Express Your Creativity Week 13

Welcome to Express Your Creativity. Here you can share paintings, sketches, art journal pages, poetry, photography, fiber arts like knitting and weaving, favorite recipes, organizational and decorating ideas, and more. The only requirement is that it is something that you have created in some way. I hope you will join me here and please pass it on. Please make sure to list your posts url and not your blogs url. This makes it easier for any late comers to find your post. If you are unfamiliar with Mr. Linky, this is how it works. You type in your name in the first box and the url/link to your post, not your blog address about your creative efforts this week. When you return your name will already be populated, you just need to paste in the new posts link.

I have created a blog button for those participating who might want to post this on your blog. You'll find it on the sidebar to your right.

This is the mandala I started last week. I think it looks nice over this background. I found it quite enjoyable to work on.

This self portrait was created from a photo on grey toned paper using colored pencil. I really like working on this paper. I have been trying to used colored pencil more often. I figure soon I'll be comfortable with it.

These pages are from the Mandala Magic course I am taking with Julie Gibbons. They all relate to the Bliss stage of the Great Round of Mandala. The one on the left is made with shaving cream and spray inks. The one on the right was made with nail polish.

The two on the left being smaller I called them moons. The top one is a transparency and ink mandala and the pinkish one was created with nail polish. The one on the right was created with shaving cream. It reminds me of Jupiter.

  





















This page was made using my birth chart as a mandala. The papers I used to collage with were gelli prints.  I picked watery looking pages to go with the theme of bliss.


Now its your turn to share.

Express Your Creativity - Week 12

Welcome to Express Your Creativity. Here you can share paintings, sketches, art journal pages, poetry, photography, fiber arts like knitting and weaving, favorite recipes, organizational and decorating ideas, and more. The only requirement is that it is something that you have created in some way. I hope you will join me here and please pass it on. Please make sure to list your posts url and not your blogs url. This makes it easier for any late comers to find your post. If you are unfamiliar with Mr. Linky, this is how it works. You type in your name in the first box and the url/link to your post, not your blog address about your creative efforts this week. When you return your name will already be populated, you just need to paste in the new posts link.

I have created a blog button for those participating who might want to post this on your blog. You'll find it on the sidebar to your right.

My Week

I have been laid low with a awful stomach flu since last Friday.  I didn't get to as many as your blogs as I would have liked.  I apologize for that. Thank to all of you who continue to post here each week.

Since I have been so sick I don't have much to share.  I have been cleaning up my studio. You know how that is at one point you just have to do a major overhaul or you can't get anything done. I am going to be doing some major work and I wanted lots of workstations set up so I can move from one project to the next. It took me two days to get it all set up.

This is a little peek into a painting I am working on.

Here is another section.  I am loving all the color buried in all the layers.

I took this watercolor background and began a mandala.  I haven't gotten very far with it yet.

After a trip to the Dentist and a Dr. appointment I needed a lift so I went shopping at Michaels. I wanted some orange paint but ended up with a lot more. The white paper in the background is for scrapbooking but I will use it as a stencil. I got it on clearance for.49. The small toned gray sketchbook was on clearance for 5.99 so I got a couple good deals. I used a coupon on the inks.  They are the metallic set which includes silver, copper and gold. I will use them for drips in paintings and other accents.  I really like adding copper to a piece.

I'd love to see what you have been doing so please share your work below.

Express Your Creativity Week 9

Welcome to Express Your Creativity. Here you can share paintings, sketches, art journal pages, poetry, photography, fiber arts like knitting and weaving, favorite recipes, organizational and decorating ideas, and more. The only requirement is that it is something that you have created in some way. I hope you will join me here and please pass it on. Please make sure to list your posts url and not your blogs url. This makes it easier for any late comers to find your post. If you are unfamiliar with Mr. Linky, this is how it works. You type in your name in the first box and the url/link to your post, not your blog address about your creative efforts this week. When you return your name will already be populated, you just need to paste in the new posts link.

