A gift for me...

My sister wanted to paint a picture for me even though I already have two of her creations. She wanted me to pick out the style of this one a little more so we flipped through some of my many abstract books and I picked this one.

 

From this book

 

And this is the beautiful result with lots of lovely texture and colors.

 

I've been very negligent with blogging so far this year. Last year a big project t work was my excuse. This year I seem to be a little lazy. Not sure if it is the never ending list of things to do at home (overwhelming so i just dont do them) and work or if I am still in some sort of recovery mode. I seem to only spend time creating if I have others with me and sitting alone in my art room is not drawing me as much even though I have ideas floating in my head. I was talking to a new friend and she said she suffers from that sometimes and has to make appointments with herself to spend some creative time. Which brings me to the fun part of meeting a new friend.

It's funny how we have people come into our lives unexpectedly. I've known Ann for a number of years now but only at work and I only saw her once a year where our jobs at our respective companies cross paths. This time we had a one on one meeting that started out all business and morphed into talk about our creative endeavors outside of work. Fortunately it was lunchtime so we could escape to go talk and eat. Come to find out that Ann does these awesome paper mosaics as backdrops for her calligraphy and the creativity extends to her husband who is a photographer, her mother who is a watercolor painter and her dad who makes furniture. She even has an art gallery in her house for all of their work. Check out her website. She will also be at the upcoming American Craft Council Show here in Atlanta, March 9th to 11th. What started the conversation was a couple of my own pieces in my office. Ann was so encouraging and suggested that I was pricing my stuff too low and had lots of pointers about framing or just mounting things so they were ready for framing. So much to learn.

Well it is creating past my bedtime. Yawn. So sweet dreams to all and hugs.

 

A Lovely Vacation...

I've been on vacation for a week and have thoroughly enjoyed puttering and playing in my art room.  I did manage to get the dining room and art room cleaned up for the family Christmas Eve dinner.  It will probably not be this clean again until the next big family get together/sit down dinner which may not be until Thanksgiving so I'm going to show you what it will rarely look like.

This is my 'paint caddy' that I found at Home Goods.  Of course that isn't all my paint but it at least holds my craft paints and sprays.  It also travels in the car nicely for those times I play at friends' houses.

So, one thing I wanted to play with was using strips of old papers and couldn't refrain from using some corrugated cardboard, aka Starbucks coozey's.  I haven't decided what I want to do next with these yet. 



I had another idea to use old business cards in stacks of varying levels so I grabbed a canvas and started playing.

I then painted it with grey gesso,

and then a layer of tissue paper because I just love all the crinkles.

In the last steps I just played and played with layering in colors and voila my first piece of abstract art.  I really want to learn some more layering techniques with color but I'm really pleased with the outcome.  I have a bigger canvas that I'm going to do the same thing with but try out some other colors.  Someday I'm going to manage the right lighting for a better picture.  I'm thinking a trip to the hardware store for some mondo lights.

Another thing I promised myself I would finally try is carving my own stamp.  I have some real carving materials but didn't want to take a chance on screwing it up so did my first one on some of that foam used for kids projects.  It took a little time but I'm definitely going to have to play with it some more.

One of the other things I did on my vacation was an early birthday present from my brother.  We never spend any time just the two of us so I asked for a date night.  It was so much fun!  We went to see Sherlock Holmes which was awesome and then went out to dinner and just had a great time chatting about life.

So my week was filled with Christmas and New Years Eve dinners with the family (by the way, I have an awesome family that actually enjoys spending time together and we always have fun), some early birthday celebrations and time to be creative.  Oh, and lunch with the lovely Mary Freeman.  Sigh, I have to go back to work tomorrow and I just don't want the fun to stop.  If I could just get them to pay me to not work.  ;-)

Well, I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and I wish everyone a New Year filled with new adventures and may you accomplish at least one thing on your to do/goal/resolution list.  Hugs!

Looking for a stamp

I'm looking for a discontinued Rollograph stamp that has a lovely grid pattern. I contacted the company and searched the Internet and can't find it anywhere. I tried making one from some screen material but didn't get the effect I'm looking for. So, if anyone has this and they are willing to part with it I'm willing to pay you for it.

On another note I'm having a very lovely vacation playing with paint and paper. Pictures to hopefully follow soon.

