new mermaid painting

It's been a while since I did  a mixed media paintings on wood, so here's my newest. I must have spent at least 10 hours on it, the background originally had seaweed, but I hated how that looked, so I kept playing around with it until I was happy with the result. I forgot how much fun it was to use my wood burner. It also gave me a chance to get out my glitter and gold stars, lol!

Since the weather is still crappy and overcast, I will take advantage and stay inside working on more art.

I have a question for my fellow bloggers: does this happen to you?  when I am writing a blog post, and I hit the enter key to move to a new paragraph, the curser jumps to the top of the page...what's up with that?? and I noticed last night, Blogger won't let me sign out. Is there some weird glitches happening?

hope you are all having a lovely weekend where ever you are, and thanks for reading!

First Journal book (almost) done, and a new friend

hi friends, Here is the cover of my first altered book which I filled with paintings of girls, and song lyrics  .I may add a bit more embellishment, because all I have right now is some baby pink pom poms on the bottom, lol! and I think she needs some more glitter.
I can't wait to start another one soon.  Using these recycled board books was a great way to practice my faces, with no worry about ruining a canvas. I was able to try different faces, and even paint a portrait without starting with a sketch first.
Now I also want to make my own journal. I've seen some artists with those really big juicy journals, with thick pages, and torn edges. I've been looking on Etsy hoping to find something similar, but had no luck.
However, I can make something similar, and the very talented Teesha Moore has a fabulous Youtube video, showing you how to make a 16 page journal. I love Teesha!

Last Saturday we finally saw the sun shine, yay! so me and my dad drove to a greenhouse to buy some flowers and vegetable plants for my garden. I wanted to go to this particular place since hearing they have animals, like chickens, goats, pigs, ponies,  and of course parrots. This cute little guy was hard to photograph, each time I would move back trying to get a good profile pic of him, he would follow me, lol! 
I used to want one of these birds since seeing one on the tv show Baretta,! does anyone else remember that one? I'm showing my age now, so I will stop :-)

thanks for reading! and have a blessed day

Today I got dirty....

Hi friends, now don't get any ideas.....I got dirty with paint. 
I know many of you love to paint using your hands, and don't mind getting messy, but not me,
In fact I can be a bit of a princess, and head to the sink to wash off the slightest paint on my fingers, lol! Well, this little painting got me messy, and there was nothing I could do about it. There was no plan, I simply sat down and put some colors down on a canvas and played. The green bits looked like flowers, so I went with it. Normally I tend to over control things, to know in advance what I will be doing, so this was very freeing!  I got sick of the excuses I kept making for not creating art larger than my ACEOs (not including my journal pages from the previous post).  I love painting whimsical girls, and my sketchbook has been filled with these little folk art ideas for several months. It's about time I let them out on the canvas to play :-)

I don't know about you, but lately I have made a conscious effort to appreciate every moment, to be grateful for each day I am given on this beautiful planet. We have so much to be grateful for, and we mostly go through life without noticing. I guess maybe we are waiting for the big moments to come, but life is made up of small moments, every single day. Life is in the yellow tulips from your garden you bring inside, it is in that first delicious cup of coffee in the morning, it is spending time with people you love.
There is so much going on in the world right now,  to help us keep our balance we need to make the effort to be present in every moment.
Something has changed for me last few months, and for the first time in my life, I am paying attention.. And it has made a world of difference.
Many blessings to you all and thanks for reading!

More rain, and art

hi friends. I hope you are having great weather where you are, because it's been crappy all weekend here. Friday was a gorgeous day, the first one where the weather was warm enough to go outside without a jacket. On my lunch break I sat under a magnolia tree. It was so filled with blossoms, that the branches looked like they couldn't hold them up. Of course I never have a camera with me when I need it! The scent of the blossoms was just heavenly. I enjoyed sitting in the sun, and letting the fragrance wash over me for a few moments. Little did I know it would start raining that evening, and hasn't stopped since.
I sure hope this is not going to be like 2 summers ago, where it rained the entire summer! 
Hey, at least it's a great day to stay inside and paint.

I managed to get a few little ACEOs done, mostly owls. There are several cards that turned out so bad, I don't think there is any way of salvaging them. Don't you hate it when you have a great idea, and it just doesn't work for you?

I am almost finished my altered book of girls and songs. Below is one of the illustrations,  and on the left side of the book are the lyrics to the song Wildfire.  My handwriting is so bad, I'm embarrassed to show it, lol!
Painting in a children's board book is wonderful! I will definitely be looking to pick up more used books to recycle, and to give new life to.  The pages are so sturdy, you can do anything to them and they won't warp.
Great way to experiment with mixed media techniques, without ruining a good art journal.

That's it for now, thanks for reading!