Pinkglitterfae Art

Resolve

2012-01-20T11:06:00.000-08:00

hey folks! I haven't forgotten about my blog, lol! but I have been a bit busy since the start of the year. I'm giving myself a short break from painting, but still creating my ACEOs.
Lots of artists choose a word for the year, something to focus on, rather than resolutions, which generally fail. As I was thinking about this, the word 'Resolve' came into my head, and it felt right at the time. For me, resolve means to be determined to do what needs to be done, to not quit, to be focused....Yes it's a boring word, lol! but it's the one that I first thought of, so I guess it stays.
Once my little art break is over, I plan to buy some of those wooden letters you can pick up in a craft store, spell out my word, and put it somewhere in my art room as a reminder.

One big change that happened the first week of January was I finally decided to get off my butt, and take yoga classes at my gym. I 'resolved' to do 30 days of yoga, and I have kept up that commitment to myself. What took me so long?? I've been doing yoga from DVDs for probably 20 years, and my gym has always had classes in the evenings, but I felt intimidated to go alone. I wanted someone to come with me at the beginning, so I could feel comfortable...but life is not always comfortable, and that's not how you grow.
It was the 7th of January, Saturday, and I got so angry at myself for being such a wimp, I grabbed my yoga mat, drove to the gym, and walked into my first real class. Of course it was so packed, since this is when most people go back to the gym, lol! I didn't let that intimidate me, I just found a spot, and did my first class. I haven't missed a day since then :-)
This may seem like such a small thing to most of you, but I tend to be quite shy in new social situations, until I get to know people, or am more comfortable, so it was a big deal.

This has been a refreshing break, and I am so looking forward to working on a painting, perhaps this weekend. Yoga will not end, I will continue it daily for at least the 30 days I promised myself. But art is calling to me again, so it's a matter of planning my time so that everything can fit in.

Since there is no art to show you, I thought I'd leave you with this humorous/educational video on good foods and bad foods. I love me some good sarcasm, and this video has got that, lol!
If you are a parent who buys cereal for your kids, you may want to take a peak!

Enjoy!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T11:29:00.000-08:00

Hello my dear blogging friends, I wanted to wish you all a Happy New Year. May 2012 bring you lots of joy, good health, success, and may it be the happiest ever for you.

It's up to us, to make life the way we want it. A little at a time, day by day, we can make the choices that bring us our dream lives, the one we have always imagined.

If not now, when?

sending you many blessings,

betty

"I will seek elegance rather than luxury; refinement rather than fashion. I will seek to be worthy more than respectable; wealthy and not rich. I will study hard, think quietly, talk gently and act frankly. I will listen to stars and birds, and babes and sages with an open heart. I will bear all things cheerfully, do all things bravely, await occasions and hurry never. In a word I will let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious grow up through the common." - William Ellery Channing

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T07:29:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd take a moment to thank you all for your wonderful support and friendship throughout the year. We have a generous, and creative community here on Blogger, and I have met many delightful people.
I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays. May you all have a magical season, and may you be blessed in the coming year.

Owls and Beagles

2011-12-06T20:47:00.000-08:00

hi friends, I couldn't think of a more creative title for this post, it's late, and I'm tired, lol!
After a busy few days, tonight was going to be a painting night (after I got my hair done), but instead watched a video that was sent to me....and then of course, had to click on another video and another....I love youtube, but it's easy to spend lots of time there. Oh, and while watching videos, I had a plate full of the crappy shortbread cookies I baked yesterday. I make these simple ones for the holidays, but for some reason, they were not coming out right. Every cookie I removed from the baking sheet cracked, so I guess that leaves them all for me, haha! They taste ok, they just don't look so pretty.
And as I was writing this post, I got up and had another...oh boy! they need to be removed from my house immediately!

Artwise, I am still creating my little owl ACEOs (see above ). I love doing them, especially the Christmas ones. So many ideas, but running out of time!
I've been wanting to try some larger paintings and my recent trip to Montreal has really got me inspired. I'm just afraid that if I wait too long to begin,I will put it aside for another year.
There are so many ideas in my head I don't know where to start! so I don't. That's a big problem for me..I look through my sketchbook, and can't seem to settle on one thing. And because I can't decide, I go back to what's comfortable, which are my owl ACEOs, and my whimsical girls...not that there's anything wrong with that, lol! but it feels good to try something that might intimidate you at first. We shall see....I have an idea in mind for a Christmas present, and if I ever get started on it, you will be the first to see (as the recipient doesn't read my blog).

So I will end this post with the video that got me started tonight. It's about 9 beagles that were released from a research lab, and this is their first time outside in the sun. Having had beagles in my family for so many years, I am very partial to these beautiful creatures.
thanks for reading!

ps- please double click on the video to see the larger screen, I have no idea why it is cut off at the sides!

“Until one has loved an animal a part of one's soul remains unawakened.”

Anatole France

Two New Snow fairies

2011-11-27T20:00:00.000-08:00

hi everyone. Did you all have a nice Thanksgiving (those of you in America)?Now the countdown to Christmas begins. Can you believe it's less than a month away?
This year I wanted to get some seasonal fairies done before the end of the year, and the one above is the first. She is on a wood panel, my favorite base, and this time I let lots of the wood show through. Maybe she will sprinkle some flurries my way, lol!
The original is listed in my Etsy shop (I'm also offering prints of her as well), and hopefully, will have some blank greeting cards as well. If I manage that, it will be the first time I've been this organized for the holidays!

For the second fairy, I think I went a bit crazy with the sparkle, but I think she will appeal to those who love fantasy, and sparkly things, lol!
Prints are offered in my Etsy shop, as well as the original.

Well, that's it for the night. I thought I'd give a quick update. Hopefully I can get some Christmas photos up next time. I was in some cute shops today, but haven't checked the camera yet to see if they turned out.
thanks for reading!

New Yule Witch

2011-11-17T18:28:00.000-08:00

hi friends! still waiting for a bit of snow to come here...it's hard to feel like decorating for Christmas with green grass everywhere. At least I was smart and got my outdoor lights put up when it was mild. Even though I don't feel like decorating, at least my muse is back, and I am anxious to fill my Etsy shop with some new art. I finished this Yuletide witch last night, and right now finished woodburning a precocious go-go boot wearing snow fairy, lol! no traditional snow fairies for me :-)
Now let's see if I can make it work. I want glitz, and lots of sparkle! Once she is done- unless I ruin it, I will show it here on my blog.
Thanksgiving is coming up for my American friends, and from what I hear, the crazy holiday season starts right afterward. Black Friday I think it's called? I'm excited for you, even though our Thanksgiving was over a month ago. It means countdown to Christmas, my favorite time of year.

Well, time to get back to my fairy, thanks for reading!

New Art

2011-11-06T12:07:00.000-08:00

hi friends. Did you remember to turn back your clocks? This is so much better than in the spring when we lose an hour. However, be prepared, because it will now get dark a little after 5, lol!

I've always loved painting shabby folk art girls, but never used beeswax as a finish. Normally I use a nice satin varnish, but for the next few, beeswax will be the way to go. It smells divine! and it really does give your paintings a glorious, dreamy finish. I see these little canvases as experiments, where I get to play, and try out new things.
The first one I did yesterday looked great, until I added the beeswax. I must have scraped off some paint, because there was dark smudges on her face, and there is no way to fix it. I should have known not to experiment on the more expensive wooden canvases, she is now heading for the trash...oh well, live and learn.

This angel painting is more my usual style. She was made for an auction for charity. I can't seem to get away from putting little kittens in my angels' arms though, lol! She turned out pretty good, that I will be offering prints in my Etsy shop. With all the craziness of this world, we can all use more angels.

I hope everything is good where you all are, thanks for reading!

Let's talk about Raw food.

2011-10-23T20:56:00.000-07:00

hi everyone, so much for being more consistent in blogging, lol! Not much has been going on here, I've fallen behind on my Halloween art, but this autumn witch above is the last one I did. I'm not sure if I can fit another one in before Halloween, I've got a commission due by the end of the month, which is coming quickly! And then of course, my favorite season of all!! oh my, I'm already excited, lol! and don't laugh, but I start decorating the first week of November :-D

The last few months I've been trying to get a bit more healthy. I found the scale started to creep up, without me doing anything different. I ate the same and exercised the same, but all of the sudden my clothes were getting tighter. Does this sound familiar? It should for those of you that hit your 40's...seems like no matter how carefully I ate, my waist kept expanding, and the scale was heading towards a number I could never imagine reaching when I was younger....well I did something about it, but not intentionally.

Let me explain: I was searching for kale recipes on Youtube, came across some very interesting ones, and was surprised they were raw. And of course if you've ever been on Youtube you know how easy it is to get sidetracked. I ended up finding so many raw food recipes that actually sounded great, and easy, as well as some 'experts' which I watched, and found myself intrigued. I won't bore you with all the details, but let's just say when I discover something different, I usually do lots of homework

So I joined a website called Raw food Rehab, which is free to join, and was so pleased with the incredible amounts of information, recipes, and support. No I am not a raw foodist, although I have incorporated more fruits and vegetables in my life, and I would highly recommend anyone who is interested in increasing their health, and dropping some weight to check it out. After many years of struggling with the excess pounds, I am now very close to my perfect weight. I can't tell you how great it feels to see your jeans almost falling off because they are now too big.

It's not as hard as I thought. I used to think people who ate only raw foods were crazy, but I do understand that once food is cooked, it loses many of it's nutrients. So why not eat more fresh, organic foods? I'd sure love to hear your stories or your thoughts, especially anyone who has tried this.

I will leave you with my favorite green smoothie:

1 banana ripe - or frozen
big handful of greens (dandelion, spinach, romaine, your choice).
2 mejool dates
1 spoon of peanut butter
1 1/2 cups water (it's up to you how much you'd like)
I also add coconut water and coconut milk/almond milk for extra creaminess.
Blend and enjoy. I usually blend the greens in water before adding the rest slowly.
There are many green smoothie recipes out there, and they are delicious! A great way of adding healthy fruits and vegetables to your day without too much trouble.

I guess that's it for now, I could seriously talk for hours about this, as I have watched many videos, and have found so many people who have changed their life by changing their diet. I sincerely want to help people get healthy and feel good about life, so sometimes my blog will go off course, and talk about things other than art. Hopefully no one minds too much :-)
thanks for reading,
betty

Here come the witches!

2011-09-17T11:05:00.000-07:00

It's hard to think of Halloween when we are still in September (well not true, I think of Halloween year round, lol!), but I thought I'd better get a head start on my paintings, otherwise I find myself scrambling to get some art done. I finally finished this one, which I started 3 days ago. She is my first in a series of little Witchlings, and I named her Nina.In my initial sketch, she was supposed to be a red head, but she had other plans, lol! For my next one I will try to do red hair, but that is not a promise- my fellow artists know how a painting will tell you what it wants, and there is nothing you can do about it, lol!

I love doing these kinds of paintings where you use so many layers, and keep covering stuff, adding even more layers on top. It just makes it more interesting, rather than a plain background, which although is easier, there really is no mystery in it. I was lucky to find a book on the history of magic that was being discarded from my library, which I used for the tree. It is from 1854! How cool is that?
Nina can be found in my Etsy shop. (Sold)

hope you are all having a wonderful weekend. It's very chilly here, perfect weather to stay in and paint, and drink lots of coffee :-)
thanks for reading!

New folk art princess

2011-09-10T15:43:00.000-07:00

hi friends. Hope your week has been going well. It was so nice to wake up to a sunny day, I even managed to get some color! Thought I'd show my latest painting. After my last post, I sat down and finished this little princess. The girl was drawn out weeks ago,and since I wasn't too crazy about the drawing, I let it sit. Finally a couple of days ago, I thought I'd start painting and see what happens. So she is now a little blonde girl, and the teddy she was originally holding turned into a kitty, lol! She is listed in my Etsy shop. (Sold)

Can I just say that bloggers are the nicest people? You are all so sweet and supportive. I'm always struck by how close the blogging community is. This is from reading the comments on my blog, as well as other blogs. People truly are ready to lend support when they can, and it helps us all grow. Thank goodness for this wonderful forum for us to share our lives and our art.

thanks for reading!

Time is a flyin!

2011-09-02T16:36:00.000-07:00

hi friends, it's September already, and it sure came fast!! We had a very late start to our summer, basically it was crappy until July, then we got record heat. August was so-so. The past month we had overseas guests, my aunt and uncle were here, so we did the usual tourist things, and we probably visited most of the malls in our area, which my aunt loved, lol!

Yesterday we took them to the airport, so hopefully now, I can start working on my art again.

Looking back at the last few pages of my blog I am a bit disappointed in myself. I don't feel like this blog has been well maintained. I feel like I let my readers down, and know some of the posts have been forced. It's true I wanted my blog to be about more than art, but I can't believe some of the stuff I tortured you with! I had a post about the location of a bird's nest!! Good grief, what was I thinking, lol!

I just haven't felt all that creative the last few months, and I hope my muse is coming back. I did a little illustration last night of a fox and an inukshuk. That's a good thing for me, as I tend to procrastinate...still, after all this time, and after all I know. How many times can I write myself little motivational notes? At some point, you have to just do it!

Especially now, when time seems to be speeding up.

Art is my refuge, I take comfort in it, and it never fails me, but I fail it. By not creating, by spending more time than I should in front of the TV. The excuses come way too easy : I'm tired, I was at work all day, it's too late to start, and on and on. There is no shortage in excuses when it comes to not doing what needs to be done. Art isn't a chore, and once I start, it feels so good, that I wonder why on earth did it take so long to start? I guess this is just the ebb and flow of creativity, and I'm sure I'm not alone. Sometimes we need a break to refresh ourselves, I just wish that break wouldn't take so many months, lol!

That's it for today...but I'd first like to say thanks to those of you who replied in my last post, letting me know my blog opens up quickly for you. I won't need to remove anything then.

