Starting to get excited!

For those of you in the surrounding Hendersonville, NC area...

Happy Birthday to me

Yep it's that time of the year again when the old birthday smacks you in the tush and reminds you that you're still alive and kicking just OLDER than you ever thought you would be, lol BUT on the one hand I am still doing things I never thought of too, like being on a fabulous design team like StencilGirl. TODAY marks my first day over there so if you want to leave me a birthday gift, I would LOVE for you to visit me over there and leave me some loving, it would really make my birthday to welcomed in style over there. Here is a sneak peek of the project and for all that go over there, a big THANK YOU!

water color and stencil are a match!

I am up today over on the ColourArte blog today with TWO journal pages and of course my usual video. Stop on over and give me a wee visit why don't ya...

( oh, I think I swallowed a Leperchan, lol )

Not only do I love this technique ( 2 prints are always better than one, right? ) but I love this stencil. Love Story, designed by Cathy Nichols for StencilGirl, was inspired by her painting “If You Want to Get Lost, Follow Me,” and it depicts a couple holding hands walking through a magical forest. 

Sometimes you have to get lost in order to find your way. This stencil contains rich patterns, trees, and flowers, along with spaces in the tree roots where you can carve or paint in the words of your own love story.

Mirror drawing for #BeOurGuest

OK, so last Friday I drew a portrait with my left hand, this week I am experimenting with mirror drawing...that's using both hands at the same time! My video can be found here :) I used my Elegant Writers pens, and I'm still not loving them like I was hoping I would...guess I just need to work more with them.

And I LOVE the stencil I used for the background, my new favorite :)

AND I get to add her to my 29 Faces, so this makes 11.

Haven't seen me in awhile?

Well, that's because my world exploded on me...in a very good way!

First off in case you aren't a friend of mine on Facebook ( friend me, I don't cuss much and I don't do politics, just art! ), then you might not know that the bears have arrived. I'm talking about the 5' fiberglass bears that artists paint and the city auctions them off for charity. This will be my 4th year doing it and you can see my other bears HERE if you would like.

So first, we go and pick them up from City Hall, thats Lisa White, John Buchanan and Shirley Walsh helping me pick out the perfect bear.

Then I start sketching designs for my sponsor ( Hendersonville Sister Cities ) to approve. They took me to lunch at Sol Y Luna on mainstreet which sure was nice of Lisa and Shirely to do so ♥

Also, when I got back from the beach I had a surprise waiting on me, the magazine Just Cards! had published their issue of Just Mixed Media! and had sent me a copy. I do love seeing my work in publication and I'll definitely send in more submissions to them.

AND then I was accepted into a juried show called Artscapes which made me super excited that my piece called Balance made it into the show but also meant I have to finish painting the sides of the panels quickly before having to take in in to be professionally photographed...and wired. I wish I could share the photo but they won't allow that yet.

Lastly, I have been asked to be one of the judges for a show called Young Artists & Authors Showcase sponsored by Hendersonville Sister Cities.

So whew...right?

29 Faces will have to be put on hold...too much to do for right now.

Collage Girl #10

Getting a little bored with faces...there, I admitted it.

I'm in trouble, and I'm not even ½ way through! 

Yikes!

I grabbed a whole bunch of painted paper, some from my mono prints and some from paint run-offs papers to create her.

I also re-visited a previous page, and now I am unsure...did I ruin it?

Here it is in its original state which I loved.

And then I added words...late at night...I knew better but...I did it anyway.

So, should I have stopped? ugh

the answer is yes, I know it is...banging head on desk...

Left handed girl #9

Handedness is the preferred use of the right hand, the left hand, or one or the other depending on the task.

I am right handed in all tasks.

So I challenged myself to see if I could draw a face using my left hand.

 It was fun to do and I learned:
 1. that by turning my paper more often helped me to draw a straight line better,
2. also holding the pencil for shading helped too. 

3. My hand cramped more and got tired faster but that's from not being use to holding a pencil.
4. Also the drawing is a lot "lighter" than my normal drawings so I guess that makes sense that I wasn't pressing as hard with my pencil as I normally would.

It actually came out a great deal better than I thought it would.
Are you impressed? Well, even if you aren't, I sure the heck am....lol

Have you ever tried this?

I am entering this in Paint Party Friday :)

#7 and #8 of 29 faces

Catching up but still behind, such a frustrating feeling!

