Zumba Fundraiser

I had a fantastic time last night at a Zumba fundraiser for Breast Cancer! I painted her up this morning in my journal page and as much fun as these fundraisers are, we need a cure so these events won't even be necessary anymore :(

I highly suggest if you have a Zumba instructor in your area that is willing to help you out, this is a great way to get people out to support your cause! People pay a donation to take the class. We dressed up since it was Halloween. I didn't have my camera but lots of pics were taken so maybe I can snag one soon and share it. If I dare! :)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO YOU ALL!
Darla

5x5 canvases and a pumpkin carving!

Here are a couple of 5 x 5 canvases I did last night. I sealed them this morning with beeswax and I must say.....they are yummy! :) I forgot how fun beeswax can be.


I just have to share this, since I'm a proud momma and all ♥

My oldest son, Derek, has always loved Halloween! He, along with his 3 kids and his wife all dress up for the occasion. It's just so cute! I'm hoping to get pics and will post them next week.

Have a safe and happy Halloween weekend everyone!
Thanks also for your well-wishes. I'm finally feeling back to normal :)

Darla

Art for gallery and a journal page

I painted up another piece to take to the gallery this weekend. I think I've got a good assortment now and I hope it sells because in a way, I'd LOVE to be listing some of it on Etsy :(
We shall see! The gallery 'Holiday' event ends November 30th so maybe I can still list some things later. I hope something sells! ????????
This is a 12 x 12



Tonight I did a journal page with different things I wish I could have told myself as a young girl. Kind of like that Brad Paisley song where he's singing to himself as a young boy? (Letter to Me)
You'll see I've written 'you don't have to say yes' and 'you can say no', etc.

Obviously I've spent a good portion of my life trying to make everyone else around me happy, living in fear of hurting them or alienating them if I spoke up for my wants and/or needs. I'd want the young me not to do that so much. Not that I'd want her to grow up selfish and indifferent to others needs, but a nice balance would be good :)

I've been a little under the weather since Sunday so I'm sorry if I haven't visited your blogs. I don't know if I have a slight flu bug or what. Two nights had me running a low grade fever with chills and that is gone, but this is the third day with stomach cramps. It seems to come in waves and subsides. Hopefully this will pass and I can be 100% again soon.

We are having our first winter storm warning right now. Wind gusts up to 60 mph and the rain we're getting now is supposed to turn to snow by morning. Can you say DEPRESSING? We've had such a gorgeous fall and this is a smack in the face for sure.

Have a wonderful rest of the week!
Darla

Kinda busy huh?

This art journal page got away from me a bit :) Super busy but still fun!

I'm off to do some shopping today and get a manicure. Much needed I might add. haha
This mixed media, mushing and squishing with paints is hard on my nails but I refuse to wear rubber gloves ;)

Have a great day friends!
Darla

I'm so touched!

This morning I was watching the Regis & Kelly show and Kelly's guest host was Olympic Snowboard Champion, Shaun White. Anyway, they started talking about Halloween and he talked about some of his costumes as a child and thanked his mom for making them♥ For a moment, I got a little sad thinking back on the days when my boys were little and how much fun and excitement filled not only Halloween, but every holiday and how those days are gone....just sweet memories.

I wanted to remind all parents of young children to cherish each and every day they have because they have absolutely NO CLUE how quickly they will fly by. I started wishing I could do some things over. I wished I could go back and read to them more, cuddle with them more, and play with them more. My inner critic was rearing her ugly head again except THIS time she was judging my abilities as a Mom and usually she just picks on my appearance and artistic abilities :)

Well............then the most absolute, wonderful thing happened! I came back to work from my lunch break and these flowers were waiting for me!! I didn't know who had sent them!? I rarely get flowers!!!

I can count on one hand the number of people who know what I've dealt with this past week so I really wasn't sure who had taken the time, care and concern to let me know they were thinking of me today. Guess what.........it was my SON!

I guess I DID do something right as a young mom after all! I raised a beautiful, kind-hearted soul and I love him so much. Thank you Ryan♥

Lucky, LUCKY me!

I won a recent giveaway!!! The very sweet and talented America Alcala created this lovely Virgencita and I won a print!

Thank you so much America (Meri) I love her!!

Please stop over and visit her blog......fabulous stuff!

Kelly Challenge #6

Here is this weeks challenge from Kelly Berkey. Kelly posts a photo of herself weekly and those who would like to challenge themselves to sketch her are welcome to!

This week I took a much more whimsical approach and had fun :) I struggled horribly with her hands, so I have her holding stars to toss down on us. I know I'm not fooling anybody, her hands are bad!

