noye studios

sneak peak from @arthouse Sketchbook Project

2012-01-24T08:58:00.001-08:00

I finished my sketchbook for the Art House Co-op/Brooklyn Art Library. And I'm SO HAPPY with it! I really departed from style and made it much more illustration-ish. But I feel like it's very successful. It will be so cool going to the exhibit... or as they like to call it, World Tour. The exhibit will be in Atlanta August 29th thru September 1st. It will also go to Toronto, Los Angeles and Portland Maine (to just name a few).

My theme is I remember you. I choose to tell little stories of people I remember thru my lifetime. Some are funny. Some are sad. Some are rather embarrassing. But it was actually quite cathartic to get them out like this.

I had the whole book scanned and will eventually post the whole book. But for the moment here is a sneak peak.

learning to batik

2012-01-24T05:27:00.001-08:00

I've been calling this technique faux batik. Mostly because the pin which pointed me to the website I got the information from called it faux batik. But then my sister (an artist whose major was fabric design) pointed out to me that batik is simple a dying process that uses a resist. So I'm now thinking of this as "non-traditional" batik.

All that aside, it's just plain fun!

My first time out I got beautiful results! I was so happy with it I thought I was an expert. I didn't plan my design for project # 2 but just sloppily painted on my crayons and dye. And the results were DISASTROUS!!! Lesson learned. A clear design idea is a must for this project. I think with more practice a bit of abstraction would work. But I'm going to go slower and get comfortable with the basics first. Thankfully I'm working on muslin so it's only $0.99 a yard worth of mistakes. Plus I've been needing small squares of colorful fabric for another project so I'm not really out any materials. You know my mantra.

No such thing as waste in the Artist Studio.

To begin this process you melt crayons. CRAYONS! How easy is that? I first melted them in the oven but they cooled too quickly. So then I set the muffin tin on the skillet I use to melt my encaustic medium. This worked perfectly. It kept the crayons melted so I could paint with them.

Sorry, I didn't take step-by-step photos. But the full process is shown on this blog. The only thing I did do differently is at the very end. On the blog they removed all the wax with an iron. I used an iron to heat-set the pigment in my crayons. Then I went back to the more traditional batik and boiled away the rest of the crayons and dye. Lastly, I took a stiff bristle brush and scrubbed off the rest of the dye. Boiling the fabric makes it much softer then only removing the crayon wax and dye with an iron.

Here's a picture of my fabric after I removed the fabric dye. Dig my pink pajamas. :)

Sunlight House.

Moonlight House. This is my favorite side!

I'm very happy with the finished project. I sewed the 2 long sides together and made a gift bag. The bag is currently in the mail with a bottle of wine inside for a birthday gift. I hope they like the bag (though of course liking the wine is a given!)

Fallen

2012-01-13T13:17:00.001-08:00

I can't believe I never posted this. I completed this one... hmmm.... 3 months ago maybe? This is one where I really fell in love with the process. In fact I loved making the wings so much I've gotten a series in mind which revolves specifically around wings. I LOVE wings. If i could get away with it (and convince everyone i really was a fae) I'd wear wings 24/7!!!

Here's my Fae with her crown; half of a vintage belt buckle. Doesn't she look pissed?

A close-up of her wings. I built the skeleton of the wings from wire and then skinned them in used tea bags. Tea bags are my very favorite kind of paper to use in art projects. They are excellent in taking color from acrylics (paint or inks), watercolors or even gouache. But even without color they're just beautiful in their natural tea-stained state.

She has a shriveled peach pit for a heart. No wonder she's pissed!

The piece in it's entirety.

The Unlimited Potential Of The Mind

2012-01-13T12:41:00.000-08:00

Here's another one I did for a Christmas present. All things brain-related are good presents for The Man. I had this idea for a while but my original idea was for a painting. But I had a few of these interesting shaped cigar boxes that I knew would end up in an assemblage eventually.

Then about a week before Christmas it just hit me. This came together quickly but I'm real happy with the results. Funny. Sometimes a piece will take months and months. Other times it seems to come together all on it's own.

This is one of those pieces.

the year of the pendant

2012-01-08T18:31:00.000-08:00

Got some of the pictures off my Droid!!!

This year for Christmas presents I made a few necklaces. My friend Joy taught me how to make these beautiful pendants using glass tiles. So easy and so pretty!!! So I made a few for friends and family members. I'm happy with how they came out.

Hello Art

2012-01-03T09:47:00.001-08:00

To look at my blog you would think I haven't done anything creative in a while. That's actually far from the truth. I've been extremely busy in the studio. The problem was most everything I worked on was meant to be a Christmas present. So I couldn't post it for fear of ruining several surprises.

But I did take pictures.

Oh yes... the pictures. Well, let me tell you a little story. I've gotten very good at documenting my creative process. I enjoy posting things on my blog so I always make sure to have several pictures of both the work-in-progress and the finished item.

This Christmas I really tried to stay on top of things. So as I finished projects I photographed them, wrapped them and packed them up and shipped them off. Then 2 days before Christmas my 3 year old Droid (cell phone) decided to become a paperweight. I went and got a new phone; an iPhone 4 which I really really love.

The problem? They couldn't get my pictures transferred from the Droid to the iPhone. They're still on the Droid but I have to buy a cable to download the photos. le sigh...

Remember me? This piece was done for a Round Robin Journal I worked on. I really liked it and thought it would be good to do on canvas.

So here she is on canvas. I don't really dig her. I guess I should have stuck with the original pallet (which I like much better). I also didn't exactly capture the same look in the face as my 1st drawing for the journal

Welcome 2012

2012-01-01T18:04:00.000-08:00

2012 is finally here! We had a wonderful New Years Eve. We spent most of it sitting at the firepit. We did a releasing ceremony to leave all the crap behind in 2011. We baked apples in the fire and enjoyed them with a little vanilla ice cream. We had a bit of Baileys with decaf coffee. It was a great way to welcome in the new year.

ready for the firepit

releasing bundles

a little Bailey's, a little decaf, a little Billy Idol

tending the fire... with help

Welcome 2012!!!!

SouLodge by Pixie Campbell - Winter session

2011-12-20T07:19:00.000-08:00

Hello Winter Solstice. We bid you welcome on December 22nd. And so starts a preview to the winter session of SouLodge with the Mother of All Releasing Ceramonies.

From Pixie's website:

SouLodge: Winter Session 2012
SouLodge Winter Session will cover the season in which we are typically withdrawn and resting, the time we embrace recharging, stillness and wisdom, and with a strong emphasis on Restoration. We will also be reflecting on the light that's making it's return and the celebrations associated. We will work with the post-holiday and New Year energies as the old has been shed and the refreshed is ready to be birthed. We'll be exploring the Upper World this term, with its associated guides, as well as journeying into the Lower World to commune with our animal guides, messengers and medicine companions.

roaming art journal

2011-11-14T09:20:00.001-08:00

I just completed my next page for the Round Robin art journal I'm taking part in. For this one the art journal owner requested we use the theme "Love". I didn't use any words like the other artists in the book did. But I think I still conveyed a strong meaning.

And I dig her :) In fact I might transfer the idea over to canvas.

a few new paintings - from Serendipity retreat

2011-11-07T11:44:00.000-08:00

I haven't blogged or painted much since I got back from Serendipity retreat in Nags Head, NC. (which was fabulous btw!!) In all honesty that could be because I've been sick for about a week and a half. Sneezing and a horrible hacking cough and fevers followed by chills. It's been horrible and I'm so glad I'm over it. I didn't make it to the gym for almost 2 weeks! Talk about stir-crazy!

I did find a perfect sick-day-craft though. I made felt in the washer machine using 100% wool sweaters I purchased at the Goodwill! I don't know what exactly I'll use it for but I do have a few ideas. Things we don't talk about until after Christmas. Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Last night I painted for the first time since getting home from retreat. I really miss it when I don't paint or sculpt every day. Sadly, I can't. My schedule just doesn't allow it. But if I go more than a few days without it, my head explodes.

Seriously. It does.

I planned on painting all weekend but somehow got sucked into video games. lol So by Sunday night I packed away the computer, pulled out some acrylics (heavy body, fluid, acrylic inks), Adirondack alcohol inks, Stabilo graphite, oil pastels and a large sheet of watercolor paper and got to work.

The first three pictures below are ones I did at retreat. I did them in the class I took from Tim's sally aka Mindy Lacefield. What an awesome class! I have loved her paintings since the first time I saw them. She has such an interesting way of doing figures. Hints of my favorite artist, Jesse Reno, but much more whimsical.

So here are mine:
This is the first one I did in her class. We worked on several at a time. Well what we actually did was start several backgrounds. We worked on those all morning, applying multiple layers of paint, ink, paper, etc. Then we went to lunch. When we got back we started doing figures. The above is the first one I completed. She's cute :)

This is the second painting I did. Mindy demo'd how to use her techniques to paint an animal and I really wanted to paint one. Walking to the class that morning I had my own Zen moment as I stood quietly and watched a red fox trot down the street before running off into someones back yard. So the fox was on my mind when I painted this.

This is the last painting I did in her class. At first I told myself this wasn't complete. Duh, no hair!!! But the more and more I looked at her (him? it?) I heard a voice saying "Finished". I like the naive look on it's face with the bald head. It speaks of rebirth to me.

So that's what I call it: Rebirth.

