TODAY'S CREATIONS

I have decided that I just love to do watercolors that are more expressive and not quite as tight. It is actually fairly hard to keep the colors from making mud but I think I will practice up more on these. The top two were not painted on Arches 300lb. Maybe one day I will get the confidence to paint something bigger on this very expensive paper. The top painting is cropped at a 5 x 7 although it was bigger. 

  The calligraphy was written, scanned and put into Photoshop to create the piece with these letterforms and a crop of a watercolor background that has great colors.  The calligraphy was written a couple of days ago as practice and when a few days go by and I saw it again today, it looked appealing to me so I used it. That happens to me a lot. I guess I shouldn't rip up my painting and toss it into the trash so often---I might like it is a few days.

I was thinking about cutting some more wood for frames but the cutting wood muse didn't come today---maybe another day. 

We are going to Greenville, SC, tomorrow to visit our daughter and her husband so I won't post again until next week.

Have a Happy and Creative Labor Day!

WOODEN CUBE TRYOUT

I have cut wood with a saw today--that's a first!  I used my miter box and cut the sides. I had a hard time measuring and cutting correctly. It was more involved that I thought it would be. Then I glued the sides, painted it with crackle paint and then glued on the canvas. It turned out really cute but for the time I put into it, it should cost $300!  But I will probably put it up on Etsy for maybe $50.  It was fun though and I will make some more for these flat canvas boards.

"MATTIE LOU SELF PORTRAIT"

This is Mattie Lou. She is a happy girl out in the side yard in the little patch of Buttercups. She used to pick them and bring them inside for her mama who was always very appreciative.  She loves to create things. Keep looking out for more work by Mattie Lou, the true artist!

"TO CREATE A LITTLE FLOWER"

Two little happy ACEOs. Much easier than the lilies. I just needed to do a little quick calligraphy on something after the water lilies below (and below the water!) :)

"LILIES OF THE POND"

Here is the finished piece I did on Ampersand Aquaboard. It is 12 x 12 and it was fun to paint although I thought the subject matter was rather hard. Some of the lily pads are under water and that was very hard but I did enjoy working on the Aquaboard. It is a clay-type surface for watercolor that is adhered to a 2 inch deep cube. I started this painting in Ted Head's workshop on Sunday and I have probably worked on it for 6 hours more here at home. I will probably fiddle with it more but I thought I would go ahead and post it -- and should probably leave well enough alone. The left hand under the water part needs something----but what?????

"WATERCOLOR CLASS WITH TED HEAD"

Had a great time this weekend at a watercolor class with world renowned water colorist and teacher, Ted Head. Here he is, the world renowned teacher, holding my watercolor with a thumbs up. (Actually I told him to do that)

Here is his web site. Look at the wonderful portrait of "The Hatian" Incredible! Love the Bolivian children also.

Ted Head Fine Art

Go to his Gallery> then to People.

I am still trying to figure out my new camera so the picture of Ted isn't focused that great---bummer---I should have taken two. That's my new rule now---always take two. The painting isn't finished but I am planning to finish it. It was a fun workshop. Nice people in the class too.

"HURRICANE FAY PAINTINGS"

These are 4 ACEOs that I painted by candlelight during the howling wind and rain of Hurricane Fay. It was after I almost burned the house down with a candle and a plastic glass-(I won't say any more about it because I don't want to ever think about it again) Good lesson learned though and many thanks to God for surely "sending His angels concerning me to guard me in all of my ways."

So anyway, when the lights came back on---it needed a bit more color---so I punched it up a bit. I will put these into Etsy. Hurricane Fay art---do you think that might help sell them??

"THE SECRET OF ART" by Mattie Lou

Mattie Lou got some new Ranger Dabber paints today in the mail and she wanted to play. They are very neat---little 1 oz platic bottles of acrylic with a round sponge top--- and dab away. Fun! They will be great for stamping on acrylic to stamps. No muss---no fuss. She had fun---she has been bored in the rain today.

"RAINY DAYS"

Tropical storm Fay is bringing us LOTS of rain. Thank goodness we still have electricity but they say the worst is yet to come. I have been painting a little bit---experimenting also. The first image is 5 X 7 size. It has fiber paste on canvas board and acrylics. The fiber paste gives the image some texture and looks similar to handmade paper on the canvs board. It had a shadow but I cloned it out because it didn't look good. The next two images are ACEOs (2.50x3.50 trading card size) and maybe I will post them to Etsy. The third one didn't
really scan as well and it is rather eclectic. It looks pretty good in person. So therefore, it might not be a good Etsy entry. The face is a stamp.

"HAPPY YELLOW"

It's acrylic!

"THE YEAR OF THE POTS"

I was asking my husband if I had painted way to many pots and he said, "No, it the year of the pots!" And I guess it is! I kinda think it's the year of the Poppy too. Actually I was practing on some 300lb watercolor paper (scraps of course) and I have cut some 2.50 x 3.50 ACEO sizes and I am going to paint some little originals for Etsy. Maybe they will sell. Maybe I will sell them for $12 or so. I love painting them so it will actually be fun.

