happy easter

my indoor fairy garden that i made up this past fall, is still going strong (for the most part...) i had a couple of plants that were not sure about their surrounding- you have to be a fairly tough cookie to survive in my house- not all plants are made for this (looking back, apparently, it is the fairy tears that did not fair so well)....:)

but, some are- like the impatients. and these impatients, are even in sync with spring and the holiday....happy easter!

MAIL!!

i was gonna participate in the usual friday fill-ins (which i do like to do!!- if you have not participated, you should give it a try), but,....when i got home from dropping off our daughter at her driving hour this morning....i spied from the end of the driveway a large envelope sticking out of our mailbox. look at the colors- my favorite!!

a large mailing envelope, painted, stamped and delivered with my name on it! i had dreamed about getting one of this artist's envelopes or file folders.....do you know Roben-Marie? she is a totally amazing artist! i love her sense of style and her creative inspiration that she always seems to be providing to me.

i feel so blessed because my package that arrived held rubber stamps! not those cutesy teddy bear or kitty cat ones....no these are mixed media essentials! doodles of the coolest sort! Roben-Marie asked if i would create stuff using these stamps- well YES! all i have to do is make interesting arty stuff with new stamps?! i am so totally in! and perfect timing....it is friday, and i am off of work- what a perfect creative storm!

mixed media flower on canvas

on friday this past week, i got to go and hang out with my mom and paint at her studio for the day. the female forms that i posted earlier this week were some of what i painted, but, the other painting i got done that day was this flower.

i like painting with my mom, especially at her studio...we have similar art interests and painting styles, but, do select different colors to purchase and paint with; so when i paint there, i have to use colors that sometimes i have not painted with- which at times, challenges me.

little and big/ female paintings

have you heard of bob burridge? i was fortunate enough to take a painting class from him a few years ago. i like to visit his website and was so inspired by his contemporary figure drawing that i needed to make some of my own. can you pick out which of his ladies was my inspiration? if you are on the contemporary figure page- i used the second painting for my inspiration. i started first with a small piece of paper, post card size, and then, made another painting on a canvas, 10"x12" covered with music paper.

friday fill-ins

and.... here we go! 

1. the wind blew wildly and even though the calendar says it is spring, it still feels like winter.
2. spending today with my mom creating art and having my husband take me out for lunch today for my birthday made me feel warm and happy all over.
3. the smell of  car rear-end grease makes me think of old cars (love them!).
4. when i am feeling lazy i sog on the coach.
5. brilliant purple is my favorite color- it is so hard to choose though; i love color!
6. the door creaked and a ghost came in. (do you believe in ghosts?...)
7. as for the weekend, tonight i'm looking forward to going to a movie, tomorrow my plans include going to an indoor track meet, and sunday, i want to will be at a volleyball tournament.

happy spring!

i am so ready for spring!! our temp in my neck of the woods still very much feels like winter! we have been down to single digits for overnights and not breaking out of the twenties for daytime temps....which is CRAZY for the middle of march! it is the first day of spring for heaven's sake!!i am clearly dreaming of spring....i made a flower with a kid-favorite classic game- loves me, loves me not....i am hoping that spring loves me and comes here! hoping it is warmer where you are!

mass choas, but remembered

 my husband would be mortified to know that i was showing pics of my studio space....especially how it looks right now; but, i am going to organize and sort, and maybe even throw stuff away and clean while i put stuff back this week. my studio space is finally dry!!

 
one thing that occurs when something like this happens is that you move and sort things that you i, let's keep this real- and make me see my ways...., i am positive after taking stuff out of my studio space, that a little throwing would be A okay and most definitely needed. i need to clean house and really decided if i am going to keep something.


another thing that happens is you "find" stuff and remember how well you liked something. i found this card when moving stuff. if i posted this card- it would have been a long time ago.....but, she is one of my favorites so i thought i would share. and maybe i can show you how organized i become. :)

thankful for....

i was so graciously nominated by Evie at artful scrapbooking for a Liebster Award. i am very honored....thank you!

i am supposed to nominate other blogs that are some of my favorite-

• Connie at Strumming&Singing
• Hula-la at LoNg OvErduE/Book ReNewal
• Donna at Yak Yak Art
• Maria at Scrap-Art-Design

the rules:

THE AWARD

This award was designed to be a blog award in the pay it forward fashion.  Once you’ve been nominated, you award it to blogs that you like that have fewer than 200 followers, to encourage new visitors to visit these new blogs.

ACCEPTANCE

Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to their blog, post the award onto your blog, give the award to five bloggers who you appreciate that have fewer than 200 followers, and leave a comment on their blog to let them know that you have given them the Liebster Award.

friday fill-ins

and.....here we go!

1. i was looking for my studio to be dry by this weekend- want to create again!
2. visiting with family or friends over coffee is one of my favorite ways to socialize; although i love my blog and twitter. :)
3. i looked at the clock and couldn't believe i was still up....again! darn this daylight savings...
4. at work- black, is the type of pen i most prefer to use; and at home in my journal, a colorful pen will do.
5. what in the heck-fire is going on?
6. volunteering seems to happen to me often.
7. and as for the weekend, tonight i'm looking forward to putting my studio space back together, tomorrow my plans include hanging out at home and sunday, i want to go spend the day watching volleyball.

magazine cards

 with my studio still drying out, my daughter having an english project due which included making cards, my fingers aching for paint.....i went for the next best thing- glue! we made cards strictly from magazines; no scrapbooking paper, book paper, paint, stamps, inks- basically anything of the usual card making stuff. nope, all i could find was the blank cards, scissors, and glue; and magazines. she needed 2 love cards, 1 father/ daughter, 2 sympathy, 1 apology, and 1 friendship.

