I'm in the Museum!!! :)

Oh, did I not tell you---my Poppies are now in the British Museum!!!

Just kidding of course. Here is the site where you can put your pieces in the museum too.

My blogger friend Julie had this on her site and I just had to do it. Thank's Julie!!!

Just a Little Piece of Wood

I wanted to try the Golden Absorbent Grounds again (makes any surface a watercolor surface) so I put a couple of coats on this little piece of wood (2.75x 5.50) I got from Michael's. It worked really nicely although the texture from the wood absorbs the colors and makes some slight absorbent runs but nothing earth shattering. So the answer to that would probably be sanding just a bit just before I painted to make a smoother surface. It's really cute. I like it. Maybe I will make some more. Just love those Poppies--as as you see I haven't beaten my Poppy addiction yet. I did paint a few Irises but I am not sure they are blog- worthy yet. I will have to practice up some more.

Hope everyone is having a joyful and blessed season so far!! I love you all and so enjoy reading your comments and looking at your blogs. You are all so talented in your own ways. xoxo

YA GOTTA DRAW!!!

This is from our drawing class. Today I did the one with the sheep (that was a challenge!) and I did the plant and the book last time.

This is what I think about drawing, and for me, it has made all the difference in my art progress: drawing is essential if you want to be a better painter! Not that I am that good at it or anything but if you want to have more successful paintings, do mixed media or even draw the darling little curtains in the Christmas village, you need to have at least some drawing experience. We, in our drawing class, call it-"standing in the fire" because when you are drawing something that is feeling especially difficult there is a strong tendency to not push through and quit because the drawing is too hard--- but you must stick with it and see it through. It's the "staying in the fire that moves you forward." And when you have done that you just might be pleased with what you have drawn---and you don't even smell like smoke!! (Can anyone tell me what THAT great story comes from???)

Anyway, that just my advice for the day for what it's worth.

I hope you all will try to make a Christmas Village with Claudine Hellmuth. I found the tea lights at Walgreens and I just can't tell you how cute it is with the tea lights flickering!! I have all her paints and supplies and they are great.

Claudine Hellmuth Christmas Village

Here is my cut and paste project today from Claudine Hellmuth . It turned out really cute but I can't say that I really enjoyed making it. I have never been a good measurer, cutter or paster. Even as a child. Maybe that is why I am not so good at making books although I love to make them. This is my theory on that, for me at least--- precise measuring must take a switch from the right brain to the left brain---back and forth and I don't do well switching I don't think. I get a headache when I have to measure things while reading instructions (ugh!!!)---and actually my left brain is pretty non-existent anyway! I was bound and determined to make it though. And I need to find the little battery powered tea lights. Then I think it really will be cute. So, for today, my left brain had a go of it!

The background is paste paper I did the other day on cradled 12 x 12 Ampersand panels.

Oh, and by the way, I have been tagged a couple of times and I have not been able to continue the tag but I do SO appreciate the tags from a couple of you wonderful and talented people. I'll try better next time--if there is a next time! :)

Update! I just checked Michelle Brown site and guess what I saw---check it out!!!!

Poppies in the Green Field

This is one of the last lessons in the Michelle Brown watercolor class. I will miss her wonderful accent and her quirky and endearing personality. In these lessons you can tell that nothing is scripted. She just goes for it with her painting examples and all turn out extremely beautiful. And she is a bit unorganized which only adds to the fun.

The background of this one is the Saran wrap technique which gives an interesting effect. It is one of my favorites techniques to do. This painting is 11 x 14. The Poppies are piling up! I have a true Poppy field right here in my studio!

Paste Paper

I guess I am in a gold and crimson mood today with the paste paper. The swirl is a Tim Holtz mask which I think will be fun to have and use. This paper is much brighter in person. It was late in the day so I guess my light wasn't as good but hopefully I will fine a use for these but for now they will go into the huge backgrond stash. It is three different cuts from the same piece. I did do somt other backgrounds but I thought this one was the best.

