E Makes Art

Photos From The Petite Valentin Art Show

2012-02-19T01:27:00.000-08:00

Fantastic chandelier at Zinnia. Illuminating Inspiration!

Hi there.

I would like to share some photos with you of the Petite Valentin art opening that was at Zinnia last weekend.

It was a great night!
I got to meet other artists, look at all kinds of art, and even sell a painting..... or THREE!!! Yahoo! That's right, I sold my very first paintings (to non- family or friends that is)!! When I showed up two were already sold! See those beautiful red dots next to two of my art pieces below, that means "back off buddy, these are sold!" Let me tell you, I was thrilled!! I have my first non-family member collector. Right? If this woman (of impeccable taste you know) bought TWO of mine, doesn't that make her a collector?

Wow, I sound like such a novice. Don't make fun, this is a whole different world than painting Trompe L'oeil on people's walls. The art world can be a bit of a mystery.

Reva (left) and me

As I was cruising around I started talking to an artist/creative life coach (how cool is that?), Reva Solomon, who submitted some work also, and she asked which were my pieces. When I showed her mine, this dear woman, also of impeccable taste, and a funky edge :-) pointed to one of mine and said "I'm going to buy this one". I wasn't sure she was serious, but next thing I knew, she took "Pinned" down and bought it right in front of me. I was unsure what to do with myself. Three sold out of six before the first hour was even up? Yahoo!!

"Pinned" is already sold and gone! It was above "Be Gentle"

For most, if not all, of us artists, each art piece we create is very special to us, a piece of ourselves. Our babies. So to see someone appreciate your art is a good feeling. It's as if you yourself are understood in a way. I've been wanting to release my "babies" into the world for a while, so to sell three the first time participating in a show gives me a much needed boost to get out there and release more for others to enjoy. I create art because I have to, I'm driven to, but I don't create just for myself. I create because I want to share what I have to offer, what I've been given, with the world. To find others that connect with my art, that "get it" is a true blessing, and it lets me know that I'm on the right path (even though really, I DO know this. Heck you couldn't shove me off the path if you tried, but it's just nice to get a little extra confirmation, you know?)

Reva (left), one of my very first buyers! and me (right)

So here's a big huge THANK YOU to my buyers, and also to you, my blog followers who keep supporting and cheering for me from Blogland!

The art wall that my pieces are on. Can you spot them?

Another wall of Petite Valentine art

Zinnia is jam packed with creative goodness!

Their displays always amaze me!

Notice the saw blade Valentine"wind chime". I love it! (sorry these were from my cell phone so it's kind of hard to see)

I love the figurative painting that's on the wall above. I stare at it every time I go in there. It's by Joe Carrion, a darn talented artist, who works and teaches at Zinnia. If you look to the left of Reva in the photos at the top, you can spot Joe in the background looking busy in the green shirt. Hi Joe!

Another brilliant display. It's a rusty bedspring that has hundreds of hearts tied to it!

I fell in love with an art piece at the show titled "Heart Seat" by Connie Freedman, so I made my husband buy it for me. It's so pretty. I can't wait to frame it. I love encaustic art!

As we were walking to our car we saw this below... they were playing a classic Charlie Chaplin film on the side of a building! Wonderful! We'll be sure to be at South Pasadena's next art crawl, and maybe even be a part of it again!

**side note. My brain is not what I need it to be right now, tough day, so I had by husband proof-read this post. I learned something that I thought I'd share with you because it MUST be true. After finding not one, but three apostrophes where they need not be, to make me feel better he stated, "It's a proven fact that being on your period causes unnecessary apostrophe usage". Of course. I should've kno'wn.

A Little Valentine's Day Fun

2012-02-14T17:41:00.000-08:00

Hi there.

I had a bit of fun today creating a Valentine's Day photo shoot. I was going to post about the Zinnia art show, but I really wanted to take some photos today just for the fun of it instead. I hope you enjoyed them. I had fun getting my creative photography wheels spinning! I can't wait to tell you about the art show in my next post!

Happy Valentine's Day! xoE

A Close Look At Amour...And Two Other Mixed Media Art Pieces

2012-02-10T23:53:00.000-08:00

Hi There.

Here are the close-ups of the other three art pieces that'll be for sale (only $35!!) in the Petite Valentin art show at Zinnia, starting tomorrow. Stop by and say "Hi"! The opening is Sat, the 11th from 6-9pm, but the show will continue for the rest of the month, ... what doesn't sell right away that is!! They're going to be selling the art right off the wall so you can take yours home right away! Zinnia is an amazing little art store in South Pasadena. I'm planning on hanging out at Zinnia for a while, then cruising around the area. The opening is part of the South Pasadena Arts Crawl, so I want to check out some of the other galleries too. I can't wait! There's going to be lots of art, live music, and food in the area! Yahoo!

Ok, speaking of art...

This is "Amour".

It's made on a 4 1/4 x 4 1/4 piece of wood. I started it off by glueing down vintage French book pages, then layered some heavy gel medium over them. I used a stencil and the gel medium to create the word "amour", then when it dried, I painted over the whole thing. I drew the Eiffel Tower with graphite and glued down a piece of black lace across the bottom. I added copper tacks, a tiny crocheted circle, and a heart I cut out from plaster cloth and painted red. Then, as with all six pieces, I sealed it to protect it and keep things from smudging.

Next up is "Be Gentle".

I love this one. OK, I love them all, (each one is a favorite!?), but this one doesn't look as great in photo as it does in person..the subtle colors and textures, etc.. It's done on a 4 3/8" x 5" piece of wood. I also started this by gluing down the vintage French book pages and covering them with heavy gel medium and paint...

I cut a piece of plaster cloth, wet it, folded it in half and layed it to dry on a piece of wax paper. When it was dry, I used an exacto knife to cut out a heart (I used the inside heart shape on "Be Still") and glued down the "heart window" over the base. I painted and antiqued it, and added copper tacks and twine. I filled in the center of the heart with clear crackle paint (to show how fragile the heart is) and when dry, I antiqued it to show the cracks then used paint to stamp the message, "Be Gentle", on it.

The last piece below is titled "Treasured".

It's on a 4 3/8" x 4 3/8" piece of wood. I wet a piece of plaster cloth and wrapped it around the wood, smoothed it a bit then left it to dry on wax paper. I painted over it all and scratched into it with a sharp tool, then antiqued it...

I glued down a stamped strip of paper across the bottom with heavy gel medium, and added a small crocheted circle. I made the heart years ago by stamping the heart image then I covered it with glue and tiny clear beads. I love that some had fallen off. I added a few more touches with paint to finish it off.

So there you have it, the rest of the six art pieces that I made for the Petite Valentin art show. To see my other three pieces that will be in the show and get more info (if you missed my last post) click here or just scroll down one post.

Hopefully all will go well and you'll see me and my (not-so-Petite) Valentine David cruising the art scene. Oh, and happy birthday Honey!! I love you!! You're the best husband ever! xoxo

Hope to see you all here!!

I'm linking up with Paint Party Friday. To join in or check it out click here.

My Petite Valentine Art

2012-02-09T00:50:00.000-08:00

Hi there.

I mentioned in the last post that I was painting like a mad woman trying to finish my art pieces to submit for Zinnia's Petit Valentin art show, so here they are. The show goes up this Saturday the 11th with the opening from 6-9:00 pm. I'm planning on being there so if you are in the South Pasadena area Saturday stop by and say "hi" and maybe even go home with a fantastic piece of art! My pieces are priced to sell at only $35 each! There will be tons of other PetiteValentine (all had to be under 5") art pieces there from other artists too, with varying price ranges. Zinnia has around 250 pieces for the show so there'll be plenty to choose from, but since they have so many they won't be able to put them all out at once. They said as the art sells off the wall they'll keep replacing it with more, so if you like a piece of mine but don't see it there just ask them... it might not be sold, it might just be in the back. I'm so excited to go check it out Saturday evening, and I can't wait to see what everyone else did. Lot's of hearts, hearts, hearts, I'm sure!

Click on the flyer to be able to read it better.

Today I'm only going to share close-ups of three of the six pieces. I'll post the close-ups of the three plaster pieces (from the top row above) in the next day or two.

First up is titled "Be Still". It's on a 5" x 3 1/2" piece of wood.

Love all that texture! The crinkly background was made from painted tinfoil. You can see it in the top right in the photo below while the foil was only partially covered with paint. The soft green swirls are from a cool cut-out scrapbook paper that I painted and made all thick and crusty with heavy gel medium. The heart was cut out from plaster cloth and painted.

This photo below was an in progress shot taken with my phone.

Next piece is titled "Pinned". It's on a 4 1/4 x 4 1/4 piece of wood.

For "Pinned" I used heavy gel medium for the main texture and glass bead gel inside the heart. I added copper tacks, wire, around the heart. I then used the heavy gel medium to glue a small piece of copper sheet that I had previously stamped, to the side of the piece. A foam stamp was dabbed in paint then used to stamp the pattern on.

The final piece for today is titled "Fulfill". It's done on a 4" x 4" canvas.

The olive green is paper that I smudged with red paint, then I drew a heart and smudges with graphite. The long screw and bolt were from an old glass drawer knob from our house. I used silver leaf along the sides and edges, then antiqued and sealed the whole thing. Actually all pieces were sealed for protection.

I'll be back soon with the close-ups of the other three and any info I might have forgotten.

See you soon!

Gingko Leaf Texture Painting and an Update

2012-02-05T00:16:00.000-08:00

Hi there. I know I've been missing (warning: long post). Busy, busy, busy, then at night I'm too darn tired to post! Lots of catching up to do. Today I want to share ONE of MANY paintings that I've finished this past month, but first a little update on some of the happenings around the Orloff household...

1. A couple of you asked how my foot is doing. It's really good now. Finally! For those of you who don't know, I hurt my foot bad back at the end of October. I didn't break it but had some major tissue damage and had to stay off of it, and was on crutches for a LONG 7 1/2 weeks!! I was finally told I could walk the week of Christmas and haven't slowed down since then! I missed painting so bad that it's hard to keep me out of the studio now! Dinner? What dinner? Give me paint!!

