Donation and a journal page

I've been asked to donate an item to be used as a door prize in two separate upcoming fundraisers, both for breast cancer. A few local gals here are trying to raise money for the Susan G. Komen 60 miles/3 day walk for a cure. Here's the first one. I thought I'd do a little Kelly Rae Roberts inspired mixed media piece. It's loaded with texture and is on a 10 x 10 canvas. The words say:
'He is with me! How can I be afraid?'



Yesterday I had a bad day.........felt like some in my life were trying to push me to the edge. I got a little down, ok~ a LOT down as I sketched her out and painted her. I felt so much better after a good nights sleep :) Tonight I added strips of previously colored watercolor paper and gave her a new attitude. GAME ON! Bring it on. I can handle it.


Wishing you all victories in your struggles, big and small♥

A trip down memory lane

A trip back in time to when I painted almost nothing but roses! I just wanted to try something a little quicker tonight and see if I retained any of my movie editing skills. I did.....somewhat! I do have to add that I've gotten a little rusty in my rose designs! Good grief......but it was quick and it was a piece of cardboard so I guess it's close enough for now.

It still took me awhile and I have NOTHING fancy on my videos, but here it is :)

Journal Page

Do you ever find yourself complaining......whining.....and being a 'glass half empty' kind of person?
Sometimes I do. I think it's lack of sleep, stress and maybe just a little depression that slips in when summer comes to a close and I know a long, cold winter is on its way.

I need to start focusing on the good things, the pretty things, the happy things because they really are all around me. Every day.

Have a 'glass full' kinda day :)

Art journal page, a sketch challenge and more

I painted a sketch in my art journal that I had drawn quite awhile back. I added a phrase that I saw somewhere this week that I loved! I'm sorry, I can NOT recall where I saw the phrase but it sure stuck with me :) Be yourself, Everyone else is taken!
***Too funny! How can I paint something and look at it over and over and not notice something SO obvious? Look at how her shoulders go higher than her neck! hahaha**** That's the good thing about art journals. They're for fun, right?


I tried the beautiful Kelly Berkey's sketch challenge this week. Thanks for inspiring me to try Cathy! I struggle with proportions so this was a good exercise for me and I look forward to pushing myself even more.


On Saturday we went to a 30th birthday party for Dale's niece, Lisa. We had a nice meal, a hayride in the country and then sat around a campfire and listened to some guitar music and singing. It was pretty awesome!




This is the birthday girl!



This man, I believe his name is David, can really sing and play the guitar! What was really cool is while this man was singing, we all say a HUGE shooting star go across the sky behind him. It had a beautiful blue/green tail and seemed to last longer than any shooting star I'd ever seen. The whole scene was somewhat surreal, like something in the movies and not my normal life, ya know?


Dale and his grandson, Carson sitting around the campfire :)



And lastly I wanted to share a little something I tried this past week. I put some beef cuts in the bottom of my crock pot one morning and topped them with FF cream of mushroom soup and added a few potatoes. I decided it would be nice to have a vegetable to have ready at the same time but I didn't want RED gravy or gravy on my beets so I put foil on top of the meat/potatoes section and the beets on top. I drizzled with a little olive oil and put salt & pepper on, covered it all up and headed to work.
When I got home for lunch (I invited Dale and my oldest son, Derek) everything was done perfectly and kept it's own color and flavor. Maybe this is an old trick, but I had never heard of doing it this way and thought it was very cool :)

Have a great week!

Are you ready for a video?????

OH. MY GOD!
I painted for an hour and spent at least 8 hours trying to teach myself how to edit the video. I have an even greater respect and admiration for all of you who share your talents on youtube!!!!

I have to say......painting it was fun! I'm hoping to do another fairly soon so I don't forget the whole editing part. I started with my Flip software which I found out wasn't so great. Moved on over to Windows Movie Maker which doesn't take flip files (grrrrrrrrrrr) so off to youtube for help!

