In the Pink

On a roll with acrylic paint

lots of pink

and a bit of yellow, green, and black.

The vintage Prima flower is painted with watercolor paint

and I made the straw paper flower on a little loom.

Have a good Memorial Day

and remember all those who have 

sacrificed their lives to preserve our freedom.

ttfn

Express yourself

I pulled out the acrylic paints this weekend

and some old book covers for canvases

and painted

(you'll be seeing several more mixed media pieces

in the next few days)

Last week I won one of the challenges on

Scrapbook.com -

I received a super kit of Communique products 

and 3 packages of various artist trading tags

and tag albums

WHAT FUN!

And at work (used book store)

I found several old books in the recycling bin

that I can use

so

let the playing begin.

ttfn

Prima BAP layout times two

Playing with the May Prima Products BAP layout

It calls for two photos but after trying 2 shots of my kitchen window, 

I opted for using one wider one, and it looks better.

I dipped small Prima flowers in paint and stamped the background. 

But 

per the rules, the layout must be 90% Prima products 

and I ended up liking my handmade flowers better for this layout.

The background is taupe card stock.

One of the flowers and the leaves are Prima products.

So 

I started again

this time on Prima Timeless Memories paper

I used 2 photos of my nieces

and surrounded them with Prima Finnabair flowers,

some vintage Prima flowers that I cut into pieces,

and some tapes and vintage Prima laces

(that I won from Prima several years ago).

The copper name plate actually came on packaging

for a large picture frame

(I save everything),

and I used the name strip from the Prima paper as my title.

You can see that I took apart the first layout

and used some of the elements on the second one.

If at first, it doesn't work........

Hope you are having a great holiday weekend!

ttfn

Light will guide my way home - DT submission

Where & when

Light will guide me home

Another fabulous day filled with sunshine, good food, and lots of time to play in the studio. I decided to play along with http://wordspaintery.blogspot.se/ and used their prompts - colors of pale pink, pale blue, and pale aqua, and the thought "Light will guide my way home" (I changed it a little as I ran out of alphas.) I began with a recycled linen book cover for a canvas and applied lots of white gesso and then used stamps, bubble wrap, and a doily to add texture. Then after it dried, I painted with pale pink, blue, and aqua Claudine Hellmuth acrylic paints and dabbed here and there with a paper towel. I used a rub on and a transparency along with sequin waste,some papers, and a photo of the compass rose on our front porch; and then layered on a die cut (painted with black acrylic paint), the broken watch, the pink metal flower, and some random alphas (they do have meaning for me) with a glass bird, a butterfly, and of course, a candle for some "light". I altered a little canvas with paper and inking, and added a velvet leaf (originally white but painted pink), an old stamp, an old Prima velvet die cut, and some glimmer misted and stiffened lace. Finally I added the words.

Be sure to check out the wordspaintery blog if you like mixed media - they have some super artists there, and I would love to be a part of their Design Team so this blogpost is my DT submission. I have been fortunate to have a member of several design teams in the past and found the experiences so rewarding and truly inspiring in many ways. ttfn

i wish

i wish

Totally on a roll with mixed media right - started with this funky textured paper and used some old Heidi Swapp alphas as stencils sprayed with glimmer mist, then splatted some paint, and began to layer and layer pieces of papers ( various including vintage Graphic 45 - the Halloween in Wonderland collection and pages from an old planner) and ephemera (see the vintage Monet jewelry tag), finally a couple of old photos of me, and topped it with the paper icon. Spattered some more paint and finally dabbed on Omni Gel and dropped beads onto the paper. Entered this in a Scrapbook.com challenge - so wish I could win a few goodies to play with - what do you wish for?

On another front, I am about 3/4ths finished with a watercolor of winter squash - having so much fun letting the paints mingle and then spatter spatter. Hope to finish it tomorrow. ttfn

Hana the wonder cat

Sweet Miss Hana, the wonder cat! I took this photo one morning as she stood on the couch facing the window - I loved how the lighted profile so I painted her - my background wasn't so good so I cut her out and she has been on my bulletin board for a while - then just this past week I thought why not do a layout - I grabbed some old paper, ribbons, and letters (I enhanced the "n" with inking) and using the layout plan from this month's The Memory Nest blog, it was easy.

