Saturday, December 31, 2016

February is the Snow moon

First thing on my list to do is to wish everyone a Happy New Year!
I began the New Year by removing all "news" from my feed so that Facebook has once again become a social media not a news media. I get enough news from the TV, I don't need it and I don't need all those hateful commentaries from people I don't even know ruining my relaxing time looking at art!

Now, back to art...
I had to jump a little out of order for my moons this month but I needed a "snow theme" for my Gel Press video and I couldn't resist making this lovely snow moon. I used the Decorative 6-Petal Flower Screen stencil by Gwen Lafleur to create a snowflake inside the moon using Acrylic Skin mono-printing. Seriously, this would be my "technique" for 2016, I just love making them.
See the video HERE
Don't forget to subscribe to my Youtube channel for all the Full Moon videos, one each month!
AND, if you like to share your work I have a Facebook group - Moon People where we would love to have you join us!


Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Have you heard?

Have you heard the news that I am going to do a month long collaboration about the full moons of 2017? I've been thinking about working towards a goal for my art journaling and I want to be more focused on certain subjects. Every since doing the Journal Your Archetypes I feel more in-line with what I like to create. I like things about nature and I like to learn things, to dig a little deeper...so that brings me to moons!
Join me? Would love to have you :)



Life is too short to not have fun; we are only here for a short time compared to the sun and the moon and all that. 

Sunday, December 25, 2016

Moon people unite!

I love the moon, I always have so lets unite and come together!

 There is something about it that draws me in like a moth to a flame. I've found myself over the years drawing certain images over and over, birds, faces, suns, butterflies, wildlife and moons!

...but the reason I am focusing on my moons today is that I am going to start a 12 month long series..about full moons. I began today with a video about what I am going to do and I hope you join me on my lunar adventure! AND, not only that, but I have just created a Facebook page where everyone that wants to can show their own moons, whether you draw them or photograph them!
Unite as a group HERE

I've journaled about the moon several times over the last couple of years so I thought I would share them today in case you are one of those "moon people" like me. Maybe it's because the moon is more accessible, I mean you can't sit and just stare at the sun or you'll go blind and other planets and stars are too far away to see closely. The moon seems to be more friendly, I think.
It lets you take your time to look.

So here we go ...I tried to put them in order from the newest to the oldest but honestly, I'm sure some are out of order! 😛


I made this small ATC for the Grumbacher Swap: video
Not my favorite but I was trying to learn how to do reflections on water, something I am still working on!

This was a different take on Halloween this year, a more natural setting for something scary. This is the beginning of some round Gel Press plate moons 😄
I've been working this year on my handwriting and typography and I'll still be working on it in 2017! lol

I really had lots of fun playing with alcohol inks on Yupo paper with this one. The background is black acrylic paint and the moon is scratched through the paint to reveal it. I really like this and plan on making it into prints to sell.

I love making moons with the round Gel Press plates, you can get a lot of texture with them that looks "moon-esque". This one is my largest moon, It's not done in a journal but on a sheet of watercolor paper, 18x24" 😉  I'm not finished with it either, I want to place mountains, trees or maybe a cityscape in the foreground, and currently it's tacked to my wall and I think about working on it again every time I pass by it....one of these days I will!

This is one where I was dabbling in painting just with my fingers, it's a lot harder to do than you might think...and I don't like getting paint on my hands, but I do like how it turned out.

I grouped these 3 together since they were a part of a series I did with ink and acrylic on canvas. ( 8x16" all sold ) First time painting silhouettes, I love how they contrast with the backgrounds.

This is the only collage piece I've made of the moon, it's created entirely out of magazines and it's fairly large (12x36") and it's sold. 💓

I created this one during my art-cation with Anna while down in Florida. I had such plans! I was going to sit out on the beach and draw the moon during the eclipse but it rained! UGH!! I ended up watching it on the computer and painted it that way. A little disappointing but oh well, sometimes that's what life hands you and you deal with it, right? 


Also while down on art-cation there I did this quick and fun page in my journal for Halloween.