I ended up downloading a free version of video pad which converts my flip videos to wmv files and was able to do it all there. I'm frustrated just typing all this again! haha

Anyway, here's my first painting video. Hope you enjoy :)


I used watered down acrylics on watercolor paper.
G'night

Reap what you sow

This is how she started, just watercolor blobs.
Photo is much darker as I used my cell phone. The finished piece
of course has added colors and was scanned so it's more vibrant :)

Can you see her arm raised up, her braided hair and her flowing gown?

I have my tripod back and I actually started filming a different painting tonight and then my batteries went out! Now that I have it set up, I'll get better prepared and hopefully have a little video soon of me painting something. I'm excited and nervous!

A girl I hope to paint up soon

Wanna try win a free online class???

http://www.dirtyfootprints-studio.com/

Connie of Dirty Footprints Studio has picked a Winner for her 21 Secrets.

The winner was Sam Johnson at http://www.gollywobbles.blogspot.com/
She won a spot and extra to GIVE AWAY!

Please visit her blog Gollywobbles by clicking the link above to try win YOUR spot in
the 21 Secrets class!!

Winner will be announced at 7:00pm~ Monday, September 27th.

This is a workshop where 21 Fabulous artists teach their wonderful secrets on creating art. How AWESOME is that?????!!!!!
If you're interested in checking it out click the the link above OR the pic :)

Classes begin October 1st, 2010.

Take a chance and see if you win. Good luck!

With each new day...

'With each new day, we start anew'


Dipping my toe in the nudity pool! Ok, it's just a small hint of a breast, but it's a start :)

Do you know?

Just how important and valuable you are to me?

I adore each and every one of you for sharing in my little creative world♥ I appreciate the support, encouragement and inspiration you give me!


I painted this last night. Now, seriously who would sit down and look at a blank piece of 5 x 7 watercolor paper and decide to paint a girl with an apple producing bu font bountiful enough to feed stray critters? Not me! But this is the image that appeared after doing the watercolor background.
Too funny.......but I also think, too cute! Hope that doesn't sound like bragging, but for some reason I really like where this one took me.

Happy creating!

I made a little youtube video :)

I hope to soon do a video of me actually painting. I just need to clean my work area and figure it all out :)

Fading memories

I did this watercolor piece last night and both images came right out so I just worked with them. Her arm was bent, I knew she had to hold something. I couldn't think of how the man should look and it reminded me of my own past a bit.

Some memories start to fade........and it's a good thing. Her heart has stitches and has mended over time. All is good :)

Some nights are just meant for some relaxing watercolors and doodling, don't you think?

Today I really have the urge to take a class or order DVDs or something.......I'm in the mood to learn something new. I've thought about ordering the Mark Carder method on DVD. I love how he uses 5 colors. period. That would cut down on my massive supply-o-crap in the basement and maybe I'd learn to mix my colors better :)

As for online classes, I'd love to hear suggestions! I've taken from Paulette Insall, Sharon Tomlin, Tamara Laporte, Martha Lever, Jane DeRosier (clay doll) so far but maybe there's somebody out there I've yet to discover? Lead me to them please!!

Monday.....and back to work

I painted up the last of the 6 (4x12) canvases last night. It was a wonderful weekend and it was so fun to do the things I enjoy most!


Even mowing the lawn, trimming back some perennial flowers for the winter and laundry was fun :) I also got to bake a pie with fresh picked apples, try a new Chicken Parmesan recipe, see my son and go for a leisurely drive with Dale.

I appreciate my job and the ability it gives me to pay my bills........but man oh man, I wish I could spend more time doing the things I enjoy most. I guess that's what retirement is all about huh? I need to start taking better care of myself so I can feel well enough to enjoy those years ;) For now, I'll just treasure the weekends!

Have a wonderful, creative week everyone!! Find time to do what makes you happiest!

2 more :)

You're Safe with Me



It's a Beautiful Day



All 5 together


If you haven't stumbled onto this size canvas at Michaels yet, watch for them. I ADORE painting this size!