2. While I was stuck elevating my foot on the couch I noticed how grungy our den walls were. Yuck. So now the walls are painted a pretty grey-green, and the ceiling is now light grey. Ahh.. much better! But with the painting of the walls and the ceiling came a big mess. Our den is THE room that we are in most of the day. It's the playroom, TV room, office, etc... so when it was a mess for the last few weeks... so was I...but it's all good now.

I just had to share my husbands fancy light stand that he used while painting. Yup, that's a clamp light on a drill gun. Cracks me up!!

3. My baby boy turned three last week! Wow, time moves fast! Warp speed lately (except when I'm waiting for my next Netflix movie to come), so we had a tiny little birthday party for him today.

4. I was submitting some art pieces for a Petit Valentine art show that's coming up next weekend and the art had to be in by Tuesday, so I was painting like a mad woman! I got six pieces finished and turned in!! Yahoo! I'll share them with you this week along with details of the show, but for now, here's a photo of my workspace when I was in the middle of working on them.

OK, there's more but I'm done sharing for now, and this post is long enough! So now here's the rest of the photos of a new finished texture painting.

The color of the gingko leaves was a bit of a happy accident. I meant for the color to be deeper and more copper but they ended up more of a peach color. I liked it so I only added accents with copper. I really like how it turned out. Ok, see you soon. Bye now.

New Year, New Art: Make it Count

2012-01-20T14:40:00.000-08:00

Hi there.

It's already time for another Paint Party Friday!

Man... a week can go by very quickly! Well, weird thing is it seemed to fly by, yet it took forever for Friday to get here. Hmmm... anybody know what I mean, or am I the only crazy one around here? Wait.. what am I saying? You're a bunch of artists too so enough said! ;-)

I've had several art pieces done for a while, just waiting to be shared but I just haven't had the time post them. I was going to explain all this in an Orloff household update, but decided to make that a separate post so as not to bore all you PPF peeps! So today I'll just share this one painting and bore the rest of you later!

I started this piece on New Years Eve as inspiration for 2012. Last year was an interesting one, so I'm rather happy for a fresh new year all full of possibilities.

To start this piece, I printed out one of my photos and glued it down onto a 7"x9" mat board. I added texture with heavy gel medium by Golden, and once dry I used a pen to draw over parts of the photo to pop some details out. I then used Golden fluid acrylics to blend with the colors in the photo.

I used paint to stamp out the words "A fresh start, shiny and new. Make it count", and glued them to the canvas using the heavy gel medium. I added a bit of the same colors around the words to blend them in a bit... and voila! Done!

This piece came together rather easily for me. I love when that happens! I hope it inspires and reminds you (and me!) to really take advantage of this new year and "make it count"!

Happy Paint Party Friday everyone! To join in with your own painted projects or see the list of links for who else is painting along, click here.

Turquoise Crackle Bird Collage

2012-01-13T22:50:00.000-08:00

Hi there. I've got a fun little collage to show you. It has tons of texture, turquoise, AND a bird. How could you go wrong with that combo?!

It was a gift for my blog friend Mandy. She won a drawing I had a little while back and I was so happy that she won. She was with me from the very beginning of my blog and ever since then she's been one of my biggest cheerleaders. I wanted to reward her with more than just the 4 greeting cards that she won, so I made this little birdie collage especially for her.

I had enlarged and then printed out parts of my "Branching Out" painting onto watercolor paper for another project and had some left over. I thought that it would be the perfect base to start a collage. I glued down a small strip of a vintage dictionary page across the background. I then drew out the bird silhouette onto paper and cut it out, then brushed Distress crackle paint onto it and set it aside to dry.

What is that pretty strip of scalloped goodness going across the center you ask? Sometimes I wipe excess paint from brush onto an index card, and if I like how it looks when it's all covered in paint I keep it to use in a collage. Quite a while back after one was all covered and gritty with dark metallic grey and turquoise paint I used it to test out a new border punch that I bought. I loved how it looked with the paint splotches so I put it aside in my scrap box to use later on a project. I knew it would be perfect for this.

After that was glued down, I tinted heavy gel medium a dark metallic grey, then I troweled it through a stencil. The photo below was taken with my iphone while the gel was still wet to see where to place the bird. It was a bit too busy so I wiped some of the stenciled gel away before it dried. Then I glued down the bird, added a bit of paint here and there over the back ground bits and outlined the bird to make it stand out more. Phew. Done!

I'm linking up with Paint Party Friday for the first time!! I've been wanting to join in the fun but haven't been able to until now. Whatever shall I wear? ;-) If you'd like to join in with your own paint projects or just see what everyone's doing what click on the link above. See you there!

New Textured Metallic Painting

2012-01-08T21:54:00.000-08:00

I've got a new mixed media painting to show you. It's textured. It's metallic. It's got lots of layers.

What does all that mean? It means it's one of the world's hardest paintings to photograph and get the colors accurate. No... seriously. The metallic pewter color (and a bit of copper) on this has such a pretty luminous glow to it, not the harsh shiny metallic,... but is a PAIN to photograph! Trust me on this. I had the same problem with my "Chemistry of Copper" painting (same products). Metallics are tough to photograph. You want a bit of a glare to show the lustery goodness, but too much of a glare makes all the pretty colors go away... so it tends to either look too dark, or too washed out. And because I'm Anal Annie when it comes to getting things right... I photographed this piece FIVE times over the last week. Yup.

Wow. Big tangent.

Anywho... here's my latest painting...The first photo at the top of this post seems to reflect more copper in the top right corner than it has in person, but the rest of it is pretty accurate... maybe.

Because I know you're like me (scary), I know you'd like to see this painting's ugly beginning. It started as a scrap canvas... used to scrape leftover paint products onto so I didn't waste any. Talk about yucky, but a nice way to start building texture for a future painting!

Oh boy, I just realized something. I have about six paintings going right now... and half of them are done with these metallics... so I'm either going to...

1. get really frustrated photographing them and give up metallics

2. strangle myself

3. get really good at photographing metallics

4. loosen up my perfectionist nature and adopt a "eh... close enough" type attitude (HA!).

Stay tuned to see what happens... I'm a bit curious myself ;-)

Happy New Year!!

2011-12-31T14:10:00.000-08:00

Hi there!

I just wanted to wish you all a very Happy New Year!

Thank you all for making this past year a good one. I can't wait to see what treasures this next year holds for all of us! Whatever it does bring, make sure to give it all you've got and don't forget to live your life with heART!! xoxo

Love Bird Journal Page

2011-12-30T00:32:00.000-08:00

I finished a whimsical little journal page and wanted to share it with you.

I started it last month but I didn't get around to finishing it until today. I wanted to work on some other art pieces but felt a bit rusty since I haven't been able to do art regularly these past couple of months, so I decided to work in my art journal and finish this fun page instead.

She's my sweet little Love Bird and she's got a special delivery for you!

Glitter and Warmth

2011-12-25T13:46:00.000-08:00

Hi there. I just wanted to share some photos from a walk around Pasadena at Christmastime. I love how festive and glittery everything looks this time of year.

Light-projected snowflakes going up walls (above)...

And on sidewalks (below)...

A huge Christmas tree in a courtyard...

But best of all... a nice warm fire to share with loved ones at home...

No matter what or if you celebrate anything this time of year, I hope you get to enjoy some time with loved ones and share a good belly laugh or two.

Vintage Barber Card

2011-12-17T00:22:00.000-08:00

What's this? Yup, I made a man card. I don't make cards for men often, so I was nervous about this one.

I had to make a thank you card for a cool guy named Frank who went out of his way to do something nice. Oh, and in case you couldn't already tell (really?!) he works with hair. He's a hair stylist or more accurately a hair artiste at Casa De Bellini.

I started the card by gluing down vintage dictionary pages, then painted over them with cream paint. I found this vintage photo of a man with a fantastic mustache, and glued it down along with a scrap of striped paper. I also painted over those a bit to blend them in. I googled vintage barber scissors and drew them out and added some extra doodles around the edges of the card. Oh and inside I wrote something like "Frank knew a thing or two about hair", which I originally wanted to be the caption on the front of the card, but ended up liking it without it.

So there it is... a man card! And Frank? He loved it! Yay!

Greeting Cards and a Winner!

2011-12-14T01:14:00.000-08:00

Hi there.
My greeting cards, along with my business cards, etc from Moo.com came in!! Yahoo! The printing on them is so clear and sharp. I'm in love!

In my last post I bribed you gals with some free cards if you helped me pick some of my art to make into prints. Thank you to all who took the time to help a girl out!! You're the best!! Now I just need to figure out WHERE to get them printed, but first things first...let's announce the winner! I used good ol' Random.org, and the winner is .......... Mandy!! Congrats girl!! You get to pick out FOUR of my greeting cards!

Here above are the cards to choose from. Your choices are (top row, left to right): The Healing Tree, Paris, Bridge of Sighs, umm no name for this yet.. we'll temporarily call this photograph "Painting Girl" hee hee. (bottom row): Remember Flowers, Bird Journal Collage, and Celebrate. The last one on bottom right shows what the back of the cards look like.

So Mandy, pick which four you would like, then email me your choices along with your address :-)

Now that I know how great they look I will be ordering more of these greeting cards, along with other designs too. I only ordered a set of 25 cards to start with and I can already tell that's not enough! I will be selling these when I finally open my Etsy store (not sure when that'll be).. but if you can't wait just let me know and I'll see what I can do.

I know that I was supposed to announce the winner on Monday night, but I had to wait until I could get photos of the cards to show the winner what she won! First things first, right? And with that I'm off to bed...

Prints Anyone?

2011-12-04T16:02:00.000-08:00

Hi there.

I need input from all you creative, smart, lovely people out there. Yes, that means YOU!!

I've been doing some thinking and planning. I've finally ordered business cards, postcards, and even some greeting cards with some of my art on them. They were all ordered from Moo.com, an amazing company, and I can't wait to get them and share them with you!! It's a long needed step towards opening my Etsy shop.