Last night I wanted to take Mindy's techniques and paint something in my style. I'm not 100% convinced it was successful but I had fun doing it. I still need to pick up some GAC 100: Universal Acrylic Polymer. It's on my shopping list for my next Dick Blick's fieldtrip. I had to use a matte medium instead.

There are certain things I do that don't lend themselves to Mindy's way of doing faces. Mainly, my cheeks. And I'm in love with my cheeks so that might be hard to adjust. well, maybe.... I do like my face shaded using Mindy's color palette. In fact I really dig it. The eyes could use some work. It also needs more definition between the face and neck. I do love the background (well, all except part of the upper right; too busy. Need more resting spots). And of course crows are acceptable in ANY painting.

So the verdict? It needs work but I'm not unhappy with it. :)

Murphy Sculpture Garden

2011-10-25T11:59:00.000-07:00

Last month we were in Malibu for The Man's graduation.

We took a few extra days to explore the California coastline. We went to The Getty Museum. Simply AMAZING!!! And we also went to the Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden at UCLA.

I didn't photograph every piece. Some I didn't love. Some didn't photograph well. But below are a lot of my favorite pieces.

this face stencil was painted on a wall at the sculpture garden. i'm fond of well-placed stencils like this one.

Mulier by Eric Gill

Mulier by Eric Gill from across the reflecting pool. just lovely!

Ptolemy III by Jean Hans Arp

Freya by Gerhard Marcks

Maja by Gerhard Marcks

Autumn by Henri Laurens

I don't see Autumn here At All!!! Hmmm, unless maybe the model's name was Autumn?

Heroic Head by Aristide Maillol

Pensive by Deborah Butterfield

I LOVE Deborah Butterfield's work. What a nice surprise to find one here.

Mère Ubu by Joan Miro

Two-Piece Reclining Figure, No. 3 by Henri Moore

Two-Piece Reclining Figure, No. 3 by Henri Moore (another angle)

The Walking Man by Auguste Rodin

Having just finished reading Steve King's The Stand, this one freaks me out a little.

I can't find out the artist and title of this one :(

Night by Anna Mahler

Standing Woman by Gaston Lachaise

I love how strong she looks!

Head of France by Emile-Antoine Bourdelle

Desnudo reclinado by Francisco Zuniga

Or Reclining Nude. I must tell you this was my FAVORITE! I love when artists play with proportions like this. And her face is very lovely.

SouLodge by Pixie Campbell

2011-10-18T06:08:00.000-07:00

Only TWO MORE WEEKS till Pixie Campbells amazing SouLodge! Registration is open for one more week. Hurry Hurry Hurry to take part in this transformational energy circle.

A description of the class from Pixie's own blog:

This session will focus on the aspects of rebirth, renewal, ceremony and celebration of the season, using both traditional and purely intuitive crafts, meditations, journeys and tools to keep us feeling sacred as we lead through and up to the holidays.

It sounds like a great class! I'm planning on joining the winter quarter.

City of Suwanee SculpTour - part 2

2011-09-12T08:08:00.001-07:00

A few of my pictures got left off the last post!

One thing I really liked was how they used vacant store fronts to display art. Here's a picture of some blinged out cats!

Free Spirit by Jennifer Freeman: "as the title implies, is meant to depict a free and joyous woman delighted by life. The sculpture is created from fiberglass and cement substrate, partially covered by mosaic. It weighs 60 pounds and its dimensions are 4’x4’x4’. "

This was my favorite!

City of Suwanee SculpTour

2011-09-12T07:22:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning, 09/11, we decided to go check out the new SculpTour in the City of Suwanee. It must have been fate because we didn't realize that Suwanee has a piece of the World Trade Center as a centerpiece of their park. It was very sobering to see this piece of twisted metal on such a noteworthy day.

After paying our respects we went off to discover the beautiful sculpture scattered around the park. There are 15 pieces (I think... 15 or 17). I didn't take pictures of them all. Some of them just didn't do anything for me. Others were kind of hard to photograph. But below are a few of the most eye-catching of the group.

Dreams of Flying by Harry Zmijewski: "using a creative process much like that of a child: fresh, clean and, simple. The sculpture is constructed of reynobond with a steel frame and mount. It weighs 65 pounds and its dimensions are 72”x48”. "

Deconstructed Bolt by Andrew T. Crawford: "Directly referencing the techniques of collage, this piece looks as though it has been cut apart and rearranged creating a playful gesture in an otherwise stationary object. The sculpture is fabricated of galvanized steel and weighs 190 pounds. Its dimensions are 89”x 12”x 12”."

Arachnid by Damon Lusky: "Inspiration comes to Damon Lusky from memory of childhood toys. “You know when you see something and you have that moment of reflection and you feel a smile on your heart,” he says, “I think that’s what I'm shooting for.” Arachnid is around knee tall and 10 feet in diameter. It weighs approximately 200 pounds."

Amne by Harry Zmijewski: "Amne is a Tibetan word that represents a tall cloth-covered pole with tassels at the top. They are located in villages, monasteries, and parks, among other places. These poles are symbolic and made to protect the people where they are located from harm. In the artist’s version, he has used recycled car bumpers to form the contemporary abstract sculpture that resembles the Tibetan amne. The piece weighs 500 pounds and its dimensions are 15’x7’x7’."

Prayer Booth by Dylan Mortimer: plays on the idea of faith in the public realm. By morphing a telephone booth into a prayer station, the piece invites viewers to participate, or at least think about, the concept of prayer. It fuses humor with seriousness in order to ask questions about faith in public. Prayer Booth has been displayed in Kansas City, Chicago, Baltimore, Cedar Rapids and Dubuque (Iowa), New York City, Jackson (Tennessee), and Olathe and Lawrence, (Kansas). The piece is constructed of aluminum, vinyl, and plastic. The sculpture weighs 100 pounds and its dimensions are 110”x21”x24”. "

Mother and Child by Eluisa Altman: "represents the child as an extension of the mother. As the child begins to slip away, the mother stretches her arms as far as possible to hold on to her. The sculpture is minimally detailed but is meant to portray a strong family feeling. The piece is constructed of resin and weighs 78 pounds. Its dimensions are 33”x31”x12.5”. "

detail of Intrusion by Harry McDaniel

Intrusion by Harry McDaniel: "an exploration of the interactions and energy created by pushing three large irregular forms very close together. The composition conveys a sense of tension between the three sections. The matching curvature of the gaps between sections draws the viewer’s attention into those spaces. The middle section, differently finished from the other two, seems to be forcing its way between them, thus the title. The piece is constructed of steel, aluminum, and powder coat paint. Intrusion weighs 600 pounds and its dimensions are 7.5’x 9’x 4.5’."

How I spent my Summer Staycation

2011-09-01T13:12:00.000-07:00

Last week we both took time off from work for staycation. Staycation is always our favorite! It's great fun to go on trips. But we love taking vacation at home; taking day trips and seeing the sights, doing work around the house. We love it!!!

Here's a few things we did on our staycation:

We went to Harlem, Georgia to visit the Laurel & Hardy Museum. We LOVE The Boys!!! Ya know, they do the same joke over and over (and over and over and over...) and I laugh EVERY TIME!!! It was a beautiful drive over on the back roads of East Georgia. And while the museum wasn't huge and full of memorabilia (not much left! they reused props in every movie back in those days!!!) it was still very cool. We saw lots of old pics of each of The Boys. Stan being Ben's favorite and Oliver being mine.

a mural in the center of town

Me with The Boys

Ben with The Boys

We also did a lot of things around the house. Here is our old porch rocker looking brand spankin' new with a fresh coat of black paint. The rest of the porch (and the entire house and barn!!!) will be painted next week. Can't wait!

We also did a LOT of work in the kitchen.

We had remodeled the kitchen about 7 years ago. We got 90% done and lost steam. We never finished the molding on one wall. We didn't paint the windows. We didn't paint the cabinets.

Then 2 weeks ago we had someone remove the horrible sliding glass door and replace it with a nice porch door with simple glass pane. We told them we'd finish the inside if they did the outside. So we used our staycation to finish up the kitchen. ALMOST! We still need to paint the cabinets. Well do that labor day weekend.

Here's a shot of our beautiful molding. I love how it came out!!!

Here's another shot showing the molding, New England Red walls and cream bead-board paneling. LOVE it!!!

We also went to Folk Fest the first part of our staycation. Saw tons of great art but didn't buy anything... well, except for one. We bought art for the dogs. We got this great painting from Bonehead Arts to hang above the dog door. I LOVE it. I think the pups do too!

And a bigger shot of our kitchen. Still lots we want to do, like new floor and new counter top. But those are projects for next year. Once we get the cabinets painted, we're done!

I did lots of art during staycation. Here's a sculpture I've been working on FOR EVER! And it's almost done now. A few finishing touches. But it's done enough to share I think. :)

Here's a piece I'm working on for Gary Reef's Sardine Can Challenge. It's no where's close to being done. But I think I can still share a peak.

I posted this yesterday but here it is again! I made this journal to mail to other artists for a Round Robin. Can't wait to get it back full of wonderful art!

Back to work we go!!! The Man and The puppy heading back to work on Monday.

And me too! Back to work after a WONDERFUL week of staycation!!!

Collaboration

2011-08-31T10:09:00.000-07:00

I'm involved in a real fun project Over Here on Tam's ning, Willowing & Artist Friends. It's an art journal round robin.

