another journal page practicing using grey. I usually create in loud, vivid colors, reds and oranges so I'm trying to step out of my comfort zone and use grey. Of course I did have to add just a touch of red at the end.

Journal Page

Today was a peaceful day. The sun was shining, I accomplished everything I set out to do and birdies everywhere were swimming in birdbaths, lakes and ponds.

La Guardarropa Shrine Kit

This is a shrine kit by Coffee Break Designs that I purchased at Small Studio Productions. The papers used are all from Graphic 45.

Finally

Well, I finally took the plunge and started a blog. I'm still figuring everything out, but soon I hope to be up and running and sharing my journey through art with everyone. Here you will find all kinds of art from mixed media paintings, metal embossing, stamping, beading, sewing, and fabric painting. My blog setup is still a work in progress, but I hope you will check back often to see what I'm up to.