Trust in the Lord

A couple of weekends ago, I created this project for my daughter's birthday. I really had fun with this and I really loved adding all the embellishments. I've added two slideshows below. One shows more pics and closeups and the other shows my progress throughout the painting. You can click through to my Flickr to see them as well: pics and progress.

I started out by collaging the base with a few things that would be meaningful to my daughter. The first was a page from a dollar store bible. The second was a piece of sheet music from her trombone book (she's a music education major). The third was a copy of a poem written by her great-great-great grandmother. Because these things were all so important, I wanted to try to keep them showing through.

The embellishments were really fun and a great way to use some of the stash I've built up. The sentiment is actually the title from a piece of vintage sheet music I bought at a library book sale. That is definitely the place to go for some bargain ephemera! The blue flower I made myself using a satin fabric and singeing the edges over a candle flame.

Artists in Blogland's monthly theme for March is "Passions" and this fits the bill for me. As I delve into my art, connecting to the things that are meaningful to me is the most important aspect. Connecting with the past (grandma) and the future (my daughter), finding my place in this world, living in the moment, appreciating the beauty around me, enjoying the journey, truly knowing myself, connecting with another heart, laughing, listening to the Whisper in the Wind.... What sets your heart on fire? Find it and never stop chasing it.

Grandma's signature: Mrs Bertha Myers Allemang

I'm linking this up with Paint Party Friday (who has a new "featured artist" series they are doing each week), Sweet Saturdays, Artists in Blogland Show and Tell Saturday,  and Sunday Sketches. Pop over and see some other great artists and creators.

More Pics

Progress Pics

Dream

This is a fun little piece that I did in the Community Hub over at Mystele's ning site. She is focusing on skin tones which I'm pretty excited about. This is an ATC size (only 2.5 x 3.5 inches) using chipboard that I got from packaging as the base with fabric collaged over the top. The class is wonderful and I'm looking forward to more practice. I really enjoyed embellishing it. So fun to add all the little touches.

I'm keeping her where I can see her as a little reminder to follow my dreams.

I'm linking up with Inspire Me Mondays, and Make Something Monday.

Beloved

It's often so easy to beat myself up in my thoughts. I accept defeat without even trying. I decided that every time I caught myself in one of those negative thought patterns, I would write down the opposite and see what I came up with. Well, here's a few from my list.


I'm linking up to Paint Party Friday. Check out the other great artists over there!

Edit:
I thought I should add a little about my process. The background is collaged with a dollar store bible page. I've used Adirondack Colorwash Spray in butterscotch and some red acrylic for texture. The face is mostly done with acrylics along with some Faber-Castell Pitt Big Brush Pens. Still experimenting with the hair. I've used red acrylic for the base and then, using a brush, added strands in Adirondack Colorwash Spray Espresso and Butterscotch and some Bombay Indian Ink in red.

InLinkz.com

Anger

I had some unusual events the week I painted this and had some emotions to work through. It amazes me that my feelings can show through in a piece without necessarily trying. I only discovered this world of art - creating my own original work - in August of last year. I wish I had known about it many years ago. It has been the most wonderful way to work through some deep stuff.

More Curls

Happy Friday all! Here's a new girl that I have up in my Etsy Shop. The flowers are made using a stencil and modelling paste (which is just a very thick paste that holds its shape and gives great texture). The other product I'm loving is Butterscotch Color Wash by Ranger. It has the most luscious color and I'm addicted to it right now.

I'm linking up to Paint Party Friday. Hope over there to see some other great artists! Thanks so much for stopping by!

Life Book Lesson 8

I'm taking a yearlong workshop called  Life Book  hosted by artist Tamara Laporte. There are 14 teachers in addition to Tam and it has been so neat to experience the different styles. I have a couple of the lessons in progress, but this week's lesson, taught by Mystele, I've already finished. Her lesson was on layers and how they play together to create depth, both visually and emotionally in a piece even if you cannot see what's underneath. This girl does have lots going on beneath her, but I really couldn't preserve it in the skin like I like to do because it was green and she just looked like a zombie, lol! The colors are much richer in person. This was such a fun and free lesson. That's just how Mystele rolls. :D

You can find Mystele on YouTube, her website, her etsy and she offers a couple of free classes at her Ning site so you can get a taste of her process.