I probably should be patient and wait to post pictures. But I'm diggin' the books so far! I won't post what other people have done so far (though I will post my whole book once it's complete!!!) But here are my pages.

This is in Mindy's book. Her theme is about self discovery. I've started trying to incorporate my own symbolism into my work. So I didn't say "in words" my self discovery. But it's meaningful to me.... in my own secret language.

This is the cover page on my book. I first started to make the theme Victorian Side Show Freaks. LOL But then decided to make it a little looser... Just Circus related.

Here are my side show girls. Their circus name is Double Trouble. It's not finished yet. But what can I say. I'm impatient!!!

If Round Robins and Collaborative Art interests you, please check out the group!!! We have a few spots left and this is a fun group with lots of great artists.

Oh Deer

2011-08-29T07:30:00.000-07:00

I did both of these a few weeks ago. But as they were presents I didn't want to post them too early (and ruin the surprise). I'm happy with them both.

acrylics on canvas; this one is done very much in the style of my most recent canvas' though a lot less folk art and a little more graphic. But I like it. I struggled with the background for a long time. It went from light green to pink to yellow. Then I put a burnt umber wash with fluid acrylics and suddenly it worked!

This one was a total experiment (as I'm likely to do in the studio lol OFTEN!) It's made from found object (the plastic deer) covered in joint compound. I then did several washes in various colors of fluid acrylics. I like the simplicity of this one. I think it works.

weekend update

2011-08-17T08:30:00.000-07:00

What a busy weekend we had!

Saturday we cut our path pavers (for lack of a better word) for our Zen Garden. This is what we plan on doing. And last Fall we had to cut 6 trees out of the yard. We saved them and let them dry out. Saturday we cut them into 3 inch thick stepping stones.

I'm not sure we have enough. But it's a good start. We can always do more later... or adapt our design a little. Either. :)

Saturday night we went and saw one of my FAVORITE bands at Verizon Wireless Ampitheater. My first time at the venue and enjoyed it a great deal!!! It's nice to have such a great venue so close to home. We'll be back.

But now, please enjoy the Big Bad Voodoo Daddy! They are The Shizzle!

EDIT: Try as I might I can NOT get YouTube to embed this video. But HERE they are. Enjoy!!

Bear's Village is the Trees

2011-07-16T11:19:00.001-07:00

I painted this for Ben's birthday. He seemed to like it. :)

I can't seem to get my pictures to post straight today. I'll spin them when I get home from Harry Potter tonight.

EDIT: He's straight now!!! Whew! One problem solved!

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the Goddess Noyeovia

2011-07-16T10:18:00.001-07:00

I finished her! And I love her. The skirt, background and ice cream cone are collaged with hand-painted paper with a mix of fluid acrylics, acrylic inks and gouche. Actually I just painted coffee filters. The Goddess figure is painted in acrylics.

I'm posting this on my phone and I can NOT get the picture turned right. I'll fix that when I get home from Harry Potter!

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i love bentos

2011-07-01T04:07:00.001-07:00

Would you believe all this food is less than 250 calories?

I make my tuna (80 calories) with white wine dijon mustard (0 calories) instead of mayo. The sandwich round is 100 calories... instead of using bread. They're tasty too!!!! Then I load up on fresh fruit and veggies.

YUM!

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Noyeovia work in progress

2011-06-25T08:03:00.001-07:00

I started this painting months ago and then lost interest. To be exact the painting itself became uninteresting.

The last couple weeks I've been thinking about it again. And I felt I wanted to add some 'painting with paper' collage elements to the skirt.

This morning I decided to go one step further and collage the whole background. Here's my paper, painted with pearl violet gouache, lame' black diamond gouache, pale violet acrylics, burnt umber acrylics and a touch of gesso.

I'm going to let this dry today and work on the painting tonight. Right now we're getting ready to put the top down on the convertible and go drive around the mountains, looking for a little trail magic.

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CSA love

2011-06-24T13:41:00.001-07:00

I'm loving our CSA. Only 3 weeks into it (with 4 deliveries) and I've tried many new recipes.

Our first week (actually the week before our start date) we got cherries. I made cherry garcia ice cream.

The first and second weeks we got zucchini and squash. I made 6 loafs of zucchini bread and then froze the rest of the zucchini and all the squash to use later in the year.

Last night I got the third weeks delivery. Now that the weathers been better we're starting to get a little more variety. We still got zucchini and squash. But we also got cucumbers, radishes, snap beans, mint, parsley, blue berries and one lone unknown kind of pepper.

This weekend I'm making lasagna with zucchini. But I also found a recipe for zucchini parmasian that looks like a wonderful side dish. I'm going to give that a try as well.

Now to figure out what to do with the blue berries. Sorbet?

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kneed a heart... (thanks Pat!!!)

2011-06-13T10:45:00.001-07:00

A small glimpse at a current work-in-progress.

I started working on this piece for Gary Reef's sardine can challenge. Then I realized my idea didn't fit the challenge rules. But I love my idea so much that I'm doing it anyways... just for me.
My piece will be called Real Boy. I will construct the body out of metal, pieced together like a quilt. The head I sculpted some time ago out of clay and various found objects. It resembles the Borg.

The heart will be embedded into the body, in a tin of some kind.

This will take some time but I'm in no rush.

work in progress - sculpture

2011-06-08T04:08:00.001-07:00

working on a weird sculpture right now. lol yeah, it's pretty weird.

wow... think i need to clean my work table!!!!!! Then maybe i can use it as a "Work" table. lol

Sid's nesting instincts

2011-06-06T09:01:00.001-07:00

We had an old-fashioned pink rose which got a terrible blight. But when we went to cut it down back in the spring we found a bird's nest inside. So we left the rose bush alone until the bird's had moved on.

Last weekend we finally had a vacancy so we took the rose bush out. I hate taking out rose bushes but it has to be removed anyways. It grows up the side of the porch and our goal is to screen it in this summer!!! :)

Below is the empty nest sitting in Sid's lap. Sid lives on our front porch as the focus of our outdoor alter. We like to leave Him natural offerings. And the nest told us this is where it belonged.

Parts is Parts

2011-06-06T06:44:00.000-07:00

For part of our adventures in Tate yesterday we explored a train station and walked along the railroad tracks. We found a junk pile full of trash and old rusted metal parts. I would have liked to grab them all but they were HEAVY!!! So I got a few and hope to get more.

One person's trash is another person's treasures!!! I see great treasure's here! In fact the long skinny piece is already destined for a work-in-progress missing a base. I think this will be PERFECT!

trail magic (edit)

2011-06-05T18:35:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful weekend! We had a busy one.

I did a lot of art... none of which I have pictures to share.

I started working on some collaged scrabble tiles. I also spent most the weekend working with a homemade paper clay... which i LOVE!!! Great product which works well with the kind of sculptures I do. I think I'll be using this product a lot!

First, I made 2 quarts of ice cream. The one of the left is Chocolate Almond. The one on the right is Green Tea. Both came out great!!!!

We explored backroads. Here is The Man and The Dog on a bridge over Amacalola River in Dawson Forest.

A country water park?

The high dive

Tate Ga. Blink and you'll miss it

The Man and The Dog at a very old graveyard in Tate Ga

95% of the grave stones in this old graveyard had the name "Tate". Small town...

the angel has a great view

railroad station... great simple architectural details on this treasure

same building. different view

spare wheels for the train?

I love old doors

whoops, my A.D.D. is showing

2011-06-02T05:53:00.001-07:00

For my birthday a friend gave me a linoleum stamp carving kit. My first stamp was an attempt at carving my chop. I forgot the big rule of stamp carving: Carve Backwards!!! So now I have a backwards chop!!! Oh well, it was a great learning experience. I'll carve that one again.

My second stamp was an image from one of my paintings, called Voice. I originally planned to use it in the below collage painting but so far I've just done journal page with it.

I'm so easily distracted. I've been painting up a storm. Then i see the beautiful work of Elizabeth St. Hilaire Nelson and i decide 'I've TOTALLY gotta do that!' It was a fun technique that honestly I'd done in art school a few decades ago. But still fun none the less. Elizabeth St. Hilaire Nelson uses all hand-painted paper rather then decorative scrapbook paper. It's more archival. So using a mix of heavy bodied acrylics, fluid acrylics and acrylic inks I painted several book pages and coffee filters.

It's not finished. My original idea was to add a hand-carved stamp of one of my paintings as the central subject matter. But once it was carved and I'd done some test stamps I didn't think the 2 worked together. So for the moment it's just a work-in-progress.

Happy Birthday Joy!

2011-05-31T09:02:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to my best friend Joy!!! I'm so happy to be able to call you "Friend" and for all the wonderful memories we've created thru the years! I hope you have a wonderful birthday!

Remember... there's nothing better than a pickle. :)

new post; old art

2011-05-19T07:41:00.000-07:00

On a recent trip to a friend's house I realized how often I give away art as presents without taking pictures beforehand. So I quickly snapped a few to post here.

These are all old pieces... probably several years old. I've gotten much better about the picture-taking-thing. :)

a mixed media Mermaid
She swam along the ocean floor, looking for treasure...
And Sea Captains

(that's what I'd be looking for...)

Photo collage on canvas.
The dog in the car is one of my friend's pups Pepper. Yes, Pepper does drive a vintage Vette.

She's like that....

Dapper Gentleman Assemblage

2 pieces side by side

Please Don't Piss Off The Fairies

Always good advice!!!

