Misty Mawn is offering a new class .http://mistymawn.typepad.com/full_circle_workshop/
I will definitely be taking it, as last year's class was one of my favorite classes I've ever taken.  I learned so much and everyone in the class was so inspirational and giving and even after the class was over the postings in the group went on and on.  If you can take the class, do so, because you definitely will be glass you did.  Here is one of the drawing I made in last year's class.

Greeting Cards - New on Etsy

I just put three sets of greeting cards up on Etsy.  I love these cards!  They are bright and colorful and happy.  The insides are blank so you can use them for any occasion. 

New Etsy Store

I finally got my etsy store up and running. I started thinking about it two years ago, but never put anything in it until just the other day. I'm not sure what took me so long. Maybe my insecurities. Here are a few of the paintings I added in the last couple days.

LOTS OF NEW JOURNAL PAGES

Working in my new little moleskine. The pages seem so small, but for some reason it seems to be allowing me to have more fun with them.

Who doesn't love rust?

A new painting finally finished. It contains collage of photos I've taken of old rusty machines and some actual rusty paint chips taken off an old tractor.

New Paintings and Drawing

I've been trying to take the time and draw a little every day. I've been enjoying just sketching in graphite. Here are a few of the things I've been working on lately.

Fun Journal Painting

This is a journal painting done in the style of Teesha Moore. I love these paintings because they are so relaxing to work on. This panel has the deep sides and they are all journaled on as well.

Barb-bee

I have been away from blogging for a while, but hopefully I'm back to post on a regular basis. Over the next few weeks I will be adding some new paintings I've been working on and hopefully opening up my etsy store soon. Hope you like Barb-bee.

Adobe CS5

Just received my Adobe CS5 in the mail and I am really enjoying playing with it. I am currently taking a Photoshop Class with Marie Otero and I am amazed at what you can do with Photoshop. I don't know how I didn't catch onto it earlier. Here are a few examples of what I've been doing.

Bugweiser

What a fabulous weekend spent in class with Michael DeMeng in his Demented Toys class. It was a workshop put on by Ginny Carter Smallenburg. She is hosting workshops all through the summer. If you're in the area or want to take a trip to Cleveland, be sure to check out her website for the workshops. You will surely have a great time. Later this summer I will be taking workshops with Teesha Moore, Ingrid Dijkers and Lynne Perrella. I may even sign up for some with Keith Lobue too. I can't wait.

This little bug guy doesn't want to photograph well at all. It's one of four projects I made in class. I'm still painting and finishing up the others, so I'll post pictures when I'm finished. The bug looks like he's made of pewter in real life. I think I'm going to write "Bugweiser" on his bottle cap hat. Ever since I came home I've been looking at everything I see in a whole new light and imaging ways I can make it into a toy.

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.