For Two Lovely Ladies

This beautiful chocolate fountain is for us all to share as we celebrate the birthdays of two lovely, lovely ladies. They both are artists interested in watercolor paint and one also paints with acrylic and the other one paints with plants. They share the same birthday...along with moi. Do you know who I am talking about?

Please join me in wishing Andrea and Wurzerl Very Happy Birthdays!

Happy Birthday!

A Few Awards to Share!

So I was given a few awards recently. This one came from Soulbrush who writes ever so lovingly from London. She was right on the money...I do have a passion for painting without a doubt. Thank you, Soul, for all of your inspiration and kindnesses.



This Kreativ Blogger award was presented to me by Michele who writes Artistic Buffet from Texas. Believe me when Michele says buffet, she means it. With this award, I am supposed to share seven things I love with you. Now many of you have read lists like this from me before, so here is an abbreviated version. I love:

1. My family and friends
2. Painting on canvas, although I am enjoying some seriously heavy paper at the moment.
3. Reading novels and art books.
4. Traveling
5. Time alone
6. Mugs of hot English tea on cold days as I sit by a wood fire
7. Icy drinks on hot summer days

I feel very honored to have been chosen by two wonderful bloggers for these awards. I am not so sure I am feeling all that deserving, since lately I have not been blogging all that much, nor do I feel as though I have been all that creative. Never-the-less, I am truly touched by your generosity and kindnesses.

Now with both of these awards, I am supposed to send them on to other people. This is the part of awards which really bothers me. I have so many blogs I absolutely adore, and I am finding it impossible to make the choice. So here is what I am going to do. If you are listed on my blog list (in the right-hand column) and would like either or both of these awards, please consider yourself chosen to receive them. If you would like the awards and are not listed on my blog list, by all means leave me a comment and enjoy the award! How does that sound?

I wish for you all lots of creativity and a true passion for the work you do.

Have a Delightful Day!

Creating Away Here

This is a small little piece I did a while back. I think it is like 3" x 5". I sometimes buy these little canvases to experiment with and sometimes they are worth showing you. It is acrylic with the pearl powder. It is fun and I enjoy the process of these little bits.

I believe things are really busy for everyone. I know they are for me to be sure. I am enjoying time in the studio creating some new pieces and that is absolutely so much fun. I keep wondering if there is a way to source FW Pearlescent Inks by the gallon. :)

Once I get the newly created watermark to merge with the photo of my paintings, I will have some new things to share with you! Until then, you are going to keep getting these bits. I am crap with the computer and feel proud of myself for getting the watermark created...now, to work out getting the darn thing to apply! If anyone is a wiz (I use a PC, not Mac) with Photoshop Elements, I would love to pick your brain.

I hope everyone has a great, creative weekend!

Thinking vs Not

So I have a feeling some of you were saying, 'Why is she showing that painting again? We saw it just recently and I know it was a test run playing with some paint on paper.'

Well Fiona had me thinking about cropping when she suggested I might find something fun in the painting I did in the post just before this one. Fiona always makes me think through lots of options, in case you haven't noticed.

Okay, so I was thinking about what I might find if I did some cropping on some of these test papers I have done over time. The little painting I use on my profile is a crop. I wish it was not as tons of people have thought I did it as a large painting...it is tiny. So I was looking at this on my computer and using the crop tool to look at it in a variety of ways and this is what I came up with:
Now I wish I had this as a large painting! Pooh! Well, what can I say? Sometimes you get what you get. Do you find yourself cropping things and wishing they were larger, uncropped works? Do you ever try to "reproduce" the treasure you have found?

Now this reminds me of an article I was reading this morning about how setting goals can really backfire, so maybe this cropping thing kind of keeps me free. Of course, this idea is clearly not news to those of us who spend time in the studio each day. We know what goal setting in the studio can do to a work. This apparently is some kind of revelation to business types. Yes, we know goals can be powerful tools, but often it is how those tools are used that makes the difference, right? Anyway, go read the article, I think you might find yourself chuckling to yourself. Are you a goal setter, in general? Or do you really fly through your life by the seat of your pants? In case anyone is new here, I am absolutely the "fly through" kind of person.

As always, I am eager to hear your thoughts. I hope you find a lot of lovely studio time this week. I know I am searching for some of that!

Now, I am off for a few blog visits. Please be patient with me as my list grows by the moment!

Something A Little Different

I have no idea what to call this. I do not know how to present it, really. I have not actually decided it works, so I am sticking my neck out here to share it with you.

As you know I have been working on all kinds of things lately, in and out of the studio. Some of those things make me crazy, some frighten me (like creating a watermark) and some are pure joy. With this painting, you are looking at all three of these. It makes me crazy because it is on paper and you all know how I feel about framing, but I just could not help myself. It was fun to work on this large paper (maybe 18" x 24"). I also worked with something new which was a little scary. This has pearlized ink included in several layers. I was not sure how it would react, but it was fun to kind of squirt on, watch it move, squish it around or just let it sit there. The thing is, I also really lost myself working on this piece. It truly felt as though I was moving on air with it. I loved that feeling of being.

Now it comes down to this... what do you think of my experience? I hesitate to call it an experiment, it was truly an experience. Should I try to go this route again...if I can? Should I give up and leave the paper and ink alone? Is this worthy of a frame? What do you think?

I hope the world is treating you all beautifully here in almost Mid-March! I hope you are finding the time to be creative.

Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing with me your thoughts...I honestly appreciate each and every single one.

Have a Fantastic Day!

I Need Your Help...

As some of you know, I have entered An Art Showdown at the Saatchi Gallery. I am humbly coming here to ask you to click on the link below to vote for me. The more stars you can find in your heat to give me or that you think this painting deserves, I would appreciate it.Click here to vote. "10" stars is the best and "1" is the least deserving (it is true some of my more logical friends questioned this fact). The details of this painting appear at the site.

The competition is a rather long term deal...I was not clear about it until this morning, actually. Apparently this week is open to voting, then the top two are chosen. Those two go head-to-head and the winner then is in a group of other winners later in the year.

I thank everyone who has already voted and thank everyone who will vote. If you do not feel moved to vote, then I thank you for taking the time to at least read this. I know your days are very busy.

Now, speaking of days...I am continuing to paint and take care of other issues, too. Things are going well and I look forward to talking here again soon.

Have a Beautiful Day wherever you are in the world.

I Really Have Had A Little Studio Time

While things have been crazy around here, I have been able to get into the studio a little bit. You all have been so patient with me and I thank you. Hopefully by the end of the weekend, I will have visited you and left a comment on your blog. At least that is one of my weekend goals.

As I have shared before most of my paintings are very time consuming and this one is no different. I used acrylics and a frottage technique with rice paper to get some of this texture. I applied layers clear glaze. Then for several layers I used an eye dropper and squirted acrylic ink over the clear glazing, sprinkled that with pearl powder and placed waxed paper over it...and squished everything together and pressed it all down with my hands. When I was ready, I lifted the waxed paper. This is 12" x 16".

You will still have to bear with me for a little while, but I promise I will get there. I hope all is well with everyone and I do plan on visiting you very soon.

Have a Beautiful Day! Now, back to the studio!