To tunnel or not to tunnel?

A little bored, and a little restless can create it's own dangers when left unattended. After watching a Strathmore video today, I took knife in hand and began to cut a tunnel through my journal;. Mind you, it was only 4 pages, but it was still a little difficult to come up with those 4 pages ( well, 3 actually since one was blank ) to cut into.

This is the first page, the bottom to be more precise. My interactive Princess page, some of you might recall that the crown flips open to reveal hidden journaling behind it.  I knew I wanted one of my eyes to be in the cutout. 

The next page ( with the smallest cutout ) was actually the blank page. So decorating around the cutout was a lot easier than picking pages to make a hole in them. Maybe it's best to do this on all blank pages, but I will have that chance later.

The next page didn't bother me as I never liked the page anyway, I even say so in my journaling...so no brainer here. I think I like it even more with the eye just randomly showing through like that. :)

And the last page, was one that I liked, but for all the work I put into it, it was rather plain and boring. Frankly this whole tunnel concept really changed my pages, and I love how it turned out.

So what do you think? Would you create a tunnel through pages already done? It does take a little nerve...or maybe it's not liking your pages? hmmm...I think I had a little of both emotions going on here!

Complementary colors

Two colors directly opposite one another on the color wheel. When placed next to one another, complementary colors are intensified and often appear to vibrate. When mixed, brown or gray is created. Red and green, blue and orange, and yellow and violet have the greatest degree of contrast. Red-violet and yellow-green, red-orange and blue-green, and yellow-orange and blue-violet are also complementary colors

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So, as a "plein artist", what do you need to carry? At first, I thought I would carry the basics, first I decorated a plastic box to keep all my Peerless watercolors dry.

 All my Peerless colors are organized, labeled and sampled with a sheet of plastic for protection between each layer.

Then I thought I only needed a few water brushes and a pencil and I would be set. Tucked it all into this little bag.

 But then when I used it one day while out with a friend, I found I was using up most of the table space with everything spread out. I also found myself wishing I had this or that and taking them home to finish up later when I had the rest of my stuff to play with.

That's when I remembered I had this little caddy that I use to carry around with me when I went to scrapbooking crops! So now I have a tray to carry all my Twinkling H20's and my Lindy's Magicals...

 Even my TH spritzer tool to get all those nifty little dots I love so much! And my gelatos too, now I might actually use them more...

 Not only my brushes and pencils but my watercolor pencils...yay!

 And a pocket on the front for my keys and money!

 OK, so now it weighs a ton, but who cares? It's not like I'm going hiking with it and I know have a lot more to play with with when I am out and about! I can even carry my watercolor crayons with me!

I am so ready for my next plein air adventure!!

Sundays with Sandee

I love graphic, but I'm always looking for different ways to apply them. If you want to check out a cool and easy water transfer then please visit the Frosted Designs blog where you can watch my video. :)

Commission

Refers to the act of hiring someone to execute a certain work of art or set of artworks.

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So I took my first plein air plunge today and met a fellow artist friend, Miriam, for lunch and sketching. She and I are are also doing a mural so we did have a little business to discuss too. Afterwards we exchanged journals and talked about teaching classes and she got me a gig teaching class, once a week, to do art journaling! How exciting!...well, if anyone shows up it will be exciting!! lol

So as we were sitting there sketching, talking and having general fun the owner of the Jongo Java came over and sat down with us. He offered Miriam and I, a 38' wall inside the store to display our work for the month of August! PLUS a grand opening party with free beer and wine....really?  Have you seen how LARGE a 38' wall is?? lol After leaving that afternoon I went and ordered 30x30 canvases....so I will be finally taking my art to the next level! This is something I have always wanted to do...check off the bucket list!!

And of course, a picture of the front of the restaurant, so you can compare my drawing to reality! I cleaned up the front a bit, it's way too cluttered for my taste. This was the view from where I was seated.

So, teaching classes starting in June and a HUGE show in August.....thud.

Commercial art

Refers to art that is made for the purposes of commerce. The term is somewhat obsolete and is currently being replaced in many colleges with the term “Visual Communication.”