I have created a blog button for those participating who might want to post this on your blog. You'll find it on the sidebar to your right.

It's my birthday today, so let the Celebrations begin. I am having a game night at my house to celebrate. I am making a Williamsburg Orange cake, its my favorite and very yummy. Doesn't it look grand. Its from an old Betty Crocker cookbook and you can find the recipe online.

I have been doing a class from 21 Secrets Fall called Paint the colors of your heart. First we did a meditation and charcoal drawing about how we were feeling energetically. It looks like a swirling vortex to me.

Then we created the drawing in color.  I used Portfolio Oil pastels for this.  I love the pretty shades I was able to create. The center of the top loop seem to be like an egg cracking open with possibility. It also has a yin/yang feel about it.

Then we did another meditation and painted the colors of our heart. I started with a small center and then saw waves of energy floating outward from my heart. I added the green for the heart chakra. I painted the lines with a script liner brush. Then I realized my heart is a big flower. It reminds me of a poinsettia. Maybe I was channeling my inner Georgia O'Keefe. What a fun class this was.


Now its your turn to share.  I would love to have you join in and tell others about this opportunity to share your creativity.

Navigating Through The New Year

On January 1st I chose 3 cards for the year from the Awakening Your Divine Self oracle card deck. I got Daughter, Waiting and Intention.  A pretty powerful set of cards to guide me.  The other thing I plan to do is to choose a card at the beginning of the month. Some great wisdom can be found in an Oracle Deck.  I picked a card one my animal card decks and got Raven so magic is afoot for January indeed. For anyone interested, I now have more oracle decks in stock.  You can purchase your own here.

I have been sick since boxing day and in those moments when I felt better I created some pages in my recycled paintings journal.  Its so fun working in this journal since there is already paint on some of the pages.  I tend to play in it more, having no preconceived notions of what will be there it is very freeing.

This page started from cleaning up in my studio.  I found  scrap with lots of overstamping and brayer marks on it. I glued it right into the journal and started working over it.  I ended up journaling about those unseen guides and how they offer assistance which led to thoughts on bravery and courage and just where does it come from.  Where do you think you get your courage from?

Some Art I Can Show Now

Now that Christmas is over I can share one of the gifts I made for my sisters. My goal was to create a mixed media piece honoring our female lineage. Each painting has all 3 sisters along with our mother and grandmother.

This one was for my sister Peggy, she is in the center, my grandmother Bridget is on the far left and next is my mother Rita, on the right is my sister Marianne and then me.

Here is a close up of my grandmother and mother.

This is my sister Marianne's painting.  I started by printing out one of my grandmothers letters on tracing paper and using it for collage in the first layer.  I used gel medium skins for the faces and layered lots of paint.  I used a gel pen to write around each person some characteristic about them. These were both really fun to make and my sister's loved them.

Kate

Beginnings & Another Adventure

 For Paint Party Friday, there is no finished art, so we will tour the studio for the humble beginning of many things.

This is what's on my desk. The beginnings of a journal page.

I started with collage by laying down old book page scraps, then came Inktense blocks and water for some color.  Then I drew some circles and painted around the background with Golden fluid acrylics and water.  I love how this Fabriano paper takes water. Not sure what is coming next as the process for me is just to follow my intuition.

On my big easel is the start of something. I am not sure if I like the pose so I am letting it sit for awhile before I begin.  Sometimes I like to let things percolate for awhile.

On the small easel the start of another sheep portrait.  I start by sketching in charcoal and then start adding paint. These all will have to wait for next week for some attention.  I am  headed down to Utah for the Great Basin Fiber Arts Fair.  I am traveling with my friend Kate.  So yes two Kate's will descend upon the unsuspecting Utah fiber community.  All kidding aside, we will see old friends, take a class or two, see the displays and shop.  It should be a grand time.  Have a Great Weekend.