 This one was created in my vellum journal and I purposely made the moon to cover a face that was done on another page. While I like the interaction you get when painting on vellum: it does take more work to get the pages coordinated. This is 2 different pages, I hope you get that.

There isn't really a better combination than owls and moons, well, other than wolves. Sometimes I like to sew pages and if I am in the right kind of mood sewing my handwriting. I love the look but it is a pain to do which is why I don't do it very often. I must have been feeling very mellow and patient when I did this page...lots of sewing!

What can be better than a Fairy moon bathing?
 I know, me NOT talking in a video! lol
Video Of this one can be found here

This one comes with a video and was pretty fun to do since I painted it with a pipette, and ...sighs... it's another video that you have to listen to my voice!  HA!

The 2 below are from my first mixed media wall hangings that I made when I began selling my art at the Art Mob, a gallery in the city where I live. 
(both are sold) 6x12" They are on chipboard because I wouldn't invest in canvas in case I couldn't sell anything!


I guess time does fly when you are having fun because while creating this list of moons I discovered I've only been art journaling and making art to sell since 2014 and it feels much longer to me than that! 

To think it all started with scrapbooking, 
which turned into card making
 which evolved into art!

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

"Our culture has gotten too mean and too rough “ Melania Trump

Are we redeemable, can we save ourselves?

When choosing my word for 2017 I choose the word "adversity"
Has the internet, one of the greatest inventions in the 21st century slowly destroyed our humanity? Or maybe it's being "too" politically correct that is eating away at our ability to show kindness to each other when under duress?

And up until the election I had not given it a whole lot of thought but now I have seen a whole new side to people that just scares me, and it doesn't really matter who you voted for, this is not what I'm talking about. It's how you choose to act that just makes me wonder...what has happened to our civility? 

In my 10 years, give or take a few that I have been on the internet, in particular, FaceBook, I have NEVER unfollowed as many people as I have in the last 6 months. Mind you, I did not unfriend them...but unfollowed them. I understand that people cannot have the same opinion on one subject because though we are all equal by our common humanity, we are also different by our individuality. But does the fact that we differ on the same issue give those who disagree, the right to insult and abuse?

So I put it out there, can you bite your tongue and count to 10 before you post something mean or hateful? Can you take a moment to think...is there a better way to handle this? Am I being productive or fruitless in my behavior? 

Maybe the best policy of...
If you don't have anything nice to say then don't say anything at all
could be altered to
If you can't say it constructively then you need to rethink your method.

Thursday, December 15, 2016

Made in the USA, buy USA art supplies!

I'm trying to compile a list of art supplies that are made in the USA, if you know of one that isn't listed here please let me know so I can add it.

3M Products

Aardvark Clay
Activa Clays
Amaco Products
Ampersand Gessobord, Claybord, Hardbord, Aquabord, and Pastelbord
Armstrong Glass
ArtBin
Artistcellar stencils
Aves Sculpting and Modeling Clay
Badger Airbrushes
Bee Paper
Blair Artist Sprays
Bullseye Glass
C-Thru Products
Canfield Products
Chroma Tempera
Clearprint
Color Wheel Co. Products
ColourArte
Createx and AutoAir Airbrush Colors
Crescent Art Boards
DAP Products
DaVinci Watercolors
Daniel Smith Watercolors and Oils
DecoArt Acrylics
Delta Products
DichroMagic
Dr. Ph Martins Products
Duck Tape
Duncan Glazes
Ecaustikos
Excel Knives and Cutters
Floracraft Products
Gamblin Oil Paints
Gel Press ( Gel made in USA fabricated in Taiwan )
General Pencil Products
Global Art Papers
Global Paper
Golden Acrylics and Mediums
Gorilla Glue and Tape
Grifhold Products
Grumbacher OIls and Watercolors
Higgins Inks
Holmes Stamps
HotWire Foam Factory
Jacquard Dyes and Paints
K&S Metals
Kokomo Glass
Koh-I-Noor
Krylon Products
Laguna Clay
Laguna Clay
Legion Paper Products
M. Graham Watercolor, Acrylics, Oils, and Gouache
M.F. Weber Products
Midwest Woods Balsa and Basswood
Mindware Books
Moore Picture Hangers
New Wave Palettes
Nunn Designs Products
One Shot Sign Painter's Enamels
Paasche Airbrushes
Ranger Products
Rite in the Rain Papers and Journals
Saral Paper
Saunders Clipbords
Sculpey Products
SpectraFix
Spectrum Glass
Speedball Products
Stellar Flux
Stencil Girl stencils
Stillman and Bern Journals
Stillman and Birn
Strathmore products
Testors Enamels
Testrite Easels
The Crafters Workshop Stencils
Townsend Atilier Molding
Uart Sanded Pastel Papers
VanAken Clay
View Catchers
Vintaj Products
Williamsburg OIls
Wissmach Glass
Yaley Products
Youghogheny Glass
and Casting Products