I also said I was going to blog about my perfume obsession, it's coming soon, as well as new art, and maybe some sketch book pages.

thanks for bearing with me during my ups and downs, I look forward to the new fall season, and getting back into the groove :-D

thanks for reading!

betty

August update

2011-08-01T14:17:00.000-07:00

hi friends! It's been a while since I blogged. I thought I could be more consistent, but apparently not, lol! Do you find that the longer it takes to update your blog, the harder it becomes? I feel like I need to post something interesting and witty, and I'm just not feeling like I have anything interesting to say.
Although I regularly check out my favorite blogs, I haven't been commenting as much as usual. This is simply because I'm trying not to be on my computer too much. I can't stay away from reading blogs though, lol! I find it very relaxing, and I'm always interesting in finding out what my wonderful blogging friends are up to.

After a lousy spring, once July hit, we got lots of sunny and very hot weather. I couldn't be happier! so most days, after work, are spent in the garden, or reading a book. I finished a wonderful novel called 'Sarah's key' which was recommended to me, and just found out it is coming out as a movie.

My latest novel is a classic: Jane Austen's 'Persuasion'. I've seen the BBC movie, and thought it was time to read the book. Boy, it sure is a difficult book. I find I really have to concentrate to understand the language.

Not much is happening with art, maybe I just needed a bit of a break from it. I'm still painting little owl ACEOs, but not as many as during the cooler seasons.

I've been wanting to do a post about one of my other interests: perfume, but haven't sat down to write it out yet. I am a perfume addict, which is something none of you know about me, lol! It started when I was very young, and has continued on and off all these years. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks, I will do a fun post where I just 'chat' about perfume, and of course welcome all of your thoughts on it. Since this blog is not just about art, it's about other fun things, why not spice it up a bit?
I hope you are all having a wonderful summer (or winter for my friends in the Southern Hemisphere).

***a quick question, is anyone finding my blog takes too long to load? if so can you let me know, I may have to remove some things...I've noticed some blogs taking a while to load up and it can get frustrating waiting for it. xoxo

Mother's love

2011-06-18T12:07:00.000-07:00

hi friends, this isn't really a post, but I wanted to share some photos with you. I noticed yesterday a blackbird built her nest in the neighbor's eaves trough! Right over their garage. I saw the tiny babies popping their heads out waiting for mom to come with dinner. Today it was a very hot sunny day, and I saw the mom covering them to keep them safe from the sun. I ran and got my camera, went on the porch and tried to zoom in. Even though my camera is a cheap crappy one, it did a reasonable job, lol!

In this photo you can see one of the babies with his mouth open. I told my dad I thought this was a strange place to build a nest as it has no protection against the elements. We may be getting rain tomorrow, and I really hope the babies are ok. It's a steep roof, and all the rain will be falling down and collecting in the eaves troughs. Poor little babies :-(

Since this is the first nice weekend in a long time, I will be out enjoying it. I hope you all have a wonderful week end wherever you are.
thanks for reading

Short Sunday post

2011-06-12T18:34:00.000-07:00

hi friends. I thought I'd show those 2 lilies I mentioned in my last post. The white one is a more traditional one, but I've never seen a deep purple one! Are these called peace lilies? ( thank you Cameron, for correcting me, these are calla lilies, not peace lilies).
I took the photos when the sun finally came out...however, just in time for the weekend, those damn thick grey clouds moved in. I don't think I have seen a decent weekend in quite a while. It's getting a bit depressing, and I haven't felt very creative lately. Do you ever feel just 'blah' about everything?

The only thing I am excited ( a wee bit at least) about is trying some new raw recipes I've been looking into on Youtube. Today I made a raw pasta with marinara sauce and it was so delicious!
For the pasta you use zuccini, which you use a potato peeler to make into thin strips.
For the marinara sauce you use tomatoes, red bell pepper, sun dried tomatoes, garlic, basil, oregano, olive oil, and a touch of cayenne. I added avocado too. Since I don't have a processor, I just used my blender to blend all the ingredients. All you do is pour your sauce over top of the zuccini, and you have an easy dish. I also added nutritional yeast for extra flavor. If you want to see details, check out the video on Youtube. You will be surprised at how good this is. I decided that it's time to eat healthier, so I've been searching for easy ideas. One video led to another, and before I knew it, I have a notebook filled with very healthy and nutritious meals.
If any of you have raw food recipes, feel free to share. I may add some more a bit later, once I have a chance to try them and make them my own.

thanks for reading

Love Shy

2011-06-04T18:16:00.000-07:00

hi friends, thanks to all of you who left comments on my last post letting me know that Blogger was acting up. I thought it was just me. I see the curser problem is still not fixed, you click enter and you never know where the curser will end up, lol!

Above is my latest small painting titled 'Love Shy'. I thought her expression looked hopeful, and vulnerable at the same time....which I didn't plan, but you have to let the painting go where it wants.
She is now listed in my Etsy shop.

We had quite the exciting thunderstorm this morning. I was just making breakfast, when I looked outside and it was pitch black. A big storm rolled in, and luckily I made my first coffee, because we lost power for a bit.
Can you imagine not being able to make a nice big cup of coffee in the morning, lol!

If the sun ever comes out, I want to take some photos of this gorgeous lily my mom bought me. After the storm ended I thought the sun would come out, but once again, all we saw is a totally white sky...those damn thick white clouds that block out the sun don't want to go away. Sounds like various parts of the US have the same crap weather. At least the sun shone all of last week -- while I was at work- and surprise! clouds and rain, just in time for the weekend, lol!
Oh well, gave me a chance to get all my housework done :-)

hope you are all having a lovely weekend wherever you are,
thanks for reading!

new mermaid painting

2011-05-28T14:57:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-24T16:16:00.000-07:00

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....

2011-05-17T18:55:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-15T19:11:00.000-07:00

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!

More art journal pages

2011-04-30T14:18:00.000-07:00

hi friends. Well, I'd hoped to update my blog more frequently, but looks like I failed again, lol!
I guess we all go through phases where you feel like you have nothing interesting to say. Since my last post, I continued working on journal pages. The above is more my 'style', and I attempted to paint a fox with the fairy girl. He didn't turn out too great, haha! but if you don't practice, you will never learn. So far I've been adding lyrics from songs I love with these pages, and I wasn't sure what to write with this one. I had some oldies music playing in the background and when this song by Marvin Gaye came in, I knew it was the perfect song to add. Funny how it's still appropriate today, in fact, even more so.

Now this girl gave me lots of trouble, I was trying for an innocent look but I think she looks more irritated than anything, haha!
I can't tell you how much fun I have had working in a recycled children's book. There is no pressure to make anything look perfect, and it's a great way to experiment, and find your style. There are a couple more pages to go before I finish, then I need to paint something on the front and back, and maybe embellish it with ribbons, or lace. The entire book is simply girls, with lyrics to various songs on the other side. I'm not happy with the 2 pages I showed in my last post, and will go back and add more 'stuff' to them, just to fill up the pages. Do you know that there are dozens of art journaling videos on Youtube?? You could spend hours getting ideas, and being inspired! If only there were more hours in a day to fit in everything. I could never be bored :-)
thanks for reading, stay inspired ♥

Some journaling portraits

2011-04-16T18:40:00.000-07:00

hi everyone. I finally started doing some of the workshops I had signed up for. I am forever behind , it's worse when they are ongoing. It gives me an excuse to postpone working on them. Last week, I decided it was time to get to to Jodi Ohl's workshop called 'lets face it'. The above is my first page using her instruction.
I was watching American Idol, and Casey sang Nature Boy, which was going through my head as I painted the girl, so I thought I'd write some of the lyrics down, changing it to 'girl' of course. The rest of the page is blank, as I am stumped as to what else to add, lol!

This next one is another fun portrait I did. For this one, I didn't do a sketch first, but started painting the face free lance. This looks nothing like my usual whimsy faces but I am very happy with it.
I am trying to get more creative with journaling, as it's been something I love when others do, but I have such a hard time with it. Practice makes perfect I suppose. I love the quote used. It's a reminder for me to work on what I love and stop wasting so much time!
Once I finish this post I will be working on my next face. Who knew this would be so much fun?
Maybe my renewed motivation is due to spring coming? Or the fact that it feels like time is speeding up, who knows? With everything going on in the world, art is a refuge for me, and I know for many of you as well. It's what makes us happy. It's also a way to leave a bit of ourselves in our art. When I paint, everything is beautiful, and time stands still. I could do this for hours, taking only short breaks to make some delicious coffee.
After the long slump I had this is a refreshing change. Hopefully my muse will stick around longer this time, lol!

______

PS -Regarding my last post, Thanks to everyone who mentioned stretching my watercolor paper. Of course!! How did I not know that? That's exactly what I needed to hear, so thanks to those of you kind folks who took the time to remind me of something that should have been so obvious. The art community is filled with the best people on the planet, and I adore you all :-)

Just one of those days...

2011-04-10T19:51:00.000-07:00

hi friends. Do you ever have one of those days when you plan to paint all day, but by the end of the day, you've accomplished so little? that was today for me.
I woke up looking forward to a day of painting. My goal was to create at least 5 or 6 ACEOs, and work on a portrait workshop I am behind on. Well, everything I painted came out just awful! I spent hours on a flower fairy, changing it, trying to make it better, and in the end scrapped the whole thing. My owls, which I paint regularly, were also giving me a hard time. The above painting is the second version, the first was a disaster, so I started that again as well. I couldn't do anything right!

I'm going to blame the paper. I know most people when using watercolor, use 140lb paper. How do you all do it?? I find it warps so easily. Am I adding too much water? Also, I find the colors are dull.
I ended up starting over again on 200lb paper, which I normally use. So what am I missing, is there some secret? The 140lb paper isn't cheap, it's Arches brand. Any of you watercolorists out there, do you have any tips for the rest of us?
In the end, I worked most of the day and have 2 lousy ACEOs to show for it...I swear time sped up! Before I knew it, the day was over.

On a happier note, on Friday I went to my nearest art shop, and picked up some Copic markers. Folks, if you haven't used them before, they are a joy! I will be going back for more. They're perfect for little details, and the colors are gorgeous! Unfortunately they are a bit pricey, so I can only pick up a few at a time.

Well, that's it for today, hope you are all enjoying the spring weather (or the fall for my friends in the South hemisphere).

I

And just like that the snow is back...

2011-04-03T17:45:00.000-07:00

It's been sunny and mild (for this time of year) the last couple of days, so naturally you would think we were on our way to spring right? Forget it! As I was at my desk painting, suddenly it started snowing, and blowing around. Well after a few hours, we now have a winter wonderland out there, the trees are covered with snow, and it is beautiful! Thank goodness I didn't remove my snow tires yet, you just never know what crazy weather you will get from one day to the next.
It didn't stop me from creating some new spring time art though, like the ACEO above.

This weekend was one where I mostly sat and watched movies. Yesterday I finally watched 2012, which I enjoyed. I'm probably in the minority but I've always loved disaster movies like War of the Worlds, the Day after Tomorrow, Independence Day. Besides, I've had a crush on John Cusack for a couple of decades, lol, so that made the movie more enjoyable. He still looks great after all these years.

Next movie on the menu was The book of Eli. Fantastic movie, but it did have a bit of violence in it. Loved the premise, and would not have been able to predict the ending.

Today I watched Brothers, and boy it sure had some intense scenes in it! Another great movie which I would recommend.

The only dud of the bunch was an old one called Baker's Hawk. Sorry if anyone likes this, but I could only get through 15 minutes before I was bored, and moved on.

I'm still in that phase where I can't get too motivated to create, even though I did manage a couple of cards. Hopefully as the weather improves, I can feel like spending more time painting. For now I will just go with the flow.

New Easter Owl artwork and a Film recommendation

2011-03-31T17:47:00.000-07:00

What? you haven't heard of Easter owls yet?? Well my friends, they exist in my silly little head, and I like nothing better than bringing them to life - unfortunately I've been slow in creating Easter themed art this year.
Do you ever go through phases where you just want to be lazy, and sit in front of the tv? I have some favorite shows I watch, like American Idol, and Project Runway (yes folks, the one you in the USA saw last year, is finally airing in Canada!). But mostly I've taken the time to borrow lots of DVD's from my public library.

**This is an update, I have removed the documentary recommendation that I had here yesterday, after reading a news report of some barbarian behavior from the country in question. Violence is never the answer,
and because of this report, it has made the entire country look bad. I can not leave my review of this film up on my blog
Any country that resorts to this kind of behavior will be judged accordingly, and cannot expect the world to treat them with respect, or understanding.

If you are only now reading this post obviously you won't know what film I talked about. Sorry to be so cryptic!
For those who read my blog yesterday and know of what film I wrote about, I'm sure you will understand why it would be offensive to leave it up.

I will definitely be talking about interesting films in the future though. Thanks for reading!

And the winner of the Dorothy print is.....

2011-03-21T19:24:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, the winner of the print from my Celebrate Oz giveaway is post # 24 which is MARLENE!

YAY!

thanks to all participants, it was a fun event!

It's the Celebrate OZ blog party!!

2011-03-19T10:26:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, I mentioned in my last post that I would take part in the Celebrate Oz blog party, hosted by Linda. There are many other blogs participating, so if you click the banner on the side of my blog it will take you there. Some are even having giveaways, woohoo! So grab a coffee and muffin, and join us in our celebration of all things OZ.

The above painting is my whimsical take on Dorothy, when she runs away with Toto in her basket. Originally I had a tornado in the background, but decided to paint over it.
I will be giving away a print of this painting to one winner, whose name I will draw on Monday March 21st, so if you are interested, just leave a comment on this post.

The Wizard of Oz is one of my favorite classic movies. I watched it again last week, and it is still charming and sweet, a feel good movie - for me at least.
Needless to say I have been humming 'We're off to see the Wizard' all week, and almost started skipping along, haha!
As a child I used to be afraid of the flying monkeys, now I think they are adorable, lol!

