Wanna see what I did?

This is my home :) I love it. It's not huge, it's not fancy, but it's mine. My boys and my Dad helped me the summer of 2007 and we sided it! It was a lot of work, but we saved lots of $$
I hung the shutters myself and I paid to have the roof done. There were 2 layers of old shingles on it and several peaks so I wanted to leave that to the professionals :)

I also thought I'd share pictures I took last summer with my new camera and my precious grandchildren at a local park.

This is Nora, Cailee and Cutler


Cailee & Nora


Cutler

They are very sweet little kids and a joy to have in my life♥

Have a happy thursday!
Darla

A little something new

This is a 10 x 10 canvas and my scanner cut off a little on each side :)
I haven't named it yet but it will pertain to Mother's Day when I decide.

Ugly doll #2 is about 2/3 done. I think doll making is better left to others. I'm NOT good at them. I look very long and hard and for the life of me, I can't find anything cute about my dolls!
LOL

G'nite

Mieko

Ok, so I don't have any new artwork to show you but I thought I'd share my honey boy, Mieko!
He's a 5 year old german shepherd who really is one of the loves of my life.

I'm working on another cloth and clay doll. I'm not getting much done with each sitting because of the yardwork we started. I love summer but it really can bring about more work too. That's ok. Bring it on! I'll take the sun and warm weather any time!

Today there's been some discussion about copyright infringement again. I honestly think some people just paint things that are inspired by others but don't necessarily try to steal, stroke for stroke, the original artist's design. I DO think there are others though, that find sellers on Ebay or Etsy that are achieving great success and they steal their concept and try to get in on that success. They're not painting for the love of painting, they're greedy, copying and selling for less and it's not right. Most true fans of a particular artist can see through that and will not take the bait.

A few years ago, hand painted shabby chic was the rage on Ebay. I remember seeing a stapler painted with pink roses go for over $600.......also a matching ruler, tape dispenser, pen holder, etc. The total group sold for over $1600.00! I can NOT imagine who has that kind of money!
Not only 1 person bid that high, obviously it takes a bidding war to get things up there. So what happens next? Yep, there were roses slapped on staplers for the next 2 months! haha

With that said, I'm seriously thinking about trying to go back to some of my previous paintings. Not sure what I'll do, but I'm going to mix it up a bit. I love to paint too much to let the fear of copying somebody make me stop. I would never deliberately do that, but seriously, there are a LOT of angels being painted these days and they all have wings and halos and well maybe it's time to try something new again.

It's raining here today. Sounds like a Shrimp & Broccoli Alfredo night to me!!!!!! Comfort food on a rainy night...it's so good!
Have a sweet evening,
Darla

Ebay

Boy, I listed 3 items onto my ebay site and it's been THREE hours and they still don't show up! I guess because I made revisions to them it could take awhile?

I have not listed anything on Ebay for over a year and I was VERY rusty! It took me forever! Anyway, I decided to move a few items there to see how it goes. I feel sometimes as if my things get lost on Etsy. What am I talking about????? They are LOST on Ebay! grrrrrrrrrrr

Hopefully the little widget I put over there>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
will have something to show soon!
The prices are lower, but I'm at the point where I would rather they find a home than sit with a higher price on Etsy for months on end.

I've got some other items in my garage that I hope to list too. Wooden breadboxes, vintage cake carriers, etc. All things I intended to paint years ago and never did. I believe I will start them at $1 because at least they'd find a better home than a box in my garage :)

I had a nice weekend! My granddaughter, Cailee and I went to my son Ryan's home to clean. We got a lot done, including ripping out his living room carpet! He has oak hardwood flooring underneath. It's stained and he will most likely cover it up again with new carpet when the time is right, but for now it feels fresh!

Dale helped me cut down 4 dying trees in my yard. My front yard is NEKKID!! A man came over today and already got the stumps ground out so after I can clean up piles which look like dinosaur dung, I'll be ready to plant some pretty new trees! I'd LOVE to get some pretty red maple trees that turn gorgeous colors in the fall. I NEED fast growing trees though so we'll see what I can come up.

Thanks for all the well wishes for my old, feeble neck :) It's much better!!

Have a super week!!
Darla

Student's creations from the World of Whimsy Course !

10 x 10 mixed media canvas

So many things to worry about these days. Our health, our children, our future, THEIR futures, the economy, global warming, the polar bears, you name it, we worry about it!