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I used to love water coloring and it was my first medium that I got to experiment with as a child, however as a teenager I was informed I wasn't very good at it and moved onto acrylic painting. So I decided that I wanted to be a child again and simply play with watercolors at my young age of 55...the devil can have all the negative opinions, I simply want to discover my old friend again. I invested a pretty penny for all the Peerless watercolors that I could find figuring that if I spent my inheritance  crafting allowance on it then I might stick to my plan better. This is what my desk looked like trying to sort out all the color strips.

I also romanticize the phenomena of plein air painters and have always dreamed of taking my watercolors outside to ....destinies to paint. Making a trip to a location is much more "artsy" than sitting in a studio. This is the end result of being an art major studying Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet and other famous plein air artists. Nevertheless, I only made it as far as sitting out on my balcony for my first attempt, lol Guess you can say it is a baby step in the right direction.

This is the corner of the balcony I was focusing on although being seated when painting is a whole different point of view than standing when I took the photograph.

This is my summer goal to do a watercolor every day....but what are we if not lofty and unattainable in our goals? :)

Sundays with Sandee

Boy the week sure does fly by fast, doesn't it? And the week-ends are gone in a blink of an eye! I sometimes just wonder where the time went and did I get as much done as I could? Do you ever think about that?

This is a sign re-make. I sold the other Tea sign a year ago, so I revisited it but this time it has more mixed media elements and my own handwriting. 

Although I like how the sign turned out, I think the handwriting should have been a stronger element. It's hard to think bigger and bolder when you feel weak in that area. I can compare it to putting a party dress on when you are overweight...the confidence isn't there, and it shows.

You can see the older tea sign here, I still followed the basic design, but there are differences in how I approached some things, and new tools that I used. 

( Sold )

Basically I am trying to stay away from using sticker letters and to employ my own handwriting. That is my main focus with me currently. I love this book by Joanne Sharpe and find loads of inspiration in it. You can get it in the Frosted Design store and work on your lettering too!

 I hope that you can find the time to hop over to the Frosted Designs blog and check out my video and maybe, leave me a comment. ♥ Plus if you play along with me and enter your project over on the Frosted Designs Face Book page then you have a chance some free graphics with a random drawing. You can enter once a week, so that's 4 chances for the month of May!

The first prize will be a wonderful pack of printables to use on your journal pages or other mixed media projects by Freda F Printables!

and the second place winner will get a $15.00 gift certificate to After Midnight Designs!

Elderbeary ♥

There is a lot to be said for having a good experience with doing something new. A lot of you have followed my bear journey and I sure do appreciate all the words of encouragement and "pats on the back" that you have given me along the way. My sponsors Meals on Wheels have been over the top sweet and fun to work with and it was so much fun to share my first time as a bear artist with them. They gave me this beautiful signed picture from all of them which is now hanging up in my hallway :)

I really want to pay back some to this awesome community that I live in, the longer I live here, the better it gets, so I am giving $20.00 for every sale of my bear sign back to Meals on Wheels. I hope I sell many of them and will be able to give them a decent check by auction time ♥

On the back of each piece:

Frosted Design kit - Simply Sweet

Simply Sweet kit

So with each kit, you get to choose a messy or a clean option. Well, I am ALL about having messy options in life! This is the messy option!

I loved that the stencil was zen-doodled inspired so I couldn't help but hang some zen-dangles here and there :)

Want to see the entire project? hen please hop on over to the Frosted Designs Blog...love to have you visit!

Beauty all around

Create to Live May Challenge

I always take some time everyday to find beauty all around me, and I never have to look too far. Sometimes it's my friends, family or my art and sometimes it's right outside my window. Spring is blooming all around me so I took some time today to try and capture some of it's beauty in my art journal.

I love the colors that Susan choose for the Create to Live May challenge and incorporated some pink and blues and all those nature bits and bobs ended up translating into beautiful butterflies floating around in the garden.

I have been enjoying using my handwriting on so many things these days! My latest project was writing this quote around the edge of my patio table...If you don't have Joanne Sharpe's The Art of Whimsical Handwriting book....what are you waiting for?

( entering my table / journal page in the Moxie Fab - Hip for Handwriting challenge )

...because, you see, I do live right by a little babbling brook and I love sitting outside, listening to the birds and to my little stream!