I hope everyone has a safe and blessed New Year!

Hugs.
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Merry Christmas!

Wishing everyone a beautiful Christmas filled with joy and laughter that continues throughout the year and may you know and experience God's love for you through the gift of His Son.

Catching up with some creative time...

Finally catching up a bit.  Last month I took a Visual Journaling class with Mary Freeman and thoroughly enjoyed it.  It was so helpful with trying to get back into the creative swing and fun to try some new techniques.

The first couple of classes I just played on paper but finally went to Hobby Lobby and to this great handmade paper journal.  I'll be decorating the outside later.

This is my cover page with layers of color and a final layer using reverse stenciling.  New technique where you use a stencil to wipe away the top layer while it is still a bit wet.

Another reverse stencil page.  I tried it out an a sheet of paper and liked it so much had to do it again.  I have found that besides stamps you also cannot have enough stencils.  My brother and I's motto is "if it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing."

This page started out as reverse stenciling and I didn't really like it so the top layer was gesso and then I started playing with the Adirondack Color Wash.  Another thing you cannot have enough of, including Glimmer Mist.  I also added a little paper bag mini page that I had created at Donna Downey's Inspired conference last year.

This one needs some journaling and was just playing with layers, stencils and a Starbucks cardboard coffee cozy (makes an awesome lines stamp).

This one needs journaling too but was playing with the color washes again and some rub-ons.

One thing I noticed with the previous page was the edges where there wasn't any gesso so I used a mask with it and then sprayed to get a stronger color in sections.

This one is a la a Robin Marie tutorial and needs some more tweaking.  I don't know if I can stand not adding at least one more color to it in a cool tone.

This page was from one of the lessons where I wrote down my thoughts going in both directions and then obscuring enough of it so you can't read it.  For me it was a whine session (without the benefit of wine) and covered it with some key words to remind myself to be thankful for the blessings in my life.

This one was another one with gesso over the stencil and then color wash sprays.  I need to figure out how I want to use this technique in a full collage piece.

Here I tried to remember how Mary had painted one of hers and wasn't happy with how it was going so went in a different direction a bit.  I really wish these pictures were better but I have terrible lighting at home.  My mom got me one of those light boxes for Christmas one year but the lights don't seem strong enough.  May just have to make my own and hit Home Depot for some mac daddy lights.

This page is the result of a pair of collages I started where I covered the pages first with old papers from books and newspapers.  See the last couple of pictures for better details.

This canvas was from another lesson in the journaling class where we utilized pictures and/or words from magazines or photos.  It is a conglomeration of a couple of art pieces that inspired me.  One was with the sunburst pattern and the other utilized the rolls of paper.  I started with words or phrases that spoke to me and found it was a bit garish so toned it down with gesso (can you tell I use it a lot?), added my paper rolls from magazine text pages and splattered black gesso on it and used an old credit card for additional black lines.

These two canvases are collages that started with old papers and book pages and then I used the color washes with stencils and as drips.  Also used some black gesso for the lines.  I really like these but I'm trying to decide if they need a focal point and what the heck that should be.  I may get some bigger number stencils and do the same as I did on the journal pages but still undecided.  Any thoughts?  Do I need to tweak them some more before trying to sell them on Etsy?

Well, I think that will have to be enough catching up for now.  ;-) 

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I know I did with my wonderful family and extended family and managed to not make myself miserable with eating too much.

Thanks for stopping by.

Camping

Camping in North Georgia with my beautiful sweet sister. It is a tad cold as we sit here bundled to our eyes enjoying the gorgeous fall colors.




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Will it ever be done...

I am slowly trying to get back into the creative swing of things but first I have to put all my crap, uh, I mean supplies back into my cupboards. So mom and I have been making piles and sorting and even a little purging. The big push stated Labor Day weekend and unfortunately is still going. For some reason it feels like shifting sand, never truly going anywhere. I know that isn't true since some things are now put away but my dining room is still utter chaos.






Last month I did get to play some and I made an addition to a background I had created that needed a focal point. I added a nice rusty hinge that always looked like part of an angel to me and gave her wings using grunge board butterfly wings and covering with decorative napkins. I also added some tulle for added whimsy. This isn't a good picture but you'll get the idea.






