Colors of Summer

I’ve been enjoying the wonderful weather we have had this past week.  I decided to paint something bright and summery.  Coral is one of my favorite colors.  Pair it with yellow and, to me, it just screams summer.

This painting is on a 16 x 20″ canvas.  I painted the entire canvas with a yellow acrylic paint and then added some corals, pinks and oranges to it.  I used bubble wrap and white acrylic paint to help transition the two color sections.  Next I added a vintage butterfly picture and painted the sides black.

Have a wonderful summer!

Debbie

Without Change

Here is another completed spread in my character journal.  This background started with leftover paint from other projects and then I added a little stenciling and stamping.  I drew in the girl and glued down some butterfly images.  I found the quote on-line but it is unknown who said it.

I really enjoy working in this journal.  I’ve been sketching lately and have a few characters I drew which I am going to scan, resize and then copy into the journal to paint.

Have a great week!

Whimsical Portraits Workshop

Three months or so ago I took a wonderful workshop given by Ivy Newport.  Ivy creates all kinds of lovely art in the softest of colors.  This workshop actually has two lessons and is called Whimsical Portraits and Dreamy Landscapes.  You can find it by clicking here.  I wasn’t going to post about this until I created the Dreamy Landscape piece but, as usual, I got sidetracked by other things.  I know I’ll create the other piece, but just not when.

In this workshop Ivy shows how to paint over a photo so that it ends up looking very different from the original.   Because I used a photo of my mom, I couldn’t bring myself to change the photo drastically.  So instead, I just added a little color.

I wanted the piece to tell a little story about her.  Mom grew up on a farm in Missouri surrounded by corn fields.  She graduated from school when she was 16 and moved to Chicago with her best friend.  Her sister and brother-in-law owned an apartment building downtown Chicago.  She and her friend got jobs and rented a room in the apartment building.  She told me once about how, on Friday nights, they would walk to the pier and greet the sailors.  Sometimes they would get asked out on a date to see a movie.  The butterfly represents her change from being a small town country girl to moving to the big city.

My dad was from the same small town as my mom.  He was in the Korean war and once he returned home, they married and settled in Central Illinois where the raised me and my sisters.

Expressive Portrait & Inner Guardian Angel

I finished a couple more Life Book lessons which were both portrait paintings.  The first one was created based on an expressive portrait lesson given by Jenny Wentworth.  I so enjoyed watching my girl evolve through all the layers of paint I kept adding to her face.   After the painting was finished, we were instructed to put down a layer of clear gesso and write down whatever came to mind.  I always have a hard time writing down my thoughts so most of the writing is art quotes I found on Pinterest.

The next one was a bonus lesson given by Tam called inner guardian angel.  The girl was from a sketch I had done a while back in my sketch book, which was much smaller than this painting.  I scanned the sketch and enlarged it so it would fit onto my watercolor paper.  I then created a rub-on by printing onto transparency film and rubbing onto to the watercolor paper.  I really like using this technique because it allows me to use any of my smaller sketches in larger pieces of art.

Now I am off to work on the large painting for my sister that is still in progress.  Have a great weekend!

Mail Art – Update

Ok, so you know how my granddaughter and I planned on exchanging mail art after she moved to Nebraska?  Well, I had sent her my first card,  then she sent me her first card, and then I proceeded to misplace it!  I looked high and low off and on for over a month for that card and had just given up on ever finding it.  Then, while looking for some ink to use in a project, I found it sitting right on top of a stand that holds all of my inks.   Right there, in plain sight!  I hate it when that happens!  But, I am so glad I found it!   Her prompt was butterfly and her picture is of me chasing butterflies.  I love it!

She did give me a prompt for my next card to her.  It was to have something to do with flowers.  I decided to do a silly card using distorted photos of me and grandpa as the flower centers.  These pictures are so awful but they are also pretty funny and I knew she would get a kick out of it.

The prompt for her next card is “puppy love”.  I can’t wait to see what she comes up with.

My Oh My…

What a Wonderful Day!  It is a beautiful morning!  I took this painting out to the porch rocker for a picture and as soon as I am done typing this blog post, I am headed out there to sit awhile.

This painting is another re-do.  I had gotten a little carried away with the collage I had added to it and wasn’t sure what to do with it.  I happened to see it in the closet a few weeks ago and have been playing with it since then.  I decided to paint over most of the collage.  I love the blue color I added and, with what was peeking through from the layers below, it started to look very vintage.

I printed the words onto some scrapbook paper and glued them down.  I wasn’t sure about adding the white rub-ons under the words but I really liked the way they came out.  They are kind of hard to see in the picture though.

I was going to use the doily’s to spray some ink through but when I laid them down on the canvas, I liked them there so I decided to just attach them instead and add some buttons.

Have yourself a wonderful day!

Debbie

Friends Among the Flowers

Last year there were two little bunnies that lived under our deck and played in the back yard.  They would lay under the decorative grass in my flower garden on hot summer days.  I’ve been seeing the bunnies again this year, only they are much bigger.  They hang around in the yard munching on grass.  I love that they don’t run away when they see you.  They really aren’t afraid.

Whenever I see the bunnies I think of my younger sister, Sandy.  She had a pet bunny named Willy whom she loved very much.  Sandy passed away four years ago.  I can’t believe it’s been that long and I miss her so much.  These journal pages are dedicated to Sandy and Willy.

Miss you Sandy!

The Good Things

I’m still playing in the art jourals.  While working on this spread, I was stressing over some things that were happening in my life and told myself that I need to focus on the good things.  Even though the good things may not be standing in front of me waving their arms saying I’m right here, and even though at times you might think things are just awful, there is always something good around you!  You just have to be willing to open your eyes, see it and focus on it and it will get you through.

I came across a quote by Dalai Lama about attitude and thought it was very fitting for this page.  Changing your attitude about things helps you see the good around you and brings on the happiness.

Wishing you much happiness and may you always be surrounded by many good things!

Debbie

Journaling

I’ve been playing in my art journal.  Here is a new spread I added.  The colors bring to mind a summer picnic.  Oh how I wish it was summer right now!

Happy journaling!

It’s a Teeny-Weeny Yellow Polka Dot…

Well, it’s not a bikini, it’s a couple of  teeny-weeny 3×3 inch canvas collages which just happen to have some yellow polka dots.   (I was hoping I could make that rhyme but it just wasn’t happening.)

Using some left over paper scraps from my last project, I glued them down onto the little canvases.  I smeared some paint around and did a little stamping and stenciling.  The black easels really make the colors pop.  Especially those yellow polka dots.

These little guys were fun to make!