THE SIGHT OF STARS

This piece is 16 x 20 and she is part of a series that I am starting to gather for my upcoming show at ReddiArts, our arts supply store that has a gallery. I am very excited about doing this because it is great exposure.

She had a very bad hair day so a head band had to be painted. I just couldn't get her hair to work. So when all else fails---put a headband I guess. She is collaged and painted and stamps and other stuff were added. I started her several days ago and finished her up late this afternoon. I painted the sides of the canvas brown.

I have digitally (in Photoshop) put the quote in for layout purposes to see how it will look. I do this alot. After thinking about this quote though, I don't think I will use it because it was by Vincent Van Gogh and I don'tthink he was a particularly religious man. For me, I do know many things that are certain (the whole Bible!) so I have decided to pick another quote. Don't know what it will be yet but the layout should look like this when finished.

Tomorrow I will be doing paste paper with the calligraphy students at my studio. I will blog some of my papers if they turn out. I like to paint faces on the paste paper. It makes the faces much smoother.

Little Baby Boy--Ready for Christmas

Here's our little grandson getting ready for his first Christmas--it will be and warm and snuggly one this year!

THE CLOUD THAT DARKENS

Remember the canvas that I dreamed of?  Well, I decided to put this great quote on it.  It actually looks pretty cool in person. The lettering is a variation of drawn Lombardic Versals 

and I colored it in with a Micron Pen 005 in size the make sure I kept good thicks and thins. It was very fun and relaxing after I had penciled in the letterforms and I really didn't know for sure how it would look until it was inked in. 

BUCKY POSIN' WITH THE POPPIES

Bucky loves the Poppies too! He told me he wanted to pose with the Poppies. (If you look closely you will see his treat right there is front of him with the strict command from me to "leave it"!) I think he jumped the gun and ate about 4 or 5 treats before we got the shot.

This is what I call my "Poppy Minima" series. I really like the one on the canvas with the black sides. It's so much fun when you create something that excites you. (It's the "good high" from the art drug!) Actually this was an experimental canvas that actually worked. It was just a regular gessoed canvas with Golden Absorbent Ground brushed on in two coats which makes any surface into a watercolor surface. It worked pretty well actually. The Aquaboard surface (Ampersand) is similar to this surface. But I actually liked it so I didn't waste my money. I hate wasting money on art stuff. ARGGG!!! Here's one thing that I wasted money on--Golden Garnet Gel. It just looks like dirty gritty sand--I thought it was going to be wonderful Garnet specks on the surface---wrong! Anyway--don't waste your money---but if anyone can tell me how they have successfully used Garnet Gel I would be art-ternally grateful! That's a word I just made up---I make up words sometimes. :)

I want to thank Fannie, another fellow artist blogger, who encouraged me to keep up with the Poppy painting until I have painted every last petal and there is not more in me. So encouraging---- and also there is Lori at Elvie Studio, who is a dear dear art buddy who encourages me almost every day either in person or on one or our wonderful phone marathons! She is a great artist---check her out.

AND--of course all the other frequent encouragers, Tess, Brenda, Magdalene, Sherry, Katy, Julie, Kim, Diane, Jane Farr(couldn't get a link to come up), Carol, Jennifer Kathrine. Oh, I hope I haven't left anyone out. And I hope I got all the hyperlinks right. These are wonderful artists who encourage me frequently and even daily on my blog and I know that I am not good at returning the encouragement like I should---0h tisk tisk me! But I appreciate you all so much and everyone is so very talented and gifted in their art form. oxoxox

The Girl in the Straw Hat

Ok, well, I did some digging and it's better not to put acrylic products over even water soluble oils. My fellow artist blogger friend, Sherry, told me this also. Although the research I did said that it might be ok but it is not time tested. I will probably print this girl and put her up on Etsy. I used molding paste for her hat, a technique I saw from another fellow artist blogger friend, Brenda. The hat looks pretty cool in person. She is 12 x 24. This was good for me to try this large piece so i I know I can do it and hopefully I can make more of these girls in this size.