So here's where I need your help. My next step is ordering art prints of some of my art, so I was wondering if you had any favorites that you might like to see or buy prints of. NO obligations to buy, of course, I just want your input. If you go to the top of my blog and click on the link that says "artwork" or just click here, it'll take you to a page with my art, journal pages, and even cards that I've made. Jot down the ones that you think would make good prints, and let me know in the comments. I'll be so gratful!

Here's an example of a few I'm thinking of making prints of...

"Ahh...Paris"

Who would't love a bit or Paris in their home?

Since I no longer have the original, I think I want one of these prints for myself too!

"The Healing Tree"

I already have an order for an 11" x 14" of this so this ones a definite

"Bridge of Sighs monoprint"

Love this one!

"Puddles of Inspiration"

I think this might make a fun print for a studio or even kids room, but what do you think?

I really would love your input! What do you think? Like any of these for a print? Or any others? "Unleashed"? "Don't Lose Heart"? I am totally open to any suggestions! Don't be shy! And like I said... no obligations, just tell me your favorites, there's no wrong answer here! And what sizes 8 x 10 or 11 x 14? Smaller? 5x7? Too many questions? ;-)

As a little incentive I'll pick one of you commenters to win a set of postcards or greeting cards (when they come in, lol!) I'll pick the winner on Monday night, Dec 12th.

Thank you!

Puddles of Inspiration

2011-11-22T22:38:00.000-08:00

Hi there.

I have a new journal page to show you.

It rained here in Southern California all day on Sunday, which inspired me to paint the rain.

First I painted the clouds and added the rain and puddles with my white Sakura Souffle pen that I think I'm now re-addicted to! I love the sheen of it against the matte background. I wanted to add a quote about rain, but I couldn't find one that I liked, so as I was adding more rain and puddles I came up with this phrase...

"Fresh ideas

Pour down like rain

Leaving behind

Puddles of Inspiration"

But what good are puddles if you don't have galoshes?

Don't worry, I added some fun red ones that you can use!

So what are you waiting for? Go ahead... put these on and jump on into your own "puddles of inspiration"!

Journal Pages : Doodles and Inspiring Things

2011-11-16T22:48:00.000-08:00

Hi there. It's me again.

I have a couple more art journal pages to show you. We'll start with the left side.

This is how it started out (below). I really liked it and I thought "Oh, I'll just doodle a bit more and be done with the page after a few washes of color, but...

Turns out my trusty, water-proof Micron pen isn't so trusty or water-proof like it says!! Grrrr!!

So after it turned into a muddy, faded mess (below) I held back a few choice words and instead decided to try to turn it into a happy accident...

I'm gonna be stuck on the couch for a while longer until my foot heals and I'm going stir crazy right now! In an effort to try to make the best of it, I figured I might as well take an online art class so I can enjoy myself a bit. So I signed up for the awesome Sketchbook Delight class by Alisa Burke. I already have the supplies on hand and I can work on most of the class "homework"on the couch. Yay!

So.... in one of the class videos I had just watched she used a white pen to pop out some highlights...

Oh yeah!!! I have EIGHT (I just counted) different white pens! I forgot all about them and how I love them for taking a boring journal page and bringing life to it. Out came one of my favs, "Souffle" by Sakura. It goes on clear but dries opaque, shiny, and kinda puffy. I tried to take a photo at an angle so you can kinda see it in the light (below). It's a great effect against the muddy background!! I love happy accidents!

So that's how Alisa Burke and my trusty white Souffle pen saved the day.

And my journal.

And kept me from saying bad words.

Moving on... one of the things Alisa said to do is identify the things that inspire you to draw. I hadn't really thought about this too much lately so I decided to write them down in my art journal as a "go to" for when I need inspiration.

My new favorite journal page!

I wanted to just draw out a few of the items on the list to spice up the page...

but then I got a wee bit carried away and drew out everything on the list... and then some!! Turns out everything on the list is there for a reason. You know... because they inspire me to draw. Yup. So as I tried to choose a few of them to draw I kept wanting to draw the next one, and the next one, and... you get it.

I learned a lot by doing this page. First, I do still enjoy drawing after all. I thought I hated it and would suddenly suck since I've been concentrating on painting... but hey, if I could draw a tiny Taj Majal then I guess I'm not doing too bad.

Second thing I learned is architecture is a HUGE inspiration for me... especially if it's old and involves stonework. Yup, it's good stuff. Many of the things on my list are a form of it. Hmm... do I have a secret desire to be an architect? Nah... too much work. I'll just admire it and hopefully make some cool art inspired by it. And I'm so glad that I now have this page to remind me of this. Thanks Alisa Burke! Can't wait to do more "class stuff" and see what else comes of it!

I'm just wondering... how many picture are too many pictures? Is this too many?

What about now? Too many? I like a lot of photos. Just wondering if you're feeling it. Or not.

How about now?

Breathe Journal Pages

2011-11-06T21:03:00.000-08:00

Hi there.

Ok, so last time I posted I was on an art making roll and had no intention of slowing down... but then what happened? Yup...life got in the way... as it usually does. This time the result was a badly hurt foot, last Sunday... my right heel. Argh! Not sure exactly what's wrong yet, but it might be a partially torn achilles... or something.

Yeah...ouch.

And what this means is NO walking on it... no pole vaulting....no swashbuckling... and definitely no chorus line high kicking. What this also means is no getting into my studio for who knows how long?! At least a few more weeks. After a week of frustration I finally realized that I could work in my art journal while I'm stuck on the couch.

Ahh... that's better.

I already have a bag full of art journal supplies that I keep at the ready, in case I get the chance to run off to a coffee shop and work on some art on the go (hasn't happened in quite a while, but darn it, I'm gonna be ready if the opportunity presents itself!).

In this bag I have:

my art journals,

glues,

pens/pencils,

a few brushes,

a small bottle of titan buff fluid acrylic by Golden,

a few random papers (vintage dictionary and scrapbook),

and my water-soluable crayons.

I like working only out of this bag... limited supplies are always a nice challenge.

First I glued the dictionary pages down, then added some scrapbook papers over the top... oh and this cool bird label I got from a booklet thing (?) full of tons of amazing collagy bits, which I bought from Anahata/Papaya years ago (sold out and discontinued as far as I know). After gluing all that stuff down the pages got a nice sloppy, uneven coat of Titan Buff paint to tone it all down and blend it in. Then I drew out the design with a water-soluable pencil and painted it in with the water-soluable crayons.

I wrote "And... breathe" as a reminder to myself to....uh..... breathe...and just relax and go with the flow. A reminder I very much need lately while I'm stuck on the couch.

The other page is all ready to go whenever I get the desire to write.

I mentioned in the last post that as soon as I finished a certain painting I would have a give away and one of you lucky peeps would win it. Well, I was completely serious, it will still happen, but is temporarily on hold. I need to finish the painting first and it's SO darn close, but until I can work in my studio it has to wait. Sorry....so maybe if you pray for quicker healing, you can win the painting sooner ;-)

But until then I'll try to continue working in my art journal ...

and just try to remember to breathe.

New Painting : The Chemistry of Copper

2011-10-27T22:38:00.000-07:00

So what happens when I get into my studio regularly?

1. I'm way happier, calmer, and happier (yes, I know)

2. The house stays a mess

3. I don't care about the mess

and most importantly...

4. ART GETS MADE!!

We need more of my art in our house, so I decided to do a painting for our den. I grabbed this 12 x 36 inch canvas and went to town!

I wish the photos would show the colors better. It's mostly this gorgeous grey/green with copper and verdigris blue accents. It has a soft metallic luster that's not too shimmery... it's just right. And of course it has... what?.... LOTS of texture!

So just for fun... because I love seeing other artist's processes... here are photos I took with my phone during the process.

Just ignore my feet ;-)

I started by gluing a bunch of papers down. The main paper I used is from a vintage CHEMISTRY book.

I don't remember what my original plan was, but I thought the paper would still show through. Hmmm... maybe next time.

I added layers of paint and stamping and liked it, but I started covering it anyway... that's just how I roll ;-)

I recently found a bunch of my old faux finish products hiding out in our garage and decided to start using them before they go bad. They are BEAUTIFUL (and expensive) products by a company called Faux Effects. I started by troweling their product Lusterstone (the light color in the photo above) through a stencil, then onto the rest of the canvas.

Then I started adding a darker color (made by mixing Metallic Silver Palette Deco with a few darker colors to make this gorgeous metallic grey/green), and troweled it through a honeycomb stencil. I then troweled more of this mix onto the rest of the canvas. I dipped a wet rag into this mix and rubbed a thin coat of it over the whole canvas to tone down the contrast (below). I also added touches of a verdigris blue color.

The final touch was adding the copper stenciling (Lusterstone mixed with copper).

Voila! A great art piece for our den made with products I had just laying around.

While I was working on this I started another small canvas using these products... and guess what? When it's done I'm going to have a lil' giveaway. Just sayin ;-)

So stick around!

Shadow Shot and a Fab Necklace

2011-10-23T13:32:00.000-07:00

Well hello there.

Time for another shadow shot. This is a photo of one of our sunflowers before my hubby harvested the seeds. I think it's a pretty darn cool thing that sunflower seeds come out of a ...umm.... flower... but not just any flower... a pretty flower. Maybe that's where they got the inventive name, huh? Sunflower seeds. Yeah, not enough coffee in my system today. So moving on...

To join in the Shadow Shot Sunday fun, go here.

What's this beauty you ask?

It's a fantastic necklace I won from Fanciful Devices. Oh man, she makes the most incredible jewelry. I can't believe I was lucky enough to win this! I love everything about it, including the double-sided pendant. You have to see all the pretties that this woman cranks out... amazing!! Oh, and it was wrapped all pretty-like too. I loved it so much that I wore it that night to dinner... and we stayed home!!

Oh, by the way, the cool background that the necklace is sitting on (no not me, the other one!) is my latest painting. It needs a few more lil' touches then I'll share it with you.

Finished Painting : The Healing Tree

2011-10-15T00:17:00.000-07:00

Hi there.

I'd like to share my latest mixed media painting, "The Healing Tree", with you. It's my new favorite. I've been working on this on and off for the last 6-7 months... not straight through (thank goodness). It's driven me crazy and caused many labor pains to be born into this world, but it was well worth it.