Thank you for stopping by, don't forgot to visit all the participating blogs

Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore

2011-03-13T19:02:00.000-07:00

hello everyone! I've decided to join the 'Celebrate OZ' blog party on March 19th. It is being hosted on Linda's blog: lindaomasoldebaggsnstuftshirts.
Check out the button on the side of my blog, which will take you to her blog, where you can read all the details, and possibly join.

I have no idea what I will do for this event, but you can expect a new painting...way to put pressure on myself, lol!

The above painting is one of my older ones, and part of my fairy tale heroine series. When it sold, I was so heartbroken.
I had just started selling my art, and wasn't used to letting them go...it did get easier over time, but there are still quite a few paintings I've kept, and sold only prints of.

Time to dig out my copy of Wizard of Oz, and get ready for March 19th :-)
thanks for reading

New ACEO series

2011-03-06T17:51:00.000-08:00

hi everyone. I started a new series of ACEOs (for those who don't know what they are, they are miniature artworks, the size of a baseball card).
I love painting whimsical girls, and I love adding text, so why not do it with my ACEOs? I have two finished so far, and will see how many I end up doing. I was hoping to do a large painting this weekend, but time got away from me again, lol!
Is anyone watching American Idol this season? What an impressive group of talent they've got! Thank goodness it's not on for several hours a week, because all I seemed to do lately is watch tv!

A couple of days ago I went to an art show in Toronto, it had quite a few artists, maybe 200? It was great to see the types of art out there, and I tell you, people are so talented! Some of the artwork really inspired me.
I wanted to come home,and paint a big abstract...except I haven't a clue how to do so, lol! it's not a matter of just throwing things on a canvas, it takes a great amount of skill to make an abstract really work. Abstract art used to be something that I just didn't understand, but I found as the years went by that I can appreciate it for what it is. I guess that's it for now, thanks for reading!

Cobwebs on my blog

2011-02-27T17:04:00.000-08:00

hello everyone, it feels like a long time since I posted. I've had so much I wanted to blog about, but couldn't get started.

First off I want to say welcome to the new readers of my blog. I appreciate you following along with me, especially since there has been no new material since the One World One Heart event, lol!
And thank you to my regular readers, I appreciate every one of you.
I don't know how some bloggers manage to post so regularly, it's something I need to push myself to do.

Artwise, I've been working on ACEO's (art that is the size of a playing card) but am feeling the need to paint larger, maybe some angels. The events in our world have made me a bit melancholy. I've been watching some of the news coverage, and wonder what our world will look like next year.
These are interesting times, but also scary. Protests, earthquakes, unusual weather, solar flares, the economy....doesn't it feel like things are speeding up?

I was remembering an ice storm a few years back, where many people had lost power for several days. They weren't ready for it, and it caused panic.

I think a good idea for everyone reading this, is to go out and stock up on any foods and supplies you may need if something unexpected occurs. That's what I did last week, bought lots of bottled water, canned foods, just whatever could be used in an emergency. We've been lucky so far, the bad snowstorms have missed us, but it is smart to be prepared. Just leave it in your basement, and keep an eye on the expiry dates. You are not losing anything by doing this, but during an unexpected event, this could save you from finding grocery stores empty.
If you doubt anything like this will happen, then how about the fact that food prices right now are skyrocketing? Stock up on things like flour, rice, coffee, sugar. The prices are rising right now, and in some countries there are riots because people cannot afford to eat. Of course, none of this is being shown on TV, but it is happening. Hope this doesn't sound too negative, but I really want you all to be safe, and be prepared, just in case...

Most of all, live your life to the fullest every day, because we are so blessed to be alive on this magnificent planet, and during this most incredible time!

Thanks for reading!

And the Winner Is.....

2011-02-17T20:54:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone. It's time to announce the winners of my One World One Heart Giveaway.

It's been a busy couple of weeks, but I tried to get to as many blogs to say hello as I could. Hopefully I got to everyone who commented.

Thank you everyone who participated, and to all you lovely people who commented. I really appreciate you stopping by, to me everyone is a winner.

**********************************************

Now to get to the giveaway: I decided to pick 3 winners instead of 2, so here they are:

First prize - Original Painting - comment # 130 Audrey Magic Miracles and Joy

Second Prize- Choice of print - comment # 83 Lorri Artivity

Third Prize -Choice of print - comment # 72 Brenda The Creative Chook

Congratulations to you!

It's here! the One World One Heart Blogging Event.

2011-01-29T20:42:00.000-08:00

hello everyone! this is an exciting day. It is the 5th and final One World One Heart event, an idea brought to life by the wonderful Lisa Swifka.
This is an event for bloggers worldwide, in which we get to visit new blogs, make new friends, and even have a chance to win a prize. This is my third time participating in this annual event where I have discovered many new blogs and met some fantastically creative people.

I will be drawing two winners for my giveaway. The first prize will be for the original mixed media angel painting you see on the top of this post (size: 6" x 8" canvas) (15 x 20 cms).
The second prize will be for your choice of any print from my Etsy Shop.

For those who don't know me, I am a self taught artist who likes to create all kinds of whimsical art including ACEOs, angels, mermaids, and big eyed girls.

How to enter my giveaway

In order to have a chance to win, all you have to do is have a blog, and leave a comment on this post. Very easy, right?
The giveaway ends on February 17th, and I will use a Random Number generator to pick the winners.
I will announce the winner on my blog, as well as contact them.

For more information, and for a list of all participants, please go to the OWOH blog, and enjoy your trip around the world!

Deep Freeze

2011-01-24T19:37:00.000-08:00

It's been so cold the last few days! This morning when I left for work, the temperature was -24 C (-11F). By the time I got to my building my fingers were so frozen it was difficult getting my keys out. lol! Seems a lot of you bloggers are in the midst of the same weather pattern from what I've read :-)

This past week I've been in a rut. With Valentine's Day coming I was hoping to make more ACEOs of my whimsical owls to sell, but everything I touched turned to crap! What do you do when you just can't get it right? I've done hundreds of owl ACEOs, but nothing was working last week. At least 6 or 7 were thrown out, after spending so much time to get them right. That's not including the many drawings that just weren't working. It's frustrating, I feel like a beginner, lol!

So I got out my sketchbook and worked on my faces. I've neglected my girls, and it's time to bring them to life again. The above was drawn on good quality paper, she is not done yet, but once I finish,, she may find her way into my Etsy shop.

I finally got out my Pan Pastels to try on the background. They are fabulous! They are a nice creamy pastel, which you add with an applicator that looks like a makeup sponge, and I can't believe they'd been sitting on my shelf for months before I finally opened one up. You can't see it well in the picture above, but they truly give such wonderful, soft color. Remember, this is the year to pull out all your good supplies, and stop saving them for when you are a 'better' artist.

I have a question for anyone who draws on paper with pencil, do you spray your finished work? I know pencil smudges, but spraying it makes me nervous. I've gotten spotted results before...there must be a better way.

thanks for reading, and stay warm :-D

Illustration Friday - Chicken

2011-01-20T16:41:00.000-08:00

There once was a little girl, who loved animals so much! One summer, she went with her family to grandma's farm. Grandma had recently gotten four new chickens, but they had yet to lay any eggs. She said to the little girl's mother, "if they don't start laying soon, they're going to become our dinner". Well, this would certainly not do! thought the little girl. I have to do something to save the chickens!

So she devised a little plan. Every morning, she would sneak some eggs from the house to the barn, then she would come running inside saying 'look what I found!'.
Mother and grandmother were pleasantly surprised that the chickens started earning their keep.
This went on for a few days. How strange though, that the amount of eggs in the bowl on the table never seemed to increase, considering 3 or 4 new eggs would be brought out from the barn.

Ahhh, finally the women got wise to the trickery of the little girl!
So were the chickens safe? well, they were while the little girl was there. She would throw a crying fit if anyone even mentioned having them for dinner. What happened after she went back home? who knows, but at least for a few weeks, they were safe......

and that my friends, is the basis of my Illustration Friday painting, called 'Save the chickens'. I know it's Thursday, but I had to get it finished before the deadline. As soon as I heard this week's theme, I knew I had to illustrate it.
Oh, and the above story is true, I'm sure you know who the little girl was, lol!

thanks for reading
xoxo

Fireworks ACEO

2011-01-16T19:03:00.000-08:00

hi everyone, I just finished this ACEO for the ACEO Challenge blog. This month's challenge is 'fireworks'. It's fun and lighthearted, and anyone can join in. I've missed every single month, and was determined to finally get something in there, lol!
Last month's topic was the Northern Lights, which I really wanted to illustrate. I was so proud of myself after finishing my entry, then when I went to add it, I saw that it was too late and we were voting, lol!

hope you are all doing well, lots of crazy weather going on in the world. Please stay safe :-)

Feeling nostalgic

2011-01-05T19:20:00.000-08:00

After work, I happened to catch the Oprah show. They were re-visiting teen heartthrobs, hers was Michael Jackson's big brother Jackie. You should have seen her face when he showed up in her dressing room unexpected. I think I would have passed out if one of my teen idols showed up, lol!

I was a child of the 70's. I had pictures on my bedroom wall of David and Shaun Cassidy, Leif Garret, Robbie Benson, John Travolta, and I was absolutely in love with the Bay City Rollers, haha! I would spend hours listening to their music, reading about them, dreaming about them, like any typical teen I suppose.

Oprah had Shaun Cassidy and Peter Frampton on the show as well as the Backstreet Boys.
Watching some of the older women in the crowd go crazy when Shaun Cassidy came on the stage was so beautiful, because in that moment, I could see their younger selves. I could see the girls they used to be before family and responsibilities changed them. That youthful spark though, was still inside.

I totally get it now. When I see young girls screaming over Justin Bieber, I get it. That was me, many decades ago. Maybe it's a rite of passage for girls? I don't know.

Man, aging is tough! Seeing your teen hearthrobs age is tough, but it's worse seeing what time has done to you. I still remember those days when I was young and hopeful, and full of dreams. It felt like a more innocent time, but maybe I'm just feeling nostalgic. Sometimes I wish I could go back just for a day, to experience a different world, a world without cell phones, internet, texting, video games...a world where we spent time outside, when we could go downtown without parents worrying about us. A world with cute boys like Shaun Cassidy who we could dream about.

I'd love to hear about your childhood crushes, don't be shy! Who's poster was hanging up in your locker, lol?

Happy New Year

2011-01-01T21:27:00.000-08:00

hello everyone, Happy New Year! It is my wish that 2011 brings you all everything your heart desires. I wish you much prosperity, perfect health, happiness, and unconditional love. May 2011 be the best year ever!

Is anyone making any New Year's resolutions? I haven't thought about it too much, since I tend to break every one I make, lol!
However, just because you break your resolutions, doesn't mean you have failed. In fact, every day you wake up you have another opportunity to make any change you choose. So what if you eat a big piece of cheesecake when you said you were dieting? Tomorrow, you simply try again.
I like this gentle approach to change. If we don't forgive ourselves when we fall down, who will?

This is a good time to reflect on 2010. What I did was take a sheet of paper, write down all the wonderful things that have happened, and all the things I am grateful for. It was not a perfect year, as I did not exercise regularly, nor did I cut out sugar. However, tomorrow morning is a fresh start, and another chance to make the changes that will improve my life.
How about you?

Nun painting

2010-12-28T14:58:00.000-08:00

hi fellow bloggers! hope Santa was good to you this year, and if not, perhaps you were naughty, lol?
I see lots of you are getting hit with winter storms, please be safe, the roads can get brutal during blizzards. I'm going by memory, because I haven't seen a snowstorm in a couple of years, lol!

I thought I'd show you the painting I did for my sister's Christmas present. A few years ago I made a large folk art painting of nuns for her, and from then on, every year I would buy her a nun ornament for her tree.
My original idea was to paint 2 folk art nuns drinking coffee, but I couldn't get the sketch to look right. An image of a more gothic nun popped into my mind, so I changed direction, and here she is. My sister loved her! thank goodness, because I wasn't sure what I thought of it. I guess if you paint from the heart, it all works out for the best.

I haven't made any resolutions for the New Year yet, but want to cut back on sugar....well I went shopping today, and of course all the holiday chocolates were on sale half price. I walked away with 4 boxes, which I will call my emergency stash, haha! And if that's not bad enough, I went out with a friend just now, and picked up some more chocolate! See, this is why I don't do resolutions, lol!

Warm Holiday Blessings to you!

2010-12-24T13:20:00.000-08:00

Hello dear blogging friends!
Christmas is such a magical time of year, but it can also be very hectic, with baking, cooking, scrambling to find the perfect gifts, fighting crowds in busy malls...and the million other things that can turn us into the Grinch. It's easy to get lost in all the chaos, and the lists of things to do, that you forget to stop, breath, and take in the wonder of the season. Let's be grateful for what we have in our lives, and the dear friends and loved ones who share in them.
I wish you all a Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays! My prayer is that you are blessed with happiness, and much peace.

2010-12-16T16:20:00.000-08:00

hi everyone, I finished the work in progress painting from my last post. This is not quite what I had in mind. I planned to add red roses, but guess what, you cannot see red roses against red hair, lol! so I had to change my original idea, and added just one pink rose at the bottom. Oh well, not everything you try is going to come out as planned. So I just had fun and experimented, covering over the elements that didn't work. That's the beauty of mixed media on wood.

While I was on a mad hunt for a rose to stencil on her, I realized how much cool stuff I have that has never been used! I was looking through a clear container and it was filled with stencils, stickers, rub on letters, and other fun stuff. They were purchased for use in my art as well as my art journals (oops, they have been neglected, lol!).
A good New Year's Resolution will be to USE THEM UP, lol! and that includes all my Golden Fluid paints which I am 'saving' for when I'm a better artist. How silly is that? It's time to get out the good stuff, and have fun with it. So many supplies, so little time :-)

thanks for reading!

Work in Progress and another owl ACEO

2010-12-13T20:00:00.000-08:00

hi friends, I thought I'd show you my latest work in progress, which has been sitting in my art room unfinished for a few weeks now. (sorry for the glare-it's evening).
Today I worked on her face, and must say, how relaxing the process is! I can blend, and layer skin colors for hours, and I don't notice the time passing. I know exactly what the title of this one will be, and hopefully the finished painting will look as good as the one in my head, lol!