Peace through unity


Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Christmas envelopes with pizzazz!

piz·zazz
  1. an attractive combination of vitality and glamour.


a little history of me and Christmas cards...
I love giving Christmas cards out and for many years I use to just buy a box of cards to mail out...and was very OK with that. It was before my card making days which only began about10 years ago. At that time I began making individual, original cards for each person and I'll be honest, that just flat wore me down. That phase lasted for about 3 years...and then I finally learned the easiest way for me...was to paint one card and have it printed off. That way they are getting original art work, but a print...no one has yet to complain, 
which is a good sign, right? lol

But no matter how I make the cards I have one tradition that I have faithfully followed no matter what. Prepping the area in which to address and write my cards. I always try to make the experience special and not rushed. I turn on some Christmas music, make myself a cup of hot tea, get out my fountain pen and of course have my address book and Christmas stamps ( another Christmas event is the deliberation in picking out that years stamp! ).  This year was just a little bit different since it included all the accoutrements  for decorating the envelope but the basic principle was the same. Setting up a special area to take the time to not only make their card special but to make it a relaxing and fun environment for me. This is like decorating the tree, a very special part of Christmas for me, one that I look forward to.


If you want to see my card that I created for 2016 you can watch a short time laspe video of me making it here. I do appreciate the views and heck you can gift me with a "thumbs up" or a comment if you want, after all it's Christmas :)

But this post is about the envelopes.
 Many of you know that during 2016 I have expanded into decorating the outside of the card, the often ignored, overlooked envelope. I have a Facebook group too if you want to join in the fun. ( Snail Mail ) Would love to have you join, the more the merrier. I have written many a post on my blog about the art of snail mail which you can check out one here if you desire. :) 

Here is the envelope for this year's card...
It's a combination of stamping and drawing, coloring in with colored pencils and markers plus a little stickles for some pizzazz. 

I even stamped the back of each envelope :)

And my latest addiction is to use my special fountain pen whenever I send out a card or a letter. I much prefer the way it looks compared to a ball point pen these days. Another new thing that came about in 2016 along with my appreciation for snail mail art was bringing about the art of writing in cursive and nothing screams cursive hand lettering better than a fountain pen!

So no matter how you do it,
 boxed or handmade, 
ball point pen or fountain pen,
 I just hope you do it
because sending out cards 
is becoming a lost art
 along with cursive writing.

Merry Christmas!


Thursday, December 8, 2016

#ColourArteHolidayHop

Here's my art journal page that I created for the #ColourArteHolidayHop, and below the picture are the rules and all the links to the video hop. I hope you enjoy them all, we work hard to make videos for you to enjoy so you make our day when you give us one of those cute little "thumbs up" :)
Good luck in the draw!