It had quite an interesting start...as it didn't start off as a tree at all... but a peacock feather! This was the first stage below.

A nice start I thought... loose and free, but then something went horribly wrong and it evolved to this below. I had something in mind, but now I can't remember what. OK, it's not THAT bad really, and I really like the depth and texture that was added by the torn papers and stamping...you can click on the photo to see it better.

So after that I put it aside and let it stew for a bit.

Then one day I suddenly wanted to paint a tree. NOW! I looked around, saw this canvas and thought "Nope. Not feather..... TREE." (what am I, a caveman? no sentence. just word) Umm...yeah...

So I painted over the whole thing, drew a tree with orange water-color crayon, grabbed some aqua paint and a spiral suddenly appeared. Hmm... ok... I like it.

Then I started on the tree and tore some vintage book pages into leaf shapes. I created even more leaves with cream paint and others with green.

Then there was a lot more painting, glazing, and layering to create more depth, vitality, and luminosity. I also used a few water-color crayons to give it some "pop" and bring out some details. Don't forget to use a spray sealer after using these crayons, or it'll easily wash away.

One of the final details was adding the rain.

Sometimes when I create a painting, it's just to have fun and make something pretty. Other times I have a deeper meaning in mind (and heart) before starting. And sometimes it starts as the first one, but then evolves to become something much more significant. This is definitely the last one. It started becoming more meaningful when I painted the spiral and just kept growing from there. It's not something I can completely explain or even understand, but as I was working on it, I could feel it. I could feel that this painting is about more than just a simple tree, that there is a deeper, spiritual meaning to it. The title "The Healing Tree" came to me when it was almost finished. It is obviously a huge part of it the message, but there's more to it than that.

It's in the details...

The spiral.
The branches.
The white leaves.
The rain.
The falling leaf.
The tree itself.
Maybe even the book pages.

The meaning isn't always revealed to me as I'm working on it. At times it can take a while after I've finished it for it to come. I've yet to completely grasp this one. I've had some whispers, but not the whole message.

Whatever it's full meaning is, it speaks to me. I'm going to hang on to this one.

Tree Tunnel Shadow Shots and a Painting Peek

2011-10-09T12:51:00.000-07:00

Hi there!

Yesterday was a good day!! I painted more!! Yay!! It feels SO good to finally be getting back into my studio regularly. The house is a mess, but eh...who cares?!! (sorry honey). And I may have finally finished a painting that's been eluding me for quite a while. It just wouldn't tell me how it wanted to be finished, but yesterday I was determined to GET IT DONE!! I got into that lovely flow and had the best time working on it.

More of that later, let's get to those cool shadows.
These were taken on the way up to a client's house in Crystal Cove (the one I painted the furniture for this summer shown here and here). I love how the trees formed a beautiful, leafy tunnel to drive under. Pretty, yes?

Check out more shadow shots or join in the fun by heading over to Hey Harriet's for Shadow Shot Sunday HERE.

Ok, back to the painting...I still need to take photos of the piece I finished (well, it still may need a few more finishing touches first), so you'll have to wait a few days, but to hold you over here's a lil peek. I'm so darn excited about it, I can't wait to share it with you!

Until then...

Painting Freely

2011-10-05T23:58:00.000-07:00

Hi there!

I'm so excited! I got to paint some more after my last post!! Yahoo!!

I soooo needed to get back into my studio and get paint on my hands. I was on the computer for a while that day and kept coming across artists whose work was deliciously sloppy and free. I was so inspired (and a bit jealous). I wanted to do that too.

in progress

Finally I went into my studio and grabbed a canvas that I had painted black for another project years ago. I grabbed 3 paints, squeezed one onto the canvas and used my hands to smear it around, then did the same with the other 2 colors. Then I grabbed white paint and used it to draw a branch with my fingers.

Yes, I finger painted!!

That was the only way for me to completely connect with, and release, everything that had built up in me from not painting... I had to really go for it, let go of perfectionism, and let loose!

I had to be free!

And boy was it exactly what I needed. I had a blast! I smeared, smooshed, splashed and literally threw paint around.

I used the end of a paint brush to draw into the wet paint (that was the only time I used a brush on this!) When it dried I used vine charcoal to loosely draw the branch and write "be free" then sprayed it with a sealer.

Ahh... much better now.

So what about you? What do you really want to be doing right now? Then why are you on the computer? Turn it off and go get your hands dirty!! Paint, write, whatever... just let loose, have fun, and be free!!

Shadow Shot Sunday : Pretty Column

2011-10-01T23:03:00.000-07:00

Hi there.

I'm still getting caught up from the past few hectic weeks, so I had to dig in my stash for an old shadow shot. I love this column (why is that word spelled so funny?). This is part of a church in Pasadena that I showed more photos of here and here.

If you want to join in with your own shadow shots, go to Hey Harriet and tell her hey from me!

And thank you VERY much for all you sweetness and love on the last post. It means a lot to us... seriously (my husband read and appreciated your comments too).

Sorry it's taking me a long time to get back to you all, but I will visit everyone who comments.. even if it takes me a while.

Oh, and I snuck into my studio today and painted, YAY!! It was only for about 15 minutes, but that's better than nothing, and now a painting that's been almost finished for quite a while is 15 minutes closer to finally being finished!

Saying Goodbye

2011-09-29T22:26:00.000-07:00

Sometimes saying goodbye is no big deal. Bye. See you later. Until tomorrow, etc...

Other times it's not so easy.

My husband's grandfather passed away last week.

We miss him already.

He was a very interesting man, who led a very interesting life.

I'm happy to have known him, and I'm so glad our son got to know his great-grandfather. They had a sweet relationship and loved each other very much. I'll miss the sweet little song he'd sing to Elias that always made him smile.

I took this of them just last month

Goodbye Dzeda (Grandpa) Orloff.

Wow, what a month.

Now my sweet lil' toddler has a nasty cold.

I need more sleep.

I need a vacation.

I really, really need to make some art.

Anybody want to come over and clean my house, do my laundry, and watch my poor sick cutie so I could lock myself in my studio for a few hours?

Anybody?

Shadow Shot Sunday : Chairs

2011-09-17T22:06:00.000-07:00

It's time for Shadow Shot Sunday again.

This was taken in Pasadena this summer (I know... Pasadena...shocker right?) Hubby and I were walking along on a date, eating our gelato (yum!) when I suddenly stopped and just stared at the ground.

Ooh, a swirly shadow!! Can't pass up a swirly shadow now can I?

Actually it's hard for me to pass up a good shadow of ANY shape or size.

Totally addicted to shadow shots!

To join in with your own shadows, just pop over to Hey Harriet's for Shadow Shot Sunday.

Finished Furniture Piece

2011-09-14T23:49:00.000-07:00

Here are photos of a large armoire that I painted this summer for a client. I showed you a peek of the bird that's painted on it in the last post, which also showed a wee bit of the house that it now belongs in.

Here (below) is a photo of what the armoire looked like before.

Just a slight difference ;-)

The armoire wasn't too bad to start with, but it just didn't go with their gorgeous beach house... too much Country French, not enough Tommy Bahama. So I hired a painter to sand, prime and base coat it for me... you know I don't do that... I'm an artiste!

I started by painting the turquoise details, then glazed the whole thing with a nice neutral tan color. I sanded back some of the edges to rough it up a bit and make it more casual to go with the more beachy, yet elegant feel they have in their house.

The wonderful interior designer had suggested painting a tree branch with a bird sitting on it, and I LOVED the idea!

After I painted the branch and cockatoo, I antiqued the whole thing with a dark brown and wiped most of it back, leaving it a little heavier in the grooves. Then, when it dried, I put several coats of sealer to protect it.

The hardware that was originally on it went beautifully with the new look.

So what do you think? I haven't done this type of work for at least 5 years. Do I still have "it" or have I lost my touch?

I also did a few more small, very simple pieces to go in another of the client's homes, but I'll share those with you another time.

I'm Back.. And I've got Some Shadow Shots!

2011-09-10T22:46:00.000-07:00

Hi there.

Sorry I went MIA on you, but I've had quite a bit going on these past several weeks.

I had to finish up a furniture painting job (photos to come soon), my husband went back to school (he's a teacher), and a few weeks back I unexpectedly lost my 40 year-old cousin. We were good friends as teens, and even though we had lost touch many years ago, I'm going to miss him. And him being only a year older than me has really got me thinking about what's truly important in life and to not let it slip by mindlessly.

"I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day."

--E. B. White

Just found this quote and I love it. It makes me smile.

Ok, moving on.

Here are some shadow shots that we're taken at my client's gorgeous home (the one I painted the furniture for). I love the scroll shadow within the palm shadow. Can you see it (above)? It was caused by the ironwork on the balcony shown below. A shadow within a shadow. How cool is that?

To join in Shadow Shot Sunday drop by Hey Harriet's and tell her "Hi" from me.

And speaking of painted furniture, here's a lil' peek at what I painted on the front of an armoire. I'll show you more this week. See you then.

Shadow Shot Sunday : Tree+?

2011-08-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

Hi there.

I would like your input on today's shadow shots.

At first glance these two photos look the same...BUT if you're very observant (and I know you are), you'll notice the tree is in the center in the first photo and a bit on the right in the second photo. I usually try to go by the rule of thirds in my photos, which tells you NOT to put the main subject dead center... BUT once in a while I like a photo better with the subject in the center, not on the side. Like in these photos. I like the centered one better, but I was going to ignore that and post the other one because "the rule... don't ignore the rule!"
I think sometimes we need to break the rules.

I would really like your opinion. Which do you prefer out of these two photos? Sorry to make you work on a Sunday ;-) but I appreciate your input. Thank you!!

For more shadow shots or to join in with your own shadows, go on over to Hey Harriet's for Shadow Shot Sunday!

Look At The Painting I Won!!

2011-08-16T22:47:00.000-07:00

Yahoo!!! I love this painting soooo much!!!