I'm winding down my Christmas themed ACEOs, since time is rapidly running out. This one was finished last night. I called it ''Can we keep him?"
They really are fun to do, and for those of you who haven't tried them, they are extremely addictive. If you don't know what an ACEO is, it is a small artwork you create, no larger than a baseball card. You can use any technique you desire. The sky is the limit, and the best thing is, they are much quicker than paintings, well, usually they are quicker. I've had many that took over 2 or 3 hours, since I love adding tiny details,and I'm quite finicky about making sure everything is perfect. Something I need to loosen up on, lol!

If you read my blog you may have heard my wishing for snow. Well, last night we did get a little, maybe a few inches, after it had rained all day, and we were expecting the temperature to drop rapidly over night. No big deal right? So this morning I bundled up, and left a couple of minutes early to warm up my car....problem was I couldn't get into my car. The doors had frozen shut, and there was no possible way to get in...I'm one of the 2 people responsible for opening my building in the morning so it's important that I get there. I was one minute from going inside and calling my boss to say I couldn't come in, when the door finally opened. This is what happens when you have a flash freexe. I won't even tell you how long it took to scrape the ice off my windows, but will say it was quite the workout first thing in the morning, lol! So if you hear my complaining that we're not getting any snow, remind me of my not-so-fun start to the day...or send me a virtual kick in the pants, lol!

thanks for reading

Montreal shopping, and a Free Vintage image for you

2010-12-11T14:29:00.000-08:00

hi friends, a few days ago we got back from our annual shopping trip to Montreal. It's only 2 days, but we certainly shopped till we dropped, lol! This year was the best one ever. I was hoping for snow, but as the train pulled in, it was dry. However, within a few hours of our arriving, it started to snow, and snow, and snow...how perfect, a snowstorm while we were there, and it was still going on when we left.
I wish I took more photographs of the streets though. They were simply beautiful.

Lots of pretty displays in store windows to see...

There was a giant buddha in a store. Did you know that you are supposed to rub a buddha's belly for good luck, lol?

It was the perfect little trip, got lots of Christmas shopping done, and enjoyed good food and good sights.

I made a couple more ACEOs(small art, size of a baseball card) this past week. This one was my favorite, I put it up on Ebay last night as a Buy it Now, and woke up to it being sold. Time is running out, so I'm happy this buyer will have it before Christmas.

I haven't added any free vintage images from my collection for a while, so I dug up this Christmas post card from 1910 for you to download, and use in your art. Click on the photo to make it larger, then download.

Well, that's it for now, I need to make a few more ACEOs, then watch a Christmas movie.

thanks for reading!

Hey, chill out!

2010-12-04T21:04:00.000-08:00

Have yourself a Whimsical little Christmas

hi friends, first I thought I'd show you some Christmas eye candy. I made a treasury on Etsy for the young at heart. I love everything here! If you want a closer look at these talented artists click here to go to the treasury.
It's made up of cute and whimsical stuff to give as gifts, or keep for yourself, lol!

Well, we are in the first week of December, and before you know it, Christmas will be here, and then the New Year. I can't say I have accomplished what I wanted to this year, but isn't that belief pretty typical? We rarely think we have done enough. Must be the society we live in that keeps telling us to do more, be more, have more, buy more, no wonder so many people are stressed around this time of year. I think we can all use a little break from the insanity.

A helpful tip is to take at least 15 minutes each day, to just sit, breathe, and recharge yourself. Take slow, deep breaths, and concentrate on your breathing. On the inhale when your lungs are filled, hold your breath for a few seconds, then exhale. Your mind will wander but stick with it. After each exhale, feel your body sinking deeper into your chair. Keep your eyes closed, unclench your jaw, and soften your facial muscles.
After a few moments, you will realize that the chatter in your mind has slowed down, and you feel so good. Continue as long as you desire, and when you open your eyes, you may find yourself smiling and at peace.

Give it a try, and let me know what you think. In fact, if you are sitting on your computer reading this, what a perfect time to take a few moments and see if it's true, or if I am full of crap.
And don't say you can't spare 15 minutes for yourself.
YOU are the most important person in your life, and don't you forget it :-)

love ya!

New Christmas Angel painting

2010-11-28T16:45:00.000-08:00

My latest painting called: A baby changes everything. (SOLD)

Have you ever heard a song that was so beautiful that you needed to illustrate it? I listen to all Christmas music radio these days, and I heard this song by Faith Hill called 'A baby changes everything'. I didn't pay attention to it at first, but once I did and really heard it I knew I wanted to make a Christmas Angel, and include words this time. I started it last night, and worked away until it was done. When I find inspiration in a song, I play it over and over again while painting, hoping to convey the right feeling. I honestly don't know if I succeeded. Sometimes the image in our head is difficult to bring to fruition.
It's listed in my Etsy shop if anyone wants a very sparkly Christmas painting :-)

So are my American friends enjoying their Thanksgiving weekend? Did you all hit the malls for Black Friday? I can't even imagine what that must be like, I read about the chaos in the papers, lol! I think I'd rather stay inside and shop online. I love going into stores, but it's the line ups that drive me crazy. As I age, I find my patience wearing thinner.

This last Thursday I went to the last craft show of the season, it's called the One of a Kind show, and it features over 800 vendors. Fun, but tiring. My feet were killing me after all that walking...and as you get to the end you find yourself passing by the booths much quicker. It's hard to maintain your excitement after seeing so much. Luckily you can pick up a pass to go back later on - it's a 10 day event. I would love to go back a second time for another look.

That's it for now, I'm off to do a bit more painting
thanks for reading

New ACEO, and A glimpse of my crazy tree

2010-11-21T14:36:00.000-08:00

hello friends. Do you see the ACEO painting above? that's what I plan on doing for the next little while, haha!
I went to 3 craft shows the past week. The one in my city had really nice, hand crafted, and more higher end items. I fell in love with a hand painted fox pendant, and thought I'd return in the evening, and point it out to my sister as something she can buy me for Christmas. Well, just my luck, he sold it, as well as many other nice pendants. So folks, when you fall in love with something, you better pick it up right away.

Yesterday we went to another couple of craft shows, and I mostly bought cute ornaments for me 'crazy tree'.
I said I would show you some photos, so I took a few, but you really can't get a good idea of how wild it is until you see it in person. It is quite the spectacle, lol! So here are some pics... I had a hard time getting the whole tree in the photo, it's pretty tall, but this will give you an idea. It is on the hall landing as you walk up the stairs. I have a more traditional tree in my living room.

I had to photograph it in the day time so you could see some of the decorations. At night it is lit with deep blue and purple lights.

This is a close up of some of the ornaments on the tree. I've been collecting them for years.

This is one of my favorite ornament, it's a masked mouse flashing you, lol!

That's it for today, I'm working on another Christmas painting which has been giving me trouble for the past week.
Thanks for reading!

Wee fox illustration

2010-11-17T18:27:00.000-08:00

The human spirit is not dead. It lives on in secret.... It has come to believe that compassion, in which all ethics must take root, can only attain its full breadth and depth if it embraces all living creatures and does not limit itself to mankind. ~Albert Schweitzer, Novel Peace Prize address, "The Problem of Peace in the World Today

hello friends, this is a quick post of my latest illustration on a vintage book page. Way back in September I happened to see 2 foxes in one day. I was going shopping with a friend to Toronto, we saw a man on a tractor of sorts, cutting hay. At the edge of a field was a wooded area, and that's where we saw a fox, standing still looking at the man. For some reason I felt a great sadness when I saw it, maybe because I see daily more and more land being developed, leaving wildlife with nowhere to go.
On the way home driving down a country road, we saw another fox on the side of the road. I have never seen a fox in person, so imagine how strange it felt to see 2 in one day. I knew I wanted to draw them, so here is my first fun one.

I've been putting the finishing touches on my Christmas decorating as well as working on some art. The decorating is done, so I can finally relax, and get caught up on my blog reading. I will be posting photos of my funky little tree soon, it's quite the spectacle, lol!

thanks for your comments on my snow angel last post, I did a test with a sheet of clear paper with the words on it and decided I would leave it alone. I will be visiting your blogs soon :-)

Snow Angel

2010-11-12T17:30:00.000-08:00

hi everyone, here is my first 'winter' painting for the season, the first of many I hope. Sorry for the bad photo, it's evening, and I have a crappy camera, lol.
I had to stop myself from creating too much texture which is not an easy thing to do. I love texture! but unfortunately, if you want to make prints of something, the surface needs to be relatively smooth.
Do you think I should add text to the painting? I was thinking of the words 'let it snow'...or should I leave it as is? I'm on the fence right now...

Thanks for all the sweet comments on my mermaid journal page from my last post! You've inspired me to keep at it. When I posted that page, I didn't think it was all that creative but now I know that there is room for all types of pages. It's those darn expectations that we all have to deal with. Let's keep reminding each other to just go for it, create for the sheer joy, and stop expecting our work to be like everyone else's.
My blog friends are the best!

thanks for reading, have a blessed day
betty

Mermaid Journal Page

2010-11-09T16:59:00.000-08:00

And it only took a month to finish, haha! This is the mermaid I showed on my blog on Oct 3rd, the plan was to add something to the left side. The problem is that I'm not too good at this journaling stuff, unless I follow someone's instructions...in the end, I added a bit of blue and white paint, and wrote some words down that I thought went with the drawing. Not particularly creative, but hopefully if I keep playing around in my art journal, I will get the hang of it, and be able to produce lovely, interesting pages like a lot of you do.
This is from my portrait journal, the one I use to practice drawing different faces.

My decorating is almost done, one tree is up, the next will go up on the weekend. If I can get a good photo of my funky crazy tree I will post it. It's quite unusual, lol!
Once the decorating is finished, I can sit back and concentrate on holiday art.
Hopefully some Christmas fairies or angels...

thanks for reading!

Hang on Kitty Illustration

2010-11-03T14:53:00.000-07:00

hello friends, here is my latest illustration on a vintage book page. The moon has a red hat, do you think I may be dreaming of Christmas already, lol? I added it to my Etsy shop, which I am slowly starting to stock up for the holidays.

Next weekend I will be bringing all my boxes upstairs, and start decorating. It is a long and tiring process, as they are stored in the basement and I'm on the top floor, yuck!

On a postive note though, once it is finished, I can sit back and create holiday themed art. It's time to start folks, if you expect to get it all done. It's only the first week of November, but time has a way of getting away from you, and before you know it, Christmas will be here.

thanks for reading!

The witch is done!

2010-10-27T20:06:00.000-07:00

Here is the (almost) finished witch painting that I showed you in my last blog post. I say 'almost' because I like to go back in after a day or so, and add more little details. I need to lighen up, lol!
I went back over my blog because I couldn't remember the last actual painting I did....it was in June! Wow, I went that long without painting my whimsical girls! I need to make sure that doesn't happen again.
The background gave me trouble when I started, but after a while, it seemed to flow. So much for keeping it simple, I started adding layers for some interest. The secret is to just paint, and let it go where it wants to, and mostly, don't stress about it. There is no right or wrong way to do art, and even if you make mistakes, you simply learn from them, and apply what you have learned the next time.
I'm looking forward to my next painting now, maybe I can get into some kind of groove, and not go another 3 months!

The last couple of days we have had some insane weather. Yesterday they were calling for a 'weather bomb', which I have never heard of. For us we had the craziest winds and they've lasted so far for 2 days.
According to the news it hit lots of areas hard, especially in the US.
Were any of you affected? I'm surprised at the intensity, and how much area it has covered. Makes me think that we are in for a hell of a winter.

thanks for reading!

New ACEO and a Witch WIP

2010-10-24T16:50:00.000-07:00

hi everyone, I've been busy creating lots of ACEOs. After doing my whimsical owls, I felt like drawing one of my girls, and stuck some kittens in there as well. It seems like I have done so many of these miniature paintings, that my larger work has suffered. It's been probably months since I painted an actual canvas. I think about it, then I postpone doing it, waiting for the perfect time. I guess since these ACEOs are only the size of a playing card, they are easier to find time to do.

However enough is enough. Today I made myself get out a canvas and start a witch painting that I said I would do. Drawing the girl is no problem so far. It's deciding what to do with the background that always gets me. That was my problem with my older paintings, I just didn't know what to do. So, I will keep it simple this time. I am adding rust colors in the background for now, and see what happens. I can't believe a simple painting is causing me such stress, lol!

You would think with all the mixed media workshops I have done, this would finally get easy, but that's not the case.
I hear thunder in the distance, so I'm heading out to the grocery store and pick up some ju jubes. Maybe when I come back, I can be more clear about what to do next....
***************
ps- for those of you wondering how Henry the rescue cat is from last week's blog, he is still hanging in there. He was able to eat himself for the first time, and they will be taking more blood work to see if he is getting better.

Cat rescue

2010-10-21T20:05:00.000-07:00

This is Henry. Henry is an 8 year old rescue cat, and he is now in an animal hospital fighting for his life.
Briefly this is his story: he and 5 other cats belonged to a woman who got a new boyfriend. The boyfriend decided he didn't want the cats in the house so she dumped all of them outside to fend for themselves for a couple of months, then gave them over to a cat rescue. This is where my friend got involved. She took them to a barn, hoping to turn them into barn cats. After a few weeks, only 2 cats remained, the other 4 have moved on.

Last week I got a call from my friend asking me to come with her to the animal hospital, sit in the back, and comfort Henry, who she found with his back legs paralized. The trip had me worried as he kept putting his head down. I thought he would die in the car. When the vet saw him, she told us he had been attacked by something. He had over 20 puncture wounds and was in bad shape.

It sounded like he was on the mend until today, I got an email saying his blood tests came back, and it looked like his kidneys were shutting down. My friend headed over there to be with him when he would be euthanized. She later sent an email saying that when they got there he perked up, and started purring. I guess he only wanted to feel loved, like every other living creature. So now we are waiting to see if this poor little guy makes it. He's had such a tough life, he doesn't deserve to go this way.
If he does survive, he will be an indoor cat once again.