If you want to see the video I created using the inspiration board then please hop on over to the Frosted Designs Blog to watch it. You can join me over at {my sweet earth} to play along in the Create to Live May challenge ♥ where you have a chance to win this!

Feet "bearly" touching the ground!

So yesterday was the big bear reveal for the Bearfootin event that takes place in the city where I live, Hendersonville, NC. It was so much fun to paint my bear and I was thrilled when I was asked to do a bear for next year too!

The paper says we had around 150 people turn out for the event! Can you see me? lol I'm to the left of the first tree :)

After the reveal, I felt like I was famous, here I am posing for pictures. I've never had so many people taking my picture all at one time. My friends were teasing me afterwards about my 15 minutes of fame!!!

And today, I sold 3 wall hangings and an altered frame....so I need to get my feet back on the ground and get busy! 

entering my 6x12" wall hanging in:

Moxie Fab's Hip for Handwriting Challenge

Helmar DT post

 ...sigh.....some posts are harder than others, not because of the project itself but what you are thinking about while creating it. In this case it's about my mom, I was asked to do a Mother's day project but my mom passed away in 1999 so I was trying to come up with something to remember her by. You can hop over to the Helmar blog to read about it and the poem that goes with this project.

I used 2 different Frosted Design kits to create the painted mirror for the base of my project. I began with the Moment in Times kit ( the Silks Acrylic Glaze - African Jade ) as the first layer. Next I used the Glimmer Glaze - Paradise Pink from the Simply Sweet kit letting the first layer peek through. The last step was using the Viva Paper Pen - Cream over everything, which gave it a lovely enameled appearance. The flowers and lace also came from the Simply Sweet kit and the  KaiserCraft Rub-On word treasure and the paper also are from the Moment in Times kit. 

On the other hand, there were some great funny memories and talking to my mom going on in my head and how she would have loved me being on a glue design team. Not just because of the free products we get and yes, she would have loved that part, but also because my mom was notorious for gluing everything! We use to tease her about it; and she only had Elmers, a hot glue gun and Super Glue! Ahhh, she would have been deliriously happy with all the glues I have at my fingertips, there is no telling what she would have done with them all!

Here's to you mom!

♥ Happy Mother's Day ♥

I'm so happy!

It's true, I love certain products and I love representing them! It's easy to do when they are fabulous! I first used this Deco Art Inc. Multi Surface paints for my bear sculpture that I painted for my city of Hendersonville, NC which will be revealed this Friday among the other bears. Here is he is in all his painted glory along with the colors I used to create him!

 For my next project, one of a much smaller scale, I used these colors. They go on so smoothly and give great coverage!

 I have a challenge for the month of May to use this style of lettering that I call "Wonky"over at the Frosted Design Blog. It's a fun and easy to do lettering that will make all your projects look whimsical! If you would like to join us then post your creation over on the Frosted Design's Facebook page. And I am now being sponsored, which means prizes for you! whoot whoot!!

I just love this saying, it's so fun to have out on your porch or patio and will make everyone smile when they read it, including yourself!

I also like to stage this little watering can so that it tilts a little like it is watering the plants below by tying it up with some pretty green ribbon. I am lucky that my balcony is covered and that I don't have to worry about the elements ruining it!

entering my hand lettered watering can in:
Moxie Fab - Hip on Handwriting challenge

Sundays with Sandee

Wonky handwriting is my favorite, I like it almost as much as I like saying the word wonky! Yeah, I know, I'm nuts, but that's why you love me! lol

 entering my card in:

Moxie Fab's Hip on Handwriting challenge

I love how spray inks used with a water brush really look like water colors.

There is something on my card that has to do with Joanne Sharpe's current homework which is p. 57....get your book and play along!

I am really enjoying using these little images which I fussy cut from Midnight Designs graphics, play along with Sundays with Sandee and show us your work over on the Face Book page for a chance to win!

This is a sneak peak for tomorrow's post that I am doing for Deco Art paints, I used my handwriting and their fabulous multi surface paints! Can you guess what it's painted on?

Visit Sundays with Sandee over on the Frosted Designs page to see the video on my "wonky" lettering!