A while back I entered an amazing giveaway over at The Secret Hermit and ended up winning first prize!!! I got to choose between one of Micki's lovely paintings in her Etsy Shop, or having one custom made!! How generous is she?!! After taking forever to make a choice, because there are several paintings of hers that I wanted, I finally decided on having one custom made. I wanted a happy little artist girlie to hang in my studio. She did such an amazing job of cutting through all the details that I gave her and making exactly what I wanted and more!! I love love love this painting!!!

If you haven't already see her blog and Etsy shop go now!!! (the links are above)

Thank you Micki!!! You rock!!!

Shadow Shot Sunday : Lettuce

2011-08-14T19:29:00.000-07:00

Hi there!

This gorgeous, yummy lettuce is... uh scratch that... WAS from our garden. Tasty stuff. There's nothing like fresh veggies picked right before dinner.

So... lettuce cut out this chit chat and head on over to Hey Harriets for Shadow Shot Sunday.

Sorry... I tried hard to control myself by NOT using any lettucy puns, but I just couldn't help myself.

Ok, I didn't try THAT hard, hee hee.

Orange Post : Koi Carp

2011-08-12T23:12:00.000-07:00

Ok, I guess I didn't make the lil' sneak peek hard enough for you smarties... most of you knew it was a Koi fish (and to the nut who said "or an under-ripe tomato that looks like a Koi", I just went to your blog and now I understand, LOL!) So here's one big cyber pat for all of you who guessed right ** PAT PAT** Thanks for playing along. It was fun!! I think I'll do that again, but maybe make it more of a challenge next time!

This was inspired by a few photos I took of Koi Carp in the pond at Fashion Island in Newport Beach. I started off with a 9x12 inch canvas. I printed out three separate photographs of mine onto regular computer paper and glued them down onto the canvas. Then I used Heavy Gel Medium to create lots of "yummy yummy texture", to quote Jenny and Shelley (thanks ladies!).

Once that dried I added layer after layer after layer of paints and glazes. Then a few more layers. To finish it off I popped out a few details on the fish with permanent pen.

These are the photos that I used in this mixed media painting. The first ones are of the Fashion Island Koi. The last photo is of our very cool chandelier in our bedroom. I took the photo looking straight up at the light. I like that you can't really tell what it is!

So here is my Orange Post for The Summer of Color. I was SO excited to read that there will be a Summer of Color 2 next year, Yay!! Hopefully next summer I won't be a week behind in all the posts, LOL, but this was so much fun! I now have some cool artwork that wouldn't have existed if it weren't for this challenge and the wonderful Kristin!!

Sneak Peek of Orange Post

2011-08-08T22:35:00.000-07:00

Hi. I couldn't wait. I had to sneak you guys a lil' peek at my latest creation. I made it for my Orange post for The Summer of Color and I am loving it. I need take to some better photos of it during daylight hours to properly share it with you, but I'm not sure if I'll get home in time tomorrow. So I had to at least give you a little taste of what's to come in the next couple of days. This is a very close up detail shot. Can anyone guess what the main subject is? If anyone guesses correctly I'll uh.... umm.... I'll give you a nice cyber pat on the back!

Shadow Shot Sunday : Church

2011-08-06T23:35:00.000-07:00

Here is my shadow shot for this week.

This photo was taken of a church in uptown Whittier, Ca. I was driving by and noticed the strong shadows being cast on the church by the tree. So of course I had to turn the car around and park, and take a few photos. Do you blame me?

To see more shadow shots, or join in with your own, pop on over to Hey Harriet for Shadow Shot Sunday.

Lovely Lavender

2011-08-02T13:21:00.000-07:00

Last week's color (yes I'm behind!) for The Summer of Color was purple. I needed to make a thank you card. So what do you think happened? Yup, I made a purple thank you card. Actually we'll call it lavender, since that's the shade that I used and the plant that was part of my inspiration.

I took this photo (below) last year up in Oregon in my sister's front yard. I love the image and have been wanting to use it for something, so this was the perfect time.

I started by collaging pieces of paper onto a card, then painted over them to make a nice background. I transferred the image onto the card by experimenting with Transfer Artist Paper (TAP). I then layered on more paint and added a few embellishments.

There's just something soothing about lavender, isn't there? Even when you can't smell it. Hmm.. maybe I should scent the card.

Nah...probably not.

With each of my Summer of Color posts I've tried to add a few extra photos that feature the color of the week .

So... here's a couple more photos that were also taken up in Oregon.

I love anything "thistle-y"

Lavender field against a white barn... heavenly.

And while digging through my photos I came across this painting that I had in an old post, that I did for another color challenge. This was the first time I used the color lavender in my art and loved it.

That's why I love doing these challenges. It makes you step out of your box and try out a new color or technique that you might not normally use. So a big THANK YOU goes out to my friend Kristin for taking the time and energy to do this for us!! There's still time to join us and maybe even win a prize from Kristin! This weeks color is Orange... I'm excited about this one!!

So...what are you doing to challenge yourself?

Buried Treasure : Potential Unleashed Again

2011-07-29T22:08:00.000-07:00

This was originally posted On March 7, 2011. I'm reposting it for the Buried Treasure collaboration, which is hosted by the very talented Seth Apter at The Altered Page. We are asked to dig through our own art blogs and repost a favorite post of ours. Potential Unleashed is a favorite because I was not just deeply inspired while creating the art, but also while creating the post. So here it is...

Potential. We all have TONS of it. Yet how many of us truly live up to ours? How do we tap into it... and unleash it? What holds us back?

We do. We hold ourselves back. Oh yes... we have our excuses, but that's all that they are. Excuses.

Hidden gems revealed

We all have these wonderful gems that we've been given...our true light... I say stop keeping it all locked up inside and let it all come exploding out for everyone to see! Let your light pour out. It's time!

I struggled with this painting, perhaps because I was struggling with coming to grips with my own potential. I've been an artist my whole life. It was never a secret to any who knew me, but I didn't think I was any good for the longest time...in fact most of the time.

I thought I had come to terms with it, but I still held myself back until something finally snapped in me a year or two ago. I realized that God gave me this gift, and I thought I was using it, but deep down I knew better. I finally realized all that I had, all that others saw, was kept in my tight grip. I was so afraid of messing up and so wanted to please people. What if they didn't like what I made? What if I proved that I really wasn't any good...just like I thought all along?

But what I realized was in doubting myself I was doubting what God had given me. I mentioned it before, but it must be said over and over until it sinks in for you too. God doesn't make mistakes, so if you doubt your gifts and your potential, then you're doubting Him.

Our true selves and struggles are released onto the canvas...each one a self-portrait of sorts.

To sum this up way better than I could, here is one of my all time favorite quotes. This is so darn powerful. It gets me EVERY time I read it. Copy it. Paste it where you can read it everyday. Let it sink in. It will change you. It will help you unleash. Let it.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

--marianne williamson

RED...Better Late Than Never...?

2011-07-28T00:09:00.000-07:00

Last week was red week for The Summer of Color, but I took an involuntary blog break.

A nasty bug got me, then my hubby, and now that things are just getting back to "normal", I'm trying to get caught up. I didn't get to finish my red piece of art, but I figured since it's already late I'll just find some red photos to post.

Any excuse to dig through my stash :-)

The dandelion photo was taken using my son's wagon as the backdrop.

This photo above was taken when we were on our honeymoon in Paris in 2000. I love the French waiter (who kinda reminds me of Kramer from Sienfeld) in the right foreground.

This one above was taken recently in Pasadena. I'm not sure why the tree was decorated, but I thought it was fun. Love the red umbrellas in the background.

And of course I have to throw in a Hipstamatic app photo.

I know I could've just skipped red but I was so excited about it because it's such a great color. Hope you don't mind.

So now I need to whip up something with purple for this week's Summer of Color. I hope to make some time soon to get something together for that before the week is up.

See you then.

Plaster + Burnt Umber(brown) = Happy Goodness...And SSS.

2011-07-16T14:33:00.000-07:00

This week's color for The Summer Of Color challenge is brown... rich, warm, luscious brown. But to be honest, when I first heard it was brown I thought "blah" (even though I love brown... weird). But then I realized brown = burnt/raw umber, chocolate, latte, etc.. Ooh, now we're talkin'! I also realized I didn't have to make the WHOLE piece brown...just the main focus.

I've been longing to work with plaster again since I did this piece for green week. It's so much fun. I learned so many cool techniques in the "Plaster Studio Workshop" and needed to start using and experimenting with them more. So I decided to work with plaster again for this week's color challenge (happy for an excuse to play with the stuff really!)

This piece combines several techniques from class, mainly transferring with CitraSolv (above), and carving into the plaster. After I did the transfer, it wasn't as sharp as I wanted it to be, so I carved in details (the white lines) over the transfer with a sharp tool. I also carved other details like the frame, etc..., then antiqued the whole thing (except the transfer) with Burnt Umber paint. Mmm hmmm....happy goodness. As a bonus challenge we could incorporate a "pop of color" to our brown piece.

With that in mind I added some aqua blue. I don't know if it qualifies as a "pop" (huh..Kristin..?), especially since you barely notice it in these photos (argh), but it's definitely there and I really like the effect of just the two colors.

I know the above photo has a bad glare...it's not really that shiny (I think the sealer was still wet), but I like how the photo shows some of the depth and texture created by the plaster.

Ok, moving on. Sadly I've missed several Shadow Shot Sundays (SSS), so I couldn't let another week slip by. So for this week I have several photos. The first two are of an amazing door that I saw at Arte De Mexico last year. Beautiful, beautiful doors, sigh. The first photo is the one I used for my CitraSolv transfer on my plaster piece.

Aren't the details on this door amazing?!

In these photos you notice the highlights more than the shadows, but where there is light, there is shadow, eh?

But just in case you aren't satisfied with the above shadow shots (hmphh!), I wanted to find a shadow shot from our Kern River trip to keep with the brown theme of this post. This was the closest I could find in the brownish tones. Do you see how hard I was working while my husband was lugging us and our trailer up to Kern? Yes, it's another shot taken with the Hipstamatic app. Sorry... you'll be seeing a lot of these. ..it's way too much fun (is there such a thing?!). To join in our shadow shot fun, go HERE.

Next week's color for the The Summer Of Color is RED in case any of you want to play with us! It's not too late!!