I also had an awesome time Thursday night at a class by Mary Freeman called Visual Journalism. It was an intro to the six week class that starts this Thursday and I highly recommend it if you are anywhere the Alpharetta, Georgia area. The class is about being real and using the creative process to dig deeper into your heart with the added benefit of playing with different ideas for layering and experimenting. Let me know if you want info on where to sign up.

For the first class I didn't really do a journal page since they gave us a choice of paper or mat board and I went for the mat board. One of Mary's examples had grey which is a color I haven't used before and I felt like taking a chance so started with that as my base. Mary gave us little packets with various papers to play with and mine had a picture of a door and knew that had to be the focal point. I added a little green and pink and just had to have some drippage. I'm not sure if it's done because I did want some words so I'm letting it percolate.






Well, I suppose I should go to bed since 4:30 am is going to be here way too soon. Sigh.

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Just a note...

So yesterday when I was driving home from a morning at the office, and yes it was a Saturday, I saw a jeep coming from the other direction and as I prepared to do the Jeep Wave the other driver did an exuberant full arm out the window wave. Just made my day. For those of you unfamiliar with this the idea is that when you see another Jeep Wrangler, mind you only Wranglers, you lift two fingers up from the top of the steering wheel as a salute. Some people don't know this so it's a little disappointing when they don't wave back but when someone does there is a great feeling of camaraderie with a perfect stranger. There is a danger though of feeling the need when you are in another type of vehicle, even as a passenger.

On another note, just a few more weeks and my yearlong project (rolling out 280 brand spanking new computers in conjunction with migrating millions of documents to a new system and thankfully with a team of people) at work will come to an end and there will be no more excuses to not exercise or to not get cracking on finishing the great wood floor installation. There will also be time again to play with paints more than at best once a month. Even today I got to spend some quality time catching up on some blog reading (love Flipboard). So what if the bathroom still needs to be mopped.

Since I can't post without some sort of picture, here is a snippet of a piece I created earlier in the year. Hugs.



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Fly by blogging

Well, still working lots and lots. I did go to a picnic last weekend that was for alumni of my high school. My brother, sister and I all went and it was interesting. Got to visit with some teachers I really liked. It's amazing how some of seemed so much older at the time but now there isn't that many years between us. Odd how that happens as you get older. We had our own after party at my brother's house for some sibling time. I do so love my brother and sister and am so grateful we all actually like each other and have so much fun.

A few weekends ago I did get in some creative time. This first one is just the beginning of the color layers but I love playing with textures. I had scored some European corrugated packing stuff at IKEA and have been itching to start using it along with some burlap and mesh.







This one was inspired by a video by Robin-Marie Smith. I love her art work with all the layering of colors. I used water color paper and freed it from it's bindings. ;-). I just went to town playing with stencils and Glimmer Mist







This is one that started it's life as the background for some ATC's I made for swap. I just had fun enhancing it and adding more layers with crackle paste and molding paste. I have to figure out how to give it a focal point but I think I'm liking it so far.












Hope everyone has an awesome weekend!

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Shopping...

Well, it's been a lot of work, work, work for me but took some time out last weekend to go shopping at a local antique market. Mom and my friend Rebecca went with me. It was a little like old home week because we also met up with a couple of girls from our Inspired creative retreat last month. Brenda met us there and Andra was helping a friend with her booth. I've been one other time to the Lakewood 400 Antiques Market but this time there were more artists and met some very lovely ladies. I still would like to check out Scott's Antique Market sometime soon. I'm on the hunt for some old tin ceiling tiles don't cost a bunch and looking for a flea market that has hidden treasures that are cheap

I did find an awesome coffee bag, a piece of flocked wall paper from Andra's friend, some old hinges and some awesome vintage sewing patterns (25 cents each, score!). Oh, and these wooed block and metal things from an old textile factory for a buck a piece. I'm going to make some sort of background canvas and attach them. Haven't decided if I'm going to alter them or use as is. Love the look of them.

Oh, and one more score. At work one of the projectors died and one of the guys asked if I wanted it for the lenses. I said that was an awesome idea. Took it apart (lots and loys of screws) and found some very lovely pieces of glass I'm going to try my hand at soldering and will make some pendants. The larger pieces I will try to use in collaging.















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