Happy Holidays from ColourArte! We welcome you to our video hop, #ColourArteHolidayHop. Please see the OFFICIAL GIVEAWAY RULES BELOW. After you have viewed this video and entered the contest, click on the first video link below. This will take you to the next designer’s video. Continue to click on the FIRST link after watching each video. When you return to the first video you will know that you have maneuvered through the entire video hop. Enjoy the hop and good luck in the giveaway!
TO PURCHASE COLOURARTE PRODUCTS GO HERE: ColourArte.com
***********************************************************************
OFFICIAL GIVEAWAY RULES:
1. To enter post a comment on the video. You are welcome to comment more than once, but only your first comment will serve as the contest entry. You have 10 opportunities to enter since there are 10 designers participating in this hop.
2. The Contest begins at the beginning of this video hop on Thursday Dec. 8, 2016 and ends on Thursday, December 15, 2016, at midnight CST. Winners will be chosen by random drawings and announced on Sunday, December 18, 2016 on the ColourArte Open Studio Facebook group, https://www.facebook.com/groups/colourartepaintstudio/ and on ColourArte’s youtube channel, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWBXg1xhRGAAdfyLSX8Z5vA Once a winner is chosen he/she is not eligible to win again during this hop on another channel. One prize will be given for each designer’s video consisting of the following the new Primary Elements 6-piece Shaker Set with The Solution medium.
4. Winners have 48 hours from the time the announcement is posted to claim the prize and provide their mailing address, or the prize will be forfeited and a new winner will be drawn.
5. The giveaway is open internationally, except where prohibited by law, and all entrants must be at least 18 years of age to participate.
6.This giveaway is in accordance to the YouTube Community Guidelines and YouTube Terms of Service. https://www.youtube.com/…/policyan…/communityguidelines.html
https://www.youtube.com/static?gl=US&template=terms Any entries not following the YouTube Community Guidelines will be disqualified. Youtube is not a sponsor of this contest. ColourArte is solely responsible for this giveaway. By entering the contest you agree to release Youtube from any and all liability related to this contest. Absolutely no personal information will be kept, other than to notify the winners.
FIND COLOURARTE HERE:
COLOURARTE'S BLOG, STORE AND ONLINE CLASSES: http://www.colourarte.com/
COLOURARTE'S YOUTUBE CHANNEL:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWBXg1xhRGAAdfyLSX8Z5vA
COLOURARTE'S PAINT STUDIO ON FACEBOOK: (Challenges, post your work!, prizes and fun!)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/colourartepaintstudio/
COLOURARTE'S FACEBOOK PAGE:
https://www.facebook.com/ColourArte/

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Let There Be Peace On Earth, And Let It Begin With Me

With all the trouble we are going through right now in our world, it was easy to pick my theme for my Christmas cards this year. This is also my first post up on the ColourArte blog today so I would really love you for going over and visiting me and leaving me a comment <3
Thank you!



Let there be peace on earth And let it begin with me;
 Let there be peace on earth, The peace that was meant to be.
 With God as our Father Brothers all are we,
 Let me walk with my brother In perfect harmony. 
Let peace begin with me, Let this be the moment now; 
With every step I take, Let this be my solemn vow 
To take each moment and live each moment In peace eternally.
 Let there be peace on earth And let it begin with me.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Monday, December 5, 2016

Art gives you a story to tell...

Well, what can I say except that this has become a favorite technique of mine. Collaging with both strips of mono printed papers and old stash
 ( in this case, rub on letters ) and then using my ColourArte Twinkling H20's shimmering watercolors ( China Black ) to cover the entire page.

Grunge and Aging
This time I did not cover the entire page in a coat of decoupage so there are some areas where the Twinks absorbed into the paper and some areas where the Twinks stayed on top of the paper. Love the combined effects of aging and grunge.

Oops are OK
I did have one little oops where the clear sticker was not secured to the page so a little bit of the black watercolor ran under it and you can't see the last "L" in the word "tell" very well.

Perfectly Imperfect
Because some of the stickers were old they didn't completely come off the sheet perfectly and it looks freaking awesome...lol...couldn't have managed that distressed look on my own probably...well, not without some thought and planning. 

Happy accidents 
As an added bonus I discovered that the rub on sticker letters actually acted as a resist to the watercolors, I was afraid that the black watercolor would cover them up but it was a happy accident to discover how they almost pop off the page.