Art and Soul Virginia - part 4

2011-05-16T12:33:00.000-07:00

Jesse doing his demo
Jesse had tons of stories

Joy took the class with me. Her finished paintings are fabulous!!!

My painting at about the half-way mark. Still LOTS to go!!!

This is one which I finished in class. It's called I Have A Voice.

I started working on this one last week. Still not done but at the moment I call it Bear Hugs.

I finished this one last night. It's called Pachyderm On The Serengeti.

Day 4 was the whole reason I went to Art and Soul. Day 4 was the Freedom to Create class by Jesse Reno.

I stumbled upon Jesse Reno years ago in my beloved Raw Vision. Jesse's online bio said he was last published in Raw Vision in 2004. Have I been following Jesse's work for that long? It's quite possible. A time or two a painting of his has shown up at Slotin's Folk Art Auction where we are regulars (who have supplied 50% of the artwork in our house!!!) I check into his website on a regular basis. When I discovered he was teaching at Art and Soul this year I HAD to go!!! Just for his class.

I've been painting on and off since my teen years. I painted in my teens but it was easy to leave behind when I joined the service and started moving around alot... not like sculpting which I always feel lost without when I go too long without making something. The painting urge I was able to satisfy thru the years with drawing, collage and art journaling. I just started painting again about 7 or 8 years ago.

I've always felt slightly disconnected with the whole painting process. Detached. Removed. I just didn't loose myself in my paintings the way I do when I'm sculpting with clay or working with found object or assemblage. I did always enjoy painting but it wasn't that whole meditative experiance that I love most in art.

The first moments in Jesse's class and I felt that connection to painting again. Is it the whole primal process of painting almost entirely with our hands? (We didn't even pick up a paint brush until over 1/2 thru the 6 hour class!!!) Was it how he walked us thru the section on letting go of expectations, like a guided meditation? I can't say. Maybe a little of both. But since his class I've really felt the painting itch in a way I never have before.

Today at lunch The Man said my paintings had taken a very sophisticated turn lately. He is my biggest fan! But His words really touched me. And though the subject matter is still very child-like and whimsical, I too can see the sophistication He's talking of.

And it makes me very very happy. :)

Art & Soul Virginia - part 5

2011-05-15T07:19:00.001-07:00

I'm skipping part 4 for the moment. I'll post more about it later.

On day 5 we took Wabi Sabi Wax taught by Serena Barton. It's an encaustic class using the Japanese design philosophy of wabi sabi. It's a hard concept to define. But the way i understand it, it follows the idea of living in the now, not dwelling on imperfections; using so-called mistakes (as there are really no such things as mistakes - only opurtunities to learn). It's very Zen.

I've used beeswax in collage before. But i had never done true encaustic. First off, the smell is heaven. It's heavy and rich and i think i could become an encaustic artist for the smell alone.

I know accomplished encaustic artist can do amazing things; portraits, precise landscapes, etc. But wabi sabi is perfect for beginners. I enjoyed the process alot but left thinking "this is fun but i can't see myself becoming an encaustic artist."

Well yesterday we spend the day gallery-hopping in Asheville. One gallery had a dozen or so pieces by an encaustic artist. These were less abstract but still very simple and Zen. I'm now iching to try it again!!!

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Art and Soul Virginia - snapshots

2011-05-12T10:33:00.000-07:00

Here are some snapshots from the week:

The groups and classes are great. But sometimes you need to chillax in your room with a box of wine.

Ahhh, what a great vintage of cardboard.

Yes, we're artists. Notice the beret and mustache? 'Nuff said.

Oui Oui. (wee wee?)

Join us now for the Sad Poetry Hour. RichAnt doing her reading of "Die Die Die Burn Destruction with Fluffy Little Bunnies"

Joy during the Fluid Romance class.

Lunch with the Loving Mixed Media group.

Whose that guy in the background?

After hours with the Loving Mixed Media group.

Wait!!! We're not ready!

OK, NOW we're ready. Sitting up straight and smiling for the camera.

Art and Soul Virginia - part 3

2011-05-12T07:30:00.000-07:00

The fabulous ring on the left is by Joy. Mine is the Geisha ring on the right.

Here is the front cover to my soon-to-be-made resin journal. I forgot to take a picture of the back cover. It's simular. Same decorative papers and lace but different photographs. More creepy kids though. :)

Day 3 of Art and Soul we took a class working with resin taught by Ty and Marcia Schultz . We made rings, resin paper and collages on canvas boards that can be made into book covers or hung on the wall as free standing art works.

I've worked with resin for many years. I use resin paper in my assemblages. I've made pendants. And I learned in Day 3 that I've been doing my pours ALL WRONG!!! (Good to know! Now i can do it correctly!)

I'm afraid i didnt get many pictures from Day 3 and i still havent gotten my boxes of art supplies or finished works yet. :( But here is just a sample from fabulous Day 3.

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Art and Soul Virginia - part 2b

2011-05-08T16:33:00.001-07:00

We took 1 evening class at Art and Soul; A Trio of Transfers taught be the fabulous Lesley Venable.

I've never been very successful with transfers. Those where i had fore-though just didn't come out. Those that came out i had no idea what to do with.

This was strictly a technique class so we didn't have a project we were all doing. But many people made tags or art journal pages. I chose to put one of my transfers on a small canvas which i had 1st attached book pages then stamped script and distressed with alcohol ink. The transfer was done with a photo copied on a laser let printer and transfered with contact paper.

We also did transfers with ink jet printer copies and transfer ink solution (not a lot of luck here) and one with a toner based photo copy, saran wrap and an iron. This one came out fabulous too but i haven't used it in a project yet.

Mr. Lesley made cookies and brownies for the class and kept us very entertained thru out. He is the very ideal of an art husband.

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Art and Soul Virginia - part 2

2011-05-07T06:56:00.001-07:00

The fabulous piece on the left is done by Joy.

Day 2 started bright and early. (Note to self: ALL days at Art and Soul start bright and early) Our class, The Women of Juarez, was an assemblage class taught by Opie and Linda O'Brien.

LOVED them! I learned so much in this class. Assemblage is one of my favorite things. I see things in my mind in 3D so sculpting and assemblage really speak to me. But i haven't been super-confident with cold connects.

After a day with Linda and Opie all that has changed!!! I cannot wait to get some new assemblage projects going. And i have some great ideas for Gary Reef's sardine can challenge.

But i also dig my Women of Juarez piece. The women in this city in Mexico have the highest rate of violence against them. This piece is done to give them a voice. I added a crown and the word "regal" to say how they ~should~ be treated... like queens. The red in the background is a symbol of the blood spilled.

Again, sorry for the bad cell phone pics. Better ones soon i hope.

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Art & Soul Va 2011 - part 1

2011-05-06T11:26:00.001-07:00

Wow.

Wow!!!

Wowowowowow!

Not much more i can say. I had a wonderful time at Art and Soul. I took 6 classes during the 5 day event. And damn was i exhausted. But would i go and take less classes? No, i don't think i would.

I went with my best friend Joy and we decided to take all the same classes. Some classes where ones we both wanted to take. Some geared more towards her and her art; some geared more towards me. But i learned something in every class. A real win-win situation.

Day 1 was A Fluid Romance taught by Kari McKnight. This was working with fluid acrylics; a completely new medium to me. But i really enjoyed them. I like the workability of the medium. I also discovered The Bestest of all The Mediums: matte medium.

We painted a background and then added collage elements to our canvas. I added both vintage photos and a photocopy of one of my sketches. Last i embellished with thermofoil.

Its different from my usual style but i like it.

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2011 Sketchbook Project ~blogging~

2011-04-25T04:08:00.001-07:00

Now that I've been to the Atlanta exhibit of the 2011 Sketchbook Project I wanted to share my pictures.

I made my book as a fold-out instead of in a signature-style. I used a 140 lb watercolor paper because I like working with that weight.
another glimpse of the cover

Here I am at the Granite Room in Atlanta; the location of the 2011 Sketchbook Project exhibit
My theme was nighttime stories. I decided to do mine specifically about Sundowner's Syndrome.

So that's that!!! I have already signed up for the 2012 Sketchbook Project. My theme for next years book is "I Remember You". I've already got a lot of samples drawn up! I hope my book arrives soon.

a row of assemblages ~blogging

2011-04-15T06:47:00.001-07:00

I've been hard at work, making as many small art pieces as possible to bring with me to the Art and Soul retreat in Hampton Virginia, end of April. I know most people are bringing ATCs, charms, postcards... something of that nature. But i don't do any of that. I do assemblage and large scaled paintings. So i made these mini assemblages.

The photos come from my Papa's collection. He was a professional photographer before The Great Depression. And i often use copies of his photos in my work. Here i took pictures and coated them with resin to give them the look of a transparency. I then attached it to a painted, distressed tin and embellished with different items (buttons, keys, metal bits, pieces i scuplted from clay, etc). I dig them. I call the "kinfolk".

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The ABC's of M-E-E

2011-04-13T07:12:00.000-07:00

Age: 43

Bed size: King

Chore you hate: Putting clothes away after they're laundered. I don't mind washing & drying them. It's the folding and putting away I dislike.

Dogs: Koishii Lees is the diva of the group. She's a Shiba Inu. Next comes Maxwell Q. Floppyears. He's a Pekingese and he's my hero. Lastly, Ellie Mae (or Eleanor Mayse) is the joker and the baby. She's a Black-Mouth Cur.