We are going to have to hunker down in the next two days for Hurricane Fay. I have my flashlights and candles ready. I will paint by candlelight. I am sure they will be more beautiful---everything is more beautiful by candlelight.

"POPPY GARDEN"

This is the last of my series of Poppy paintings..............HA...fooled you for a minute there!

I think I will paint Poppies forever!  I do think I will get all the Poppy paintings together and sell them on Etsy---I'll try anything---

www.marthalever.etsy.com

This is a 6x6 deep edge canvas that I had painted black over some crappy thing I had painted.  I kept looking at that black canvas and through some green paint over it and distressed it by wiping off some of the paint tp let the black show through. you can't really see it from this picture but it really does look kinda neat with the distressed background.

POPPIES ON WOOD"

This was a new experiment for me. This is painted on an 8 x 10 piece of wood. The background was suppose to be more textured but I am still experimenting with my new Golden products. It was suppose to crackle but I don't think I put it on thick enough. It is textured somewhat but the photo just doesn't show it. I will try my hand at some more acrylics on wood. This is pretty fun actually. I guess Poppies are my current comfort zone---like the pots. 

"BELIEVE"

This is paste paper. I wrote the "believe" first with a ruling writer on the blank paper with Black Cat India ink to see if it would  stay put and show  through the paste paper. There is potential here actually. If the lettering goes on first then that might relieve some of the layout lettering decisions. I might try more of these. This is an 8.50 x 11 sheet of Arches Text Wove paper.  I also enhanced it a bit in Photoshop.

"HAPPY MISHAP"

Well, for me, this was a happy mistake because I lettered this in gouache and I smeared it. ARGGG!! So rather than chunking it with a cuss word---I really don't cuss- :)--i decided to just take a damp brush and go over it very lightly so as to not wash away all the letters and then added some FW inks. Pretty cool!

"BACK TO THE COMFORT ZONE"

The first painting  is acrylic on canvas board. It is 5x7 and the second is watercolor which is also a 5x7. Are you so sick of pots of flowers? I hope not because I love love love to paint pots of flowers. I should change it up a bit which I will try to do. Maybe I could throw in a watering can in or something.  (Since I am such an expert at drawing now!)  :) I might even be more productive today and do something else. Actually, Imust  confess, I did the watercolor yesterday and the acrylic the other day. I need to do something today. I am thinking about going to my second home, Reddi-Arts, to get some Golden* molding pasts and different texturizing materials and experiment with different surfaces to paint on. They love me at Reddi-Arts---I pay their salaries.

"POPPIES GALORE"

This actually is a bigger painting on a 10 x 10 piece of Arches Hot press 140lb. paper. WOW--it was a clean white sheet with nothing on the back and not even a scrap! I must be doing better. Actually I was trying out my new M. Graham watercolors. They are made with honey so they stay soft if you keep them covered. I think I am really going to enjoy them. Don't know why I put the swirls in the background but they were done with a white gel pen. I kinda like it but did it as a whim. Sometimes my whims work and sometimes the don't. I enhanced it just a bit in Photoshop but not much. I enjoyed this piece---in fact I painted it so late that I had to leave it for this morning and I couldn't get it off my mind last night thinking how I would finish it up this morning. I am crazy that way---what can I say---art is my magnificant obsession!

"DRUG OF CHOICE"

Mattie Lou demanded equal time.

"CANNOT ESCAPE FEAR"

This is another piece set up in Photoshop with all my original lettering. The "FEAR" is in  the Roman hand that I have had saved in my calligraphic library for years and pull them out quite often. ( yea for cut and paste!) The Italic hand for the quote is from a font of my Italic that I created in Fontifier. Fontifier is a fun program but it is very basic and the spacing between the letters isn't good on this font. But I  squnched the quote together in Photoshop and then they look a little bit better. The background is a monoprint that I did in Charleston many years ago. 

Most of the day I have been putting handmade journals up on my Etsy site.  You can see them. They are "Excettera Journals" because you can use them for the excetteras of your life.

www.marthalever.etsy.com

hey cool--- just figured out how to make my Etsy site a link.

"TRUST IN THE LORD"

This is a paste paper background. I added the stars in Photoshop and added the lettering from my original lettering that I actually wrote in my composition notebook. Major clean up job to use it but I thought it was fun and unplanned. I do better with fun and unplanned lettering. You would need to do a close up of the middle part of the verse to read it. That part is a font that I created inFontifier from my calligraphy. I like to use it.

"DAY TWO"

I just wanted to see this piece online. I actually did this several years ago and it was in a show the Lettering Group did at the JCA.  Each person drew a day from a hat and we created a piece from the Scripture.  As you see, I had day two. It is one of my very favorite pieces. We sold the whole collection for a pittance---I wish I still had it. It was an incredible show. They were fairly large. Some lady bought all seven. 

 I would love to see the collection again. I will probably post something else today because I have been working on something. It will display above.

"BLESS YOU"

This is a piece that was so fun! I love setting things up like this in Photoshop. It is a scan of my original background and calligraphic lettering. Then I put it into Photoshop and the the fun begins. I can change the color, size, make it taller or squattier (squattier?--i think i made up and word) Hey, it's just plain fun for me---after the hard part is done (the calligraphic lettering) then you just get a good scan and save it in your files. You might see this verse again used another way---probably tomorrow. By the way, the Bible verse is great too!