So currently, this is one of my favorite art journal pages...
until the next one, lol

Saturday, December 3, 2016

a fun and festive mermaid

Ohhh...I had so much fun making my festive mermaid for the 12months of Mermaids Facebook group. What made her so much fun was playing with the acrylic glazes and arte pigments from ColourArte. I am very pleased with how well they blend together leaving virtually no brush strokes behind.

Here is the color chart breakdown using all ColourArte products

 I especially love how you can add water to the glazes to give them a watercolor effect and had a blast (OK, so little things amuse me ) creating a dreamy hairline around her face.

I opted for water dots in the place of snowflakes since she is a mermaid after all...although in all honesty, it's all fantasy so I could have created snowflakes, right? 
 And her hair...created with the Primary Elements Arte Pigments...I'm still learning how to properly use them but I like how it turned out. I did add some stickles for dimension.

Going to enter her in the Mixed Media monthly challenge #31

Monday, November 28, 2016

Yikes...2 weeks?

I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since I blogged...so what have I been doing?... I have been busy, but 

12/14 Avoiding political anything on FaceBook has just worn me out. I have "unfollowed" many friends who just insist on posting the most hateful things. I'm afraid this election has brought out the worst in some people. However, it did help me to come up with my word for 2017...adversity. It even prompted me to make a page for the cover of my journal.


12/16 Made a video but can't share it yet...but soon...although I can now announce that I am going to be a designer for ColourArte. :)


12/18 Joined Jodi Ohl's online class because I needed to do something new, a different way of painting. 

12/19 Since the temps have gone down, Daisy Mae's snuggling time has gone up, lol It's very hard to type with her wedged in between me and the computer. And she doesn't give up her space without a lot of whining...which means she usually wins, unless I have to get up to go pee...then she is ousted, lol

12/20 2nd attempt at Jodi's technique, adding a little color.
 Been praying for rain a lot during the month of November, wildfires have consumed a lot of my thoughts. 
( This picture is photoshopped but is horrifically beautiful )
I want to paint it...but I can't see it as art on my walls because it would only be a reminder of what everyone has been going through.

We've had several days where you go outside and the smoke just slaps you in the face. Upside...Bluebirds are back.

11/24 I got my prize package from ColourArte and began playing with my new Twinkling H2O's..just love the skin tone set.

11/27 Made a video using my Twinks...I usually write something on my journal pages and have noticed this is the second one with nothing. I've been saying I'm waiting on the typewriter I ordered to arrive but in reality, I think I'm blocked. 


11/27 Made another video today, but it's for Sunday so I have the rest of the week to edit...it's my ATC for Grumbacher. I really like how if came out, the theme is space and I enjoyed playing with the iridescent Twinks with this one.

Well, off to play some games on FaceBook..ttyl




Monday, November 14, 2016

Election inspired art

As art journalers, we record moments in our life and currently, all the hatred posting via Twitter and FaceBook to name a few social media sites have artists turning to their journals to try and sort out their feelings. Some, sadly because they are upset and still carry messages of hate and some like myself who would rather soothe than ignite. I guess this page resonates with me because I'd like to believe that I can exemplify some modicum of grace under fire...to remain calm, cool and collected under stressful situations.
 I liked this page so much that I removed it from my journal and adhered it to the front cover and have decided to make the word ADVERSITY my word for 2017. Usually in the past I have picked out words to inspire my art, this year I am trying to inspire my character instead...something more of us should strive to do.

Friends will show their true colors in times of adversity...

how has your behavior been lately?

Sunday, November 6, 2016

juicy, juicy...

They just stay so darn juicy looking...

The hair on my mermaid is a left over influence from Jane Davenport, but the lips have come from a new influence, Danielle Donaldson. :)

The Twink colors stay bright and vivid too, just another reason to love them.

I did a video of me making her and you can watch here HERE. Would very much appreciate a "thumbs up" on the video if you like it.
I also did a color reference chart so you can see what colors were used where.