Essential start of your day: coffee

Favorite color: I don't really have a favorite. I just LOVE color. But forced to pick it would be in the Red-Pink-Purple range.

Gold or silver: Gold

Height: 5'4"

Instruments I play (or have played): I played flute in middle school but didn't stick with it. For Christmas this year I got a ukulele. Stringed instruments are hard for me but I'm trying!

Job title: AR Spec. Sounds official doesn't it?

Kids: 3 furry ones

Live: North Ga Mountains, at the start of the Appalachian Trail.

Mom's name: Laeta

Nickname: How many words can you think of that rhyme with Heather? that's how many nicknames I have! lol

Overnight hospital stays: a few :-p

Pet peeve: racial comments and jumping to conclusions about people based on a stereotype.

Quote from a movie: "They ain't even Old-Timey!"

Right or left handed: Right

Siblings: I'm the youngest of 3 girls

Time you wake up: 6:00 during the week (with the alarm). 6:30 or 7 on the weekend (without the alarm).

Underwear: the more colorful the better

Vegetables you dislike: Not many. I really like my veggies! Though I usually avoid the okra.

What makes you run late: having to say goodbye to the puppies. They're so cute! I always want to take them with me.

X-rays you've had done: a few... all for sinus issues.

Yummy food you make: In the kitchen I prefer to bake. I'm great at cakes and pies and cookies and breads, etc. But I try to be healthy so I don't bake a lot. For dinners I do lots of pasta dishes and things in the crockpot. But baking from total scratch I make the BEST baked Mac-and-Cheese!

Zoo animal: I could watch the meerkats for hours!

kinfolks ~blogging~

2011-04-11T12:55:00.001-07:00

I keep forgetting to post this! I made this little guy for my sister's birthday last month. The photo (which i worked with resin, making it shiny, semi-transparent & impossible to photograph) is my great grandfather and great uncle, who was a professional football player (ummm, soccer) in England.

As a child i always had a huge crush on these ancient English gentlement, in this picture especially. I thought they were so handsome and dapper.

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40 pages in 4 days ~blogging

2011-04-08T10:12:00.001-07:00

In hindsight deciding to do 40 Zentangles in 4 days might not have been my smartest decision. But i volunteered to do another set of fatbook pages to replace someone else who flaked on the project. I'm very happy to be getting another book from the project!

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turtle ~blogging~

2011-03-29T05:27:00.001-07:00

I painted this for a friend who had to give up her turtle. Again, i REALLY need to photograph these before the 50 coats of varnish is applied.

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paintings for the reiki office ~bloggingB

2011-03-21T08:16:00.000-07:00

I finished these 3 paintings this weekend which will go in the Reiki office. I used the same technique I did on the medicine wheel painting, which also hangs in the Reiki office.

My favorite is the Om symbol. This technique works well for graphic images; not so well for most other things. The bear claw yin yang came out well also. The Buddha only works because his silhouette is very recognizable.

painting afternoon ~ blogging

2011-03-19T16:04:00.001-07:00

What a beautiful day! I really didnt expect a beautiful day because i went to bed sick. But i woke up feeling ok thanks to a shot of cough syrup and a good nights rest.

The temps were in the high 70s all day. First off we headed down to the reiki studio to redecorate. We bought a rug, moved furniture around and hung pictures on the walls. Then i had a reiki session.

We went home and spent the rest of the afternoon on the front porch. I worked on 2 paintings: one which i started a few weeks ago and then got too busy to work on, the other brand spanking new. Both are done in the same style, using the same techniques so they are easy to work on side by side.

One is a gift for a friend who lost her turtle. The other, the Om symbol, will hang in the reiki studio.

Right now we are driving in to Atlanta to see a play: A Chorus Line. The other pic is us dressed and ready to go. Have a great evening everyone!!!

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cuff detail - blogging

2011-03-18T12:24:00.001-07:00

Well i said i'd post close ups of my cuff so here it is. Its made from scraps and i love the rough edges. You can also see my lame attempt at a blanket stitch. Lol

I love to wear jewelry, specially braceletts. But i work on a computer for 8+ hours a day and braceletts become kind of uncomfortable. So i've made several of these fabric cuffs. It's been a great solution.

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little peek at w-i-p ~ blogging

2011-03-18T08:01:00.001-07:00

Here a little peek at the assemblages i'm working on. Sorry the the glare. I gotta tell ya, its not easy photographing resin paper!

Also in the assemblage: tin, felt, linen, lace, ribbon, hemp twine, wire, buttons, clay and the above mentioned resin paper.

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new cuff - blogging

2011-03-18T04:57:00.001-07:00

Last night i was doing a little free stitching on the sewing machine. I have 12 - 18 assemblages i'm working on... trades/presents for upcoming birthdays, Art & Soul retreat, i'm-thinking-of-you presents, etc. I did the stitching part of the assemblage for 8 of my pieces. It was frustrating but i'm very happy with how this step came out.

When i decided to pack it up for the night i still had a pile of felt, linen, lace and ribbon scraps. So i made this cuff. I'll post a close-up picture later. But here's a picture of today's outfit.

Yes today is blue jean Friday. We're allowed to wear jeans 1 day a month if we donate $5 to charity. I'm not a blue jean person but i do like to donate my fiver.

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assemblage wip - blogging

2011-03-10T06:00:00.001-08:00

Well i didn't get as much done on my assemblages last night as i had thought i would. I have gotten the basic armature installed to the upper portion of the bodies. But i thought i'd get the plaster mixed and poured as well. Oh well. Something to do tonight i guess.

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in the mail - blogging

2011-03-08T08:16:00.001-08:00

My last batch of fatbook pages for Art and Soul's Virginia retreat is now in the mail! What a relief!! The due date wasnt until 4-1-11 but i have lots of other things, presents and trades, that i need to work on.

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an assembly line of assemblage

2011-03-06T09:46:00.001-08:00

Just a quick peek of the fruits this weekends labor. All in all i hope, to have about 15 or 18 of these by mid April. The due date is Art & Soul weekend, last weekend of April. But i'm going to have to ship them up or get them to a friend whose driving up.

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sketchbook Discolicious blogging

2011-02-21T06:30:00.000-08:00

I don't know if the picture if finished. But ~she's~ finished. I envision a lot of things going on around her. But for the moment, with all the things that are currently going on now, I've just lost steam.

Sorry for the dark picture. I snapped her with my cellphone when I was running out the door to work this morning.

But back to HER (cos it ~is~ all about her), I like what she became. She has 1970's Rosanna Roseannadanna fizzy hair which brings to mind a Disco Queen. The other things in the picture with probably change her from a Disco Queen. But for the moment she's soaking up her royal status. Maybe she needs a crown?

From the sketchbook - blogging

2011-02-17T13:48:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted anything from the sketchbook in a while. Actually most my sketchbook time has been devoted to upcoming projects. It seems like forever since I did any drawing just for the sake of drawing.

The last couple days I drew both these faces. Neither of them are... pretty. But I like them both.

The woman in the scarf below was my trying different shaped heads. I usually draw oval shaped or heart-shaped faces. I went for something a little rounder. It's a very cartoon-y look. But I still kind of dig her. She's kind of like a renaissance cartoon character. lol

This ladies face is majorly lopsided. But you know what? We can't all be perfect tens. And she's learned to live with her deformity. She's pretty in a "you have an interesting face" sort of way; not a "you're features are perfect" kind of way.

test blogging

2011-02-14T15:08:00.001-08:00

I just downloaded the Blogger.droid app. So this is a test. This is Only a test.

If this works it could be better than pigs and angels!

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Valentine's Day blogging

2011-02-14T11:59:00.001-08:00

I love hearts and flowers and pinks and reds and all things cutesy-cute-cute. But I don't like to go that direction with my art work and crafts. The big exception? Valentine's Day. Today is the day I let my inner girlie-girl out. OK, she's not that far in. But today, she's celebrated!

It's so nice to have my Valentine home on Valentine's Day!!! This is the first year in our eleven years together that has happened (except when Valentine's Day falls on a weekend). So I had lots of fun today letting Him know how special He is to me.

I made these Valentine's Day cards which I mailed to some friends and family members. I also put them in my Valentine's lunch so He'd know today how much I love Him.

I made wax hearts filled with red and pink and white M & M's. These were so fun and easy, I made lots!!!! And I'll make them again too! Great idea! (just wax paper sewed free-style without the foot down and filled with candy.)

I'm a very good baker if I do say so myself!!! But I'm a HORRIBLE decorator! These came out OK and they taste great. Not the prettiest cookies around but I think He liked them. :)

All packed up for His lunch! yes, I did add some healthy stuff too, like His favorite sandwich and chips.

This is the drawing I made for Him. He has a close relationship to Bear. So I thought I'd show Bear how He sees him. As a playful, mischievous spirit. I framed it casually in a wood shadowbox. I like how it came out.

Steps

2011-02-14T11:19:00.000-08:00

After I had varnished the Medicine Wheel painting I realized I had a board completed for each step of this process. So I lined them up and took a photo.

On the far left is the board covered in plaster. I use joint compound but there is a whole lot of different kinds of things you could cover the board with. Plaster of paris works. So does paper mache'. Caulk also works. Artist medium (gel medium) also works but is the most expensive option. I've used each of those before.

The second one from the left has the background colors. I paint a solid background. Then I add an explosion of color. Squiggles, hearts, geometeric shapes, numbers, letters, dashes and dots. Anything to give the background a lot of variety.