Dear Yellow, I Think I Love You!!

2011-07-09T22:02:00.000-07:00

Lemon Tart

This week's color for the Summer Of Color challenge is yellow. I didn't have much time this week, but I remembered this lil' bit o' fun I had laying around from years ago that never got finished.

I did this at a time when I wanted to create but was sooo stuck because I was taking myself and my art way to seriously. So I decided to start making fun whimsical stuff that some might not consider art or take seriously.

That's when this little collage was born. The only reason it didn't get finished at the time was because I kinda forgot it's purpose. It was almost done but I didn't know what to put at the top. The word "tart" kept coming to mind (which would make me laugh whenever I thought of it), but I would talk myself out of it because it was too silly. Um, hello, that was the whole point. So my lil' Lemon Tart got tucked away and long forgotten until this wonderful challenge reminded me of it.

You can decide for yourself whether "tart" is referring to the lemons or the girl ;-)

The whole idea came from the cool netted bags that our lemons come in. I kept saving them and one day I decided to make a collage on watercolor paper and use one of the bags as a dress. I started by painting the background and the lemons, and cutting out a magazine photo of a girl and gluing her down. Then I "designed" her recycled lemon bag dress and hat. She needed a necklace so I drew and painted on a citrusy one for her. To blend her in she has a soft wash of paint over her and I doodled details onto her, the lemons, and other parts of the collage with a black pen.

To finish it (finally!!) I glued down a piece of paper across the top and stamped on leaves with green paint. Then I stamped "tart" and added more layers of paint and pen until I liked it. Done! Whew! In time to post for "yellow week". Woohoo!

And now ... because 1) I think I'm in love with yellow

and

2) I'm also now in love with my iPhone and the "Hipstamatic" app I decided to make my post even longer (!!) and share some yellowy photos with you from our recent Kern River trip.

You can see the reflection of my shirt on the window. Coolio!

I love how the bus is distorted from the windshield!

None of these photos were altered in any way!! That's all the work of my iPhone and this amazing Hipstamatic app (well... and a talented photographer, haha) !!

Ok, that's enough. See you soon!

Vacation Photos and Blogging Artist's Directory

2011-07-08T23:08:00.000-07:00

Hi! I'm back! Didja miss me? Huh, huh, did you? Fine! ;-)

I just got back a few days ago from a nice relaxing vacation at Kern River. Right before we left we got us some iPhones and I had fun taking tons of photos with the "hipstamatic" app! Love it!!

Thought I'd share some of the photos with you.

These three bottom ones were taken during our drive home (sadly, most of the photos are from the drives and not actually of Kern River...oops!) . I have tons more to share with you. This is just to start things off.

Lake Isabella

I also wanted to share this with you. Geri over at My Heart Art is starting a directory for blogging artists. If you want to be included hurry, she's gathering the info now to launch it this Monday, July 11th. To find out more click on her blog name or the photo below to be taken to her blog.

I'll be back in the next day or two to post my yellow "stuff" for the Summer of Color. See you then.

Green With Plaster

2011-06-27T02:01:00.000-07:00

Hi there. I'm a bit late with this, but here is my entry to the Summer of Color for green week. I've been so inspired by the techniques that I'm learning in the "Plaster Studio Workshop" online class, so I had to finally squeeze in some time for a little plaster play. This piece is not quite done (I think), but I'm liking how it looks so far. I think I want to mount it on something but I'm not quite sure how or what yet. I'll let you know when I do.

detail shots

Ooh, I love this cracked plaster technique! So much fun!!

I also wanted to let you know that it will continue to be quiet around here for at least another week, so I'll try to get caught up with you after that. Hopefully I can then participate more with the "Summer of Color" fun.

Thanks for being patient with me.

I hope you're all having fun and making wonderful messes with paint! xoE

Summer of Color : Blue Cards

2011-06-16T13:38:00.000-07:00

Hello there. I made not just one, but two cards for the first week of the Summer of Color. This week's color is blue, so of course I had to go with my favorite turquoisy-blue.

For the first card (more blue in person) I glued down several layers of paper, but wasn't quite liking it. I ended up grabbing a stencil and heavy gel medium to create the raised stencil pattern and covered up the rest of the card with the medium also. When it dried I painted it with many layers of blues, cream, and a touch of copper until I liked the effect.

I did learn an important lesson with this card.... open it first before slathering on the gel medium or you will glue the card closed. Yup. Lesson learned. I had to cut it open, but it's all good now ;-)

The second card has a layer of hand-painted paper (which ended up mostly covered up by more paint!). I glued down the center medallion (apparently I'm into medallions right now lol!), which was cut from a scrapbook paper by "Daisy D's" that I love, which then got some paint brushed over it to blend in. Then I dumped some Distress embossing powder by Tim Holtz into the wet glue and used a heat gun to emboss it. When that set up, I doodled with a black pen to add some details and used the end of a paint brush to add some cream dots. And finally I stamped on a quote...

"...the artist is not there to be one with the world-

he is there to transform it"

--Anias Nin

Yes.

Love that!

There's still time to join in with your own blue creations. Just pop on over to Twinkle Twinkle for the details on the Summer of Color fun!

Hand-Painted Music Cabinet

2011-06-14T22:08:00.000-07:00

Here's the cabinet that I showed you last week that I was working on in this post here. I finished and delivered it Friday, along with another small one that I'll show you later.

That means I still have a large armoire to finish by the beginning of next week, for the same client but a different house. It'll be WAY different than this. The armoire is going to be in cream with accents of turquoise and brown possibly with a bird sitting on a branch. So if I'm not visiting your blogs as much right now I apologize... tight deadlines!

This photo above shows the third step in the process. First was prepping and painting it dark green (thank you Hubby for that part!) Second step was cutting the stencils and applying a raised texture through the stencils. Third step is to glue on crinkled tissue paper to give it a leather look.

Fourth step, paint the tissue and raised stencil areas green. Fifth step, add gold leaf accents. Sixth step, antique with a raw umber glaze, and last step is to seal it.

I didn't get the best photos of it because I finished it 7:00 at night and dragged it outside quickly to get photos before the sun went down.

Oh yeah, actually it's not quite finished! The client wants me to add a touch of gold to the raised stencil areas so they pop out more. The study that it goes in is dark so you don't notice the details as much. I'll show photos of that when it's DONE done, but that'll be a while from now.

So now I'm off to go make a blue card of some sort for the Summer Of Color!

Oh, and because I apparently think I don't have enough on my plate right now (LOL!) I'm taking a fantastic online class that just started yesterday called Plaster Studio Workshop! Which is taught by Stephanie Lee and Judy Wise... the authors of my new favorite book "Plaster Studio". Oh my goodness... if you can't take the class (registration closes on the 15th I think) then you have to at least get this book! WOW!! It's right up my alley. Woohooooo!!!

Shadow Shot Sunday : Arches

2011-06-12T13:04:00.000-07:00

Hi! Time for another Shadow Shot Sunday!

I love arches.

I love shadows.

I love light.

Where there are no shadows, there is no light.

Any questions?

If you'd like to join us with your own shadow shots, visit Hey Harriet for details.

And The Winner Is...

2011-06-10T21:21:00.000-07:00

Time to announce the winner of my very first giveaway! I'm going to make this short because it's been a LONG week and I'm exhausted! (I'll share photos of the finished cabinets I've been working on soon).

So...drumroll please......

The winner of "The Artist's Way" book (and a handmade card that's not yet made!) is.... Natasha May! Hi! It's so nice to meet you and congratulations!! Yay!! I'll need your address so I'm on my way to your blog now to contact you!!

And if you're wondering what the photo has to do with this, I couldn't find a good photo of a celebration or fireworks in my stash, so I figured this light kind of looks like fireworks! I showed more of these dandelion/firework lights a while back in this post here. xoE

I'm Working On...

2011-06-07T22:06:00.000-07:00

Just letting you know what's going on over here.

First of all The Summer Of Color is now happening over at Twinkle Twinkle (click on the name to find out details). The color for the first project is blue! You know I love my blues! So Kristin (the lovely host of the event) asked us to post what materials we will be using for our first project. I think I'll make a collaged card with paint, paper etc to go to whoever wins my giveaway (still a couple of days left to enter...if interested go here.) And there's plenty of time to join us for The Summer Of Color fun! It's just getting started.

Before

I also wanted to share what I'm currently working on.

I was hired by my favorite Interior Decorator who I used to work with years ago, to paint a couple of cabinets. So here (above) is the before photo of the first one I'm working on. It looks way better in the photo... the finish on it was awful!

In progress...

And this photo shows the green that it is now, and the stencils I cut to embellish it. I'm doing a raised pattern on it with wood icing, then it'll get painted more and antiqued. It's going into a study, so I'm making it match, yet stand out from the other pieces in there. I have to finish this one by the end of the week so I'll get back to you when it's done with the photos of the finished product!

See you then!

Shadow Shot Sunday and WIP

2011-06-05T14:13:00.000-07:00

Hello again! Another week has flown by so quickly!

I love the movement in these photos created by the iron pergola and it's shadow. And the textures (you know I love texture!) of the brick wall and flowers contrasted by the smooth, cool flower pots.

Isn't it pretty?

We walked right past it and I slowed down and turned to my husband and he knowingly said "It's a great day for shadow shots"! So I grabbed the keys and ran to the car and grabbed the camera to take these. This is why I have so many darn pictures of Pasadena... because they seem to have loveliness like this around every corner!

To join in with your own shadow shots, hop on over to Hey Harriet.

I'm so sorry that I haven't been posting that often. I have multiple projects going on right now. Of course I'll share them with you as I finish them... or maybe even some in progress shots along the way. Yeah. Good idea.

Here's a work in progress that I was working on last night. It's a large 36"x24". I had done several textured layers on it months ago, but put it aside to work on other projects. I got inspired to bring it back out last night (and ignore all the other unfinished projects around it!) I think it's calling for some gold leaf. Yeah... it is.

I'll be back in the next few days to share more of the happenings around here. See you then!

Oh, and there's still time to enter my giveaway!! Go here to enter.