I know alot of you rescue cats or other animals, and I applaud you for your kindness and strength.
Thank goodness for people that take in unwanted animals, and try to give them a new chance at life.
Many times it works out beautifully, and you have a companion for life, but other times there is tragedy.
I sure hope this is not one of the latter.
***********

What a busy month it's been! I still haven't painted anything larger than an ACEO for a while. I've got a witch planned, it's just hard to find the time to do it. I'm one of these people that needs to work on something until it's done. Pretty soon Halloween will be upon us, and as soon as that's over, I start Christmas decorating.
Shhh, don't tell anyone but I played some Christmas music today while I was painting :-)

thanks for reading!

The above ACEO is called 'Ready to pounce'. Note the owl hiding in the pile of leaves, getting ready to scare the living daylights out of these trick r treaters.

Illustration Friday - Beneath

2010-10-03T20:37:00.000-07:00

It's Halloween night, and two baby owls fearlessly move through the forest beneath the candle light.

Hello Friends. I really wanted to illustrate this week's topic, and had a mermaid in mind, but alas, I was afraid I would run out of time. So here is an ACEO I just finished today which fits the topic perfectly I think.

It's now official, I am a terrible blogger. I keep meaning to update, but when I get here I feel there's nothing interesting to say. I'm still reading my favorite blogs, just not updating my own, lol!

The above sketch is what I was hoping to add to Illustration Friday, she is a mermaid, but she is not done yet. I pictured in my mind a murky background, with her face obscured with color, but not sure when I can get to it. So many other things to do.

Today I started decorating for Halloween. I brought out my skeleton and ghost tealights, and a pumpking which lights up when you plug it in.. There is fall garland, and lots of seasonal candles for display. Can't forget the purple and orange lights!
In one month, the Halloween stuff gets put away, and I start preparing for my favorite holiday of all, Christmas! Would you think I was strange if I admited that I played Christmas music yesterday, haha! I stopped after 2 songs, I didn't want to get sick of them already :-)

Coming soon will be some witch paintings for Halloween.
Thanks for putting up with this absent blogger (yup, that's me).
xoxo

Art Journal Work in Progress

2010-09-16T18:13:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to think I will never be an art journaler. I've taken some workshops, and have really enjoyed them, but I find it hard to continue. The page you see above has been sitting in my art journal for weeks, waiting for some various papers and text to be added, but I couldn't get motivated. Finally I sat down and sketched what came naturally to me. So maybe this is how my journals will look, since there really is no right way to do them.
She's not done yet, and I think I will add song lyrics to the left hand side, even though I have terrible handwriting, lol!
Not sure what else I will do, maybe some stamping in white would be nice. I love those foam stamps you can buy in Walmart or Michaels, they're great to work with.
Once this page is done I will show it here.

thanks for reading!

A bit of this, a bit of that...

2010-09-04T14:27:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd start by showing you some of the art supplies I picked up. They had a back to school sale at my nearest art store so how could I resist? Those round things you see are Pan Pastels, I had seen a Youtube video about them a while ago, but until now, they weren't available anywhere here. Haven't had a chance to use them yet.
The Amsterdam acrylics were picked up to use in some background experiments, and they are wonderful! Very inexpensive, but the quality and covereage are very impressive! I won't be buying anymore folk art paints after that.

Artwise, I have been trying to work on portraits. If you've been reading my blog long enough you've seen lots of ACEOs and illustrations on vintage pages that I like to do. I'm feeling the need to work on a painting after a long absense.
This has been such a wonderful summer, that it was hard to stay indoors and work, that's why I have mainly been creating smaller art. I'm one of the few people that looks forward to winter coming, and the days getting shorter. My favorite time is when it is dark at 5pm, lol! That's when you want to hibernate, and that's when I am most productive. Anyone else looking forward to the change in seasons? Isn't it exciting when it gets darker and darker? and when the cold winds blow, and the first snow falls? Ok, I'm getting ahead of myself, lol!

Last but not least, I was sent this very inspirational Youtube video. My favorite part is when he is talking to the high school kids. He is an amazing man, and it puts our little problems into perspective.
I wish more people would take the time to talk to kids, and tell them that they are perfect as they are. A lot of them feel alone, and not good enough. They need to be told that anything is possible in this world, and to hold fast to their dreams.

Come to think of it, many of us adults could use some inspiration as well. So let me end by saying you are all beautiful, and worthy, exactly as you are. The fact that you are alive is a blessing, and every day, you have a chance to throw away the disappointments of the past, and start fresh. Every day we are given a gift of 24 sparkling new hours, to use as we desire. Let's keep our mind focused on the wonderful blessings we have, and try to limit the negative thoughts that tend to creep in.
Thanks for reading, and have a magical day!

An Unwelcome visitor.... and a free vintage Image

2010-08-29T18:28:00.000-07:00

Tell me folks, how would you like to see this ugly mug on your curtains??

This poor fellow made his way into my home. I was at my desk working on a painting, when all of the sudden I saw something from the corner of my eye flying around the ceiling, and the cats came running. Of course I panicked when I realized it was a bat, and called my mom to come and get it, meanwhile screaming because it kept swooping down close to my head. Eventually I calmed down and realized it was more scared of me than I was of it, and waited patiently for it to land somewhere. And grabbed my camera, lol!
It took a while to get rid of him, he was definitely full of energy, but landed on top of my bookshelf. I quickly put a tupperware container over him, and took him outside. They are pretty ugly up close, but kind of cute too. Now I'm worried about how he got in. Ah, the joys of owning an older home.

I have another free vintage image for you to download and use in your artwork. Isn't this such a romantic picture? It is a vintage postcard I purchased, very old, you can tell by the fading. Not sure of the date, I can't tell from their clothing. Anyway, just click on the image to bring up a larger version, then right click and download.

Thanks for reading!

The Hope of Love

2010-08-22T17:21:00.000-07:00

hello friends! Here is my latest illustration on a vintage page from a book dated 1918. I think he turned out pretty cute, surrounded by pinks, lol!

It's been a rainy weekend, perfect for staying in and painting.
After ruining a few ACEOs I was working on, I realized I either don't understand color theory very well, or my watercolors and acrylic paints are not the right shades.

Can anyone recommend a particular brand of watercolors that you feel are very bright and intense? Or even inks?
I mostly use Windsor and Newton watercolors, but would like something more bold.
Is there a really bright, transparent pink out there, that is not muted? It's my favorite color, and I can't seem to get the intensity I want. A transparent purple would be nice too. The one I've got is just too dull, I can't seem to do anything with it.
I've heard good things about Windsor and Newton's Opera pink, but don't have it yet.
The Daler-Rowney FW Acrylic inks are quite nice, and easy to use. I may have to take a trip to the art store for some more goodies :-)

thanks for reading!
xoxo

Illustration Friday - Star Gazing

2010-08-16T20:55:00.000-07:00

Hello friends. I couldn't resist this weeks topic at Illustration Friday. I had a great idea for last weeks, but never got to it on time, and was determined to not miss this one. I'm still working on my watercolor skills, I'd like to be more loose and playful, not always controlled.
Here's a tip for anyone wanting to practice with watercolor: never paint on 90lb watercolor paper without stretching it first. This painting buckled big time!

Hitching a Ride Over the Moon

2010-08-11T19:50:00.000-07:00

hello dear readers! I'm not feeling too inspired to write anything clever tonight, but here is my latest illustration on a vintage page.

Right now I'm waiting for my sister to bring me a carton of ice cream from a new shop that opened. I don't know what it is about this place, but the ice cream is addictive! Last weekend after a trip to the farmers' market for some fresh foods, we stopped by for a cone. I tried a peanut butter and banana cone, and wow!! I can't stop thinking about it, lol!

My window is open and I can hear a man whistling some old fashioned tunes, very loudly I may add. It's kind of nice, like in those old detective movies where a man dressed in a dark suit and fedora goes off whistling into the night.

Does anyone know when Project Runway will be airing in Canada? We are usually 3 weeks behind but I can't find information anywhere.

Oh my, this blog post is all over the place! I better stop rambling now, haha!
Hope you are all enjoying your summer (or winter if you are in the Southern hemisphere).

Newest ACEOs and Free Vintage Photo for you

2010-08-02T15:04:00.000-07:00

hello everyone. Today is Civic Holiday in Canada, so we had a nice 3 -day weekend. I can't believe it's August already, the summer seems to be flying by so quickly. The only art I seem to be doing these days are my little ACEOs. I'm just not in the mood to do anything larger. The weather has been fabulous all summer, and I'd rather be out enjoying it. Winter comes too soon here, and there will be plenty of time to stay in and create larger art once the cold temperatures arrive.

See, the little guy above is trying to stay cool during this hot summer of ours, and so is the wee mouse, lol!

Yesterday me and my friends went antiquing. I didn't buy much, but I did pick up 2 cheap packages of various vintage ephemera to use in my art. I remembered to take my camera along, and snapped a pic of these cute monks.

Later on in the day I went with my friend (who googled me and discovered this blog, haha!) went to her partners farm for a wonderful barbecue. After dinner I even got to bottle feed an orphan colt. He was so hungry he went through 5 bottles in no time. He's a cute little fellow, lol!

You know it's funny to have a friend discover your blog. I've never mentioned it to anyone since I see this as an art blog mostly, and now 2 people who know me in person have found me out. Guess I got to be careful what I say, lol!

I'm curious about other bloggers. Do you let your friends and family know about your blog, or do you have a sort of 'secret' identity?

Last but not least, here is another free vintage photo for you to use in your art. I bought this at a store which sells vintage and antique clothes and other items. The owner figures it is from the early 1900's, before 1920.
Aren't they the cutest kids? I'd love to see what you do with this, feel free to send me a comment or link.
Don't forget when saving to your computer, click the image once to bring up the larger version. Enjoy!

Funky Cardinal and Free Vintage photo

2010-07-25T19:29:00.000-07:00

hi everyone. Meet my latest critter done on a vintage book page. I thought since I've done so many girls, may as well draw a cardinal. Yes I know he looks funny, but he is supposed to be a cardinal, lol!

Today I went to the Antique market and picked up some nice vintage photos, as well as a couple of old childrens books. Here is one of the photos I purchased, that I would like to share with you.
If you make anything with it, I'd love to see. I've been collecting things like this for a while now, but can't bring myself to use the originals in my art, even though that was the idea

Click on the image to bring up the larger size, then save it to your computer. I will be adding more freebies in future posts.
Can you imagine what it would have been like to be dressed like this in the summer heat? I'm pretty sure the women weren't allowed to shorts, lol!

Natalie baked you a pie...

2010-07-22T21:22:00.000-07:00

Do you like it? The pie I mean, lol! Here is another of my ink on vintage page illustrations.

Did you all notice the nice new feature blogger has? The preview button now let's you see exactly how your post will look. Very cool!

This is a very short post as it's past midnight and I have to get up early tomorrow for work. Note to self: do NOT drink a Starbucks bold coffee a few hours before bedtime , haha! Now I'm paying for it.

have a great night!

My 7 card Draw prizes!

2010-07-19T10:41:00.000-07:00

Every month I take part in an ACEO thread on Etsy, called the 7 -card draw, and last month I was the lucky winner! You get to choose 7 cards from the pool - there were I believe, 30 or 40 cards to choose from last month. Today the last of my winning cards came in, so here they are! it's not the greatest photo, since today after many days of sunshine, it decides to rain, lol!

Here are the links to the Etsy shops of each of these lovely people, starting from the top.

Lee Pierce
Art by Marlene
Tapestry316
AdventuresinArt
Journalartz
LD Photography
Mag Moment

Thank you to all those who participated, I am beyond thrilled at my new cards! and for any of you out there, any one can join in, just read the instructions on the first page of the thread, add something to the pool, and have fun!

Big Eye'd Mermaid Illustration.

2010-07-17T20:25:00.000-07:00

hi everyone. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to offer illustrations in my soon to be opened second Etsy shop. It's a lot of work! I'm not sure it's worth the effort, it's hard enough keeping one shop active. I won't bore you with all the details, lol!

Here is my latest big eyed character, with a visitor tagging along for the ride. Not sure how I would describe this illustration, it is sort of a print, but also original. The mermaid was printed on a vintage book page, then re-drew some of the lines, and added paint and other details.
I got lucky with these vintage books...they were being discarded, and I managed to get a few before that happened. This particular one is dated 1918, and I even found one dated 1890. It's nice to give old books a new life, as well as recycle. Watch for lots more illustrations on vintage pages.

It's been so hot and muggy the last few days, that it makes it quite difficult to sit in a hot little room and create. I hope you are all keeping comfortable where ever you are.
thanks for reading!

Hot and Lazy Sunday afternoon

2010-07-11T15:18:00.000-07:00

hello everyone! It is gorgeous out these days, yet I've managed to get some new illustrations done. These are a bit different from my last, but they are still on vintage pages. I was very lucky to salvage some old books heading for the dumpster, so I don't feel bad tearing them apart. One is from 1898, I haven't used the pages yet but I will.
These may have to be listed in my regular Etsy shop, since I haven't opened the second one yet, depends on how much time I have. It's been fun playing around with art, and being a bit more carefree.

The above piece was done on watercolor paper, and I added lots of various vintage text on top. I didn't have a plan, just let it go where it wanted to go. Sorry about the poor photos!

Today I took a drive to the Antique market that runs every Sunday, and I scored some wonderful paper to use in my art. I found 2 very old books filled with vintage wallpaper samples, and I got them for $5, for both!
Now it's a matter of figuring out how best to use them, the papers really are beautiful!
I also picked up these cute little Japanese made dolls. I know nothing about them, other than that they are story book characters.

It was a good trip. I went alone since everyone I know wanted to watch the World Cup final. Congratulations to Spain, and to the Netherlands for what I hear was a wonderful game.