The second one from the right has my stencil painted. Just the basic outline. Next I'll add my detail. In the case of this picture, it'll be in black.

My last step is to outline in white. Sometimes I'll add a little white detail. For my Koishii painting I added her white spots on her toes, face and belly.

And that's that. Easy-peasy.

medicine wheel - blogged

2011-02-14T06:20:00.001-08:00

I REALLY need to start taking pictures of these before I put 50 coats of gloss varnish on top!!!

But here is a medicine wheel painting I completed this weekend. It's going to it's new home, a Hypno Therapy and Reiki Studio in Cumming Ga, tomorrow.

Oh what a horrible glare!!!!
no glare but oh so dark!!! But at least you can see each symbol here.

Koishii Lees

2011-02-01T12:07:00.001-08:00

After I finished my fox painting that I posted yesterday I was reminded of Koishii. As always. Koishii Lees is our Shiba Inu. And she looks like a little fox. Or a minature Akita, which is what Shiba Inu's kind of are. But she likes to think she looks like a fox. Or maybe a timber wolf.

See? I look just like a fox! Aren't I cute?

This is my FAVORITE picture of Koishii.

So here's Koishii! Neither picture shows her cute curly tail. I don't have a photo of her in this pose but she does it often. It's usually followed by a shiba-fit. That might be the reason I don't have a picture of her like this. It's hard to keep her still sometimes when she's in full-on-play-mode!

Anyways I'll bet my influences here are easy to guess. I've been very influenced lately by artists Jesse Reno (whose class I can't wait to take at Art & Soul Virginia!!!) and Alabama artist Suzan Buckner. Both artists create layer over layer over layer of color. I'm finding myself doing more of these layer effects and I've been happy which the results each time.

fox

2011-01-31T08:52:00.000-08:00

Had a fabulous art day on Saturday! (Sunday too but more on that later)

Our friends were in town and we always like to work in a little art time. This weekend we wanted to do the tutorial posted to artist Susan Buckner's blog. But since both of us can only go so far with following directions we followed the first several steps and then changed things up to make it our own.

Here is my piece and Joy's piece side by side. To see more of Joy's piece, read about her processes and see all her fabulous art visit her blog here.
A closer look.

Here's my finished fox. I thought this piece needed a glossy finish. It made it harder to photograph but in person I think it looks great! I'm very happy with how it came out.

When Joy and I started these pieces we both decided to work outside our comfort-zone. We both chose color combinations which we don't normally use. We both used slightly different subject matter. I mean, I've draw lots of foxes... in sketchbooks (such as the fox I featured in my 2011 Sketchbook Project book) and it my art journals. But this is the first time I've featured my fox on a canvas. I dig him. :)

Amour

2011-01-17T10:20:00.000-08:00

This weekend our best friends were in town. The Men had an errand to run which left the women-folk to fend for ourselves. That meant Art Day! When ever Joy and I get together we inspire each other to work on new and different things.

Joy had said she wanted to learn more about working with clay so I came up with a basic design for a mixed media piece we could both make.

Here is both of our finished hearts, sculpted in a low-temp clay with metal embellishments and a wire hanger attached. Before firing them we stamped the clay to give it texture.
Here is my heart and partially finished wooden frame. I covered the cardboard backing to the frame in decorative paper that looked like old love letters. I painted the frame red and painted on a crackle medium.

Over the crackle medium I painted an acrylic paint called Wrought Iron

Here is the finished piece! I used 3 different font text stamps and added the French word for love: Amour. I painted the heart with several different layers of red paint. I then rubbed on a walnut alcohol ink. As of yet I'm not overly impressed with the alcohol inks. Will need to play with them a bit more.

Here's a detail picture of my heart. It's attached to the frame with a brown silk cord. And hanging at the end is the key to my heart.

Joy's finished artwork is posted on her blog over here. It came out fabulous!!! I always love how we can do a piece side by side and come out with 2 distinct works of art!

a few Christmas presents I forgot to post

2011-01-13T10:45:00.000-08:00

I'm still learning PMC so these didn't come out exactly how I wanted them. (But I don't wanna share how I wanted them because I'll continue to work on that design.) But here's a little peek at a few pendants I made this December. The top 2 were for my sisters. The hummingbird was for my Mom.

SHINE
SOAR

hummingbird

All three, ready to go.

did you hear it's snowing in Georgia?

2011-01-13T10:30:00.001-08:00

That's right. SNOW. In GEORGIA. This rarely happens. So of course, the whole state had to shut down for 3 or 4 days.

This is part of our front yard. It's really pretty out!
We all need a little Zen. Even in the middle of a snow storm. Here's the bottlewall in the Zen Garden. Here you can really see how much snow we got. All in all, about 9 or 10 inches.

But the front walk still needs to be cleaned. Here He is sweeping off the walk.

And since we live in the mountains, snow means no one is going ANYWHERE!!! At least not until the Spring thaw.

If this tree was in my yard, I'd put Christmas lights on it every year. It looks beautiful in the snow.

frozen randomness

2011-01-13T10:19:00.000-08:00

Snowman by the lake

snow-rooster on the roof of the hen house

snow dogs

snow dog with his very own snowman

snow-dragon

the great escape

2011-01-13T09:20:00.000-08:00

Our driveway is quite a job!!! But unless we wanted to stay in the house until Spring, it needed to be shoveled.

This picture just does not do the driveway credit. It is loonnnnggggg! It is steeeeeeeep!

This picture doesn't really do it either. It's one of those things you must see to believe.

Well, it's a start.

Break Time!!!

whew! Almost halfway done!

FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It took use 2 1/2 to 3 hours to dig out the whole driveway. Quite a job!!! Now 2 days later we're both still eating Advil like candy.

anything's a sled

2011-01-13T09:06:00.001-08:00

Here in the mountains of North Georgia we are experiencing our own Winter Wonderland. Anyone whose smart is staying close to home.

Well you don't wanna DRIVE in this stuff and end up like these guys!!!

What happened to this Stop Sign?

Ahhhhh. Here it is! Stop Sign makes a perfect sled! So do these boogie boards!

And so does a jonboat! This one holds 4 people.

But it doesn't steer all that well.

snowbound sketches

2011-01-12T05:38:00.000-08:00

In between cooking, eating, shoveling snow and playing World of Warcraft, I sketched quite a bit over the last 2 snowbound days. I finished my book for The Sketchbook Project 2011. And I drew a lot of random pictures.

Like my Goth Gal below:

eggnog donuts

2011-01-12T05:27:00.001-08:00

We've been snowed in for the past 2 days. We started with plenty of supplies but we slowly ran out. Yesterday I started getting creative with my cooking. I had run out of both milk and any kind of creamer. But I still have eggnog!

So I found this recipe for eggnog donuts. And they came out great!!!!! I'll make these again and not just because I ran out of milk.

3 cups Bisquick, Plus Extra For Kneading
1-¼ cup Eggnog (or Milk)
2 cups Sugar
1 Tablespoon Cinnamon
1 teaspoon Nutmeg
Vegetable Oil, Enough For Deep Frying

Preparation Instructions

Heat oil in a deep fryer or heavy Dutch oven to 350 degrees.

On a plate or cake pan, mix the sugar and spices together. Set aside for coating the finished doughnuts.

In a medium-sized bowl, mix bisquick with eggnog (or milk). The batter should be slightly sticky, so add more milk if the batter seems too dry.

Sprinkle your counter or cutting board with extra Bisquick and dump dough onto this. Begin to knead, until the dough comes together into a nice ball that is no longer sticky. Roll out (or smoosh out with your fingers), then cut into doughnut shapes. (I used a biscuit cutter and the cap of my vegetable oil bottle for the center).

Very carefully, drop doughnuts into hot oil. Do not let them get too brown on one side before flipping, or they will get bottom heavy with oil and you will have trouble keeping them flipped, so both sides brown evenly. Repeat with doughnut holes.

As you take the doughnuts out of the oil, briefly blot by laying the doughnuts on a paper-towel-lined plate, then immediately dredge in the sugar and spice mixture while doughnuts are still hot.

This should make 15 doughnuts with 15 doughnut holes.

Dali

2011-01-12T04:53:00.000-08:00

This past weekend was the end of the Dali exhibit at The High Museum of Art - Atlanta. To give Dali a Dali-worthy exit the museum held a continuous party... all weekend long. And I mean ALLLL weekend long. The museum opened Saturday morning and didn't close until it's normal time on Sunday.

We went to a play at Cobb Energy Center on Saturday so we decided to go to The High after our play. (the play - Oklahoma - not great. it was ok.) We got there around 11:30 pm and the line was several 100 people deep. Thankfully we then saw the Member's line. Maybe 50 people in line. So we took our spot and it moved rather quickly. We were inside shortly. (good thing because temps were dropping and would soon bring snow to Atlanta).

The Dali section of the museum was packed. We had seen the exhibit once before but at that time The Persistence of Memory hadn't arrived yet. So we made our way to this painting. I was shocked! It's a tiny canvas... maybe 6 inches by 9 inches. Still no one beats Dali in the craftsmanship of oil painting. I've read sometimes he used brushes that only had 1 or 2 hairs. His technique was just amazing!!!

But we couldn't take the crowds for too long. So we decided to wander the museum. We went upstairs to the Surrealist Gallery. The High has a great collection of Dali's fellow surrealist and it was interesting to see the group Dali started with... though eventually they kicked him out of the Surrealist group. The reason? Dali was too surreal.