Shadow Shot Sunday : Iron Scrolls

2011-05-28T23:40:00.000-07:00

Time for more shadow shots!

This is part of a beautiful bakers rack that we have outside that used to hold plants. No plants on it now (don't ask). But it does create some pretty great shadows against our house.

The ironwork has gotten nice and rusty over the years, yay!

It's a long weekend for us here in the States! Yipee! Hope you're all enjoying your weekends!

To join in Shadow Shot Sunday with your own photos, go here.

And if you're interested, I'm having a giveaway for my one year blog-o-versary/birthday. Either scroll to the post below or follow this link.

One year Blog-o-versary Post and Giveaway!!

2011-05-26T22:53:00.000-07:00

Lots of reasons to celebrate around here... even though I'm a bit behind.... OK...WAY behind.
Last month, April 14th was my one year blog-o-versary!!! WOOHOO!! And April 15th was my 39th birthday... (eek...I'm almost 40!). Kind of funny that I started my blog the day before my birthday last year. I don't remember if there was a reason for the timing, but it doesn't matter....I'm just so darn happy that I did! I had been reading and lurking around beautiful artist's blogs for a while, and kept thinking "one day I'll do this too...." I wanted to share my art with others outside my small little circle and I wanted to inspire others the way that I felt inspired when looking at all the lovely blogs out there.

I finally started E Makes Art so I could join a group that was forming online called The Artistic Mother's Group, which would go through the projects in the book The Artistic Mother by the amazing Shona Cole. The group is hosted by Trudy Callan who was SO sweet and helped me get this blog started, so I really owe this to her! Thank you sweet Trudy!

Here's a link to my very first post called "Blank Canvas", I'm still proud of it. I think it was a good start. Blogland was so new and scary, yet SO full of possibilities. And now? Still SO full of possibilities, but not so scary.

A lot has happened since then...

I learned that computers have more than just an "ON/OFF" button
I took my first online class and am now addicted to them
I've met so many amazing people from around the world while sitting in the comfort of my home
I now have my art represented in a gallery.

WOW! What a year. I wonder what magic and wonders the next year will bring...

I made this mixed media cake on my birthday as a gift to myself to cheer me up! No calories and it never goes bad : ) The cake was formed from light molding paste, then painted once dry. On the rest I used various papers, a clip art flamingo (love!) and a painted crocheted flower. I also wrote and doodled details with a graphite pencil. But no, this is NOT what I'm giving away!

To celebrate my blog turning one I would like to giveaway one of my all time favorite books, The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. I love this book, and I know many of you have read it, but I also know there's so many more of you who haven't. You need to. It is such a phenomenal book. It's a must read for anyone... not just artist's or writers... anyone! So to win, leave a comment on this post and make sure to leave your email if you don't have a blog. If you're having trouble commenting then I'll also accept emails as an entry. My email's in my profile. You have until June 9th 8pm PST (California time) to enter.

OH... and don't worry... I'll be sending you a brand spankin new book, NOT my very used and loved book shown here. The new pretty one is on it's way here from Amazon as I type. (and sorry you can't have my pen or journal either... don't be greedy! Sheesh! ha ha!)

Good luck to you! And here's to many more happy, magical years with E Makes Art!

Edit : Giveaway is now over!

Shadow Shot Sunday : Horse Babble, or is it Babbling Horse?

2011-05-21T21:55:00.000-07:00

Hi there. Welcome to Shadow Shot Sunday.

These were taken from our yard, peeking over our neighbors wall... shhh....

I think it's pretty darn cool to have horses just right next door to us. Except on the nights when one is feeling rowdy and kicks the METAL feed bin over and over. And over. And over.

Then it's not so cool.

But most of the time it's cool. Like this time, when the horse was posing for his shadow shots. He's pretty vain actually. Or maybe it's a she. I haven't checked. Then I would call her a diva.

Anywho... enough of the nonsense. You're probably thinkin I got kicked in the head by the horse.

Nope.

Just me babbling... this is how my brain works. I've been sparing you guys for a while now, but... well... that's boring. Welcome to my bizarre sense of humor. Please don't be scared.

Is sniffing a horse like sniffing glue? Is that what's happening here? They make glue from them right? Sounds mean. But it seems like that's the effect that's happening here. hmmm... Something to ponder.

Hey, where'd you all go?

I'd like to blame all this on the horse above. He typed this. I was just an innocent bystander.

To pretend the above didn't happen and go find some normal shadow shots click here to go to Hey Harriet for SSS.

So Tired, But Inspired!

2011-05-19T22:24:00.000-07:00

WIP

I'm back from the "Plastered in Wax" class that I took today at the "Create Mixed Media Retreat" here in So Cal. I had a blast!! It was so much fun and I learned tons, and came home with some very cool (unfinished) art pieces. I can't wait to finish them, but in the meantime here's a peek at them. Three are almost finished and the other three not so much. I'll let you figure out which is which! And I can't wait to make even more! Woohoo!

I was so excited to meet our teacher Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch (she's on the left)! She was wonderful! She's so talented and sweet and fun. I highly recommend taking a class from her if you ever get a chance. I was a huge dork though and totally forgot to take photos any of her art pieces that she was working on! ARgh!! My favorite ones were "works in progress"... umm...can't imagine how they can get any better, but I know they will! Darn forgetful photographer!! I'll keep an eye on her blog or Facebook to see if she posts them when done.

During class I kept thinking, "Who is this stylin' woman who keeps making the most beautiful art pieces in class? This better not be her very first art class". Ha! Then I found out that she's Lauri Mika, the artistic force behind the book "Mixed-Media Mosaics". Ahh... that explains it. Just look at this incredible piece (below) that she made in class (it's lighter in person ... sooo pretty!!!).

And to top off this fantastic day I snuck into Chris Cozen's class to say hi. This amazing woman is one of the teachers of the online Texture Town class that I LOVE, and she teaches many more (and I want to take most of them, lol)! She is such an inspiring, genuine person and a darn talented artist to boot! Just click on her name to go check out her website and you'll see what I mean.

I feel truly blessed to have met all three of these talented ladies, along with all of the inspiring students. That's one of the best things about taking classes, not just learning great new techniques from great teachers, but being inspired by your fellow students too, and hopefully inspiring someone in return.

It was a good day.

What I'm Up To...

2011-05-16T15:09:00.000-07:00

Hey there. Just wanted to share a few things with you.

First, starting today I'm taking this online course Mondo Beyondo. I'm so excited and unsure what to expect, but I've heard amazing things about it, so I decided it's time for me to take that next step and take the class. It's about discovering your dreams and equipping yourself with the tools to go after them! Sounds great, right? They are having a 2 for 1 deal, so I got a friend to take it with me. Are you ready, Manya, to dream big together?! Yay!!

If you want to learn more about the class click on the photo below.

Then this Thursday.... aahhh!!!!! ehhem.... composing myself now .... this Thursday... just a few days away (yipee!) I'm taking a class from the one and only Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch who is an amazing encaustic (wax) artist. She wrote one of my favorite art books, "Encaustic Workshop", and she's teaching at the Create Mixed Media Retreat in Costa Mesa this week. The class I'm taking is called "Plastered in Wax". We will learn how to use plaster as a base for encaustic work! Woohoo!! I'm so excited! If any of you are local I think there's still room in the class and there's SO many other amazing classes by other amazing artist's too...jewelry, bookbinding, everything! Wish I could take more.

And last but NOT least my friend Kristin over at Twinkle Twinkle will be hosting a wonderful free blog event called "The Summer of Color". To quote Kristin "Think of it as a blog block party centered around the beautiful, bold and luscious colors of the rainbow. It's the stuff we arty people dream of."

Oooh yes!! I can't wait! It starts June 6th.

For all the info click on the banner below.

So that's all for now. Just wanted to share what I'll be up to. Maybe I'll see you at one of these places? Yes?

Oh, and I should finally be posting more art soon, it's been too long. xoE

Sorry I keep re-posting this... I keep forgetting things! Ooops!

Shadow Shot Sunday : Columns

2011-05-14T21:45:00.000-07:00

Hello there. It's time once again for Shadow Shot Sunday.

Boy it sneaks up fast.

I took this photo a couple of weeks back at Fashion Island in Newport Beach. I love it there, it's such a nice place to wander around aimlessly.

Well... not completely aimless...

we did HAVE to make sure we went to Anthropologie. If I could only move in ... at least to one of their catalogs... sigh....

I went there with my friend Manya on a gorgeous day and took a few shadow shots to have on hand for cloudy days like today. I loved the way the shadows from the pergola were creating stripes on the columns.

Oh, and I think I have a fascination with columns, but I won't bore you with that ; )

To join in with your own shadows visit Hey Harriet.

Shadow Shot Sunday : Mother's Day

2011-05-08T16:55:00.000-07:00

Today is Mother's Day. I can't help but go back to the time when my son was first born. It doesn't seem like it was over two years ago. How quickly it has flown by... as it has for all you in your lives too, I'm sure. So to celebrate this day and these memories that are flooding over me today, I wanted to share a few personal photos with you.

This first one is of me and my son when he was still in the hospital. I love this photo so much. I look so peaceful and full of love, so caught up in the moment that I'm not even sure if I knew our photo was being taken. It almost looks like a painting to me.

This first shadow shot self-portrait was taken by my husband of the ~~two~~ three of us, while I was pregnant with my son.

This next shadow self-porrait of me and my son was taken last September while my son was 20 months old.

This last one was taken today. We had to stand outside and wait for the sun to peek from behind the clouds which lasted for about 6 seconds before it disappeared again.

To see more shadow shots stop by Hey Harriet for Shadow Shot Sunday.

I hope all you Mothers out there are having a wonderful Mother's Day. I was treated to a yummy breakfast souffle, Chocolate cake, fresh coffee and a handmade card. What more could I ask for for : )

A Card and an Award

2011-05-05T23:02:00.000-07:00

First I just want to share a little collaged card I made for a loved one. To make it, I layered scrapbook papers for the background, then tore papers into flower, leaf, and stem shapes and glued them all down. Then I added a light cream paint to soften the colors a bit, and once dry I outlined everything with a water-soluble crayon (make sure to spray it with a sealer).

