Mixed Media Art. Photography. Inspiration.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Shadow Shot Sunday : Portland, Oregon-Style

These photos were taken a few weeks back while we were up in Oregon visiting family.  I love going to Portland whenever we go up there.  It's such an artsy city and there are some amazing buildings.  This one really caught my eye because the beautiful architecture and details really stood out, especially with the way the light was hitting it, creating some very cool shadows.



I cropped in closer on this bottom picture, so you can better see the shadows created by the chains and awnings.  With that said...these are my submissions for Hey Harriet's Shadow Shot Sunday.  To check out everyone else shadows or join in the fun yourself, just click on the button below.  Enjoy!




Thursday, August 26, 2010

Mixed- Media Painting: To The Sea-Green

Here is my mixed-media painting for Cathy Nichols' Found Art Friday and Louise Gale's Creative Color Challenge.   They decided to combine them since the two went together so well.  The Found Art Friday theme is "To The Sea", and the Color Challenge theme is "Sea-Green".


I immediately knew I wanted to paint waves, but when I started to work on it this Tuesday I was not very happy with where it was headed.  Yesterday when I worked on it, I started by painting over what was already there (3 smaller waves) because it didn't have the impact that I wanted.  When I painted this larger, more graphic wave I immediately liked it better.


 I added the "spray" by rubbing on Golden's Fiber Paste with my finger.  When dry, I rubbed a bit of Heavy Gel Medium in a gloss, to add a bit more sheen in areas.  It still didn't look finished, so I added the border around it.  I did this by 1st wetting a stamp, then rubbing over it with a black water-soluable(WS) crayon.  I sprayed it with more water then stamped it on, then I rubbed out some areas with a wet paper towel to soften it.  I then took black and then white WS crayons and outlined the border here and there.

For the Color Challenge you have to use only shades of sea-green, along with black and white if you want, and this week Louise said we could also add metallics.  I added painted cheesecloth in the bottom corner, and added a few objects that looked like they were found in the ocean....a smashed piece of copper pipe (hey, you never know), a silver shell, sea glass, and a brass ring, along with some copper wire.  To balance it I added a copper tack to the other three corners.


I'm not sure if it's finished yet, I feel like I need to work on the border a bit more, but I'll see what happens when I step away from it for a bit.  If I change anything, I'll show you a picture of it later.

I'm off to go to the Sawdust Festival in Laguna Beach (a wonderful art show)!  I'm so excited!  Woohoo!  There are some amazing artists every year, can't wait to see what they came up with this time.  Bye.

Umm...yeah, I'm back and yes...I need to fix the border.  I'll post pics when it's done.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Light and Beauty and SSS

There is something about the light in Oregon that takes my breath away, especially the late afternoon light.  That's my favorite time of day anyway because I LOVE the long shadows, and because the afternoon light seems to soften the appearance of everything that its warm glow caresses,


even paved roads and dirty, tattered old mail boxes.



These pictures were taken from my sister's house, at the end of her driveway.  Amazing.  Every afternoon I would just stare out at their front yard and try to take it all in...try to soak up the light and beauty that was right there in front of me...right in their yard.  I wondered if I would ever get anything done at this time of day if I lived there...and wondered how often her and her husband stop....and just breath it in.

This is for you V and B, to remind you to not take advantage of the beauty that surrounds you...and to remind all of us to do the same.  We may not all have a view like this, but there is always beauty that we could appreciate right there in front of us, which we probably take for granted.

What is it that is right there in front of you, that you would suddenly miss if it were gone?  Take a good look around.


These pictures below were taken IN their yard.  I was working just outside their garage, making them some art pieces (talk about an inspiring view!  picts of the artwork coming soon), and I looked up, caught my breath, then grabbed my camera and walked maybe 25 feet in front of me and snapped these shots.  Unbelievable.  Sooooo pretty!  I did nothing to any of these pictures, just simply captured the Lord's light and beauty that seemed to make things glow from within...hmm kind of like He can do with us if we let HIM.


I love how the leaves seem to capture and hold the light.


