Friday, August 24, 2018

Playing Around With A New Blog Design

I can't seem to come up with a design that I'm happy with.  I'm trying to get a header picture sized to where it doesn't take a long time to download for you guys. Still not happy with the design, but I need to stop and catch up on some other stuff for now. 👵

I'm in a bit of a painting/creating slump again, I'm afraid. I have three class project paintings in progress, plus some non-painting projects that need finishing. I need to finish going through my mom's things, and so many other things that need doing, and I can't want to do them. Plus, my work space is so piled up again that I have no room to work, and I dread trying to clean it up and re-organize. It's necessary though, as soon as I get some energy from somewhere. 💪


See! I'm not even joking! This is too cluttered to work, even for me! YIKES!!!

Hope we all have a wonderfully creative weekend! 💖

Saturday, August 18, 2018

PYH&S 2018 Class 26 Lucy Brydon-Creative Collage- "Cooter"

This was a fun mixed media painting inspired by Lucy Brydon's class in Paint Your Heart and Soul 2018 (link on sidebar). It's painted in my mixed media sketchbook/journal, but now I wish I had painted it on canvas. :/

Lucy painted an owl, but I decided to use an original photo of the billy goat we used to own, named Cooter. He had an awesome personality and made us laugh all the time. It broke our hearts to have to let him, as well as all of our other livestock, go. But we hear that he's happy where he is, in a field full of nanny goats!

The steps I have gone through on this piece are not necessarily those of the teacher! For instance, citra solve was not involved in her lesson at all!


I used original gelli prints, torn up, to collage on the background with gel medium, and I also covered the top with clear gel medium, which was a mistake, because it kept the next layer of paint from absorbing into the papers.


I put 4 different colored glazes, drips, and runs on plus a layer of thin white gesso. I then wiped most of the gesso off and sketched Cooter over with a blue charcoal pencil.


The background was painted in with blue and greenish acrylics, although the green isn't showing up too much in the photo.


Face and black fur were added. 


The background needed something else, so I layed a stencil of grapes over it and used Citra solve on a baby wipe to remove the paint, leaving the collage showing. Also, I took some of the paint back off the body, face and horns of Cooter with the Citra solve, and worked more on his black fur and features, then used a ribbon to stencil tiny bluish squares on his body to lighten up.


I added an ultramarine blue glaze over shadowed fur, a magenta glaze over grapes, a hooker green glaze over leaves, and a burnt umber glaze over the shadow on the horns.


I added some lighter colors to the white fur and horns, purple to the grapes, and worked on his face more. I used some colored pencils on a few parts.


After some overall adjustment, I sprayed him with fixative and called him finished! I wound up covering up more of the collage, especially on his body, than I meant to, but the technique was fun, and I will definitely try another one!

Cooter has gotten more likes, loves, and comments than anything I've ever painted and shared, which makes me feel really happy! I hope you enjoy him too! :)

Original Greeting Cards with Gelli Print Beginnings

These mixed media cards started off as gelli plate prints made with open acrylic paints. I started them last year, but got sidetracked and left them to percolate. Last week, I decided to finish them in mixed media.


I used a piece of rubber backing to make the texture over the print on this one, then a grape stencil over that, which I used acrylic paints to fill in. I didn't like those grapes, so I used iridescent acrylic inks to paint over that. Liking the card much better!


The buildings were the 2nd pulled gelli print on this one. I used an original cut stencil to make them. Last week, I added the red watercolor background, with a smattering of salt, and sun, added doors with a black gel pen, and windows with a ribbon full of little square holes. There are whole little worlds going on behind those closed doors if you look hard enough! :)


The same stencil was used on this card for the first pull, but I accidentally printed it upside down, which made the card open wrong, so what did I do? I turned it into a window tapestry by adding a blue watercolor sky and metallic gold stitching and tassels. Again, with a little imagination, there are different worlds thriving in each section!

I sprayed them all with clear sealer and called them done!

I have a few more that I gelli printed and worked on, but I haven't decided how to fix them yet. Stay tuned!


Feather Journal Pages (altered book)-Keep Looking Up

I did another spread in my altered book journal trying to get back into painting and working on my classes.


I love these eyes that I found in a magazine, so I tore them out and adhered them to the gessoed pages in my book and let dry.