Next, I won an award!!! Yay!!

It was given to me by the wonderful, super talented, and fun Sada over at Dressology HQ (who just happens to be my aunt who seriously rocks at everything she does!). Go check out her fashion blog, it's so much fun and there's lots of eye candy (who doesn't love pretty dresses ladies?!).

OK, so I have to share some lil' tidbits about myself. Hmm....

I actually won an award (different one) at the end of September from the lovely and talented Kristin at Twinkle Twinkle but I never posted it because 1. I couldn't decide who to pass it on to 2. I seriously couldn't think of anything interesting to share about myself, and 3. I ended up forgetting about it after a while! Sad, I know... Sorry Kristin!
I LOVE to travel and have been to: Austria - Salzburg & Vienna. Australia - all over 3x. France - Paris 2x & Giverny. Germany - Munich. Italy- Florence 2x, Rome, Venice 2x, Pisa, & Cinque Terra. Spain -Barcelona 2x, Madrid, Toledo, Grenada, Cordoba, & Sevilla. Switzerland - Interlaken. I've also been to Arizona, Oregon, Mexico, Nevada...and probably a few more that I've forgotten about.
If someone would've told me, when I was younger, that I would be married to an English teacher, I probably would've fallen on the floor in hysterical laughter (a common occurrence back then even past my teens, much to the dismay of my mom) ... seriously.
This one's for you Kristin... my English-Teaching husband is 5 years younger than me.
Pretend there's something interesting written here. oooh! wow!!
Even though I painted faux finishes and murals for my business, there's sadly none of that going on in our house except for ONE room, our bedroom. In there I glazed the walls and stenciled the ceiling (ouch!). I also painted all trim and doors to look like mahogany wood.
I've been wanting to share a few photos of our beautiful bedroom with you. But that would mean I'd have to dust. Nope.

So now I have to pass on the award to a few deserving people.

First one goes to miss Manya over at Manya K Photography. She takes the most beautiful photos and her blog showcases her specialty which is portraits in beautiful environments. Go check it out. Oh yeah, and she's one of my closest friends : ) Hi Nya!

The next one goes to Michele of Pipi La La. I love visiting her blog. Not only is she real, and HILARIOUS, but the girl is a wonderful artist. I am the happy owner of several of her paintings. LOVE them!

OK, that's all I've got. I've been TRYING to narrow my list down to share others, but I'm going to cut it off there. I started this post days ago and I'm afraid if I don't post it now it'll never get done.

Bye now.

Shadow Shot Sunday : Altered Image

2011-04-30T21:48:00.000-07:00

For this weeks shadow shot I dug in my photo stash from my photography classes from about 6-7 years ago. This was one of my first assignments. We had to take a photo of something, then figure out ways to alter the photo in different ways. The original photo is above.

No photoshop her folks, all printed in a darkroom (I miss it sooo much!) with some hand-altered goodness.

For this second one (which I LOVE because it looks like it has shadows from palm trees!) the developer was brushed on loosely. So cool!

The one above was bleached. I love how soft and faded it is.

For this forth one I used oil paint that's specifically for photos to color it. There were no brushes so I had to paint it with cotton swabs.

And the last one that I'm showing you from this assignment shows that my love of collage was already creeping in at that point. To do this I printed the photo twice. One in black and white and one in sepia. Then I tore the black and white one and glued pieces of it onto the sepia and folded the edges over a bit here and there.

I have many more versions of this photo, but these are my favorites.

To see more or join in with us for Shadow Shot Sunday go here.

Stalled

2011-04-26T23:50:00.000-07:00

"Whatever God's dream about man may be, it seems certain it cannot come true unless man cooperates."

--Stella Terrill Mann

Just a quick post today. This is a photo of my beautiful, happily used water container that I use for painting. I put a butterfly sticker on it months ago... I can't believe it's still hanging on! In the background you can see a bit of a work in progress... a tree painting. I need to finish it. I love it but haven't had much time to work on it (and truthfully have been avoiding it lately). I have worked on other things but this is the one that calls to me most...yet I avoid it. I need to stop thinking and start doing. I need to get back into the habit of creating everyday... it's the best way to fend off perfectionist fears.

"Artists who seek perfection in everything are those who cannot

attain it in anything."

---Eugene Delacroix

Art Journal Flowers

2011-04-19T23:17:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been feeling dumpy. Just haven't been able to completely shake it. I figured I needed a lil extra TLC, so I pampered myself last week by making myself some flowers in my art journal that'll never droop, get moldy, or die. It did help a bit. Making art usually does make me feel better, plus making something completely for me was nice.

The photo above shows the colors fairly true to how they are in "real life". Click on photo for closer look.

Notice the page next to it says "no more excuses"? hmm.... coincidence? Or maybe it should say "snap out of it"!

I wrote "remember" across the bottom to remind me of all the good that I have in my life. All that I am grateful for. There's so much really, but here's a short list...

Things I am grateful for in no particular order:

This blog, Blogland, and all you wonderful lovelies out there who are so loving and giving
My wonderful friends and family
Being an artist...I truly love it and feel blessed to know it's my calling
Having people who believe in me
Having the most wonderful husband ever, and our funniest/smartest/cutest two year old son
Coffee
Dark organic chocolate....YUM!!!
Online art classes!!

Of course there's way more, but that's enough for now.

To make this collage I first used metal tape (from a hardware store) to make the frame. I painted gesso over everything to prep the page and tone down the silver of the tape. Then I tore papers to form the vase, flowers, and other details and glued them down. I again gessoed over everything to soften it. I wanted a soft faded feel to it, something different than what I normally do. When dry, I used a graphite pencil to write "remember" and also to add details and shading to finish it off.

There. Done.

Pretty flowers to help brighten the day.

I hope they brighten yours too, because you readers brighten mine!

Thank you!

Shadow Shot Sunday : Door

2011-04-16T22:24:00.000-07:00

Quick post. Big headache. Cool door to an outdoor patio at a restaurant.

Welcome to Shadow Shot Sunday.

For more or to join in, go here.

Sorry so short. I'll be back as soon as my brain behaves. xo

Shadow Shot Sunday :

2011-04-09T21:29:00.000-07:00

Hello there.

Another week has flown by.

Another set of shadow shots to post for Shadow Shot Sunday.

I don't know if you've figured this out yet, but I LOVE dramatic lighting.

I love how dark the shadows are in the photo above with the pop of sunlight on the ground in front of the cool silhouetted tree.

I was only going to post the photo above, but I wanted to share more photos so you can better see what the sky looked like at this time...

Not natural, but it looks cool.

It's fun and addicting to search for and photograph shadows.

You should join in the fun.

You know you want to.

Stop fighting it and go here to figure out how to join in with the rest of us shadow hunters.

See you there.

Oh...And I totally forgot to thank you all for you input on last weeks shadow shots...so THANK YOU!! I couldn't decide again this week, so I put all three. Close enough.

Heart On A String

2011-04-07T22:51:00.000-07:00

Here is a card I made recently. This is the one I was supposed to be working on when I "accidentally" made this collage instead using the same materials.

I first glued down some papers from my new vintage books (oxymoron anyone?) onto the background to create a nice base and texture. I painted over it with off white, then added some soft washes of color. I tore the bird's shapes out of various scrapbook papers, glued it all down, then added some crochet bits to add additional texture. I drew in some details with a pencil. I wanted a bit more depth on the heart so I put 2 layers of heavy gel medium on it. The stars/dots on the red are a raised silver pattern that was part of the paper.

I've had the image of a heart tied on a string and hanging from a bird or a tree in my head for quite a while (a few years actually!), so I decided to do one with a tree too. I made a quick 5x7 inch collage on watercolor paper with vintage book pages glued down as a base, and then painted over with fluid acrylics. I added some details with a pencil and scraps of paper.

It's a bit different from what I've been doing lately, but that's part of the fun of art. Experimenting and having fun and following your inspiration . I'm not done using the heart on a string image, I think it'll continue to pop up here and there. I'm not even sure exactly what it means to me yet, but that's ok. I do know it has to do with sharing your heart and being open, but I think there's more to it than that. I'm not too worried about it right now though.

I know these things usually reveal themselves in time.

Shadow Shot Sunday : Decisions, Decisions...

2011-04-02T21:10:00.000-07:00

So it usually takes me FOREVER to choose photos to post because I always have trouble picking my favorites out of the MANY that I take during each shoot. I wanted to narrow it down to two photos...one of the closer vertical shots, and one of the long horizontal shots. I kept on going back and forth between each of these. There's something a like about each one. Finally I decided to post them and have you choose instead! Please let me know which your prefer out of the two photos above, then while you're at it...pick one from the photos below too. Thanks for doing my job for me! ; )

If you want to join in with your own shadow shots, or just see who else is participating, pop on over to Hey Harriet for Shadow Shot Sunday.

Charity Art Auction

2011-03-31T23:01:00.000-07:00

If any of you out there want to own an original art piece made by me, AND donate to an amazing charity for autistic children, then now's your chance to do both! It is the very same piece that I have as my blog header above. I donated this crown collage to A. Skate Foundation a while back for this purpose. If any of you are in the area, the silent art auction is this Saturday evening, April 2nd in Venice Beach, CA. To find out more go check out Upper Class Label (the host of this wonderful event).

Read about Crys Worley's story and why she started A. Skate in her bio here. She is one amazing and inspiring woman.

When I created this piece, I modeled it after my original crown collage with Proverbs shown here. It reads "Wisdom will set a garland of grace on your head and present you with a crown of splendor" Proverbs 4:9 I can't remember the exact dimensions, but I think it's around 9x11inches on 1/4 inch plywood. When I made this I used a lot of copper/bronze along with turquoise and sea foam green so it looks like metal which has that wonderful patina from aging. I kind of wanted it to look like it has been sitting in the ocean for a while...maybe buried in a treasure chest...or something...

If you are interested in this piece, but are not in the area, let me know SOON and maybe your bid can be included in the silent auction. Sadly something came up and I won't be able to go myself. : ( But I hope if you are in the area you will go and support this cause and maybe even go home with a cool piece of art!