Ya know, people become well-known for a reason. There were lots of paintings, sculpture, assemblage pieces. Some great. Some just didn't move me. The pieces I gravitated too? When I looked at the description card, they were all by artists I know of: Robert Rauschenberg, Joseph Cornell, Man Ray to name just a few in the Surrealist Gallery. Also in the Modern & Contemporary Gallery we saw wonderful works by Chuck Close, Jeff Koons, Jean-Michael Basquiat (LOVE LOVE LOVE Him!!!!)

The exception to that "well known name" rule is Mark Rothko. Man, I just don't see the attraction there. Personally I think his work is just boring.

Yum!

2011-01-08T13:50:00.001-08:00

yes, i baked a cake :) as with all my recipes, i just made it up as i went along. i started with a white cake mix. but i only had egg beaters; not egg whites. so it didn't end up white. no matter. it still tasted great.

i added a cup of chopped walnuts to the batter. then between the layers i spread homemade fig jam a coworker gave me. i topped it off with cream cheese icing and more chopped walnuts. it came out great!

I've been framed!

2011-01-06T13:02:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I really scored on frames at a local thrift store. I keep a list of the sizes I need in my PDA for just such an occasion. And I came across 2 lovely (and reasonably priced!) frames. And even more importantly, they both convey the feel I wanted each painting to have! How lucky is that?

She's Nothing To Crow About

Decay

Hanging side by side in our hallway

The one I call "Decay" is an acrylic on canvas mixed media painting. The falling leaves are made from resin paper. Her crown and wings are newsprint. Her crown's jewel and her tata's are pink crystals. The painting (and the frame) have a tattered elegance to them. When I was painting this piece the name in my head was Fae of Decay. She is a Fairy Princess. However her Kingdom is crumbling around her. Not that it matters to her. She's still strong and proud, even in deteriorating surroundings.

The one I call "She's Nothing To Crow About" is an oil on canvas. She has no back-story. lol She just "is".

Both paintings are 18 X 24.

Love and Hope

2010-12-17T07:35:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was iced in and unable to get to work. So I decided to be productive. I made almost 8 dozen cookies. 3 dozen were pepperment candy cookies (basically sugar cookies with pepperment icing) and the rest were eggnog cookies. These are also a sugar cookie base but I add rum and the icing also has rum.

I also was able to fire a few PMC pieces I've been working on. Below is a bead that I'm OH SO Happy with!!!

I strung it on red silk beading thread and attached a red glass bead at the bottom. I made it with someone in mind. But I'm rather diggin' it now!

Christmas ATCs

2010-12-10T12:55:00.000-08:00

I usually make my Christmas cards. This year I haven't found the time. So instead of making cards I made some ATCs to include with my cards. Probably not ALL my cards. Just the ones for an upcoming swap. I wish I could make them for every Christmas card but I'm quickly running out of time!

Fly Your Freak Flag

2010-12-06T13:45:00.001-08:00

This weekend I stumbled upon several vintage photographs at my favorite antique mall in Chattanooga. I didn't know exactly what I'd do with them. But when I found a package of bingo cards, it all fell into place.

I'm a firm believer in flying your own freak flag.

Hello My Name is Arrrrrggggh! Art Heart Healing; week 3

2010-11-11T08:25:00.000-08:00

The third week of Tam's Art Heart and Healing free online course is a busy one! We did another spread in our board book. We also decorated the cover. I've not done either of those yet.

BUT

I did make my Empathy Monster! Empathy Monsters have a zipper mouth. That's so when they start giving you a lot of crap, you can zip them shut!!! They LISTEN. Not judge.

Hello, my name is Arrrrrggggh!

Check out my sweet figure!!!

I've got so much love to give, I had to have TWO hearts!!!

On my way to my new home!!!!

The Monster was very fun to make. I'll probably make more. I've got lots of Monster ideas running thru my head now. :)

Art Heart Healing; Week 2-A

2010-10-29T06:02:00.000-07:00

For week 2 of Tam's Art Heart Healing course we're embellishing a board book. Subject? Ourselves.

I've not had great luck with board books in the past. And this one didn't go all that smoothly. First, I should have sanded the book even more before I applied 2 layers of gesso. It was still too slick to hold my paints in a few places. I covered by doing my background in the same original color as the book so it's hard to tell at a glance.

Also, I have a terrible time with transfers. Honestly, this one is the best I've ever done. And it's still not great. I look cross-eyed in the photograph and really, I'm not!!! lol I think I moved the picture a fraction of an inch when I did my transfer cos it came out slightly blurred. And you can't see how I'm rocking my Cindy Brady bologna curls!

This weekend I'll work on lesson 2-B and hopefully post it by Monday.

Oils No. 2; Introspective

2010-10-27T12:22:00.000-07:00

I think this is done. I'm leaning more and more towards "done". I'm diggin' her.

The painting is called Introspective. Of course it's oils so I could always pull it off the wall 6 months down the road and rework things, should I desire.

a quick post for a quick picture

2010-10-26T06:50:00.000-07:00

I've been really enjoying my exploration in oil paints these days. But the other night I did a quickie in acrylics. I had an "Art Night" with my friends and wanted to do a painting I could complete in one sitting. Wellllll, really it was a "Movie Night" but me and Zee sat on the floor and painted while C & R watched Get Him To The Greek. Funny movie :) This painting is the female character, Jackie O.

Art Heart Healing; Week 1

2010-10-26T06:21:00.000-07:00

Here's a journal spread I did for Tam's FREE online course Art Heart Healing. Quite fun! I love doing these kind of journal spreads. I could have gone on for days and days and days with this; adding more layers of painterly goodness. :) But eventually I had to say DONE so I could begin week 2.

The Creative Journey

2010-10-25T10:06:00.000-07:00

I wish I had fabulous pictures to share with you all of my day soaking up the wonderful aura of His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama. And thought He radiates pure white light, it's rainbow colored aura I might add. Sadly all I have are these blurry camera phone pictures.

We had general admission tickets. So we were pretty far back. But the large screens helped. And we could hear everything (though the Dalai Lama switches back between English and Tibetian rather rapidly!!!)

I thought the discussion was very interesting. We covered a number of topics. The one that I'm still thinking about is whether we as artist have a responsibility to produce uplifting work? Or is the artist's job to show the darkness in the world, allowing the viewer to compair between light and dark? Very interesting stuff!!! As someone who gravitates towards sadness and gothic images, I've been wrestling with these thoughts for as long as I've been painting and sculpting.

This is the ever handsome Mr Richard Gere... from a great distance lol

2 pictures of His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama

and in the mail from @HiddenEloise...

2010-10-25T08:10:00.001-07:00

My winning necklace from Hidden Eloise's blog give-away arrived this weekend! It's just as lovely in person as it is in the pictures. I've been wearing it non-stop since it arrived.

Yes, the necklace is beautiful. And the packaging? Wow!!! I love when people put such thought and care into how they present themselves. And this lovely little package couldn't have a better presentation. I was so impressed!

Her etsy shop is one of my "must check regularly" shops. I know that when I purchase from her, the package will be as lovely as what's inside.

Oils No. 1

2010-10-07T08:03:00.001-07:00

I'm calling this Oils No. 1 though it's not technically my first oil painting. I've done a few more. They were paintings I did following another artist's instruction. And they were not my style. I knew that going in. Painting "my style" wasn't the point of those exercises. I was just trying to get a feel for the medium.

With this painting I'm still feeling out the medium. But I feel ready to branch out into a painting that was "me". I learned a lot while working on it. And I really enjoyed working with the oil paints. A LOT!!! I'm knee-deep in Oils No. 2 at the moment. :)

This is called She's Nothing To Crow About.

As for the other paintings I did prior to her? Well they will probably never see the light of day. Unless I decided to rework them and make them more "me". Maybe I should add a few crows?

The Heart of Art by @willowing

2010-09-29T12:59:00.000-07:00

October 18 starts another one of Tam's fabulous course. I've taken several of her classes. Learned lots and had a wonderful time doing so. But this one will be extra special.

What makes this one so extra special? Well, it's free for starters.

If you've never taken a class with Tam, I highly recommended it. They're fun and informative, yes they are. But also, Tam just has the best energy!!! It's a pleasure to take her classes.

Thanks @HiddenEloise

2010-09-29T10:59:00.000-07:00

As I was moving my mouse over the link from Hidden Eloise I thought 'oh poo! I never win anything!' So imaging my surprise when "I" was named the winner of her beautiful tiny book locket!

It's a locket with one of her gorgeous paintings on the front. It's just one of the many treasures you can purchase yourself from her etsy shop. I can't wait to receive it. I know I'll wear it often.

another cuff

2010-09-22T08:14:00.000-07:00

I made one more cuff during my staycation. Love them! So easy to wear. I think I'll end up making one in every color eventually. :)

This one was a gift so I also made the packaging. The cuff was green; so was the packaging.

a mix of green patterned fabric, tea-stained laces, stamped muslin, colored glass beads and a faux bone vintage button.

Three Jewels

2010-09-22T07:38:00.000-07:00

I felt inspired to make a cuff regarding the Three Jewels. I've been wanting to try my hand at fabric cuffs for a while. Last week, while on staycation, I decided to jump in.

The Three Jewels in Buddhism are The Buddha, The Dharma and The Sangha.