Now, this second girl, I did yesterday and yes, I was in one of those moods. I wanted to share this here because I completely left the layers of color underneath to show through the skin. I only added shading. These were both just  quick, rough, expressive sketches... just a way to process some emotions.

I'm linking up with Inspire Me Monday this week so I thought I'd share some of the words I tend to write as the first layer for many of my paintings. These are the ideas and thoughts that seem to ignite my creativity.

• hope
• dream
• faith
• cherish
• passion
• whatever scripture that is on my heart
• lyrics stuck in my head

So, that's a start. There's so much more craziness going on in this noggin, but that's for another day. :)

I'm also linking up with Make Something Monday. If you want to see some great creations, hop over there.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Lovin' That Ruffled Skirt...

Original mixed media painting over collage on 6 in. by 12 in. canvas panel. (1/4 inch deep)

I did a couple more girls from Christy Tomlinson's She Art 1 workshop. I did a repeat of the skirt with the dictionary pages as I had prepared too many red pages last week and wanted to use them up. Plus, it's really fun getting your fingers so dirty.

I covered the pages with red Dr. Ph. Martin's Bombay India Inks and tore it into strips when dry. Then I dipped each strip in fluid matte medium and gently crumpled them all over her skirt. The background is pages from a Bible that I found at the dollar store and her body is made of sheet music.

For both of these pieces, I used modeling paste to add the flowers around the edges to give it some texture. These girls have been a fun change of pace for me. These are both up in my  Etsy Shop. Thanks so much for stopping by!

8 x 8 inches Mixed Media on canvas panel (1/4 inch deep)

I'm linking these up to:

Cherish

6 x 8 inches Mixed Media on cradled wood panel

Just wanted to take a moment to mention that Mystele is opening up a new piece to her ning site called community hubs. She'll be offering free 2 week classes. You can head over there for the details.


I've been quite busy today and have several paintings to share this week. I love productive days like today. We had a work holiday today as my employer observes Lincoln's Birthday rather than President's Day for whatever reason. 




I tried out painting hair in a more detailed way. I think I like it, but I'm still trying to work out the colors. I spend as much time on the hair as I do the rest of the painting, lol.

This background was actually going to be for more she art, but I decided to paint instead.  The background is collaged with sheet music, dictionary pages and some Bible pages. I found the Bible at the dollar store. Can you believe you can buy an entire Bible for a dollar? 


One of the things that I learned from Mystele in Gut Art was to use things in your art that is deeply meaningful to you. There's nothing more meaningful to me than basing a piece of artwork with scripture. So, I was wondering what you all use in your art that really gets you going? Colors, ideas, words, items?


These are up in my Etsy Shop.

8 x 8 inches Mixed Media on canvas panel (1/4 inch deep)

I'm linking up this week to:

She Chose Love & She Danced

Today I worked on a couple more girls from  Christy Tomlinson's She Art 1 workshop. These are just so fun to make. I love messing with the backgrounds.

This first one has lots of texture. She's made from sheet music and the background is based with dictionary pages. Her skirt is made with strips of dictionary pages dipped in fluid matte medium and crumpled on the canvas. Loved getting my hands so messy with this. It just brings out the kindergartner in me. You can see some better shots of the texture below. The text says "She Chose Love".

7 x 14 Stretched Canvas

This next one has a sheet music background. I managed to mix up a blue paint color that matched her the patterned paper in her dress, which is a first for me. Always fun to experiment. Her collar is a piece of cotton lace.

7 x 14 Stretched Canvas

These are both up in my  Etsy Shop.

I'm linking these up to:

A Couple More Girls...

Here's a couple of new one's I've created over the last week or so. Just continuing to experiment and practice. I really enjoyed painting on these wood panels. A little different than just using paper.

These are both up in my Etsy store.

5 x 7 original mixed media on cradled wood panel

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I didn't like the original painting I had on this one... it was way overworked. I wished I had stopped sooner. So, I covered her up with some old book pages and started over.

6 x 8 original mixed media on cradled wood panel

I'm linking this up over at Paint Party Friday.