THINK ON THESE THINGS

All of these girls are drawn in pencil but I like to pump them up in Photoshop and turn them to grayscale.

This is a great Scripture---it is so true! (of course--all of it is true!)

Good News and a Question

PENSIVE GIRL

I still will paint Poppies but I will do some blogging of some of my girls--my other addiction du jour. I like to draw my girls when I am sitting down watching TV. I have lots of girls so I will blog a few of them. I might even paint some of them. I want my girls to have a sweet look and most of them come out that way but sometimes a girl will be very persive and you just can't bring her (draw her) into a different mood. All the girls have different personalities and when I draw the eyes they come alive. I really want to draw girls that are more fanciful and doll-like but for some reason that is harder for me. I am intrigued with Suziblu so if anyone has taken a class from her and how she draws her faces--please let me know what you thought of it. I know that most people seem to love her and I don't want to miss out if it's something really great.

POPPIES AND FRIENDS IN A POT

Oh, I am SO trying to move from my Poppy comfort zone (my daughter even said that I need to move out of that zone just a bit). So my first attempt is to put the Poppies in a pot. The blue flowers I think are suppose to be Hyacinths and I used a mask for them.  This is 11x14 size that I painted on a watercolor block. I love the blocks---then you never have to stretch paper--I DO NOT stretch!  Too lazy and impatient for that.  I also painted some Tulips last night but I am not sure if they are bloggable or not. I thought Tulips would be easy and similar to Poppies and they are, kinda, but I need to practice more of them. Maybe I will blog them tomorrow---I will have to think about that. This painting doesn't have alot of the Michelle Brown techniques in it and it is not splishy splash enough but I'm moving out a bit.

ZACH--Future Lawyer, Musician---Artist

Zach (son extraordinaire) was taking a break from studying for law exams and wanted to paint. Of course I can help with that!  He likes abstracts and I like this very clean minimal look of this painting. It is painted on 16 x 16 Poplar wood and is painted black on the sides. Very sharp. We put a sawtooth hanger on the back and he can hang it when he gets back to school in his house. It was a good diversion from the law.

PRACTICE POPPIES

I have been practicing. I am not sure what happened to the Lavender ones because they are a bit cloudy. I am thinking that the Cobalt Violet wasn't completely transparent. One thing you need to know about working with watercolors this way is that they really need to be transparent. Then the underneath layers will show through. You need to check each color you use over a painted ink or black acrylic strip and see if any watercolor remains over the black strip. This is good to know! Michelle Brown has certain colors that we are working with now which are transparent. She uses Windsor Newton and I use M. Graham so I had to check the M. Graham colors. Most are the same in transparent qualities.

I have this "need" to paint and create stuff. Remember Tom Cruise in "Top Gun"--- the need for speed?--well I have the "need" to create art. (I know---that was a poor comparison). It's like a drug to me---sometimes it's a good high and sometimes it's a not so good high. Not that I know about drugs because I have never taken any. I guess that's why art is my drug of choice--good or---not so good!

Blue Poppies

I am not wild about these Blue Poppies. I am trying to move out of the "Red Poppy box. It's fun to paint the red ones and the backgrounds are really fun. We have learned lifting, negative painting, glazing, texturizing with fingers and other objects, and some other things too. Fun!

Michelle Brown Class Poppies 2

We really do have so much to be thankful for! Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! God is good!

Here is another watercolor Poppy picture using all those great techniques for lots of layers. I am loving these backgrounds. Hopefully I can move into another flower but for now, it's POPPIES!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

This is an oldie but a goodie. I probably did this 10 years ago but it was just after I had taken the year long intensive calligraphy class with Reggel Ezell so if you look at the calligraphy--it's not bad. It's actually about 14 x 14 so it is rather large. It's nicer in person because there is 24 carat gold dots all through it. But anyway, I love the Psalm. Tomorrow I will get back to the Poppies. I hope everyone has a blessed day!