I found this devotion by Jim Welch:

Let not your heart be troubled

Do not despair; but be of good cheer.

Let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid.

Walk always in the bright light of joy with a heart filled with rejoicing.

Never grumble nor complain; but in everything be grateful and give thanks.

If there be any good thing, think on it.

Focus your mind on the blessings God has showered upon your life and not on your rather trivial minor problems.

Think of the faces of the good people in your life instead of thinking of the people who have done you wrong.

Brethren, you may not always be able to control the circumstances that take place in your life; but you can always control what you think about.

Rejoice always.

Amen.

I wish you all a worry-free day filled with love and support from everyone around you♥
Darla

Newest sketch

I find it so interesting when I sit down to sketch out another girl, to see how she will turn out. Somehow it will reflect my mood whether it's sassy, sad, whimsical,deep in thought, etc.
Last night I was drawing this girl and I don't know how she came to be. I was in pain (severe pinched nerve in my neck!) and I really just took my time.


I think she looks so confident and pretty, like she knows things will be ok. She has faith in that! She also appears to have a young, strong, healthy neck! ha
I really need to find out now how to do darker skin tones. I've got such a busy weekend ahead so I won't have a chance to tackle this one until next week.

**Whine Alert**
My neck is killing me! Advil seems to help a little but sleeping is tough. It only feels comfortable to sleep on my right side but then my right shoulder (bursitis) takes another hit. This getting old stuff is for the birds!

**Rant Over **

Have a blessed day♥♥
Darla

Listen to you heart

Mixed media angel girl on 10 x 10 canvas. I thought the background was a little loud so I covered it with squares of tissue paper and gel medium. Then......it got too dull! ha
I ended up adding a rich purple glaze to the edges and now it's more of what I wanted. ?? I think. The hardest part of this process is knowing when to quit :)

Art Challenge - Brown

Just a quick little watercolor to complete an art challenge on Tamara Laporte's site.
This month she gave us a color (brown) and we were to 'go with it'. It was actually kind of fun and pushed me to do something I would never think to do otherwise.

I started on another canvas last night. She needs a little touching up and hopefully I'll get that up later today.

Happy Wednesday!

HOPE (it works!)

I know you're all probably getting tired of my same color themed backgrounds this past week, but I'm liking them lots! I'll have to try change things up a bit. This is 'Hope' done on a 10x10 canvas.

I'm smiling big time! Remember a few days back when I suggested you stop by Tollipop's blog and see her fantastic giveaway? I won the grand prize!! Seriously, I never win anything so this is huge! Huge I say! ha! 3 ORIGINAL PIECES!
Thank you so much Kirsten!!♥

It's such a busy week from here on out so I'm not sure when I'll get started on my next doll. I bought Popsicle sticks so I can insert one next time so I don't crack her neck. hehe
I have a board meeting, a spring music program, a birthday party, trivia (all in the next 3 days) and then for the weekend I'm traveling to spend some time with my son. I'm taking my 9 yo. granddaughter with and we're going to help him spring clean! Feel free to join us :) I don't want anyone feeling left out.

Oh! I need to add a special THANK YOU to Klaire of Mystic Silks for including my 'Letting Go' piece in her beautiful treasury on Etsy. Thank you Klaire! Please stop by her shop to see some of the most gorgeous artwork!!

Have a great one!
Darla

For my friend's 50th birthday!

This was painted for my friend, JoAnn. She turns the big 5-0 this next weekend! I can't believe we're this age 'already'! We've been friends since the 7th grade. What is that? 38 years? OMG!
She's a wonderful person and I feel blessed to have a friend like her. God never sent sisters my way, but he made sure I was surrounded by the most supportive and loving girlfriends, that's for sure!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOANN!

I feel like Walmart!

I just slashed prices in my Etsy store !!!
I just want to clean things out (it's a Spring thing perhaps?) and make room for new! I've got lots of great ideas and plans running through my brain and am excited to get going on them!

Donation piece, need your thoughts on finishing it!

I was asked to donate something to a local event and painted this girl up last night. She's inspired by both Paulette Insall and Kelly Rae Roberts. I'd like to put a phrase or even a single word or two but am struggling with what!

My ex-father in law passed away yesterday and I wanted to thank you all for your kind words when I mentioned how ill he was a few days ago. I'm so glad he didn't have to suffer too terribly long. He will be missed. I was thinking about this while painting this angel and the words that keep coming to me are 'remembrance' or 'you are not forgotten' or something along these lines.

Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Darla
Thank you all! I went with Micki's suggestion for this one! I love all the suggestions!!

A lovely award and a chuckle if you need one :)

I'd like to thank the beautiful and talented Vania for giving me this wonderful Renee Award!!
Thank you Val!!♥ This is an amazing award and has so much meaning, I'm so very honored to receive it!

This wonderful Renee Award was created by Bella and Ces in honor of their friend Renee
Please, if you can, take a moment to visit their blogs!
My chosen 8 nominees to pass this award to are:

Suzi Whitaker - Art With a Touch of Whimsey
Karen D. Milstein - Cotton Pickin' Ranch
Flor Larios Art
Monica Zuniga - Hands and Heart
Pam Warden - Pam Warden Art
Mariposa - Sirens Idyll
Darlene Pringle - A Dancing Mango
Donna - DZ Fantasy


Now for the funny part. I know I shouldn't put my art down, I've been told that a thousand times, but look at this!

It's my first cloth and clay doll from Gritty Jane's workshop. She's a fabulous teacher, even though it may not appear that way from my girlie here :) My dress didn't stain evenly, her hair is thin (like mine!) and her expression is that of shock mixed with sadness. Is that possible? Yes it is! Look at what I did to her neck!

I will try fix this tonight. Poor girl. Now, what to name the poor thing. Antoinette? hehe
This was a fun class and I learned lots that I hope to incorporate into my artwork as I go. The sewing and waiting for clay to dry was the only areas the impatient me had trouble with. I'll have to learn to deal with that :)

Have a beautiful day!!♥

Grocery shopping late at night

And this is what we saw!

He was a busy little worker scraping the gunk along the floor but did he seriously not know his pants were falling down? This happened a couple of years ago and I just found it again while backing up some photos to clean up my computer. I couldn't help but whip out my little digital camera and snap a quick pic that night. Too strange!

I got my order from Dick Blick yesterday and I'm so happy with it! 10 canvases! 10 x 10 inches and I'm excited to paint!

I also am into my first cloth and clay doll project. Boy, sculpting isn't my thing, but I'm giving it a go! I'm hoping to wrap her up tonight and hopefully have pictures to share tomorrow :)
ONLY if you all promise not to laugh though♥

Have a super day!

Tollipop Giveaway!

You must check out TOLLIPOP'S adorable artwork AND sign up to win this amazing giveaway!!

Happy Monday!

I really wanted to title this post 'Cancer Sucks' but thought I'd try be a little more positive, if possible.

I've recently found out my ex father in law is dying of cancer. He's 80 years old and wasn't feeling well. After several tests, they have discovered his body is full of cancer and have given him weeks, if not days, to live. It makes me sad, even though he's not 'my' family anymore. He IS my boys' grandpa and very special to them. He's special to me.

It makes me smile to think of how he has supported my painting endeavors for the past 10 years. He's ordered painted saws from me for people and always charged them $15 MORE than I quoted him because he thought I deserved it. :) He thought more of my painting than I did at the time, I guess. That's pretty cool, considering I divorced his son. He made me feel great and so did his wife. I remember my one and only craft show! They asked to come to my house for a private showing and bought tons of stuff before the sale! ♥
My own father really doesn't say anything about what I do. He's a quiet man, maybe he likes it? Maybe he thinks it's silly. I really don't know.

Anyway, I painted this angel yesterday and I titled her 'CP' for now, only because those are his initials and I thought about him so much while painting her. This angel is for Curtis.

Tried making some pendants

Not sure if I'm happy with these or not, but it was fun to try something new.

Thank you all so much! Michelle, I thought I'd post Tamara's YOU TUBE video here which is much better than my explanation of how they're made :) She's got some great 'how to' videos!

Sketch 2

I was able to try another sketch. I start out with the same oval shape (or similar) and draw my reference lines to help me know where to place the features and each girl looks so totally different. It's very fun.

Today I have a Worker's Comp audit at work. Yuck. I think I have everything in order but who knows. I just don't like the word 'audit'. It's scary to me for some reason but most I've been involved in have been just fine :)

I'm heading out of town tonight to pick up some Golden paints so I can practice painting these girls sometime this weekend. We have Easter plans on Friday night and Sunday but Saturday is mine. All mine :) ha!

I'm taking another class!