I've been wanting to participate in Shadow Shot Sundays for a while now, and I think that this might be a good week to start.  I love capturing the play of shadows and light, so now I found a good reason to keep it up!  It's as simple as it sounds, take photos of shadows,  post them, and link to the amazing person who created Shadow Shot Sundays so everyone could go check out all the other participants.   To check it out just click on the button below.  Enjoy!
                                                                                  



Tuesday, August 10, 2010

On My Way To Oregon



Don't these pictures just remind you of summertime!  These were taken at the Irvine Spectrum in So. Cal.

Just a quick post to let you know I'm going on a trip up to Oregon today.  I'll be back on the 18th, hopefully with some pretty Oregon pictures!  See you then.  Bye now.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Birthday Crown



 My baby boy recently turned 18 months.  How did that happen?  Where does the time go?  It's amazing how fast it flies by.  When he turned one I wanted to make him something special that he might hopefully appreciate when he is older.  Since he is our prince, I decided he needed a crown.  A fun, grungy, yet regal crown on a cool piece of wood, for our little man.  It's been done for 6 months now and I finally took some good pictures of it, so I wanted to share it with you.



The crown was cut from a piece of cardboard, which I tore, painted, and stamped on.  The piece on the center of the crown is a doorbell plate which I found in Oregon, at an architectural salvage yard, a few years back.  I didn't touch it, the black paint was already perfectly "distressed" when I bought it!



I doodled all over the background in pencil, and wrote little messages to him.  On the bottom left it says "Never lose your sense of wonder".   When my sister was on a trip to NYC she bought Elias a gift from a store called"Sense of Wonder" and I kept a sticker off the package knowing I would use it for something one day...and now here it is!


I wrote out "prince" on one of those cheap label makers and punched holes in it before nailing it to the wood.


I antiqued a new #1 metal house number by sanding it and spattering it with paint, then I nailed it on.


My son was helping me take pictures of his crown.


After carrying it around a bit, I guess he needed a rest!


Oh, and I played around with my blog background.  I'd love to know what you think.  

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Beautiful Beads and Silky Fabrics, How Could You Resist?!

I'm pretty sure I have enough papers, paints, embellishments, beads, fabrics, etc... to get me, AND a few girl scout troops, through quite a few cold winters.  So I've been trying not to buy anymore supplies, except for staples like glue, gesso etc., and use what I already have. (And I WAS doing pretty darn good with this...  )

I've also been trying not to start anymore new projects, and just work on finishing all of my unfinished projects, and whatever else is already on my plate...Artistic Mother, owed gifts, etc...

Can you sense where I'm going with this...?


I have a friend in from Australia right now, and I promised to take her shopping for beads and fabric in Downtown Los Angeles where you can find some amazing deals.  Now, I knew I would be tempted to buy beads and things that I didn't need, so I promised myself that I would only buy something if I absolutely "fell in love".....




Turns out I'm a bit of a slut!  I loves me some purdy beads n scrumptious fabrics!




Oh, and that reminds me of how I justified buying more jewelry supplies, while I have tons sitting around here waiting to be used (you know ...besides the falling in love justification of course!) .  As I passed by and saw these lovelies I thought , "OOOH turquoise!  I don't have turquoise, which I love! And it's not beads...it's turquoise"!  Did you catch that..."it's not beads...it's turquoise"  That's honestly what went on in my head!  And what else "isn't beads" and will look gorgeous with it... wood!  Who can argue with that? (don't answer please, dear hubby).


 So now I want to forget about all of my current projects, and get to work making pretty(or purdy) jewelry instead!


And look at these fabrics!  Four gorgeous new fabrics waiting to be used.  The cotton peacock feather print (LOVE!) was going to turn into a bag (it's the one pictured with the"beads"), but now I'm trying to figure out if I have enough to sew a skirt instead!


The other three are sheer silks ...oh sooo pretty!  I LOVE this bottom one, I think it's my favorite.  I'm pretty sure the colors and pattern are going to end up working their way into a painting.


That's right ... that's' multiple NEW projects to add to the line up!  sigh... so much for that!