Hope you enjoy our little vlog--Zach was at home still asleep!

Michelle Brown Class Poppies

I am working more on the backgrounds. She shows us some really great techniques for backgrounds!  I am loving her class. I will post another one tomorrow with these neat backgrounds for the Poppies.

MAKE A WISH

This is painted on 11x 14 Ampersand Artist Panel for Oil and Acrylics.

I want to fine more of these surfaces. It is a very nice board with 1 1/2 inch sides. Really nice surface for the acrylics. I actually I had on my gloves and put the paint on with my fingers to get texture. Then I just started adding stuff---punchanella, stamps, stencils, more paint. I painted the girl on 140 lb watercolor paper with acrylic and pasted her on. Her dress is collaged with tissue paper. I tried to darken around the edges so she wouldn't look so much like she was collaged on. I think it is ok--you can't really tell unless you really look up close. Then I held my breath and wrote the lettering with white gouache with a nib. It worked great. I will spray it with varnish to adhere everything. I like her freckles.

More Hobby Lobby Poppies 8x8

This panel board is really neat. The wood sides are stained and it has nice hooks already on the back ready to hang. This one was 50% off and very cheap. I couldn't have bought a blank canvas for what I paid for it. I will be on the look out for more of these. You can collage or paint over the image on the front. Actually the girl a couple of days back on Nov 11 was painted on one of these also but I used oils and acrylics for her.

Poppies--White Background

These two pictures are different even though they look the same. I am still playing with Michelle Brown's online class and am constantly amazed with her techniques. Here are two more pictures of my beloved Poppies!

Another Background

It's just a background that I really like taken from techniques from the Paulette Insall Organic Dimensions online class. I like the nice colors and I did hand letter the top in gouache. I don't have a plan for it yet.  I just lettered the top to see how the gouache would do on the acrylic---and it does great. You can't letter gouache (opaque watercolor) over watercolor though. It will spread. Not good for lettering!

A "DREAMED UP" BACKGROUND

Sometimes I dream about art; what I will do the next day, what will I paint or letter. There is a piece of scrapbook paper that I love that I am dying to find out how they gave it the distressed look. So I dreamed about how I would do this and this is what I created from what I dreamed. Sounds crazy, doesn't it?---but I actually dreamed about how to do it. Even in our dreams we can be creative! (...hope you don't think it was a nightmare!) It looks pretty much like the paper. This is on a 9x 12 stretched canvas. I don't know what I will do with it so I will just let it sit for a while until---maybe I dream about what to do with it!

Hobby Lobby Poppies

I bought this canvas at Hobby Lobby because of the checkered border. I collaged and added paint over the existing image and painted the poppies in acrylic. This one is 12 x 12.

She Loves Poppies

This one was very hard to paint. I painted her face in oils and it was such a struggle. I admit I had to smooth her out a bit (ok, a lot) in Photoshop. I do like oils although I sure don't have the hang of it yet. I will try some more portraits in oil ---maybe--- after I unwind from this one. The Poppies are in acrylic as well as her green dress. The background is collaged and she is painted on an 8x10 x2 panel board that I bought from Hobby Lobby on half price and collaged over the image on the front.

Calligraphy Class at the Red Door Studio

This is the first graduating class of the first calligraphy class at the Red Door Studio. Rynda, my art buddy, taught the beginners class and they all did so well! We are so proud of them.

Here are their final project pieces.

ANN HERBERT

BETTY LOU HYATT

CINDY ZEIGLER

Donna Downey Challenge

This was a while back when Donna Downey sent out the challenge to use all our circle cutters and she would pick the winner. This one didn't win but I meant to post it  cause it's kinda cute.  All the flowers are my kids, Zachry, Macaulay, son in law, Marc, and the grand baby to come.

