how my garden grows

here is the painting with the words i painted over (my liberated post earlier)....this is my grunge flowers; that i now love.

this is a 30"x40" canvas. i used acrylic paint, india inks, gelatos (thanks Donna for introducing me to those!!), and collage with some paper and napkins.

the layers are rich and full of texture- you want to touch this painting. this garden was grown with a lot of love, sweat, and almost tears. :)

figure drawing- 1st attempt

i am lucky enough to live close to a larger city with universities...ones with great art departments. my mom and a few friends have been going to this drawing time for quite a while, and i had been wanting to give it a try. it finally worked out last night. drawing is not necessarily my strongest suit, but, i would like to change that. this group normally meets on thursday evenings and rotates models between male and female. i was using a sketch and wash pencil to do my initial drawing. then, it blends nicely with a little water.

here we were getting more into the drawing after the warm ups....i only showed you a couple of my first ones because i have not done figure drawing before and he would only hold the pose for about 8 minutes....i was barely getting anything down! this one was a little better- although, i purposely cut off the bottom of the drawing. his legs and the bench that he was sitting on got a little weird. i did use my white soft oil pastel to sketch my initial outside shape and then, went back in with the sketch and wash and india ink.

this was my favorite drawing. our model sat in this pose for the last hour. after my previous drawing above, i decided i was not going to tackle the legs and bench again- so i only drew his upper half. i used a hot pink soft oil pastel to sketch the outside initial shape. i filled in some shadow with a sketch and wash pencil and then broke out my india ink; and finished up going back in with a black and white soft oil pastel.

art journal page

i love the circles and polka dots! makes me happy!

this is just the beginning on this side- we will have to see what i finish with. happy monday to you! thanks for stopping by to see!

tag....

i wanted to participate with the tag making from artspeciallyfriends.blogspot.com 

. this is the tag i made yesterday.

the back is pretty simple; although, the numbered tag at the top is a metal tag i made with white paint, stamps, and UTEE from an earlier post this year.

thank you cards

hand made thank yous for my great friends who helped with graduation. this is the front.

this is the back....loving my glimmer mist and diamond stencil.

have to have a matching envelope! with a little stitching....

here is my second one....with some stamping and a little more india ink and some fabric scraps....

and the back....

lesson

lesson in patience.....i had this idea for a painting for my new kitchen and somehow in my head the vision is layered, lovely and perfect. however, (and this is where the patience comes in), my painting and my style are not ones that come in the first swing through. probably not even on the second or third-(i normally lose count)....and when i am thinking "holy cow this is ugly" and let it sit and "cook", then, somewhere deep within i hear the whisper of what to do next. what layer of color i need, or layer of ink, paper, pencil....and very slowly, i usually come to something to i like. so after a rocky start, my painting was whispering for turquoise and india ink. the ink may have gotten a little OC. can you tell?...but, i sure did have a good time. stop back...to see my kitchen painting and see what my fuss is about.

back in the saddle

i finally had time on sunday to play in my art journal.

a little ink, stencil, watercolor pen, stickers, sewing, scraps....makes me happy!

the purple blob under the little purple flower is a used papertowel- nothing is garbage in my studio sometime. i like the simplicity of this page.

not completely sure this page is finished, but, i am happy so far with what i have....we will see.

and this is a new art journal i purchased. it came all the way from poland hand-made by czekoczyna! she is an amazing mixed media artist! my journal is filled with a variety of paper- book paper, envelopes, postcards--it is so cool! if you have not visited her blog, you can click on the banner in the right hand corner of my blog or click here.

birthday card

i made a birthday card for our oldest son yesterday who finally turned 18! he is one of the youngest in his graduating class.

i used many "scraps" i had found around the house....edge of paper sack, used paper towel (loved the purple!!), masking tape, top edge of cat food bag- yes i did! also used india ink and stitching. good day!

re-work

this original painting hung in both galleries that i am in but did not find another home. sometimes whispers tell me to re-work painting....which is what i am in the process of doing now. the words on the painting, were part of the original painting, and, i wanted to keep those. i was thinking i was almost finished with this and then, decided to layer the white- it was quite bold underneath. while contemplating what i had just done, i noticed the purple india ink....and decided that was needed too. 

i loved the circles, but, before they were really in your face....now, with the layering i like how the circles softly come through. i love how the purple ink ran- this particular layer was really  wet.. i will show more after letting it "cook" for another day or two. happy monday!

birthday card

in between making things for the grad party and track meets, i did manage to make my wonderful husband a birthday card.

if you look close, the book page that is the main portion of the card is from the vintage chemistry book. i plan on using that whole book! ;) my husband is always saying, "it's good to be the king." love this stamp for this kind of stuff.

inside of the card...i like the way the india ink bled through the book paper. the book paper was a little flimsy though, so i added another page out of a journal to write our wishes on- this added a little strength and sturdiness; and i left the ripped edge from the notebook- you can see that edge above. this added a nice textural element.

happy birthday sweetie!

graduation invites

this is my first batch....

i did use chalkboard paint for the black swipe across the front. vintage book paper for the circles and scrapbook paper for the colorful strip along the left side. the no. 2012 is stamped in white craft  ink and sprayed with a fixative to stay put. ;)

i also used green india ink on the fronts and backs along with a gold glimmer mist. you can appreciate the glimmer mist better here on the back. and my husband is always telling me "it's good to be the king" so when i found that stamp, i had to have it- and it is perfect for the graduation cards! it is stamped in grey.

i did sew along the papered edge as well with a white zigzag and a black straight stitch for a little texture. i did not trim the threat close- choosing to let the threads come shortly off the page. my plan is to place his picture on the top half of the card and the information for the open house on the bottom. i did also "do" the envelopes. the scrapbook paper was so cool and had such nice colors that i had a left over piece that fit nicely on the envelope.

and check this out.....so yesterday morning at about 510am, my vintage old oak table that i have had forever decided it had had enough!! and broke in thirds! the loud crash of course woke me up. i came down thinking i was going to be mad at the cat, and was looking around, couldn't find anything until i turned around and really looked at my table, and then said "holy crap, my table broke!" what a way to start the day!

graduation card teasers

i went to my mom's studio space yesterday and we sweatshopped it making graduation cards yesterday. we punched 2 different size book page circles.

i used a swipe of chalboard paint on the cards.

we then followed up with drips of grass green ink and sprays of gold glimmer mist. we got close to finishing yesterday but, not quite. so this is a tease of what we were using.....hope you will stop back to see the finished product very soon! happy thursday!