Mieko got stung in the eye this afternoon and it's all because I baked a pie!

The pie made a mess out of my oven so I had to put it on auto clean, the house filled with smoke so I opened windows. One of my windows had a spot (a teeny opening) where a yellow jacket got in the house. I was downstairs painting and came up to find this and a dead bug near by :) Poor guy! NOT the nasty bee-ish thing, but poor boy Mieko♥

Hope you're enjoying your weekend!

My Trio of Witches

Finished the 3 (4 x 12) canvases......I have another set and I'm thinking I'll try a series of snowmen perhaps? Not sure yet :)

It's cold here today and I need to go paint the grocery store window for the new season. I can't believe how quickly the weather/temps changed here. It feels like we went from 80 degrees to 40 in just a week :(

Thank you all for the sweet comments as I've worked on these canvases.

Have a wonderful weekend!

#3.....LOOK!

Do you see a woman sitting kind of sideways wearing a blue robe or shawl? I do!


Then I turned it upside down and there's a baby face with puffy little eyes and everything! Even red lips! I'm having SO much fun creating these layered backgrounds and letting whatever come out of them.

Hope I'm not boring you with all of it :)

Have a great weekend!

She's finished! The Pumpkin Thief!

Here's Witch #2 on a 4 x 12 canvas.


I really like this size to work with......very fun!



And a close up....

Here's Number Two......

To be painted tonight! I sketched her out quickly on my lunch break and I'm excited to get to work on her after I leave the office.

Thanks for all the nice compliments on my first witch........maybe by the time I'm done here, I'll have a triptych! I'm loving doing the Halloween themes already!

Seriously, this kind of freaked me out! LOOK!

I had decided to do a colorful background on one of my new 4 x 12 canvases from Michaels, so I started early this morning. I came home at noon and was going to play with it a bit more, but this image of a witch with this unbelievable face was already on it! Yikes!
I just had to go with it, even though my plan was to put a sweet little girl on it...my plans changed!


This is the final product.

I think I'll name her 'I'm right here'

Do you hear spooky music? I do! :)
Have a great night!

It's coming

Mountains and mountains of snow :( I've got 6-8 weeks to get ready for it but each and every year, I dread it more and more.

9 x 12 acrylic on watercolor paper

Twila

Twila~
My painting tip of the day: When your creative side just can NOT think of a background scene for one of your girls, just put her outside.......at night :)

It's official

I'm in a Autumn state of mind :)

Progression Pics

I'd like you to meet Emma!


She started out as a sketch while watching tv.......I love sketching while glued to the tube :)



And since I woke up WAY too early today (4:30 am!) I decided to start on her while guzzling coffee to make it through the day. I used thinned down acrylics.


I got this far before I decided to shower and head out to work.


Slow, rainy day at work so we were given the option to stay or leave.......guess what I chose?
Yep, I came home and painted some more!


Here, I've put on a watery wash for the background. Still wet......obviously :)



Here she is........almost done. Just need to outline and doodle a little.


Ta-da! Emma is good to go!

Have a great weekend all my wonderful blog friends!!

Darla

Playing with 5 x 5 canvases

Nothing fancy but it was nice to paint a tiny canvas after struggling with a 24 x 36 size :)
Hope you're all having a wonderful week! We're in our busy season at work so my days are going a little quicker now. Less day dreaming, more productivity! ha

A couple finished pieces

This was the sketch I did the other night. I was in pain (lower back) when I did this and she appears to feel my pain, huh? ha! Much better now :)


This is the 24 x 36 canvas for a charity auction. Now I need to name it and frame it :) Any suggestions? I'm trying to convey that with friends supporting us, we can weather any storm that comes our way.

Made a trip to Michaels yesterday and got some cute canvases......4x12 in sets of 3. I'm excited to try a triptych now of some sort! I've also gone through quite a bit of paint doing larger pieces so I stocked up on some basic colors again.

Hope you are all enjoying your weekend!