Don't forget to check out the other folks posting at Paint Party Friday

Making Order out of Chaos

This past week I have been making jewelry which resulted in all my bead boxes becoming a disaster.  So this is just a little bit of the mess of my reorganizing.  I had piles of colors all over the tables in the house. I worked on organizing for 2 days but now everything is in its place.  Sometimes I can handle only so much disorder. I can get such pleasure of putting things in little piles of color and shape and making order out of chaos.

 

 I found this video on twitter this morning. Its an advert for these silicone tools that look really great. I also liked watching this artist and her philosophy about using the tools. They also have wedges that work well with encaustic painting and would be great for mixed media. I may have to get some of these, yes Dick Blick has them.

This little guy should be arriving at my doorstep today.  Its a self igniting torch for encaustic painting.  I have been re-watching all the video's from Judy Wise's encaustic painting DVD.  I am looking forward to doing some of the exercises I didn't do while the class was live.  I hope the UPS driver comes early rather than later.  I want to play.

Finished Painting

I thought I would show more work in progress shots on this painting I have been making. To see the beginnings of this see the previous post.

Sometimes the differences are hard to see but other times I think you will be able to see changes that I have made.

I tried making a movie of all the shots but it didn't work and I am not sure why so we are stuck with stills for this project,

Here is my finished version. I hadn't started out attempting a self portrait but she seems like one to me.  The raven is a totem animal of mine so you will see her often in my work.  In addition she may be the beginnings of character in one of the books I wrote for Nanowrimo. Or at least a sign to work on that story. For now she will be called Branwen although that character is a cross between a raven and a woman so she will look different when I really do paint her.

It interesting how art evolves.  When I started this canvas I wanted to do a woman and a bird. Then I gave up the idea and just started with a background and decided to see what developed and here I now have what was my original idea. I decided that its part of my process when I create.  I do this in writing too, I can't have it all planned out or I shut down.  I need to be able to just have it flow and let it evolve into what it will be. She was painted on and 11 X 14 gallery wrapped canvas. I used acrylics, spray inks, stencils and masks, WC crayons and a stablio pencil for final details.

Do you find that your art tells you something about yourselves?

New Video On Taking Classes With Me

Postcards for iHanna's Swap

These are the postcards I made for iHanna's international postcard swap. You can find out about the swap on her site.  

All the backgrounds were made with Tim Holtz Adirondak Color Wash sprays.  These sprays are actually a water based dye and are fun to work with.  On thiscard I just added some bird stickers.

On this one I started with the face stamp, drew the body and added chalk on the cheeks and the shirt.

Here I used one of the collage elements I got from Zorana, her birds are always a great embellishment.

This one has stamping in white and black and was in homage to the Japanese people.

After creating the background. I used a stencil and  some colorwash spray.  I then outlined the  flowers in white. I loved how it just made them pop.

Here I used my mendhi stencil and some golden fluid paint. I use a stencil brush to get the paint into all those tiny spaces.

In this one I used a stencil and used some colorwash spray.  I then painted over the flowers with twinkling H2o's and then outlined the  flowers in white. You can't see it very well in the photo but the flowers have a shimmery look to them.

I just added  a picture of the Mona Lisa, that was an actual post card itself and then added some charcoal  and oil pastel, and words.  It was fun making these cards.  

So what did you do over the weekend?

An Big Announcement and My Sunday Sketch

First here is my sketch for Sunday Sketches. I decided to journal in the background today.  She seems to look a little younger than my last two sketches. To see what other sketchers are doing go here.

My BIG Announcement

I am happy to announce that my first online class Mixed Media 101 will be starting this month.  Although the class is designed for beginners there are some advanced techniques as well. I've recorded 16 videos for  the class and six PDF'S. Participants will make their own journal from a kids board book. Topics include using paper, and paint to make simple to complex backgrounds, adding texture, collage and lettering to pages. We'll use stamps and inks to add depth and even learn to use a dip pen.  In addition I give an in depth talk on the various supplies Mixed Media Artists use.

If you know of any beginners or have friends who would love to get started in Mixed Media I would appreciate it if you could pass the information on to them.

Go here for more details and information on signing up.