I thought I'd mention a funny thing that happened to me this morning. I have a sweet little canary which I adore, named Lucas. I took his feed dish to fill it up with seeds, and he flew out. I heard fluttering and when I looked around, he was on the floor looking at me, so I let him stay out for a bit and stretch his wings. When I went to catch him, naturally he tries to fly away. He flew into the bathroom, and I figured, no problem, this will be easy since the bathroom is so small. Before I had a chance to even walk towards him he flew right into the toilet! I quickly pulled him out, poor little guy! His belly and wings were wet so I dabbed him with a paper towel and placed him in his cage. He was perfectly fine, he's such a little trooper.

Last but not least, I mentioned buying lots of new plants in my last post and someone asked for a photo, so here is one that shows some of them. This is the stand by my kitchen window, and yes, that is a cat on top, lol! It's my sister's persian/himalayan cat.
I have to put 2 plants on the floor because she likes to lie on the shelf and watch the birds outside. The plants are throughout my home, but this is where most are.

hope you are all having a wonderful weekend
thanks for reading!

Finally, an update

2010-07-07T17:56:00.000-07:00

Ahoy there friends! you probably thought I sailed off into the sunset, it's been a few weeks since my last post.
Do you ever feel like you have nothing interesting to say even though you may be busy? Seems the longer you wait to post, the harder it is.
It has been so hot and humid the last few days in Ontario. I've had a few days off work, hoping to get caught up on some of my online classes, but it's been difficult due to the heat. I've managed to create a few of my little owl ACEOs though.

Years ago, I used to have over 40 houseplants when I lived in a larger home, but I let them go when I moved into the home I am now in. I guess I got tired of maintaining them. It felt like the right time to start over, so I went to one of my favorite green houses and walked out with a dozen new plants. Check out this photo of their cactus section, it's quite incredible to see in person.

A couple of days ago I went with my friend to see the horses again. I always take my camera along hoping to get some good reference photos, but every other time, something prevented it. Like freezing cold conditions, or a dreary cloudy day, rain, etc...but this time I thought my luck would change. It was super hot and sunny. Everything was going well, until the red battery light on my camera started flashing! At least I got a few photos before it totally died on me.
Here I am giving one of the horses some scritches, lol!

This little guy below is an orphan. He's being hand raised right now. We thought we would go in his pen and play with him a bit. Well, he started getting quite rambunctious, running towards us and bucking, so seeing as we were both in flip flops, we thought we'd better get out of there pretty quickly.

Now art wise, I decided I need to open a second Etsy shop for my illustrations. I haven't done this yet, since I don't have enough art to add to it ....and I need to decide on a name for the new shop.
The shop I have right now has too many different styles of art, that it lacks cohesion. The new one would be my drawings on vintage paper.
Once I get a few more of my illustrations finished, I will show them on my blog. Right now, I'm still working out some details.

Forgive me if this post seems all over the place. That's what happens when you don't blog regularly...I promise to try to do better next time.
thanks for reading!

Still a kid at heart

2010-06-19T12:41:00.000-07:00

I've always loved roller coasters and amusement parks, and I doubt that will change. I imagine being 70 years old and still going on the rides, lol!
On Thursday a friend and I went to Canada's Wonderland . What a pleasant surprise to find hardly any lineups, the longest may have been about half an hour. We went on the most thrilling rides, including Canada's fastest and tallest roller coaster. I even talked her into going on the antique carousel.I 'm sure we fit in very nicely with all the little children riding it, haha!

It was a long day, and I was so exhausted that I forgot I had wanted to play one of the games, in hopes of winning a stuffed toy.

I almost forgot to mention, I got pooped on twice by birds!! On my nice black pants!I noticed the first one when we were about to go on one of the rides...then a bit later sitting outside enjoying an ice cream, something splattered on my knee. You can see it in this photo, lol! I'm smiling because I have no idea I am walking around like this.

Don't they say it's good luck if a bird poops on you? Well I don't know if that's true or not, but later on, when we headed to the nearest mall for some quick shopping, I bought myself a lottery ticket, just in case....

Here I am, cleaned up, holding my Starbucks coffee in front of a pet store in the mall, carrying a bag from an artstore. My two addictions at the same time, life doesn't get better than this. (the expression on my face is my 'hurry up and take the picture people are looking ' face).

How weird is this, as I was finishing this post, a chickadee flew into my window, I saw it fly back into the tree and ran to the window to make sure he was ok. He seemed fine, the poor little thing! But now I'm thinking, what is it with birds and me these days??

More Carnival Gals and a blog award

2010-06-12T12:25:00.000-07:00

hi everyone, here is my second Carnival girl/puppet. I called her 'Black Diamond Desmonda', and she goes with the other one I showed a couple weeks back. Her dress is actually a hot pink, but I couldn't get it to show properly due to the lack of sunshine outside.
Not much other artwork to show, I've been busy the last week, but finally, I've got all my organizing done. It is an amazing feeling to have things in their place, and I know a lot of you commented that you needed to do this as well. Let me tell you, once you do the work and get it done, you will feel like a weight has been lifted from your shoulders, so trust me, it is worth the effort.
We are having some dreary weather right now, it goes from heavy rain, to that fine misty rain. Perfect day to stay in and create!

Hey! Someone thinks my blog is fabulous, lol! I'd like to say thank you to sweet Lauren at fairrosie.blogspot.com, do check out her blog.
I am supposed to share 5 addictions with you, so here are mine:

1 - I'm addicted to coffee, yes I admit it. I'm sure I've mentioned it in many a blog post, lol!

2 - addicted to sugar. Even though I am trying to cut back, I love my deserts, pies, muffins, scones, they all go so well with my delicious coffee!

3 - addicted to buying art supplies. I can't stop, in fact I am about to buy a couple more paint colors (yeah, like I really need more!) and some wooden panels.

4 - my TV and DVDs. I actually watch very little tv, but I have lots of movies and TV series. Right now I'm going through Touched by an Angel Season 2

5 - Last but not least, I'm addicted to my computer....I'm on it way too much, and I sure love reading my blogs. Especially while drinking coffee and enjoying my dessert :-)

I would like to pass this award to anyone who would like it, since there is no way I could choose only 5, so feel free to share your 5 addictions. I'm a very curious gal....

Thanks for Reading!

Long overdue re-organizing

2010-06-08T16:25:00.000-07:00

The last few days I have decided to completely re-organize my entire home. I couldn't stand the clutter and chaos any longer. So last night I went to Walmart and picked up some shelving units and storage boxes. I removed everything from one of my closets, threw out 2 bags of old clothing that I will never wear, and basically organized it so well I can't believe I never thought of this before. It has such a better energy now. I don't have to sift through art supplies, canvases, and perfume bottles (they need to be in a cool place) that I had stacked on the floor. Now everything has it's place.

Today's project is the kitchen, and I am being ruthless, throwing out old recipes that I have torn out of magazines over the years. I figure with the internet, and so many online recipe sites, why would you keep loose pieces of paper? Oh, and the fact that I really don't cook anything that fancy may have something to do with it, lol!

This still life painting you see has been sitting unfinished, started in an acrylics class I had taken many years ago. It was done on the last date of the class, and I remember it well because we had a blizzard that night, and me and another gentlemen were the only ones that showed up, haha! So we got lots of attention from the instructor. She had us stand at our easel, and made sure we painted with a thick brush, very loosely, and at arm's length from the canvas. I had never painted this way and it felt awkward, but in a way, very liberating. I feel like I could see the shadow and shapes much better this way. I've always loved this painting, probably because I was surprised I could paint this way.
Maybe this weekend would be a good time to finally finish it, so that I can display it - unless I completely mess it up, lol! We shall see.....

A lovely Saturday

2010-06-05T12:21:00.000-07:00

Today I've been cleaning and organizing my home, so I made a cup of coffee, grabbed a pile of papers on which I draw rough sketches and ideas, and went outside for a short break. It was supposed to be unsettled weather today, but instead it is just gorgeous. Sitting there, I looked around me at the blue sky, the clouds and the trees, and was filled with gratitude for the gift of life.
Someone is cutting grass down the street, I hear the cars go by, and a neighbors dog is barking, but even with all that noise, everything in this moment is perfect. Whenever I can, I try to remind myself that this is the only moment we have, and we really miss out when our minds are cluttered with stuff from the past, or thoughts of the future. How wonderful to stop the mind chatter, and just 'be'.

There is nothing like the feel of sunshine warming your body to make it seem like all is well in the world, at least in this moment. Wherever you are, I hope you are able to take a few moments, and remind yourself that being alive, even with the stress and problems, is truly a great blessing.
Have a wonderful and sacred day!

Carnival Girls

2010-06-01T19:50:00.000-07:00

Hello lovely people!
Here she is, 'Dancing Delilah', the painting I gave you a teeny little peak of on my last post. I had been holding onto this idea for a couple of years now, and I finally thought, enough! I've always loved the gaudy glamour of carnivals since I was a child, and wanted to create these dolls/puppets, on a faded and shabby background.

Why did I wait so long you ask? well, I was plagued with the usual doubts of 'I'm not good enough yet'. You know, that negative voice in your head that is forever trying to hold you down. That tells you to wait until you are a better painter/ artist/ writer, etc... Do you know what happens when you listen to that annoying voice, and don't create the thing you desire to create? Someone else beats you to it. That's right, and then you think to yourself " I can't do it now, everyone will think I copied from so and so'.

This is not the case with these carnival girl paintings, but it has happened to me in the past when I've been holding onto an idea until I felt ready, and then one day noticed another artist doing the same thing. It can be very frustrating, and you feel deflated.
I guess what I want to say is don't wait until you feel good enough. Just get your creativity out into the world, who cares if it is not perfect! Who said our art needs to be perfect anyway? I know I will never be fetching millions of dollars for my work, I simply do this because it is in my soul, and I can't imagine not creating. I do it because it is fun, and fulfilling. If others like my work, that is a bonus.

Creating should make you feel joyful and alive, not scared of making mistakes. Put love into everything you do. The world needs you to be who you were meant to be. No one else can do this.
Each one of us is a One-of a-Kind creation, so lets stop beating ourselves up over our perceived flaws, and celebrate them!

Thanks for reading

Antiques, Sunshine and a Sneak peek

2010-05-29T19:28:00.000-07:00

hi friends! Today I went to the Annual Christy Antique Show. It is a huge event with many antique vendors. What a fun time! I'm glad I took a camera along, as there was some interesting stuff, lol! like the photo you see above. Don't ask me what it is, haha! maybe paper mache??

The weather was perfect, hot and sunny, no clouds...although I ended up getting a sunburn on my arms. My friend asked if I wanted to use her sunblock before we left the car, and I thought I would be ok without. Well I was wrong, after a few hours in the heat, I was searching out shaded areas for relief.
I didn't buy too much as there was so much to look at, it was hard to choose. I picked up some antique cranberry glass buttons and black lace to use in a future painting, and I saw a primitive folk art painting I really liked, see below.

If you haven't been to an antique market or show, you should try it. Even if you are not into antiques. I only started going the last few years, and you never know what you will find. I look for anything to use in art, and have a small collection of antique post cards and ephemera that I use. But then I go and cover them with layers of paint, lol! like my latest painting....I adore her, and she is almost done, so I will show you a teeny tiny sneak peek for now.

I love the look of beeswax on a painting, but it tends to dull it, which is the whole point....for this particular painting I used more subdued color, so I'm debating whether I should use a gloss varnish to add some shine.....once I finish, I will show it.

thanks for reading!

sweet poison, and my latest cheeky girl

2010-05-25T17:29:00.000-07:00

It is so hot today! I refuse to turn the air conditioner on, since we haven't had a real summer for the last 2 years. I am sitting in my tiny little art room, it is so sticky, but I wanted to get my cheeky American girl finished, and varnished. I'm also listening to a great program on Hayhouseradio.com on healing spices. You may as well learn something while you work right?
I was reminded of the benefits of cinammon, so I promptly went to my kitchen, got a large glass of water and added a cinnamon stick to it. Water is another thing I forget to drink, I'm sure I'm not the only one.

There are so many easy things we can do to improve our health, but we have to make the effort. Most of them really don't take that long. I get lazy...but then I hear about another person struggling with illness, and am reminded how fragile this life is. I remember hearing a phrase that said basically make time for your health, or make time for illness. I have blogged before about my addiction to sugar. I am in the process of cutting back, but it is not easy. I remember learning that cancer cells need sugar to thrive, so you would think that kind of information would do it, but nope. I still continued. Why is it that caring for ourselves is so difficult?
Or perhaps it is the fact that sugar -especially the High Fructose syrop, is addictive and hard to stop.

I picked up a book out of curiosity from my library called the Belly Fat Cure and skimmed it briefly. His plan is not really a diet, but a change in how you eat, and one of the things he does is tell you to cut your sugar intake to 15 grams per day. When I look at a food label, I normally look to see how many carbs are in it, since all this time I thought that was the problem. Well I was in for a shock, sugar is everywhere! even in so-called healthy 100% bran cereal!! All this time I only considered things like cookies, muffins, and cakes as the things I needed to cut back on, only to find sugar lurking in almost all processed foods.

This was reinforced by another article on the dangers of sugar I read on Mercola.com. This concerns me because I don't think we realize how dangerous it is, and by blogging about this, I hope some of you do a little research of your own. I don't want any more people to deal with illnesses that can be avoided by eating a more natural diet. I'm just saying know the facts, and make an educated decision when you are buying your groceries. And if you think drinking diet soda is better, think again, it is poison! .The information is all out there if we want to see it. . Our lives are way too precious to take for granted, it's time to treat our bodies like the temples that they are.

thanks for reading, and stay healthy :-)

Busy Sunday

2010-05-23T14:57:00.000-07:00

hi friends! this weekend is flying by so quickly. It's a good thing tomorrow is a national holiday. I spent the
morning at an antique market, it is open every Sunday during the summer, and is huge! it takes hours to get through the whole place. I normally go there looking for old books and vintage ephemera to use in my art, or paintings I may like. I ended up with 4 vintage children's books, and a nice horse painting.

