Hope -the thing with feathers

One of my favorite poems is Emily Dickinson's 

"hope - the thing with feathers"

and when I saw the Relics & Artifacts All Things Wings challenge

I knew that I wanted to build on that idea

I had found a little doll at a thrift store and

taken her apart

I made a paper mache heart for her body and added the Relics

&Artifacts heart

I added the head and appendages

but she was so heavy I was forced to adhere her to a canvas

lots of gesso - both white and gold

some acrylic paints

and other stuff for texture

I hot glued the words to wire from her hands

as I wanted them to float like feathers

What a joy this was

Hope you like it

ttfn

Eat Cake - some watercolor and some mixed media

My last challenge layout for June is for

ScrapAfrica

the challenge was to use aqua, pistachio, pale pink, and pale yellow

I have also been painting a lot with my new Prima

watercolors and had painted the macarons

earlier in the month

but couldn't decide what to do with them

Then a couple of days ago I created the canvas

with gesso and aqua, pink, and green

Then what to do with that

AND THEN

magic 

I began playing off the macarons -

French, Marie Antoinette, frilly, frivolous

(I think people take their artmaking way too seriously -

have fun - it's just paper and paint

and believe me, it really doesn't matter if it's acid free or not -

none of us are creating Rembrandt's

we're just being children again

and isn't that the whole point??)

I painted the shoe

and searched in my stash for 

vintage crystal cuff links and the little rhinestone dog broach

some Prima flowers and a fussy cut chandelier,

some 7gypsies rub-ons,

some hand-dyed ribbons

totally frivolous and fun

hope you like it

ttfn

art comes from the heart

made for the More than words mini challenge

to create a tag with the word "art"

the big canvas corp heart has been covered with

selvage edge labels from fabrics - sewn onto the tag

Prima watercolor labels from some of my brand new paints

alphas painted and/or cut out

the tag itself is a regular shipping tag that I covered with 

the remains of the book cover that I used

for yesterday's mixed media piece.

What a fun fun day I had!

ttfn

the unimaginable

This creation is a bit of a departure from my comfort zone

but wow! did I have fun playing and making it

It was inspired by a challenge on the More than Words blog

to make something with the word "imagine" and 

you had to get messy

WELL .....

I had all kinds of ideas in my head but nothing really jelled

until earlier this week

when I read this incredible quote by Mary Oliver,

"keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable."

But still I wasn't sure how to make this visual

then yesterday it came to me

and I created this heart full of art supplies

but with some room for the unimaginable.

The background is an old book cover that I gessoed

and painted and scraped and scribbled on 

then I added an old paint brush

and other things that just appealed to me

I stamped the quote and sort of 

played with the visual aspect of the quotation -

i.e. like texting.

Come back tomorrow and see the "art"

tag that I created for the More than Words mini challenge.

ttfn

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

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

You can never have too many orchids

A new mixed-media piece (watercolor orchids and background, acrylic and collaged tree, and hand-dyed and painted ribbons and fibers as roots

This was a really fun piece to create - one of those things where you get your hands dirty

or, as in my case, covered with paint and acrylic matte medium

Not too much happening right now as I spend all of my time working, knitting, sewing, or painting -

not to mention cooking, cleaning, reading, and occasionally sleeping -

there just aren't enough hours in the day!

Isn't life fabulous!!!!!!!!

Chris

Things making me happy right now

A new mixed-media piece on my worktable

a homemade chocolate chip cookie on a vintage plate

back of my Kalahari vest finished

 hand dyeing seam binding in coffee and tea (ended up too faint so I enhanced it with watercolor paint)

 seam binding sprayed with different colors of glimmer mist and Adirondack spray

Books that I ordered coming today!

Life is good!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AND 

I won a $25 gift certificate to Scrapbook.com by winning a Gecko Galz contest with this fan

I am a Happy Camper!

Thanks for looking,

Chris

Gecko Galz for April - a tribute to my Mother

I know that this is a bit early for Mother's Day but really everyday is Mother's Day -

I used Gecko Galz Tudor Rose Hampton Court paper and M is for Mother ephemera. I created the base by scrunching tissue paper and then layering it on cardstock and painting with gesso. After it dried, I sprayed it with Glimmer mists that sort of continued the look of the Gecko Galz paper. I cut out the ephemera and layered it along with Prima flowers around a photograph of my mother and me.

Next week I will be taking a 4-day watercolor workshop from Janet Rogers, a national teacher and painter. I am so so excited!!!! I have scheduled some posts as I know that I will be exhausted every evening.

Hope you have a fun April Fool's Day and a great weekend!

Into the Wild - a mixed media fantasy

The painting/collage is finished

All the while that I worked on this piece, I kept thinking

Into the Wild

Where the Wild Things Are
Women Who Run with the Wolves

Do not go gentle into that good night
The Path Less Traveled

Perhaps I have been reading too much fantasy (is that really possible?)

I saw the muted murky forest

and then a path wove itself with gems

Wild creatures hide amongst the flotsam and jetsam,

and grasses and leaves from my yard demanded to join the revels

Have a great Sunday,

Chris