29 Faces Sept 2

to be totally honest, i don't care at all for this one, but nevertheless here it is

29 Faces Sept 1

I've signed up for the 29 Faces Art Challenge, hope I didn't sign up for more than I can handle, but i have wanted to participate in one of the faces challenges for quite a while now.   

Day 1, Sept 1
Well after picking up the pencil and drawing i realized that this will be far more difficult that i first thought.... my hands frequently, very frequently i might add, shake due to something called "essential tremor". However when faced with either withdrawing from the 29 faces challenge or continuing, i decided that i will continue &  will "embrace the imperfection"!

you call this is work??

A few months ago I received  a note in my etsy shop from Tabitha from DecoArt, asking me if I wanted to join the the DecoArt Design Team. I did some research & learned about their new line of professional artist acrylic resin paints, Traditions , which I can attest to are simply wonderful!  Lots of questions & several emails later I officially joined their design team. 

What does it entail? Just creating art!  I am offered an assignment to create something using a particular product or perhaps a theme, take photos of it and write out detailed instructions. I then send my art to DecoArt & they send me a check! How wonderful to get paid for what you love to do!
A couple weeks after I joined I was surprised by a huge box from DecoArt filled with  their complete line of Traditions paint plus other mixed media art supplies! Have to say I really love the Traditions line, they are a dream to paint with!!! LOVE them!

Here's my art corner in the kitchen. My husband was going to make a shelf for my new paints but when we were shopping he saw the clear plastic replacement drawer for a fridge that would work perfectly.  All he had to do was drill holes in it and voilà! a terrific shelf!

sometimes art is bitter sweet

It always is a wee bit sad parting with a piece; but this one hurts. I have used this piece as my shop banner, the picture on my business card, & often as my profile pic. It's creation seemed like God was involved with it by the way that it came about so smoothly with each stoke of color going perfectly in place. I was just considering removing it from my shop when Marian, who lives in England, asked me to reserve it for her. I know how much she loves it & that she will give it a good home, but for the time being my heart is breaking a bit.

Expressing Les Mis

I love the movie Les Miserables! I cried throughout the film when i saw it in the theater & cried each time I watched it via Netflix (6 times in one weekend!)  The power & emotions of the movie Les Miserables were so overwhelming that I felt consumed by them; the only solution was to express them on canvas.  

 I created this  abstract mixed media collage, Les Miserables, with many many layers of glazes, plus paper, fabric, a photo transparency, washi tape & ink.

IA Heart Tag Swap

Inspiration Avenue had a tag swap last month
that was delicious fun....

make 3 tags with a heart theme, mail them to 3 people
 and get 3 in return!

So I made mine with love, mailed them out

and eagerly waited as wonderful

tags of friendship flew across the miles.

Then one by one they arrived in my mail box

each bringing  smiles and delightful joy !

The first to arrive was this charming tag

 created by Terrie Purkey

The next to arrive was this beauty

by our IA sister Maggie

And the third delightful heart tag

came from our new IA sister

Kim Prowse

I love every one of these 

handmade heartfelt tags!!

Thank you Terrie, Maggie & Kim!

Want to see more of these?

Check out Inspiration Avenue to see more!

~ Bridges ~

Shel, my sister at Inspiration Avenue is hosting this weeks 

art prompt --- "bridges".

Vermont and the New England states are loaded with covered bridges, and I don't think there is a covered bridge that i don't love. There is something totally charming and romantic about them. 

I have the feeling of stepping back in time to a 

quieter and more gentle era whenever i set foot on one.

This bridge is called "The Kissing Bridge" it's in Waterville, Vermont. Taking the name and  Valentine's Day that will soon be upon us for inspiration, I had fun playing around with the photo!

There's still plenty of time to join in & you  might also

want to consider joining the IA sisterhood too! 

Tags and Bookmarks

Shel and Kim are co-hosting

 Inspiration Avenue's challenge for this week

the theme... Tags & Bookmarks.

This week's challenge got off to a

fabulous start when I

received this wonderfully delightful

tag by Kim in the mail!!
I LOVE it & thank Kim enthusiastically!

You can find more of her work

at her shop IMGIRL

~
These are the tags I made for the challenge

Speaking of tags and bookmarks
IA is having a tag swap!
Check it out & join in!!
http://inspiration-avenue-team.blogspot.com/

Speaking Abstractly.....

Genesis

Lately I have been drawn to abstracts, the freedom, the color and the movement of the art is exciting.
When I did the painting above I started with modeling paste as the base for texture &  my limited color palette of blue and brown. As the painting progressed, I got a feel of where it was going.  I kept thinking, " In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth"  adding a bit metallic gold to represent the Divine touch or spark of God.  It's a small 6x6.

My husband left a note on the kitchen counter before he left for work saying he really liked this one. Encouraged by that I decided to make  a series like this only in a larger size. Sounds easy right?  well not really.  I made four attempts on 2 canvases during 3 days and was unable to recreate it. It seemed the harder i tried the more awful the results!

So I washed off as much paint as I could with the kitchen sprayer and resigned myself to the fact that i couldn't duplicate it.. at least not for the time being.

I painted glazes over the much abused canvas and came up with this

Taking a break from abstracts  I painted one of my favorite subjects, fiddleheads. But this time instead of the tiny 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches format in water colors, I did it in acrylics on 5x7 aquaboard. I had lots of fun with this one with it's warm & happy  color palette and it took away that sense of failure from the "Genesis" series I had wanted to do.

Celebrating FiddleHeads

Not wanting to give up entirely I yet again took the other abused canvas re-gessoed, added a bit more modeling paste, and began again with a much warmer color palette.... and this is the result

Bursting

Is there a lesson in this for me? I'm not sure but I think it's that I can't paint an abstract when I'm all tense, my better abstracts happen when I'm relaxed and just play with the colors. Perhaps one day I'll be good enough at this to the point that the paint will be subject to me and not vice  versa!

angels and acceptance

The theme for Inspiration Avenue's art challenge of this past week was angels. I had fully intended to create an angel, however this week i had been stretched to my max, struggling with several things, one of which were painting angel ornaments for the grand children.


What has been bothering me most of late is my increasing lack of motor skills. My shaking hands were the main reason i closed my little jewelry shop over a year ago.  Two weeks ago i made a necklace as a little surprise gift for my sister in law, and  noticed how much more my hands shake and also the lack of strength they now have.  I went looking at the pictures of jewelry i had sold from the etsy shop and i confess to feeling deeply saddened that those days are forever behind me.
Making those little angels also served to put the mirror of reality before me, little facial features had to be redone because a trembling hand messed up. Even the simple task of writing the girls names was another reminder, as if i needed yet another! 

 There is a part of me that grieves and yet it's all right.


There's a saying "when God closes a door, He always opens a window"  while it's not Scripture, i am convinced that God has given each one of us gifts to be used, and art has been with me since childhood. So i will rejoice in this gift and paint with a grateful heart as long as God gives me breath.