To see the original pose, just click here


Happy Wednesday to you all!

There are just days........

Do YOU ever have days when you feel so beaten down? I do. I sketched this out last week and I felt so tired and frustrated and to the point of acceptance. Acceptance of things I'm not happy with, things I feel aren't what they could be, aren't what I deserve. I was thinking that maybe it's just time to let go of the hopes and dreams and muddle through life being 'ok' with what is.

Then something happened. As I painted this little slightly beaten down, sad little girl tonight........

I got mad :)

Why let anybody else define who I am or what my lot in life is? I'm in control of this little life of mine, my future and my own happiness!

I feel stronger and I will no longer be that fly banging against the window getting nowhere. Things are going to change. If it is to be, it is up to me, right? (Love that saying!)

Hopefully I can fill you in on what's going on in time, but for now all I can really say is things are going to get better. Much, much better :) Thank you all for your wonderful comments and support. You all mean more to me than you know♥

Have a great night!

Tam's class

Tam's Art, Heart & Healing class started yesterday and I just loved the first lesson! I SO needed this right now. My girl's nose is a bit too shaded with pencil......she looks like an aardvark and she's been sniffin' out ants in the dirt! Oh well, I had fun :)

Remember...........if you want to join, it's FREE! It's fun and it's fabulous! Just like Tam :)
Just click on the link to the right side>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
and join us♥

Sing Out Loud

Another 10 x 10 canvas. I keep painting over older designs and I can't remember what this used to be? Anyway, I've used molding paste to give it texture and also hide a little of what was underneath before. I've used antique handwritten school paper for the wings, a bird from a wine label, a button and some fabric.

Sides are painted black

close-up


I was able to get a lot done yesterday! I cleaned up all the crab apples in my yard and there are still about 100 on the tree that will fall as it gets colder, but I can keep up with them now. I bet I've raked, shoveled and hauled away almost a million so far :)

I think today I'm going to putz a little more in the yard, freeze some wintersquash and maybe even bake a little something. I love the coziness of fall, don't you?

I hope you can all do something today that makes you smile :)
Darla

Hold on to your Dreams!

Don't let anybody mess with them!


They are yours and yours alone♥

Tough week

'Gratitude'

I painted up a couple more of the wooden canvases my son made for me inspired by Kelly Rae Roberts designs.

It's been just ONE OF THOSE WEEKS! You know where nothing goes the way you had hoped, where you feel nobody cares and you wonder if there's any hope at all things will ever change. I'm so glad it's Friday. Next week has GOT to be better :(

This one says 'Surround yourself with good people'



These were fun and it really helped take my mind off of the not so fun areas in my life right now.

Not to worry, I know these things pass and tomorrow is a new day ♥

Wishing you all a weekend of happiness, love and support!!
Darla

Michele Lynch Giveaway!

I just have to share......Michele is having a giveaway and you can enter to win a chance at this fabulous Steampunk turtle! Click on her photo and you'll fly through cyberspace and be there in no time :)

Good luck!

Another donation item and more

Here's is a second 12 x 12 canvas I painted up in a Kelly Rae Roberts inspired design for another charity fund raiser. It will be used as a door prize. Both fundraisers are for the Susan G. Komen 3-day walk next summer so I decided to do both donations very similar.


I had some old 8 x 8 and 10 x 8 thick canvases that I originally did designs with beeswax on them. I didn't think I could repaint over that even with melting as much off as I could so I completely ripped the canvas off the wooden frames. They're NICE frames....1.5 thick sides so I kept them. My son was awesome, he mounted 1/4 inch hardboard to them so I have 7 new canvases to create something on. This one has lots of texture, some writing stamped and a tree. Simple and fun.

I've been invited to put somethings in a local art gallery for a Holiday display so I'm trying to paint up some items that might be 'gift worthy' for anyone who decides to possibly shop there for Christmas gifts. We shall see what happens with this :)

Have a great Tuesday!

Art journal pages

This is in my smaller art journal, the one I mostly just sketch in. I watched J.K. Rowling being interviewed my Oprah last week and she was so awesome! She made a comment similar to this and that stuck with me and it's so true. I remember when I was pregnant with my first son, Derek. I would worry about all the 'what ifs' and the writing around her is what my mom told me.
"Why worry? 95% of what you think MIGHT happen never does and the other 5% is never as bad as you imagine"


"Take the time to play every day"
This one is just silly......Somehow I ended up with a more mature face on a little girl body. See the stripes in the background? That's my Michaels receipts. Their paper roll was getting to the end so the BRIGHT, BOLD pink stripes printed out as a warning. I just thought they'd make cool paper backgrounds :)

Speaking of Michaels.....making a trip today. I best get busy and get some things done before we leave.
Hope you are all enjoying a beautiful weekend!

