Hello

Well it has been awhile since I have posted anything on the blog.  I have still been creating though!  I am currently taking a class called Around the World Through Art.  I haven’t had much time to do all the lessons that have been posted so far but am so happy I signed up for it.  It has some wonderful artists giving lessons using their techniques and it’s all inspired by the various places they live.  I did manage to finish this Spanish lady painting recently.  It was created based on a lesson given by Emma Petitt.  I love Emma’s colorful, expressive portrait paintings and was so thrilled to do this lesson.

Happy Friday!

Debbie

Abstracts and Art Journaling

I took a little break from blogging and really enjoyed the summer.  It was a busy one but I still made time for art.  I painted a number of  new abstracts on paper.  The two above were one painting that I cut into two 5 x 7″ pieces and mounted onto wood panels.

I bought a new art journal in June when I went on my annual trip to Nashville Indiana.  I certainly didn’t need another journal but it was calling my name.  I have been playing in it quite a bit.  It’s a Dylusions journal and I really like the paper.  I’ll share some of the pages that I am working on in another post.

Happy Fall!

Getting My Way

I was wanting to create a painting similar to a previous painting that I had done.  The face didn’t have a lot of detail in it and that was my plan for this painting.  It didn’t go as planned.

I just kept adding paint.  At one point I did not like her eyes at all and repainted them.  I would like how it was coming along, and then I wouldn’t.

I get irritated sometimes because I have these ideas of what I want to create and then I just can’t make it happen.  I guess my muse has other ideas.

My daughter says she looks edgy.  I can understand why.  That is the way I felt most of the time I was painting her.

I did end up liking how she turned out but decided to add the triangle tattoo to her face just because it was on the other painting.  At least I got my way a little bit.  🙂

 

A Little Bird Told Me

This is a re-do of a collage painting that I must not have liked too well the first time around.  I had torn all the paper that had been glued to it off and it was looking pretty bad.  I started out by gluing down scrapbook paper.  The paper mostly got covered up with alcohol inks and paint, but the colors in the paper is what inspired the colors I chose to use in the painting.

I sketched in the girl with a charcoal pencil and painted her face and neck with acrylic paint.  Next I covered most of the paper with white acrylic paint and then started dropping alcohol inks onto the front and sides of the canvas around the girl.

I decided to use the ink on her hair too.  In case you can’t tell, I was having fun with those inks.  I may have got a bit carried away with them like I did the last time I used them.   I don’t use them often because the smell really bothers me.

I added the little bird because the girl looked like she was looking at and listening to something.  Part of the color in the bird is from the alcohol ink drops but I did also use a little acrylic paint to finish it off.

Have a great week!

Debbie

Everything Will Be Ok

I painted this girl for my cousin.  She’s been going through a very stressful time in her life.  She has always been so complimentary of my art and has a number of my girl paintings.  When I first started doing art and showed it to her, she was so excited about what I had created.  Her compliments and excitement gave me the confidence to keep moving forward with creating art.  I am so grateful to her for that.

As I was finishing up the painting, I wasn’t sure what words I wanted to add.  I keep small scraps of papers and other ephemera that have inspiring words, phrases and quotes stuck in a little flower frog on my art counter.  I went over to thumb through those scraps and found a card that read “Everything will be ok”.  I knew that was just what needed to go on the painting and I know that everything will work out for her and it will be ok.

 

 

Only a Reflection

 

This is another You Tube inspired painting.  The video was posted by Nika Rouss.   I ordered a couple of the stencils she had used and, once I received them, I got busy painting.  Here is the video link:  Nika in Wonderland.  I really enjoy watching her videos!

 

 

You Tube Inspired

One of the ways I seek inspiration is to watch You Tube videos of art tutorials.  I recently watched a video by Jenny Niemi.   That video inspired me to finish a painting that I had put aside a while ago because I couldn’t decide how I wanted to finish it.

I had stenciled, stamped and painted a lot of different colors and patterns onto a 12 x 12 inch art panel.  When I saw the You Tube video, I thought of the panel and decided to give it ago.

I sketched in the girl and painted her face.  I added the waves in her hair with a Stabilo pencil and lightly activated the pencil with a damp brush.  I gave her dress a collar using pieces I had torn off of a paper doily.  I then painted around the girl with white paint allowing a bit of the colors below to show through.  Next I stenciled on some words and then lifted off some of the paint by dabbing it with a baby wipe so that the words were not legible.  I also added some texture by brushing some drywall tape with blue paint and stamping that onto the panel.

Happy to have gotten another one out of my “what to do with” pile and finished up.

Have a great weekend!

 

Obscured

Here are the other abstracts that I mentioned in my previous post.  It’s a set of two paintings that I have name Obscured.  These are larger than most of my paintings at 20 by 20 inches.  They are on a gallery wrapped canvas that has 1 1/2 inch deep sides that are painted black.  I used mainly acrylic paints and charcoal pencil.  I had a lot fun making scribbles with the charcoal pencil and then somewhat obscuring the marks with paint.

 

Happy Friday!

Debbie

A Bit of Gold

I’ve been away on a wonderful trip with my daughter and granddaughter for the past week.  We went to Walt Disney World in Florida and then on a Disney cruise and had such a great time.   It was a very busy week though and I am happy to get back home and back to creating.

I finished a couple of abstract paintings shortly before leaving on the trip.  They were inspired by a gold leaf painting I had seen on Pinterest.  The first painting (above) is on an 8 x 10 inch wood panel.  I started by gluing down some tissue paper that had a map print on it.  After that I applied wall paint in white mint and aqua using a palette knife.  I also added some white paint letting it mix with the wall paint.  I kept building the layers and scratching into the paint.  I used a sea sponge to randomly had bits of the darker blue color onto the bottom portion of the panel.  Next I added collage medium in spots across the panel and added the gold leaf over the medium.  I also added little bits of gold leaf in other areas on the painting.  I painted the sides in the white mint color.

After I completed the smaller one, I decided to go bigger.  The painting below is on a 20 x 24 inch canvas with the sides painted and gold leaf added there as well.  It looks very similar to the first only much bigger.

Have a wonderful week!

Debbie

 

 

 

 

 

 

Abstract on Paper

I recently completed a couple of abstract paintings but only have a picture of one of them to post for now.  I somehow managed to mess up the settings on my camera and haven’t taken the time to figure out how to fix it.

I do love painting on paper and then mounting it to a wood panel.  This began as a piece of mixed media paper I used to add leftover paint to while working on another project.  I have a number of papers like this just waiting to be finished.  If I only had more time for art!

Have a great weekend!