Afterward I went with my dear friend to her boyfriend's farm and took some photos of the horses. Of course, the weather clouded over, just like the 2 or 3 previous times I went there trying to get good pics. Once we finished, and sat down on the porch with a coffee, that's when the sun came out again. I'm starting to think I am jinxed, lol! I know the best photos are the ones with lots of contrast, with a nice blue sky in the background but it wasn't to be this time, but I like this pic of mama and baby horse.

Last night I started some more whimsical owl ACEOs, including this one featuring 2 owls at a drive in, complete with popcorn and soda. After all those angels I have been doing I felt like a change.
Thanks for reading! enjoy the rest of your day

Blonde Angel

2010-05-21T04:10:00.000-07:00

hi friends, yes, another angel, but I tried to do blonde hair this time...it's not so easy. Yesterday was such a gorgeous hot day, the first in a long while, so I made myself a coffee, and sat outside with my sketchbook. I worked out details on some ideas I had a while ago, and maybe this weekend will try one out, after I clean up my workspace, what a mess!
It was never this bad when I did simple acrylic painting, but the moment I discovered mixed media, look out! not a single piece of paper gets thrown out now, as well as anything that may be added to a painting. I've heard this from other mixed media artists, lol! I'm sure we all peel glue off our fingers every night before bed.

Another thing I'd like to get to is actually making my small art room feel more like a creative space. Maybe some nice Christmas lights hung on the window, and a tealight holder to keep on the desk I work on. This is supposed to be a creative area, and it looks anything but. It amazes me I can work in such a cluttered area, but right now, it's the only space I have. I do know artists who work on a kitchen table, and they manage just fine. We got to make the best of what we have, and work around the limitations. You somehow focus on the work at hand, but I'm tired of not being able to find what I need due to clutter. This sounds like a good project for this long weekend.

What are your plans this weekend?

Fly

2010-05-18T17:33:00.000-07:00

Hi folks, it sure took a lot of thought to come up with today's post title, lol!
This is just a short post, showing my latest mixed media angel, my 3rd one in the last 2 weeks. Once I finish catching up on some blogs, I will be starting another one. May as well take advantage when you are motivated, because you never know when you will hit a little art 'slump', especially now with the nicer, sunny weather.
have a great night!

Endless Night

2010-05-15T13:45:00.000-07:00

Every night and every morn

Some to misery are born.

Every morn and every night

Some are born to sweet delight

Some are born to Endless Night

God appears, and God is light,
To those poor souls who dwell in night;
But does a human form display
To those who dwell in realms of day.

Hello friends! I finished my latest mixed media painting called 'Endless Night'. After the pink angel I showed on my last blog post, I needed something a little darker. I must say though, that this painting flowed so easily for me. It was so much fun, and I didn't have to think or plan, it just came together. I'd say it's my favorite one in a long time.
She is based on the poem 'Auguries of Innocence' by William Blake, which I had memorized a while ago. One of my strange quirks that people don't know about me is that I love memorizing poems, just for the fun of it. The lines you see above are from that poem, and I have added some on the painting, which I then covered lightly with sheer paint, and tissue paper.
There will be a companion painting for this, a lighter one, born to 'sweet delight'.

thanks for reading!

Pink Angel

2010-05-12T17:50:00.000-07:00

hello lovely people! I finished this mixed media angel tonight. She is a bit different from the original sketch I planned out, but once I got to this stage, I was afraid of ruining her with the idea I had. You will have to wait and see the next one I do to know what I mean. I went crazy with the background, using a few different techniques, and lots of gold leaf.
She's quite pink and glittery, just like my screen name, lol!

For the next one I think I will pull out my book on color and try something with maybe yellow and green, for spring.

thanks for reading!

Too much TV, not enough art

2010-05-06T16:28:00.000-07:00

After finishing my last painting, I've kind of been sitting around not sure what to do.Well, that is not entirely true, I've been watching lots of dvds. I got hooked on a TV series called Wildfire. It's about a girl out of juvenille hall who is taken to work on a horse ranch. Of course there is a love triangle involving the ranch owner's son, and the son of a rival ranch. If you are a horse fan, you will enjoy this series. It started off a bit slow, but once you got to know the characters, you will want to keep playing the next episode, and then the next. I just finished Season 3, and now am hoping they will release the final season. They left you with a cliff hanger, and now it is bugging me not to know what happens. Those who live in the US are so lucky, there is a site called hulu.com where you can watch entire episodes. For me in Canada, I can't access it, so have to wait for the DVDs.

I also finished watching 'The Horse Whisperer' which I saw when it first came out, but couldn't remember. What a fantastic movie, with gorgeous scenery! The first few minutes are heartbreaking, and feature Scarlett Johansson when she was only 14. I would definitely recommend this movie if you haven't seen it already.

Well, I suppose I should continue working on the painting I showed last week. I'm stuck right now, and not sure what to do next, so I may as well just play, and see what happens.
thanks for reading!
xoxo

Mother's Day Art and a WIP

2010-05-04T20:21:00.000-07:00

hi everyone! I thought I would show my latest folk art painting. You may have seen the rough sketch for this last week.
What a relief to finally finsh it. I changed the background 3 times! nothing seemed to work, so after adding some nice vintage papers for texture, I ended up gessoing over it, and trying another color. That didn't work either, it was the wrong shade of blue. So out comes the white gesso, and then I came up with this one which I am happy with. I wanted the mother and her kids to stand out against a shabby background. Now if you can't tell, the kid on the left is a boy, lol! and my very first one. I think he's kind of cute :-)

Next up, is a work in process I am doing for the Gut Art class taught by the awesome Mystele. Working with this much color and this loose is very new for me, but I'm loving every second of it. Can't wait to get back to it. This may not look like my style, but I really enjoy learning new things. There are so many online workshops out there, and I believe in learning all you can about something you are passionate about. Art should also be fun. I realize I never play at art, I am too serious, and spend countless hours trying to make sure a painting is 'perfect'. It feels good to let go of that, and let a painting go where it wants to.
thanks for reading!

Sunday Sketch and a page from my Sketchbook

2010-05-02T12:47:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I haven't blogged anything since last Sunday! Time sure got away from me. Here is my Sunday Sketch, which I did last night in bed. It's a bit rough, but I was working out a face I will be putting on canvas soon. The other two are just folk art girls that showed up to fill the page, lol!
If you would like to see more Sunday Sketches by other participating artists, check out Sophia's blog
Blue Chair Diary. It's nice to see this weekly group growing.

A Page from my Sketchbook

Time for my weekly peek into my sketchbook. Except this time, it's not in my sketchbook but on a loose sheet of graph paper. I have a little secret...my favorite way of sketching is to use pen on graph paper. I'm obsessed with it. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if I had several hundred loose sheets lying around with sketches, and handwritten ideas on them. Folders are filled with these loose sheets, and I keep weeding through them, trying to get the freshest ideas at the front, but they are soon buried with dozens more pages. I swear I am out of control!
One benefit to using graph paper is that you can easily line up eyes, and other features quickly. If you are a beginner to drawing faces, I would highly recommend you buy yourself some graph paper, and draw out your lines for your face. It's easy to see when you have mistakes, and easy to correct (use pencil for this).
Once you get a perfect sketch that you are happy with, take some carbon paper, and trace it onto a good sheet of drawing paper. It sure beats measuring with a ruler, and trying to get things lined up.

The page you see above shows some of my folk art ideas for mother's day. The one on the left with the boy and girl is one I am painting right now. It's also one of the sketches I showed last week, with a bit more detail. Hopefully it will be done by tonight and I will show it here. There is nothing glamorous about these pages, it's simply a matter of getting ideas out of your head and onto paper, where you can have a permanent record.

Thanks for reading!

Sunday Sketch and a page from my Sketchbook

2010-04-25T14:38:00.000-07:00

hi folks! I am really behind today. I've been out until a couple of hours ago, and just wasn't feeling up to sketching. I made myself do a quick one though because I did commit to joining in with Blue Chair Diary's weekly sketches. Do check out Sophia's blog for more Sunday Sketches.

The above sketch is an idea I have for my next folk art painting featuring a mother and her little boy and girl. Do you think the boy looks ok? I hope to start it tonight. I wish there was a workshop for folk art paintings, because I find them the most difficult to do. Maybe because I can't paint loosely? Come on folk artists! give up your secrets, lol!

A Page from my Sketchbook

This is almost becoming a regular thing here, I'm on week 6 I think...It's not always easy to find a page to show you, since most of them are in pencil and very light. Also, as you can see with this one, it's filled with tiny unfinished scribbles, haha! so now you know how my mind works. It's pure chaos in there sometimes. I sure envy those artists with beautiful, neatly drawn sketchbook pages, filled with lovely colors. Not mine, I don't think there is a single page in the 4 or 5 sketchbooks I have that actually has color. Don't ask my why, since I probably have every brand of colored pencils known to man...and they just sit in their packages, lonely, wondering when this silly little artist will finally pull them out and use them.
thanks for reading! I'm off to get some work done :-D

Earth Day Blog Hop

2010-04-24T21:31:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. In honor of Earth Day, I decided to join in Michelle Perkett's Earth Day Blog Hop. If you have arrived here from Lee's Blog, then you are in the right place. If not, you may want to go back to Michelle's blog and start at the beginning. You would not want to miss all the great ideas!
She gave us a challenge to create something using recycled material such as plastic, paper, or cardboard, and also include the color green in your work. Since I am not very crafty, I ended up doing a painting of a dryad (click for larger look).

I have so much cardboard from all the books I order, so I started with a piece of cardboard, upon which I glued paper from an old music book. The dryad's skirt and leaves are made of pages from last year's phone book. The writing you see around her is a poem by Robert Frost called 'Nothing Gold Can Stay' (see below).
The poem starts on the left arm, and continues around her body.
That's supposed to be a bird's nest with baby cardinals in her hair. It was tricky working on this much texture, but I enjoyed the challenge.

Your next stop is the lovely Lynne's Blog.

Do try and visit all the participating blogs to see what wonderful creations they came up with. The last stop on this hop is Michelle's Studio Blog, where you will find a poll to choose your favorite entry. Thank you for visiting, and enjoy!

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

Robert Frost

A Mother's Love

2010-04-19T20:23:00.000-07:00

My latest painting for Mother's Day. I didn't realize how quickly it was coming up so I had to do at least one with a mother and daughter. I used various papers to add texture to the background, and then went and covered them! For some reason, I can't do a painting without layers, even if I am the only one who knows what's hidden underneath...it's listed in my Etsy shop.

The bunny girl from yesterday's post is already sold! Does anyone else miss their paintings when they sell?
I have a few that I can't part with, which is silly because they are tucked away in an archival box for safekeeping. How crazy is that?? I think they need to be appreciated, and hanging on a wall somewhere. One day I may decide to finally let them go. Maybe I will photograph a couple and show them here.

Next on my to do list is a painting of a mother with a boy and girl. I've never painted a whimsical boy, so I'm a bit nervous about it. We shall see how it turns out.
thanks for reading!
xoxo

Bunny Girls and Sketches

2010-04-18T12:22:00.000-07:00

hi everyone. In my last post I mentioned needing to work on lots more original folk art girls, so here is the first one, called Bunny Love. I used the sketch I created on my Easter post, and had fun with the background. This took many hours to complete. Originally I used blues, especially on the border, and I felt it just didn't look right, so I scraped on some gesso for texture, and re-did it. I'm much happier with the pink and creme as the main colors. She is now in my Etsy shop.
Tonight I will be working on something for mother's day.

For this weeks Sunday Sketch, I drew another big-eyed girl, are you all surprised, lol? This is my 5th week doing these sketches, thanks to Blue Chair Diary. Since I committed to join in, it has kept me on track.

A Page from My Sketchbook

Continuing my own little show and tell, here is a page from my sketchbook.

It's nice to see other artists starting to show pages from their sketchbook. Feel free to join it, it would be fun to see the sketches behind the art.

Flowers in the Desert

2010-04-17T09:54:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd show my latest illustration on a vintage book page. I'm enjoying working on these wonderful old, distressed pages. I will post a more gothic style girl soon....

I picked up some canvas a few days ago but haven't had a chance to work on a smaller folk art girl. It's about time I get back to original whimsical paintings. There aren't many left in my Etsy shop, and my goal is to refill it with new work. It's feeling a bit stale at the moment.
Do you ever get bored with the art you produce?

Today I plan to stay in and work on a couple of my online classes. I am in Mystele's Gut Art class which I missed the first time it was offered. Unlike most classes I take, this one has a finish date, which is fast approaching, and I am getting through the first week now, behind as always, lol! I admire her folk art style, and would love to learn to loosen up. Lots of videos to get through, and I would recommend this class to anyone who loves her work.

That's it for now, I spent the morning reading my favorite blogs, so now it's time for coffee and a video. What a perfect way to spend a rainy day :-)

Sunday Sketch and a page from my Sketchbook

2010-04-11T16:07:00.000-07:00

hi everyone. I am a bit late with my sketch today. I did three other sketches but didn't like any of them, so I finally did one of my big-eyed girls faces.
I glued a butterfly on her hair for fun.
Please check out Blue Chair Diary's blog for details about Sunday sketches as well as other participating artists.

A Page from my Sketchbook

I enjoy showing a random page from my sketchbook weekly. A lot of them are in pencil and faded so it's sometimes tough to pick one out. Here I was trying to create new characters for small folk art paintings. A lot of my pages are filled with written ideas, color ideas, titles, and lots of random stuff. They wouldn't make much sense to anyone else.
Coming soon (hopefully) is a painting of my bunny girl which I drew last week....
Are any of you artists interested in sharing one of your sketchbook pages? I'd love to see how you work.

