Featured Art on Trodden Path!

So excited that my heart has been chosen for the featured art on the homepage of the Trodden Path this week (Sept. 9-15) http://thetroddenpath.ning.com/ . Scroll about half way down to see and while you're there check out the whole site and what it has to offer! Sorry, this site is no longer available.

The piece that is featured is my memory project portrait "Cirque du Rabbit Hop" which was inspired by Heather Murray's class at the Trodden Path. There is also a short story that goes with this piece in a separate post  https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/2166294406108711940/7727967085061048190 .

What an encouragement! I am honored! Thank you so much Jane! (GrittyJane) :D

PPF & CED - 20 minute Paintings (Heart of Green and Rose Bleu)

I am sharing for the first time on Paint Party Friday (see the link on my sidebar), which I discovered on a blog that I follow. I am also sharing it on Creative Every Day (link also on sidebar). Both sites have a lot of wonderful participants and you can visit their blogs to see their creativity in full bloom by going there and clicking their names on the list, which is new every week.

This is a 20 minute timed painting that I did a couple of days ago, in which I used glass bead gel medium and open acrylics on a 6x6" gallery canvas. It's an unusual color for a heart, but I like it! :)

I did this painting the same day, also timed for 20 minutes. The title is "Rose Bleu" and she is painted in gesso and acrylics on a 6x6" gallery canvas, and I can see that she has some spots that need to be a little darker. She is from my imagination, and I think I may write something in the grey space by her head. We'll see! :)

Both paintings were done for a group called "20 Minute Paintings" at the Trodden Path artists' social network (link also on sidebar). A wonderful place with all kinds of classes, groups, and fabulous creative people. Free to join!

I am tortoise slow, so to do a painting, even this small, in 20 minutes is quite a feat for me! :)

I hope you enjoyed your visit and will come back soon! :)

Backgrounds on Canvas WIPs

I didn't want to waste leftover acrylic paints when I was working on my mixed media portraits, so I used it on these 5x7" gallery canvases for the base layer for future work. Sometimes I use the extra paint on pages in my art journals as a starter layer too. It makes for some interesting combinations sometimes.

The heart one at the back is a finished piece ready for a final coat of gel medium. I did it during the grieving process after losing my dad.

So many ideas and projects; so little time! :)

Mixed Media Memory Project 2- "Cirque du Rabbit Hop"

Happy Labor Day to all of you who are celebrating today! I hope you're having a safe and fun long weekend!

I've finished my second project from Heather Murray's class (mixed-media memory project) at the Trodden Path, where she shares lots of great tips in some wonderful videos. I have shared a picture there, and also am sharing it at Creative Every Day! (Links to both on sidebar)

I hope you enjoy this post as much as I enjoyed creating the memory portrait in it! :)

 



First background layer on a 9 x 12" gallery canvas using acrylic paints ...

 



 

 

"Old Pat", the first horse my dad bought for me in the sixties, when I was about fourteen. I know her nose is missing. It was behind a post! She was a very gentle old gray mare. My grandpa had one just like her. 

Me, at age 10 in 1959, and my Pekingese from way in the future (the eighties), trying to decide where we want to be...

 

Ah! Here we go! A miniaturized version of one of my doodle drawing horses coerced me into letting him join in the fun and now Old Pat has a nose...

 

 



More layers added, and I decided to write the story of the circus into the background (would have been easier if I had done it before the figures were in place) with a Sanguine Pitt brush pen...

More layers and details added and I believe I've captured a pretend memory circus moment! What do you think? :)

I am also writing the fictional story to go with this painting (the one in the background of the painting), which I will share in another post. I couldn't resist! Thanks for stopping by! :)

Saddlebag Blues (weaving) and Mixed Media

I've been experimenting and learning to weave a lot of different things. This is one of the pieces that I've actually made into something so far. I saw a pattern in a book, but since I don't fully understand how to read drafts yet, I sort of made up my own by weaving a medium scarf, using Peaches and Creme variegated cotton yarn with purple wool stripes in the weft.

I used plain stitch, because that's all I knew how to do at the time. Here it is on the loom...

The scarf is finished and has been taken off the loom and the tassels tied off...

Fiddling around with it to see how deep to make the end pockets and if I want a pin cushion in the middle...

 End pockets sewed and it's done! Decided not to make a pin cushion in the middle...

 My loom sits on a TV tray table, and the saddlebags hang over the center brace underneath. They hold my clamps, long hooks, shuttles, scissors, etc. within handy reach, plus the middle part holds my plastic needles in place for me. It will also lay flat across the table under my loom with the pockets hanging off the sides. I love it!

This is on my work table right now. The middle stages of another memory portrait inspired by Heather Murray's Memory Project workshop at The Trodden Path. I have used old photos for all but the stuffed horse at the bottom, and it is a miniaturized version of one of my quirky doodles, and it's on a gallery wrap canvas. This is my second project from this class. (The Trodden Path button is on my sidebar and it's free to join-lots of awesome classes and teachers there!)

I've also just taken some woven samples off the loom and am about to re-warp my loom, and I'm also planning to make my own cardboard loom to weave a rag rug from old sheets. I found an awesome tutorial online! 

Shared on Creative Every Day, a blog where creative people come to share their passion and their creativity. (See my sidebar)

I'm so thankful that I have enough interests to keep me from getting bored...ever! Even if I didn't have all these other fun things to do, I'd still be reading and writing all the time! :)

Clasped Weft Weaving-Another First!

Practicing clasped weft weaving with Peaches and Creme cotton yarn! I've also learned to do hemstitching, although it's not in this picture! I'm making up the pattern as I go, and it's a sample piece.

Hand Woven Scarf-Handspun Yarn

Scarf I wove from Lions Brand hand spun variegated yarn a few weeks back. It's sooooo soft, light, and fluffy! Mama really likes it, so Santa will probably give it to her for Christmas, after I fix a couple of the tassels that came undone in the setting wash.