"THE GREATEST CREATIONS OF ALL"

As I was looking through my creations it occurred to me that no matter how much I paint or how many pieces of art I might sell, nothing compares to our two greatest creations of all, Zach and Macaulay. Zach is a Renaissance man who can do just about anything and does it well. His passion is music but he will be a lawyer and has one more year at UF Law School. Macaulay is a precious girl, wise beyond her years, married to Marc, a precious and wise boy also, and together they are the most blessed of couples. It is clear that God put them together.

Yes, I am blessed.

"HEART ART"

No matter how much I enjoy the art of Mattie Lou with her little faces and little ACEO's my passion is for lettering. I long to create beautiful letterforms and for me it has been, and will continue to be a life-long passion. 

This is a piece of paste paper that I made yesterday with Lori and Rynda. If you look to the right of this piece towards the bottom you will see "jars of clay".  This is a wonderful rubber stamp that Rynda gave me---she wrote it and made a stamp out of it.  It is a great Scripture and the stamp is great!  I will enjoy using it for textures and backgrounds in the paste papers. Thanks Rynda!  

FUN AT THE RED DOOR

Here are a few pictures of the activities at my studio. The first picture is our drawing class with Stephanie Sipp. She is in the front. We have had such fun learning to draw and found out that we really can draw---but you have to do it!

The next two pictures of from our paste paper day with Rynda and Lori. We made some pretty good paste paper today and hopefully we can do something with it---books or something. It was fun. Then there is me on the swing with my papers. It is always fun with my art buddies!

"EXCUSE ME..."

Mattie Lou happy girl art strikes again. She has fun painting these faces. This is an ACEO 2.5o x 3.50 trading card size. They are difficult to paint at this size and you can only get about $12 for it in Etsy. Is it worth it to sell the originals??---probably not. The prints of the originals ACEOs go for about $5. Hmmmm--is it worth it? YES---if I can sell it!!!!!!! I am not sure where Mattie Lou will go with this happy girl art. (The happy girl is Mattie Lou not the girls depicted---although that could be the case too.) I just love the colors and the happy fces. I want all the girls to be pretty and happy.

ACEO TRYOUTs

ACEOs are Artist Card Editions and Originals. Many artists are selling these little art cards on ETSY. They are small--2 1/2 x 3 1/2. They are similar to trading cards and people are collecting them--so I thought I would try some. The girl was kinda fun and the Poppies are always fun. These are a little bit smaller than the correct size for an ACEO because I miss- measured the 300 lb Arches. See---I get so flustered using 300lb Arches that I messed up. Must remember--"Measure twice--cut once." We'll see if I can do more of these and post some.

"LITTLE POT OF FLOWERS"

This is a 4x6 little watercolor which is a tryout of little original watercolors that I am planning to post on my Etsy sight. I hand-deckled these edges by tearing the paper with a deckle ruler, wetting the edges then positioned just slightly off a board and sandpapered the edges. It gives a "feathered" look that you get with handmade paper. I am planning to either buy Twinrocker paper with the feathered edges or make my own. The Twinrocker paper is to die for...so I think I will order a few sheets, paint a few, and post them. I am a little down in the dumps artistically---it would be nice to sell something on my Etsy site or see that people are looking. The one sale right off the bat must have been a fluke. I know it takes some time to gain a following but my fruit of patience is not working very well. Anyway... just needed to have a little pity party...but tomorrow is another day. Create for creation's sake!!.................and journey on!

Love to paint these pots and I like writing on this cheap watercolor paper. I think it is Canson but it is smooth enough to write on but still takes a watercolor pretty good.  One of these days I am going to take out my 300 lb paper and PAINT!  The Arches 300 lb is the crim de la crim of watercolor paper and it is expensive so you don't want to waste it. There are others but you can't beat 300 lb Arches.  

"DELIGHTFUL POPPIES"

I think I must be obsessed with Poppies. They are my drug of choice--ha. Doesn't some kind of drug come from Poppies? Hmmm--not sure but I sure enjoy painting them. I will paint them until I try another flower. Maybe Daffodils next. These are Poppies that I have painted in my practice pad on the backs of other things---still afraid of the big 300lb white watercolor sheet!!! Then I add my lettering from my calligraphy library in Photoshop. (I did write it) The Poppies here could stand alone without the lettering. I couldn't decide---so I put it in. And ---no zooming in to inspect the lettering please--only to read the Scripture---Scribe's orders!

I also think that a little bit of Mattie Lou is painting all these flowers. She likes to finger paint. Look at the sky---it's finger painted.

"EXPERIMENTAL POPPIES"

"IT IS MY FAITH"

I would like to say that this is painted on a large panel 8 feet by 4 feet---but it's just a 71/2 by 2 inch strip piece. I do better on little strips of scrap paper. What does that say about my confidence on a big sheet!? Maybe I can build up to that. I am experimenting around with some watercolor techniques. I love the juicy look. We'll see where it goes. Bye for today!