Orange Post : Koi Carp

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

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!

Lovely Lavender

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?

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

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.

 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!!

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!

Green With Plaster

 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

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!

I'm Working On...

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!