I bit the bullet and signed up for Paulette Insall's 'All About Faces' workshop yesterday!
I kept telling myself when I had enough $$ in my paypal, it would be my next purchase :)

I did my first sketch using her tips last night.

I see I still have a tendency to make the eyes a little large. But it's about trying to make the features more proportionate unlike this one below, which is a previous sketch I had done.

They both have things I like about them and things I wish were a little different, but you can see the difference in the placement of features and their size. Interesting class and I can't wait to see how it goes!

I also signed up to take the Cloth & Clay Doll course from Jane DeRosier (did I already mention this???) I'm very excited to try that too. Soooooooo many online workshops to take and learn and grow from!

I also need to get my income tax done but that is NO fun :)
Have a wonderful day!!
xoxo
Darla

Mercy Angel Finished

Angels descending, from above,
bring echoes of mercy, whispers of love.





She has bible pages on her wings and along the sides.

My weekend and a Work in Progress

I had a fun weekend and I hope you all did too! Saturday was my 'princess' day and I got my nails done and a new do. I almost cancelled both appointments because I was a little tired and my zip was zapped after Friday night :) Dale & I are on a trivia team and we play every friday night. Drinking wine before going and bulldogs when we got there sure didn't make me any more intelligent, I know that much! I had fun though!

Sunday I went to a local play that my daughter in law and granddaughter were in. That was fun! It was called Nights on Broadway and my hat is off to ALL who can get up there and sing in front of people! That's something I could never do. Maybe if I had an ounce of singing talent I'd try, but nope. At this point it just isn't going to happen.


I tried something this weekend that was very fun! I made magnets out of some prints of my artwork. I adhered them to wooden shapes and then topped them with Diamond Glaze and glued a magnet to the back. I think they'll make great little 'extras' for gifts.



I'm also working on a 10 x 20 angel on canvas. I need to work on her more, I'm not happy with the lack of contrast in the background color and her wings but will show you where I'm at right now. The wings and sides are made with bible pages.

Wishing you a fabulous week! I do finally believe SPRING is on it's way here! Yeah!

Handmade Stamps for ATC Swap

I joined an ATC swap on the Milliande ning site and then totally forgot about doing the cards!
The idea was to make our own handmade stamps out of materials we have on hand. Here are mine.

The bee background is made from a piece of cardboard with round rubber washers hot glued to it. I then rubbed it on my ink pad so it's a fairly light stamp. This bee is a portion of one of my previous art projects.


For the witch I made a plaid design on cardboard with hot glue and then painted it black and stamped the card. Then I applied cut out elements of one of my art pieces.

This stamp in the background is made with q-tips bunched together with a rubber band and then dipped in white paint. I pounced them on the background and applied an element from another art project I did.

This one didn't turn out so hot. It was pretty wavy lines of hot glue on cardboard, then dipped in black paint. I didn't push down hard enough so we're only seeing portions. Again...cut out elements of a previous bunny girl I painted.


This one is made with a row of q-tips glued to a piece of cardboard. I painted the stamp white and it really made a cool design, almost like a DNA chart! Too bad I covered it up with my cut out element! That's me by the way......you may remember me posting it a few weeks back. Love the haircut Mom :)

If you'd like to see some other awesome ideas for creating your own stamps for fun backgrounds for mixed media art, please check out Milliande's video on you tube. Actually she has MANY! She's wonderful and so giving of her talents!

The EYES have it!

Well ....... this is funky huh? What a glamour puss and what fun to do! I had fun with those eye lashes!

I'm trying to think of a phrase to go with this and all I could come up with is the title of this post~ The Eyes have it.

I'd love to hear any and all suggestions for either a title of this one and/or a phrase to adhere to it in the mixed media fashion :)
Thanks!!

A little bird told me

Awwww, it feels good to paint again! After my little clumsy stumble it was hard for me. See, I stand when I paint so my work area has 3 large counter top height tables in there which I thought I would love! Now I'm wishing I'd taught myself to paint sitting down comfortably.

Did you ever play with your kids' minds when they were young? My little boys thought I had eyes in the back of my head because I always found out things that they thought for sure were secrets! I would tell them that no matter what they did behind my back or out of my sight, I WOULD hear about it or find out so they best behave :) They were really good little boys for the most part and grew up to be fine young men. Proud Momma here♥


Framed and photographed at an angle


Scanned and a little 'dreamy' from the beeswax. Original looks most like framed piece.