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

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

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?

juicy, juicy...

I love my ColourArte Twinkling H2O's Shimmering Watercolors. 

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.

...scary leaf sounds...

I love the Fall leaves, although there is one downside living by the forest and no I am not talking about the amount of leaves that cover the forest floor which is stunning...or my garden, less stunning, lol: but the sound. The sound of a small animal, a squirrel or a bird can sound like people walking around...where there normally aren't people. After a Winter, then Spring and Summer spent in relative quiet, Fall is deafening. OK, so maybe I watch too much of The Walking Dead, but seriously, that crunch, crunch, crunch sounds like either a person lurking about or a HUGE animal, I rush to the balcony and have to squint scan to find the small leaf invader scavenging for a left over summer nugget to enjoy under the leaves.

So aside from my brain going into spooky hyper drive I do love to paint Fall leaves. They just fascinate me with all their colors. 

I painted the backside of a leaf with ColourArte's Silks Acrylic Glazes in Spiced Pumpkin and Solar Gold and pressed it into my journal which left a nice imprint of the leaf shape and the veins.  Once it dried I painted in with the Twinkling H2O's in Orange Peel, Copper Penny, and Rain Forest.

I love how the glaze acts as a resist.

Like the leaf, we are part of a bigger dream.

Classy and a little bit Sassy

This is the last girl done in the Jane Davenport series, Drawing and Painting Beautiful Faces. I love the way her hair turned out as this was painted over a heavily inked background so I just went with the flow and used a watered down gesso to "color" in the hair letting the inks from below bleed through and then added a few rainbow streaks for emphasis. 

I would recommend this book to anyone learning how to draw faces with a whimsical flair.

On to my next book, Creative Girl, Mixed Media Techniques for an  by Danielle Donaldson

Make your gift-wrapping its own work of art

The best part of the holidays is the spirit of gift giving and you put a lot into finding the perfect gift for someone, right?So don't wrap it up in some ho hum store bought paper, make your gift a work of art in itself!

Go to the Gel Press blog to check out the matching tissue paper too! And while you are there, give me a gift of a comment, they mean so much to me. To know that you took the time to leave me some love really does mean the world to me.