However, I am in love with both of these "faces" and they were so simple and fun ( maybe that's why I like them so much, lol ) The first one is simply a stencil, I mean really, don't you just love a stencil that can simply become art? 

Sometimes we just need that.

Angel Circle was designed by Kate Thompson

I took the angel stencil and did it once stenciling ColourArte Shimmering H20's through it and then kept turning the stencil over and over to capture the swirls coming off the head.

This page was inspired by Carolyn Dube and her Colorful Place to Play challenge to use left over scraps. I began with a background that I created while playing with my StencilGirl Scrappy Cat stencil by  Suzi Dennis and  ColourArte Shimmering H20's . I took out all my painted scraps and had an idea of what I wanted to do but a "spark of inspiration" took me in another direction. The little face just stared back at me and from there it was history. This "different" little girl just came into being and I actually love here, kooky as she is.

So while I am still behind I am sticking to it, better than I do dieting and exercise...oh if only I had the will power to keep up with that too.

catattitude #6

I thought I would try a pencil sketch and see if that would help loosen my spirits up a bit about doing 29 faces....it didn't. The only thing I really enjoyed doing was using the pencil through the StencilGirl Club stencil and I think I will explore that some more. It gave me a pretty cool background. I am looking forward to getting the February stencils, mandalas, circles and spheres! Maybe I should get out my gel plate and play some to get me out of my funk, I have some round plates that would work well with the round stencils.

I admit I am already feeling a little lost on the challenge, #6 and 2 days behind and I feel exhausted. I went looking for some inspiration on the internet and found this picture which I thought would be interesting to draw but I don't like how it turned out...shrug...oh well...I can always paint over it later if I feel the need to do so.

cover girl #5

So what does a sheet of paper so big that I had to hang it outside to dry...

my typewriter...

and a face all have in common?

Check out this blog post up over on ColourArte to find out.

:)

Let me know if you visited and what you think!
Thank you!

Sweet Angel #4

In an effort not to fall too far behind I did a quick drawing last night while sitting on the couch watching a movie. I got out my Tombow markers and drew her in all straight lines and after she was done I laid quite a bit of water on top and let it pool. The hardest part of this technique is not moving your drawing while it is drying. The next morning I came back to it and outlined the "pooled" areas. I really like this effect, it's fun and easy and makes the drawing look much more interesting.

I have come to the conclusion that drawing a face a day is much like dieting. Once you skip a day it's hard to get back on track and suddenly you are 2 days behind and wondering if you can do it at all.

Entering my sweet angel in
Mixed Media Monthly challenge #33

a little abstract does a body good #3

Oops...I am now one day behind, which means I'll need to make 2 today but yesterday was the drive home from the beach and it just wore me out. I had to drive home in the rain and it was stressful.

So I looked to the internet for some inspiration this morning and discovered an artist, Thomas C. Fedro. He does pop art faces and landscapes and although this is opposite from my style it was fun to incorporate a little abstract into my art.

I'll add a quote or something later but for now I am linking it up to

29 Faces and Paint Party Friday.

Every woman is a queen - #2

Still at the beach with limited art supplies but I managed to keep up with day 2....don't laugh...drawing on vacation is not easy. Played fast and loose with this one too, maybe about 15 minutes again. Having a prepared background has helped a lot with making the process faster.

Linking up with 29 Faces.

My niece convinced me to have a picture taken with my grand nephew since I am "camera shy" and she is right, one day I won't be around anymore and there needs to be at least a couple with me and him!

Beach hair #1

Knowing that I would be starting my 29 faces in February challenge while at the beach I came packed with some premade backgrounds, hoping that would help some.

I have to admit I am feeling very uninspired and a little windswept from the beach so I am just naming this piece "beach hair", lol

 So I started sketching a face out first with a water soluble pencil.

Then I just marked some colors out quickly using my guide lines and tried to not over think it too much...obviously not over thought, lol

Then added some water to let all the colors blend together. At this point I really didn't like it and was feeling very uninspired to finish it. But shrugged and thought oh well..lol

I had a white pen in my kit so I decided to highlight and outline with it to see if I could reel the mess back in, 

It was fast and easy, and I only spent about 15 minutes on it, but that's good enough for me today, now out back to the beach I go to let the wind blow me away somewhere.

One of my favorite pictures of Pierson that I was able to snag. I have discovered that the age of 3 is a fast moving experience and it's hard to get him to be still long enough to get good pictures!