POPPIES Again---BUT WITH GESSO

HEAVENLY SOUND

It's really funny about doing these different pieces. This one started out really bad---background was bad, her face was not good, didn't know what it needed--- then it kinda came together and now I actually really like it. That is my calligraphy in the background and the birds singing and the sound of God's Word is surely a heavenly sound. So---there you have it!

MEDITATING

This is painted with oil and it is 12 x 24. It is one of the largest paintings I have ever done.  I know it is the largest in oil. I used the water mixable oils which might have been a bit easier since you mix with water . It can be watered down like acrylics but I really haven't gotten the hand of blending or layering colors. Anyway, it was fun. I even used rubber stamps for her dress and the background and that works really well. I will try and do more larger pieces. 

Folk Art Angel

This is a small canvas that is 8.50 x 12 inches. Her wings are Biblical Scripture from an old Bible I bought at  a sale for $3 so I don't feel bad about using the pages because all the pages are falling out.  I enjoy painting these folk art looking paintings.  I will probably do some more. Tomorrow I will post a big angel that I did. She is 12 x 24. That's really a big size for me. I am trying to paint larger paintings.  Oh, and the painting for tomorrow I did in oils! Don't know what got into me but I enjoyed it. I will explain more tomorrow.

FOLK ART?

Well, I am not sure if it is Folk Art. I need to do some research on what Folk Art is. I know what it looks like but it would be interesting to read about the history if it. Anyway, it was fun to paint. I am "folk arting" an angel now and I will post her tomorrow.

ARTIST INSIDE YOU

In painting a face a day I do see that the faces are getting to look similar so I think I will try to change it up a bit---but this might be just how I paint them. I could do some children. Their eyes are bigger and wider and the faces are rounder. We'll see what happens.  I love painting these faces and putting in the quotes and Scripture. It's fun.  This one is all acrylic and no Shiva oils. There are some watercolor crayons for the shadows. Then the really fun part comes---spraying the varnish! It deepens the colors and adds a sheen.

And----- check out my sweet friend and art buddy, Lori's, blog. She has done something really sweeton her blog in honor of my birthday. What a precious friend she is. We have known each other since our beginning calligraphy days about 15 years or so.  We have traveled an art journey together that I wouldn't trade for anything else. Love ya, Lori.

DO NOT BE CONFORMED

This is one of the canvases I started yesterday. You can zoom in to see the Scripture. It is a good one---one of my favorites. In most of my paintings you will see a butterfly. Butterflies symbolize metamorphosis and in the original Greek language of the early Bible, the word for "transform"in this Scripture is the same as our English word for metamorphosis. I am not a Bible scholar but I do know this. That's why you will see butterflies in my paintings---for transformation. So---be transformed!

Hey.... it's my birthday...:) I have transformed into another year old.

"Tilty-headed Girls"--Getting ready to Emerge

I decided that I would do some backgrounds and get the "tilty-headed" girls ready. That's what my art buddy, Lori's, sweet husband, Walther, calls them. I am really going to try very hard to not let them look like any other tilty headed girls out there. The tilty-headed girl police is always watching. I think these will be angels anyway and I will probably add some sort of Scripture which makes them different right there. I do appreciate all the instruction I have had from books and online workshops. I am always trying to develop my own style make it mine but sometimes things will look similar.

With that in mind, here is an interesting quote to ponder:

"No one has ever looked at Matisse's paintings more carefully than I, and no one has looked at mine more carefully than he."

--Pablo Picasso

PS--Maybe I will tilt the head on the fourth canvas the other way---that will be different!

HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS

I am trying to use all of my supplies! This background is Adirondack Color wash spray which is a product that I really like. The colors are intense and it sprays a fine mist. I sprayed the canvas with water then sprayed several colors of the color wash---then Saran wrap. I had to put workable fixative because the color wash will move when rewetted. I am not sure if this will give a close up because I right clicked from my Flikr account to insert this picture.