so here is a glimpse at our love, father/ daughter, friendship, and sympathy (the sympathy one is a bit of a stretch....)

thank you card

i made thank you cards this past week- thank goodness i got those done when i did....i went to work in my shop this past saturday, and discovered that the rain that was falling, was now in my studio space in our basement.....so, instead of working on art and doing fun things, we pulled everything out of my studio including the carpet; leaving my studio in shambles.

here in the midwest we are in this weird in-between seasons. it has been warm enough to melt the snow, but, not warm enough to thaw the ground....so, when it rained on saturday, the rain really had no where to go because the ground is still frozen- we also have lake in our backyard. this past year we were so dry that some of our foundation has apparently pulled away from the driveway allowing the rain to seep in; leaving me with a mess.

thank you card, a photo by alteredstatesstudio on Flickr.

illustrations

 with pencil in hand, i gave drawing class another whirl. we had already had this model one other time. this first posted drawing was one of the last poses our model had done. you can see the shadow of a shoulder in the right hand corner....i had attempted this pose a couple of times; not satisfied with my first attempt.

 i liked the strangeness of this one with the one nipple looking at you. i should have used my white gelato to cover and blend and push the words back a bit. maybe i still will, but, i am liking that bizarre nipple.... 

 i thought my feet were interesting- this is such a push for me to draw any sort of realism....one of my classmates told me that i need to work on my form and perspective more... but, i find it way more interesting if whatever i am drawing is NOT quite true to perspective. i do not mind a little off perspective. similarly- in the first pic, his left shoulder is a wider than the right one? did you catch that? go back up and take a peak.....the other thing is, is when i go to this class, the people that go to draw are amazing. very skilled. and they may not be happy with their drawing, but, theirs looks 10x better than mine usually. that is why i have learned to not judge my own drawings until the next day. i imagine my drawings "cooking" overnight, and somehow magically being better the next morning. i do usually like my drawings so much better the next day (i think it's probably the lack of comparison) ......and then i think, yep, drawing class was good!

purple mixed media heart on canvas

i made this purple mixed media heart this past weekend. it is a 4"x4" canvas. i find that the more textures and layers that are down, the better i like the painting.i had played and painted many layers....putting the paint down and maybe taking some back off; layering of tape and paper dots too. i had played between using a painted paper heart and glueing that on, versus just drawing on the canvas. i ended up liking the drawn heart better and i found i could manipulate the heart easier to get the colors i wanted. the paper heart was too easily lost on the painting....so here is my heart for you!

owls

this middle pic of my canvas shows them gesso'd and ready to go. i gesso'd first, and then, pressed my stencil into the gesso and allow it to dry before starting with acrylic paint.

so here are my pair of owls- "owl love them forever!!" i know, i know, i am bias here because i made them, but, aren't they so cute?.....both are acrylic paint, ink, and a beak of paper. happy monday!

SODAlicious challenge 21: lomo love

 here is my journal page entry for the SODAlicious challenge  21: lomo love. i gesso'd my page and used ink to lay down the initial color. i went in with spray paint and stencils to add the yellow circles to the page and then, back in with acrylic paint to soften the ink and stencil lines. i added the word and then added the blue splashes. i love the color combination and textured feeling of the page.

share my story

what am i doing? smiling like a crazy fool who just cut their bangs, and blogging my story (for my favorite blog) before i take kids to school and head to work for the day..... i am a wife of 23 years to my high school sweetheart (and no it was not a shotgun wedding) and we have 3 kids- boy, 18 years in first year of college who will be home today for spring break....cannot wait for the good college stories; girl, 15 years who had a liver transplant as a baby, and now a sports machine (volleyball, basketball, volleyball again, and track); and another boy, 14 years outside of the box thinker and creator of all things funny.

my real job during the day is a part time (sometimes almost full time) gig at our local hospital where i wear four hats. for the most part i love my job. the people are great and when i am having a bad day, i just have to tell myself that work is called work for a reason, and tomorrow will be better- "so buck up buttercup!"

i love art. i love collage, and colors, and paint. i come from a long line of artists, my grandma was an artist, my mom is an artist, and my dad enjoys creating things.... when my gramma was still around, we had a few 3 generations shows locally and in her hometown. the last one turned into a 4 generation show as our youngest has an artistic flair and gramma asked him to hang some things as well.

i love auctions.....for a while, and here is a juicy tid bit....i would go almost anywhere to go to an auction. it got to the point, where my spouse told me i had to stop. okay. and then, i would stash stuff in my trunk. until he went to put something in my trunk, and i went scurrying behind him when i realized that i still had "stuff" in my trunk. when he popped the trunk open and saw my stuff, i hung my head in shame, and announced, "i think i need therapy".....i am now under control, but, still love a good auction.

one of things on my bucket list, is to be an extra on a movie. i don't want to say anything; i only need to be a glance in the background as the camera pans past....i think that when i am watching a great movie, how much fun it must be to be on the set and how most movies have scenes where there are a people in the background of the shot- all i want is to be one of the people in the background a couple of times in the movie.

my favorite blogs:
     art- every life has a story,  simply me, czekoczyna
     life- design the life you want to live, introverted art
     junkin'- junkologie, knick of time

one last tid bit......my husband made me a studio space in the basement. it is not big, but, it serves the purpose and it is filled with things i love and is messy and magical. i love to listen to music when i am in that space, and sometimes, i just have to dance.