I used indigo to paint the whole background, and before it was dry, I spritzed it with water, causing it to run and removing some of the paint. I was experimenting, and was going to add some other paint and marks, but I liked this, so I left it.


The writing and white dots were added with a Posca white paint marker. Not happy with the writing, but it is what it is. There was a natural diagonal line across the eye on the right side, so I added a black line with a Posca marker, which I hated, so I covered it with starry indigo washi tape, which I liked much better. There is also a vague number 3, which is my favorite number, next to the diagonal.

After it dried, I put a light coat of cold wax on it, let it dry, then buffed it to keep the pages from sticking together.

Keep looking up, despite the chaos and darkness that may be going on around you!

Tuesday, August 7, 2018

Quirky Doodle Sketches-Woman w Bun and Sad Rabbit

And my painting muse has apparently left me again, for the time being, so I am doing a few sketches to get my mojo working again.


I'm loving the rabbit! Looking forward to painting him at some point!


I love harlequin patterns, so I added one to both backgrounds, just for interest!

Happy Creating, whatever your passion is! :)

Saturday, August 4, 2018

Altered Feather Book Journal pages-Scars Quote

A new spread in my altered book, which I call my Feather Journal, because I painted feathers on the cover. It has no certain theme, as it's a first attempt at an altered book, and I work in it sporadically. The original title of the book is "Never Good Enough", which accounts for the text that shows through the sketches and paintings. I didn't think about a theme to go with my art at the time. The book and the art are just random projects.


Beginning pages for this spread (after a coat of clear gesso): Left is a coat of open acrylic shimmering gold and right is a  photo copied from magazine and transferred with gel medium to the book page, and left to dry.


This is after I rubbed most of the transfer paper, and part of the ink (because my printer is an ink jet) off the back of the photo.



I rubbed more of the paper, and ink, off the photo,  drew guide lines and wrote quote in charcoal, then  wrote over with a red Posca paint pen and added marks with gold leaf paint pen. I also collaged a circle from an original gel print, collaged a printed off owl, and extended the line with charcoal, then painted nails and eyelids gold leaf pen. I sprayed fixative over all, then added gloss med over right page face and a layer of cold wax over both pages. The dry wax was then buffed.

The original photo had much more of the reds in it, which is why I loved it so much. I wish the ink hadn't rubbed off as much and that the photo was better, but I'm still okay with it. Who knows? I may use her in another project! :)

Keep creating whatever you love! Don't give up! :)

Quirky Doodles-A Girl, a Heart-Tear, and Two Birds

Thursday's quirky sketches in my mixed-media journal with a Lyra water-soluble crayon, except for the heart/tear, and it's charcoal pencil and sanguine pastel pencil...





I am usually surprised at the images that emerge from my blind random marks on the page, but it's always fun to bring them into being, and when I look back, I can usually tell what was going on with me at the time.

I can't remember the name of the artist that I learned this technique from, but I am so grateful to her for sharing it. My images look nothing like hers, and I have adapted it for myself over time, and once I get started doing them, it's hard to stop. They often get me jumpstarted back on to my painting projects, and my feelings often are poured out through them in some way. Good for my soul and my sanity! :)

So thankful God gave me the desire to do art. It has saved me many times over!

Tiny Bags of Love-Class exercise with toned backgrounds

Recycled Green tea bag 2 1/2" x2 3/4"-mixed media=Tiny Bags of Love with Jeanne Marie Webb (link on sidebar)- Toned bag with red ochre acrylic and sketched with stabilo pencil after sealing with clear gesso-Don't like the clear gesso texture- Mixed media, with acrylics, pencil, gel pens, pan pastel, liner bottle

These 3 bags were one of the class exercises where we painted a colored background for tone, then sketched and painted our faces. I, however, forgot to make pix of that part with the first two


toned with red ochre, gold leaf pen and metallic gold on stars...


indigo toned background...


mixed media...


toned background with ink sketch...


colored pencils...


I didn't like the way it was looking, so I painted over the figure with open acrylics and used a black gel pen for emphasis. Experimenting...

Now on to the next exercise, which is to paint the 10 teabags, which I have already prepped and drawn off, in the same session with a time limit. I may have to re-watch the video, as it's been a while!

I'm also working gradually on projects for other classes, plus some fabric projects. So, stay tuned!

The light glared on the first two some. I don't have the best lighting, or room, to take the pictures. :/

Keep doing what you love! :)