Off to meet friends at my show at the Ft Pierce main library - just one more week to come by and see it. ttfn

Street LIfe as an inspiration

Still playing with watercolor and scrapping/mixed media - I was inspired by the challenge on Finnabair's blog to use a quotation as an inspiration for a layout but had a bit of trouble figuring out what to create. Then as I was cleaning the studio on Wednesday (after we had over 10 inches of rain on Tuesday afternoon and I had moved everything off the floor of my studio as I was concerned that the water might come into the house - thankfully it did not.) as I came across an old watercolor practice sheet where I had been practicing painting figures walking in the city - "Street Life" was born!

"Art is everywhere except it has to pass through a creative mind."
                               - Louise Nevelson

"Play the street life, because there's no place I can go,
Street life,
it's the only life I know.
Street life,
there's a thousand parts to play.
Street life,
Until you play your life away."
       ----Crawford and Samples

I enhanced the sheet of figures with some coffee stains applied with the bottom of my cup and then some drips. I added the photo and than searched for the right buttons and other embellishments in my stash. I painted the little motorcycle key ring bob with some Finnabair red rust paste (love it!) and inked the edges of the paper. I made a few more figures to cut out and apply on top of the photo and just played the afternoon away. What fun!

Hope you like it and now I am off to link to Finnabair's blog - check it out - she and her DT always post such fabulous stuff.

Be back tomorrow with another new layout. ttfn

Scrapping again

I was inspired to scrap again after seeing some of the great youtube videos on National Scrapbooking Day last weekend. And there are lots of contests out there in conjunction with that. So I saw a watercolor challenge on scrapbook.com and decided to embellish a watercolor painting I did of orchids. I used vintage Prima caravan and cancan flowers and painted them and some metal elements with Prima Finnabair red rust paste. I started to think about a title and remembered the wonderful quote by Lady Bird Johnson: "When flowers bloom, there is hope." I found a perfect brad to add. I had forgotten how much fun scrapping and mixed media are, and how much I love to do them as well as how totally inspired I feel in all areas. So I have done a couple more layouts and a card to share in the next day or two. I ordered a few new flowers and toys, and can hardly wait to receive them and play.
Go forth and create - what are you making today?

Dogs dogs and a cat

        "I never finish a painting -- I just stop working on it for a while." -- Arshile Gorky

I have been painting lots of animals in the past month or so - getting ready for my show that is now up at the Ft Pierce Downtown Library.  I love to paint animals - so much texture and subtle color changes, and their eyes so full of emotion and life. These are all watercolors on various papers - Arches, Waterford Saunders, cold press, rough, 140#, and 300#. I enjoy the different paper textures and weights as each painting is an experiment with paint - with light and shadow - and it's fun - a grown taller way of play.  This past week I painted 2 small pieces and got about half way through a bigger piece - need to take some photos.
I also find myself getting a bit back into mixed media and scrapping so you will be seeing some new things - off to play a bit today. Have fun and enjoy your day!

It's been a while - I've been painting - and I have a show!!!!

It's been a long long time since I posted but I have been so busy painting and knitting and sewing, well, there's just so much time in the day. Anyway, here I am again - better late than never - and I am so pleased and proud to have a showing of my latest watercolors at the downtown Ft Pierce branch of the St Lucie County library.  I have an assortment of portraits - both human and furry - and a couple of landscapes and still lifes. This has been a labor of love for me and I hope you will come by if you live nearby. I have shown some of the paintings on Facebook but will display many of the them here in the next week or so - and I will be catching you up on my latest passions in art, craft, cooking, and reading (just to note, I just finished reading Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld - it's a modern day spin on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, and I loved it - laughed out loud!!!