Happy creating!
Darla

Girls gone wild?

Just a little face doodling in my small art journal. I didn't gesso prior so the paper
didn't take the color all that well, but it was still kind of fun and funky.

I went to bed at 9:00 last night! It was a beautiful evening and I should have been out and about but as the day went on, my head felt so full, my eyes ached and I was just exhausted. I think the head cold that's been hovering is seriously trying to settle in.

Feel good today so I'm going to get moving and try accomplish something before the blahs come back. Maybe if I think positive, they won't? :)

Have a nice and enjoyable Saturday!

It's Friday!

I think I'll go dancing! :)
(mixed media on watercolor paper 8 x 10)

It's UNSEASONABLY warm here.......80's! Remember now, this is North Dakota and it's OCTOBER! Lovin' it!!

Have a great weekend everyone!

5 x 5's and my Kelly Berkey Challenge of the week

When I don't know what to paint......no real vision....I go to my 5 x 5 little canvases! For some reason, something so small takes all the pressure off of trying to reach perfection :) The last couple of nights I did these three. The first is a girl......not sure what to title it. She kind of looks sweetly pissed :)


Mixed media with antique ledger paper wings.




A couple of whimsical birds :)


This is my Kelly Berkey challenge for this week. I thought instead of putting her in my sketch journal I'd go ahead and draw her on watercolor paper and try to color her in. Well the photo ended at just below the knees and since I didn't know how to draw feet, I put her in the ocean. ha! This is such a great challenge for me.....trying to get proportions right. I'm still a work in progress obviously as it appears I've given her one big blue diaper! Oh well, it will be fun to go back and see some of these beginning sketches after I (hopefully) get better at them.

Want to join me? Hop on over to Kelly's blog and jump on it!

About my trip to Michaels

As I said in my previous post, I ordered DVDs to push myself and my art on to the next level.

So I was all excited to get me some oil paints and start my 'at-home' class! The brushes I needed were 40% off so that's great. The paints I wanted were 40% off but still.....to get all the ones I needed would have cost me SO much. Like $150+
They also didn't have all the colors necessary so I would have to order more online. I guess I need a little more time to digest this. Or just pick up a little at a time. The Michaels store is 40 miles away so I usually try to get it all at once while I make the trip but this time, I'll be calling on something that I'm sure I have somewhere but rarely use.........patience ;)

What does Darla want for Christmas? Michael coupons I imagine... again!

So for now, I've added 2 colors to my collection of Goldens and some polymer medium and will take the lessons using good quality acrylics. So far, the lessons are great. I'm just watching them and will go back again and do them step by step. She REALLY covers color theory well which is something I needed to learn and something I probably considered b-o-r-i-n-g before so I didn't think about it.

Take care,
Darla

Honor the Gift

(Journal Page)

Kelly Berkey recently did an awesome video on youtube (and also posted on her blog) about the Learning Legacy painting dvd set that she was studying and it inspired me to try it myself!
It's called LEARN AND MASTER PAINTING and it's on sale for even less than I just paid for it!
Regularly $249 and on sale right now (thru the weekend) for $124.50! (I paid $149) There are 20 DVDS with painting instruction and 3 CDs of music to listen to and also an instruction manual. Oh, and by the way......EXCELLENT customer service! I ordered Tuesday and it arrived Friday!

Anyway, I'm anxious to get some oil supplies and give it a go! We didn't have art class in high school so I've never had any proper training so this will be good for me. I'm so thankful for all those that share their knowledge and skill on the internet as I've picked up bits and pieces but this appears to be a step by step guide that will (hopefully) get me started on the right foot in oils! They scare me a little.

At the beginning she talks about our workspace. And how it's important that we give ourselves the proper space and dedicate time to our talents. She says 'HONOR THE GIFT YOU'VE BEEN GIVEN'......boy, did that hit home. Sometimes I think I forget about the gifts I'm given and am constantly wishing I could this better, or do that quicker, etc. etc. I want to quit thinking of me taking a whole afternoon to paint as wasteful or selfish and more as honoring my gift :) Sound ok? Good! Cuz that's what I'm going with ;)

Hope you're having a fantastic weekend! It's sunny and beautiful here now, but there was frost on the ground early this morning. Oh no......you know what's coming?!

Darla