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

Well Hello

Can’t believe it has been a month since I last posted.  I have been busy but at least some of that busyness included art making.  I finished this abstract painting, along with a few others,  since my last post.   This painting is on a 12 x 16 inch canvas with the painting extended onto the sides.   I used mica flakes to add some glimmer.  I like the texture the flakes add to the painting in addition to the glimmer.  When I look at it, it makes me think of a formal evening gown so I decided to name it The Gala.

I’ll try to get pictures of the other two paintings and post them before another month goes by.

Debbie

 

 

Find What Sparks a Light in You

This painting was created based off a lesson in the Layers of Light course I am taking given by Laly Mille.   I love her teaching style and her beautiful light filled art.  If you haven’t taken her class, I would strongly recommend it.  The price is very good and you get so much out of even just one lesson.  She gives six lessons in the course.  So far I have completed two.  Here is the first painting I created from one of the lessons.

I added a few quotes to this painting.  One of them was by Oprah that reads – You have to find what sparks a light in you so that you, in your own way, can illuminate the world.   The inspiration I received from Lally’s lessons definitely sparked a light in me and I hope to create many more light filled paintings.

The flowers at the bottom were created with alcohol inks dropped onto the canvas.  I have never cared for alcohol inks much and very seldom use them.  Laly really likes using them so I thought I would give them another try.  Once I got the first few drops down, I rather liked the way it looked.  You can tell I got a little carried away but it was fun!

I hope you all have found or will soon find what sparks a light in you!

Debbie

 

Decisions, Decisions

I haven’t got much art time in lately with all the holiday preparations going on.   It feels like forever since I’ve posted anything on the blog.   I have been working on this painting off and on for awhile now and it isn’t finished yet.  It is on a 9 x 12″ piece of mixed media paper and I can’t decide if I want to cut it down into two smaller pieces or not.  Guess I will put it aside again and get back to wrapping presents.

I wish you all Happy Holidays!

Debbie

You Get a Line…

I am taking an on-line mixed media workshop called Layers of Light by Laly Mille.  I have only had time to create one piece from the first lesson but enjoyed it so much!  I am looking forward to working on the next lesson, which is with plaster and encaustic.

I’m calling this piece You Get a Line because, after adding the image of the boys going fishing, I kept singing that Little Big Town song, Boondocks.  The three little round pieces are crinoid fossils from a lake in southern Indiana.  I almost didn’t add them because I thought they kind of looked like Cheerios.  I showed the piece to my daughter after I had finished it.  She asked me what the little circles were.  I told her and she said “Oh, I thought they were Cheerios!”  🙂

 

Mixed Media Girl & Dragonfly

I came across a canvas that I had created background on a few years ago but never finished.

I started with collage using scrapbook and other papers.  I added very little paint at the time I created the background and just decided to keep it that way.

I scanned and enlarged a sketch of a girl I had done on a legal pad.

I used carbon paper to transfer the sketch to the canvas.

I then painted in the girl using acrylics, watercolor crayons, Pit pens and a Stabilo pencil.

I finished it off by adding a little dragonfly embellishment.

Now I’m off to the next painting adventure.  Happy Sunday everyone!

Waxed Wooden Tag Art

I came across some wooden tags in my stash and decided to paint a girl on one of them  and then coat it in beeswax.  I sketched her in with a graphite pencil, painted her with watercolors and outlined with a Pitt pen.  I used a gel pen for the whites of her eyes and in her hair.

After stamping on some script text at the top of the tag,  I still felt it needed something more.  I added some little jewelry pieces that I had saved from a broken earring to a string and tied it to the tag.

Here she is after a few coats of beeswax.  It really deepened the colors. I’m not sure if I like it better with or without the wax.  If I do another,  I’ll make her eyes a lot lighter now that I can see how much they darken up with the wax.  I do like how the wax seems to soften the shading around her forehead and under her eyes making it look more blended.

It was hard to get a good image showing the texture created by the wax.  You can see it a little better at the top of this image.

Happy Friday and may you all have a great weekend!

Published!

One of my mixed media paintings, “Autumn Haze”, has been published in the Autumn 2016 edition of Somerset Apprentice magazine.  I can’t begin to tell you how happy I was when I received a complimentary copy in the mail!  I absolutely love the Somerset magazines and was over the moon to have a piece of my art published in the Apprentice magazine.

The magazine will be available on September 1st and it is full of wonderful, inspiring art that has step by step instructions showing each artist’s techniques.

Happy Friday!

Before the Storm

This painting was created based on a Life Book 2016 lesson given by Gillian Lee Smith.  I love her paintings and really enjoyed learning her shading techniques and creating so much yummy texture using gesso.   My husband said it looked like a storm was coming, so I decided to name it “Before the Storm”.

I had recently splurged and bought myself some Arches watercolor paper.  It’s so expensive but I loved the way it took on all the wet media in this piece!  It didn’t buckle or pill.  Can’t wait to use it again!

Tag Art

I had a bit of fun collaging, sketching and painting on a couple of tags.  These were inspired by watching youtube videos of Mystele Kirkeeng.  She adds so many layers to her art, especially her faces.  I love watching her create her wonder infused paintings.

I had been working on a Life Book 2016 lesson that I was enjoying immensely but I got stuck on what I wanted to do with the background.  Watching Mystele’s videos and painting the tags were just the diversion I needed.   I have now decided how I want to finish up the Life Book lesson and hope to complete it soon.

I hope you all had a great weekend!