The Buddha or the Buddha nature—the ideal or highest spiritual potential that exists within all beings.
The Dharma - the teachings of the Buddha.
The Sangha - the Buddhist community.

I went with muted colors. I love bright colors, in my paintings and home decor. But for dress I like the look of faded laces and earthy neutrals the best. I embellished the cuff with a variety of laces, stamped muslin, pearls of various sizes and shapes and a big wooden button. At first I wondered "should I only add 3 beads?" But I nixed that thought pretty quickly. The jewels are the concepts, not the beads.

Grosgrain: Thrift Store Thursday: The Romantiks Frock

2010-09-19T14:38:00.000-07:00

i am SO going to make this dress!!! very CUTE! Grosgrain: Thrift Store Thursday: The Romantiks Frock

experiment in upcycle - 1st try

2010-09-03T09:58:00.000-07:00

I've been very motivated by the upcycle chatter in the blogosphere. So motivated I decided to try my hand at it.

The 1st try didn't turn out so bad. I mean, it's wearable. Is it fabulous and fashion-forward? No, not by a long shot. But my sewing skills are extremely rusty. I haven't sewed more than a straight line let along a complete garment in 15? 20? years??? Perhaps I need to do what my friend did and take a sewing class. It seriously couldn't hurt!

That said I like it ok. And it was very easy. It's made from 2 extra large grey t-shirts I found in the dollar bin. I didn't do the neck detail. That's how the 1st t-shirt was originally. I cut both down to my size and using the 2nd t-shirt (which was plain) I added my skirt.

My biggest issue with it at the moment is it's not very figure-flattering. But I'm confident in my current slow-but-steady weight-loss. Since April 1st of this year I've lost 24 lbs. And I'm confident I'll continue on this current plan (it's so friggin easy!!!!!) so once I reach my goal I think this dress will look cuter. I'll just have to bring in the top a bit.

many many w-i-ps, too little time

2010-08-25T06:16:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted anything in a long while. So it would appear I haven't been too creative lately. Actually the opposite is true. I have so many W-I-Ps but no completed work. Here's a sneak peak at a few of them.

I love Halloween!!! I got this Bag-O-Skulls at the dollar store. I've got BIG PLANS for this. BIG PLANS!!! More on this later!

This is a mixed media piece I'm working on. I love it! I want to make more and use them as tradeable's when I go to Art and Soul next April. My problem? Finding the right containers. They just aren't easy to come by. So I'm working on adapting my prototype to something a little easier to obtain.

This is a small section of my experiment in upcycle. Upcycle, Trashion, call it what you will! I've been having a ball. Seeking out good material on shirts, dresses, Mumu, in the dollar bin that can be reworked into something fashionable. Well, fashionable by my standards. My taste in clothing has always run a little more towards the off-beat with a handful of romantic Victorian inspired items and a large dose of blacks, greys and browns.

A few shots of a painting. This painting = kind of Meh. I'm not totally digging it. Now I'm digging the process. I did a collaged background from 1 inch squares of decorative paper and I'm very happy with the results. But my composition is off. I think I need to sleep on it a while longer.

A few shots of a painting I LOOOVVVEEE! This painting makes me EXTREMELY happy! I love what I've got so far. I'm SO afraid my next step will mess it up. So I'm sitting on this one a while longer too.

Another work-in-progress is my sketchbook for the 2011 Sketchbook Project. I have the theme of Night Time Stories. I'm finding it hard to work within a theme. So I think I'm just going to draw and go back and rework a theme later. Right now, I just want to draw.

Prosciutto-Wrapped Peaches with Basil and Aged Balsamic

2010-07-31T18:17:00.000-07:00

I got this recipe from a blog. I wish i could remember which one! It's oh-so-good!!! We ate it over a salad but it would also make a wonderful snack or appetizer.

Ingredients

*
* 16 thin slices of pancetta if you cannot find sliced pancetta easily, prosciutto will work just fine
* 2 medium freestone peaches-halved, pitted and cut into 8 wedges each
* Salt and freshly ground pepper
* 16 basil leaves
* 1 tablespoon olive oil
* Aged balsamic vinegar, for drizzling

Directions

1. Lay the pancetta slices out on a work surface. Set a peach wedge at the edge of each slice, season with salt and pepper and top with a basil leaf. Roll up the pancetta to enclose the peaches.

2. In a medium skillet, heat the olive oil. Add half of the wrapped peaches and cook over moderate heat, turning occasionally, until the pancetta is browned and crisp, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a platter and repeat with the remaining peaches.

3. Lightly drizzle the peaches with aged balsamic vinegar and serve

We've all got our monsters...

2010-07-26T11:47:00.001-07:00

Sometimes they're more afraid of us then we are of them...

Give your monster a hug today.

From the sketchbook

2010-07-26T08:34:00.001-07:00

I drew her this weekend modeling her features upon those learned in willowings world of whimsey course. Then I was teaching a friend how to use her new water soluable crayons so I colored and shaded.

You make my heart sing...

2010-07-20T07:16:00.000-07:00

It's just dawned on me that I've never posted this picture. It was intentional at the time. It was a gift. It was a surprise. I didn't want anyone seeing it before He did.

But then... I forgot.

Until recently, when I saw it hanging in His office. :) So here it is. It's a small canvas (though the dimensions escape me right at this moment).

She hears the songbird sing deep within her soul...

2010-07-09T09:49:00.000-07:00

Cleaning out our barn last weekend, preparing for this weekends Barn Lowering, I stumbled upon a few finds. Among them some cool rusty bits of metal (perfect for future assemblage projects), an empty keg barrel (aka my future fountain in our Zen Garden), broken metal fan blades (also to be part of the fountain, forming an industrial whirligig), a Big Wheel wheel (I don't know what this will become but I NEED it!!!) and lastly several beautiful pieces of birch plywood, all square, all in various sizes.

I seized on the birch right away. I selected one which was about 2 feet square and started painting. At first I didn't know what I would end up with. But as I painted and added more media's I came up with the below image. I'm quite happy with her.

it's working!!!

2010-06-29T04:05:00.000-07:00

I am BEYOND happy that my website is finally working!!! It's not finished by any means. Well, I'm not sure it's ever finished. It will always be a bit of a work-in-progress. But my pages are set up, I've got pictures loaded and a good bit of text pages. I'm happy.

wonderful beads

2010-06-28T08:01:00.001-07:00

This weekend I received my beads I had ordered from Andrew Thornton. But I didn't just get my beads. I got so many extras!!! Extra beads and a beautiful ATC with a note of thanks from Andrew.

I felt immediately inspired! I pulled out the semi-precious stone beads I purchased from My Color Image when we went to Chattanooga last Christmas and got to work. I'm quite happy with the end results.

Thank you Andrew!!! It was a pleasure doing business with you.

"Many Lands, Many Hands" - now on sale

2010-06-26T12:28:00.000-07:00

This winter I took part in an extremely fun project. We circulated 4 art journals among many artists across states, oceans, countries, Continent's. And now I'm happy to say the book has been published. The book is 158 pages of awesome images taken from the 4 traveling Journals which took around 10 months to circulate the world. There is a grand total of 70 participating Artists which is just amazing when you think about it!

'Many Lands, Many Hands' is now available for purchase. The book looks fantastic, very professional and really shows how a group of artists can come together to produce something fantastic. You can purchase your own copy here.

Artist Bloghop

2010-06-25T06:58:00.000-07:00

I did have this set up as a gadget on my blog. But I dislike the way it stretches my blog out. After all, there now close to 250 artists on the link!!! So I thought it better if I just added it to a post. Then I can still go back and check out all the new artists as they add themselves to the list.

Do you want to add your link to an art bloghop and get connected with other artists like you? Then do it! Just add your link and forward this to everyone!

Grizzly

2010-06-16T06:20:00.000-07:00

I started this painting around 2003. I'd hang it on the wall when I got stumped and think about it for awhile. Then it just kind of.... hung... for several years. Recently I pulled it off the wall to look at what needed to be done and decided it was done.

It's fairly large at 24" X 36". Acrylics on canvas.

Salon Style

2010-06-07T08:59:00.001-07:00

Let me start by saying my studio is crowded!!! But until we get our barn situation worked out (the roof leaks, the back wall is caving in, it's a favorite hide-out for neighborhood cats & chicks & ducks) the studio will stay crowded. I have piles and piles of books I don't want to get rid of but I just don't have space for right now. But I can't put them in the barn until we have water-tight storage.

So in the studio they will stay. But still, I wanted to get organized.

I wanted the works-in-progresses up where I can see them. Keeps them fresh in my mind and thinking about what I wanted to do with them.

I wanted the finished pieces visible. Keeps me conscience about my evolving style.

So I decided to hang everything thru out the studio salon style.

This is the back wall, most visible from the living room. (note: the studio is open to the living room so things have to have a little bit of order.)

A close-up with a mix of w-i-p and finished pieces (plus one soon-to-be-published piece)

a close-up of 3 of my favorite crows: Grow, Snow & Show

The crows at a distance. Behind the curtain? Boxes and boxes of mixed media and found objects.

My lovely chair. I'm so it love with that chair sometimes I sit in it simply to sit :)

a close-up of some 3D w-i-p. There's 2 dolls on the table, 2 paper mache' pieces and 3 clay sculptures. Oh yeah, and one mixed media book (the copper mesh piece).

Same view, far away. A few more paintings are visable, including a few more crows.