Latest Painting

2010-04-09T16:00:00.000-07:00

Hi folks!
Here is the almost finished painting that I blogged about last week. The dark and gloomy weather of the past few days finally cleared up long enough for me to take a photo.
It is inspired by the movie 'The Snow Walker', which was fantastic! this is my loose interpretation of the Inuit girl named Kanaalaq.
After not painting any portraits for almost 4 months, I had a hard time getting this one right. In the movie, the girl has pale skin and rosy cheeks, that's what gave me trouble. Looking at it now, I wonder if the cheeks are too pink? I was hoping to make her look younger as well. Hey, at least I finally did it, so it goes to show you, no matter how long you have been in an art slump, or unmotivated, it can all come back. It wasn't a good feeling sitting back and watching others create, while I found excuse after excuse for not painting.
I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I did a blog post about staying motivated, lol! I will have to look that one up, and take my own advice :-D

One little piece of advice to my fellow artists, double check before you wood burn an image, that the eyes are even, haha! I was finished painting the face, when I noticed one eye seemed higher than the other. What a huge pain in the butt to redo!

Sunday Sketches and a Page from my Sketchbook

2010-04-04T12:02:00.000-07:00

hi folks. I thought I'd miss this week's Sunday Sketches but while waiting to head to my parent's house for Easter dinner, I thought I'd draw a quick little bunny girl. I may even turn her into a painting at some point.
Be sure to check out Blue Chair Diaries for the other wonderful artist who are taking part in these weekly sketches.

Last night after posting a new work in progress, I worked on it for several hours, and cannot say I am too pleased so far. It hasn't turned out the way I envisioned it, so I will try and finish, and show it here. If I hadn't woodburned the image, I would have covered it in gesso and started over, but alas, I am stuck with it now.

A Page from my Sketchbook

The last few Sundays I have shared a page from one of my sketchbooks, and will continue to do so. This is a page with some practice facial features, as well as a rough idea for a Little Bo Peep painting I was planning out. Hope you all have a wonderful day.

The Snow Walker

2010-04-03T16:40:00.000-07:00

It is Saturday afternoon and I thought I would add a quick blog post. I picked up a movie from my library called 'The Snow Walker' and loved it! The scenery is spectacular. It is about a bush pilot who is asked to fly a sick inuit girl to a hospital, but the plane crashes. They are left to fend for themselves in the middle of nowhere.

I was sketching during this movie, and decided to do a painting based on the girl. Now it has been 4 months since I painted a figure. Any new readers to my blog probably think I only do whimsical ACEOs since that is what I have been showing lately. I have been in a very long slump, and have no idea how it started or why. I guess I let myself be discouraged, and then as the weeks, then months went by, it got easier not to do it.
So after the movie, I got out a wood panel, drew out my idea, and woodburned it. Of course after having done so, I see the small errors. Oh well, I'm a bit rusty, so I will continue and see what happens.

Sorry about the blurry image, not sure why my camera's flash isn't working. The Inukshuk will be put in the background, I know how silly it looks in front of her head, lol!
This shows what my paintings look like before the fun stuff. I have no idea where I will go with it, I will probably simplify the background for now. I hope to have this done by tomorrow night.
It has been way too long since I painted, and it's time to get back to what I love to do best.

Sunday Sketch and a page from my sketchbook

2010-03-28T12:05:00.000-07:00

hi everyone. Two weeks in a row I have a Sunday Sketch, yay for me!! I've never had trouble sketching, in fact when I watch a movie, I keep a sketchbook beside my in case an idea comes up. My problem has been sticking to a schedule. Joining Blue Chair Diary's Sunday sketches is forcing me to stick to it. The above sketch is what I worked on this afternoon. I wanted a whimsical kind of fairy girl face, which I may turn into a painting at some point. Too many projects!

A Page from my Sketchbook
Last week I enjoyed sharing one of my sketchbook pages, and thought I would do it again. This is one I did last night when I went to bed. I had some ideas for my little owl ACEO series, and wanted to get them down before I forgot. Today I am working on the bunny and owl one, and I swear, sometimes (lots of times actually!) my rough sketches are better than the finished drawing. I get them down on good paper, then make so many bad decisions with color. I signed up for a color workshop a month or so ago and have yet to do the first lesson!! In fact, I won't even tell you how many workshops I have signed up for, it's embarassing, lol!
This page isn't by any means pretty, in fact it's quite sloppy, no shading or details, but this is how I work. I'm curious as to how other artist sketchbooks look. Feel free to share one of your pages if you like....

Peaceable Kingdom

2010-03-25T17:03:00.000-07:00

My friend has been talking about seeing this movie: ' Peaceable Kingdom' for a while now, and I have been resisting. I know it will break my heart. It just opened at the Canada International Film Festival and took home the Grand Jury Prize. It gives me hope to know that people are starting to wake up to how animals are treated.
I watched the preview video, and know that I must buy the DVD when it is released. I read some reviews and it sounds like an inspirational film, which shows farmers who change how they view animals and try to help them.
Any of you vegetarians out there, I would love to hear how you made the switch, and feel free to share your tips or favorite cookbooks.
This is such a tricky subject to write about. Basically for me, I believe in treating all living beings humanely, and with respect. I know there are some small conscientious farms out there, and with a bit of research, if someone so desires, they can find one to support that they can feel better about. Factory farms for me are disgraceful, and do not belong in a loving world. I don't believe we will ever have peace as long as they are allowed to thrive.

Please note: even though this is a preview, there are some sad scenes....but overall this film looks inspirational, and hopeful.

Sunday Sketches

2010-03-21T12:03:00.000-07:00

I'm joining Sophia at Blue Chair Dairy in her Sunday Sketches. I'm not always able to stick with something, but sketching doesn't take too much time, so hopefully I can keep it up. Here is my first one, a simple sketch of a face. The eyes are a bit funny which I didn't notice until now. Take a look at Sophia's blog to see her sketch, as well as other artists who are joining in.

If you were to look through my sketch books, you would see mostly rough ideas. Pages and pages of them. I rarely take the time to create a decent sketch, mostly getting them down for later. I hate to admit this, but I almost feel like since time is so valuable, that I can't afford to take an hour on a sketch that no one will see but me.

Below is a sample page from one of my sketch books, as you can see, all I draw is whimsical faces. Although lately, I have been working on ACEOs because they are more popular. I would love to get back to my larger paintings, but have been finding it hard to get motivated. They take so many hours to do, and it feels like time is speeding up. Whenever I have a free day, it seems to fly by and before you know it, it's too late to begin.
One thing I do know, is that you can change things in a moment. Any day now, I know I will just pull out a canvas, and begin. Isn't that an encouraging thought?

Sunday Update

2010-03-14T16:43:00.000-07:00

Hi folks. Last night we had some wicked weather It rained all day, the winds were howling, the trees were bending, it was awesome! Then in the evening it turned to snow. I love this kind of weather, it makes me stay in, and hopefully, do something productive. I managed to create 3 new owl ACEOs for Easter, and watched a few movies, all of them having to do with horses.

Recently I have found myself loving anything to do with horses. This isn't new for me, when I was a little girl, I was obsessed with horses. I would read books about them, and dream about them, but of course, people grow up, and I soon forgot about them. I live in a small city, so it's not like I would ever have the opportunity to have one. Anyway, seeing them at the Vet college by my workplace, and visiting a farm recently, started me up again.

Now I am on the lookout for books on drawing them. Like I don't have enough to do with art, lol!
I find it hard to focus on one style of art, or one theme. I need to try different things, and I believe some of you fellow artists feel the same way. There is a thrill to trying something new. I was really happy with the raccoon drawing I did a couple of weeks ago, even though it wasn't perfectly rendered, and I am looking forward to trying my luck at horses.

Ok, I need to stop reading blogs now, and get back to work. Thanks for reading :-)

Goodbye Renee

2010-03-09T20:02:00.000-08:00

Today I saw a blog post I was hoping not to see, but it was inevitable. Many of you know Renee from her blog and have been following her. She has been fighting breast cancer for a while now, and has finally succumbed to her illness.
I remember finding Renee through her comment on another blog, and discovering what an extraordinary woman she was. She was always so supportive of everyone, had a wonderful sense of humor, and was a strong and brave woman. I know I will miss her so much. She was a special lady who touched everyone she met, a true angel on earth, and I am grateful to have known her.
Rest in peace dear friend.

Do not stand at my grave and Weep

Do not stand at my grave and weep

I am not there. I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow.

I am the diamond glints on snow.

I am the sunlight on ripened grain.

I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you awaken in the morning's hush

I am the swift uplifting rush

Of quiet birds in circled flight

I am the soft stars that shine at night.

Do not stand at my grave and cry;

I am not there. I did not die.

Mary E. Frye

Goodies in the Mail

2010-03-06T10:42:00.000-08:00

hi everyone, I haven't been on my computer as much as I like, due to crappy internet service! I swear, it's slow as molasses, and if they don't fix it, I'm changing providers.

Now on a positive note, look what I got in the mail, beautifully packaged! I won these 3 votives from the OWOH event, and I am looking forward to using them. Thank you Ashley!
I found out I won in the strangest way, I was heading over to Ashley's blog to let her know she was my second place winner, and saw my name there, lol!

Olympics and art

2010-02-28T11:19:00.000-08:00

hi everyone. I haven't been around very much lately. I wasn't feeling great the last week or so, then I got hooked on the Olympics, lol! Now I wish I had seen more of the events, but when it started, I said I wouldn't be watching anything. Today is the last event, the men's hockey featuring the US and Canada. It will be great no matter the outcome. It will be nice to be back to normal after today though.

Artwise, yesterday I ruined another of my drawings on vintage paper....and believe me, I had some choice curse words about that! The drawing itself I liked, it was simple, kind of gothic, and then I went to spray a varnish protector on it. Well, I ended up with spots on the paper, and there is nothing I can do about it. I will keep it for myself since you can only see the spots close up , and will re-do it again.
So learn from my mistake folks...never use a spray varnish on paper unless you test it first!

This weekend I created a couple of ACEOs on black paper. I had done a bunch a couple of years ago which I liked, but it's amazing how much you grow and improve. These ones I think, turned out much better...this one is Caroline, the racoon we 'met' last summer which I blogged about here.

I will leave you with one tip I discovered helps me in my art journaling... I have a very hard time working on my journal, as the whole process doesn't flow for me. What I started doing is prepping the pages in advance with color combinations I got from this fantastic book called the Color Scheme Bible. Pick a color combo you like, and use it to put down colors. I do several pages at a time. Then I have a pile of clippings from magazines I just went through, so I pick images that appeal to me and glue them down on the page that I think they work with. Then, just journal. Write down how your day is going or any interesting thoughts you have.

I realised that if you don't write down your moments, they are soon forgotten, and life really is lived in the moments. Why not put them down while they are fresh in your mind? Believe me, I have never consistently done art journaling, but I will be making an effort now...I was hung up on feeling like the pages had to be artistic, or creative. The important thing is to just get your life down on the page.
Using a book with color ideas already planned out has made all the difference in the world, since color theory is not something I am good at. The hard work is done by others who do understand color. Believe me, if I can do it, anyone can...the more you do, the more confident and creative you become.

Here is a page I did yesteday, and today I will be journaling on it.

February Blahs...

2010-02-20T17:55:00.000-08:00

hi everyone. What a month this has been! I don't know if there is something in the atmosphere, but I feel like I've been in a bit of a funk...oh well, we can't be positive and up all the time. I actually don't mind these moods, since it's part of the ebb and flow of life. I just remind myself that this too shall pass.

At least I've been getting a bit of art done...I painted a few more illustrations on vintage pages. So far I've got 3 new ones, the one shown above is the only one I've listed in my Etsy shop so far, but there are 2 cat ones as well. Of course, my absolute favorite one is ruined! I planned out a series a while ago, and set out to make the first one to see how it was.Well, I loved the drawing, however, when I put a gel medium over the top to protect the page, it got all warped! Don't you hate it when you work on some artwork you really like, then one wrong move ruins the whole thing? Live and learn, lol!

For those of you who know Renee from her blog, please send a prayer her way. The last post by her daughter was heart-breaking. She could use a miracle right about now...

And the Winner is.....

2010-02-15T15:32:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! The OWOH event is over for this year, and what a fantastic ride it was! I made new friends, discovered new blogs, and spent way too much time on the computer, lol!
I would like to thank you all for stopping by my little corner, and leaving a comment. I read each one, and visited each of your blogs. Welcome to my new followers too! I appreciate you joining me.

Now without further delay, I used the Random Number generator to pick my 3 lucky winners

First prize went to comment # 309 Mia J for the original Snowgirls painting

Second Prize of a print of your choice went to comment # 97 AK

Third Prize(added after I hit 300 comments) went to comment # 207 A Pink Dreamer, for a print of your choice.

I have emailed the winners, so please get in touch with me within the next 4 days to claim your gifts.

Thank you everyone!

Happy Valentine's Day

2010-02-14T08:46:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone, I wanted to wish all my dear friends and readers a Happy Valentine's Day. I hope you have something special planned with your loved ones. For those of you who are single, make sure you do something to honor yourself. After all, the most important person in our lives should be ourselves, right?

I have been so behind on a lot of things this year, and never got to paint a Valentine girl like I planned, so I thought I would show you an old painting I did over 4 years ago....my style sure has changed since then. It would be fun to re-do this one and see what I would do different. Her pouty look still makes me smile.

Have a great day everyone! Tomorrow at approximately 6pm I will be picking my winners for the OWOH giveaway. See you then...

Quick post for Animal lovers

2010-02-11T18:52:00.000-08:00

I normally don't do this but I came across this story from one of the blogs I follow, and wanted to do my small part to help.
A blog called 'Thisisitcreations' is doing a fundraiser to save 3 bulls from slaughter. If you care to, please take a look at their blog, and if you are compelled, you can either donate, or buy something you like from one of the many Etsy shops that are donating. If you scroll down the blog you will find a list of those Etsy shops, this way you get something cool and feel good about helping.
It's a small thing, but I believe in doing your part to help out whenever you can.

Have you checked out the One World One Heart event? If you haven't it's not too late to join in, and possibly win some prizes. I will be giving away one original painting and one print. If I hit 300 comments I will add another print. You have until Feb 15th to enter, here is the link to my post: OWOH Giveaway.
Good luck everyone!