So You Think You're an Artist

 

After a super busy start  to Spring, I am finally able to catch my breath and create something new, This piece is a collage I created with mixed media from my water color journal. The background was water colored with a cheap box of water color tubes which, after finishing it, I promptly threw away. Most were dried up, but it only cost me a dollar at a garage sale.

After drying I tore (literally) threw a few magazines that my sister gives me when she and her neighbor read first (because I cut and tear whatever I want from them when they're done with them). I found the most delicious words to flavor my collage that pertained to being or becoming an artist, as you can see.

Some words were given dimension with dimensional tape, while others were glues directly onto the page. I found the very colorful woman's face in another magazine for my canvas' centerpiece. After choosing the right words to their most descriptive matches, I highlighted their importance by using arrow-shaped sticky notes and outlining them with white a Posca marker. 

For a little extra oomph, I cut out a penned Zen drawing, drawing in the shadowed edges with colored pencils to match the water-colored background. All that was left was to fill up a few empty spots with colorful items from other mags. I did use the white marker to create musical notes, my copyrighted logo under the woman's face, as well as a few tiny flowers above the paper vase on the left. The circle on her hat is a button I inherited and the butterfly is a leftover die-cut  I created at a scrap meet (a long time ago in another galaxy...)

There you have it. Enough media for the pickiest of artists. I think my message conveys what all artists need to be and do, don't you?

CHALLENGES I AM ENTERING:

AAA Colourful - Colourboard #17

 CSI: Color, Stories Inspiration - Case File #458

Mix It Up- AG/optional  Mixed Media

Morgan's Art World - AG

We Love 2 Create - Anything Mixed Media Goes

On the 20th Day of Christmas Crafttng...

 

I wanted to take a class at my local junior college. I've tried water colors on my own but there's so much I don't know, never taking an actual art class ever. So a couple weeks ago the college sent out a brochure for continuing ed classes starting in January, and s Sketching & water Color Painting Class was offered.  I was so set on taking the class...

until I discovered that all their non-credit, continuing ed classes are only offered at their other campus, with which I am not familiar, and would likely skip on those January class days when the the temps are sub-zero or the roads are unplowed or icy. 

So I decided to check out YouTube and Pinterest and fill my art journal with exercises in sketching, as well as inspiration tips and tricks from  other artists. This is one of my art journal pages, although it is more mixed media than plain old water colors. The main scene is water colors, but I added the snow using white acrylic paint. I think I did an okay job. In fact, I just might print this up and make holiday cards for next year. What do you think?

We are now at Day 20 of the 20 days of Christmas crafting. Have any of my crafts, artwork or upcycling inspired you this month? I hope so!! 

Water World

Whenever I get into a slump, or get tired of working on a long term project, I turn back to watercolors. Although I throw away as many pictures as I keep, it still gives me pleasure to watch my colors mingle together, to see light and shadow emerge through the flick of the brush, and to finish a project in a short amount of time.

So, since the beginning of the year, and especially during my self-isolation" period, my watercolors are always at hand, and I've created several new watercolors. The first is shown above. I love the moonlight,and wanted to accentuate that on water.

Below, I painted an autumn scene, again with water. One of my friends loves the season, so it has gone to a good home.

Just one more to show you, and although the perspective is a bit off, it's my favorite memories of my visit to Florida earlier this year. I took lots of photos, so this won't be the last you'll see of beaches and palm trees, etc. But it is the last I'm including in my post today.

 Tomorrow it's back to needlepoint. I have two more panels to embroider before sewing them onto the baby quilt my Gram made me when I got married (poor thing is falling apart in places.). I hope you all are making the best of your "stay-at-home" time during the pandemic. Remember, my mission this year is all about balance, so I am balancing my craft time with personal care, fitness, cleaning the house, de-cluttering, organizing, and learning. 

When you look back at this period in your life, will you be happy with how you used your time? Stay healthy, guys!

Rainy days and Mondays Always Get Me Painting...

Keeping my hand in watercolors is easier than mixed media, due to time constraints, and my time is definitely constrained. So here's a pretty 5x7 piece I created and matted.
I've seen so many projects with "birds on a wire" that I had to try it myself. I like the colors I used, and the sentiment is perfect. But I think I should have waited for the paint to dry before doing my birds, as they are no longer black. What do you think?
No digi images, no DT project today, just my simple water color. I'm still in the crafting game, as time allows! Hope you get some too!

Challenges I am Entering:

Connie Can Crop - Water colors
Make My Monday - Lazy Days of Summer
Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
As You Like It - Fur or Feathers? (feathers)
I chose feathers because every day as I drive from place to place, I see the black birds sitting on wires, exactly like countless projects I see online. I had to try it once, so I created this water color)

I Am Not Afraid of the Night

Okay, here is a departure from my normal posts, but my muse visited me today. I am loving Mondays off this year! And my water coloring muse hasn't blessed me with her attentions in a long time.
I started out rummaging around, looking for my bag of water color brushes and paints (yes, it's been that long). Then I sat down to paint some Christmas tree greens and a few baubles that hang from them. This is NOT that painting, but it's sometimes the way of inspiration, do  you agree? I painted the night sky and knew I needed a focal point, and hit upon a night owl with the moon full and bright behind her. And since it is FREEZING outside right now, I made it a winter scene. LOL
Now I want to show you an unfinished mixed media canvas that I painted with acrylics. Again, it's a snowy winter scene, using my all-time favorite color, teal. What do you think I should use as a focal point for my painting? A silhouette, I think. A reindeer, maybe? Let me know what you think so I can finish it!!

That's all for today, crafters. Hope  your Muse is visiting you often,and that you have the time to create. Happy Winter!

Watercolors Wednesday - Humming Along

I painted a hummingbird today. I like the way the bird turned out. It has some dimension while showing off that bit of chaos I love about water colors.
I made a bit of a mess while painting my bird and tried to pull the paint off the paper, but just managed to smear it around my background. Other than that, I'm happy with it. After all, I'm always learning from each time I paint.
Hoping to get more time to paint, so I can show you my latest next Wednesday. Happy crafting!

Watercolors Wednesday Bluebird in Winter

After a few weeks of hectic family and work stress, during which I had NO time to play with my watercolors, I finally carved out some me time. I have really been interested in paintings of birds lately, so I thought I'd start an art journal of water-colored birds. My first is this bluebird in winter. He's a fat bird, so it must be early in the winter.
I had to control the paint more o I used less water. It almost doesn't seem like watercolors to me. I think I'd rather have more chaos in my art. I guess I'm just an abstract kind of girl. LOL
I do like the way the needles of the pine tree turned out, though.
I've got my eye on hummingbirds next. See you next Wednesday!

Port Washington in Water Colors

I found myself with a block of time to craft and decided to create a water color from another photo in my library. This one is from a girls' weekend away with my mom and sisters to Port Washington, Wisconsin. It is a quaint, historic harbor town about 20 minutes north of Milwaukee, and one of our favorite getaways.
If we're lucky, we book rooms with a lake view (Lake Michigan). There's a "wall" of rocks to break the waves surrounding the harbor. Many adventurous souls walk this "path" to get to the historic lighthouse. It can be seen from the hotel room window, but this particular view is directly from the path leading to the lighthouse.
The rocky path was very difficult to give definition to, but I think I managed it. I could use some more work on water and its movement, so I'll scope out some YouTube videos to guide me. I'm still thinking of taking a basic class at the community college to learn all the tips and techniques that everyone but I seem to know.
There were more boats in my photo, but I kept only two on my canvas. And of course I had to add a lonely water bird circling overhead, shopping for his dinner.
If I had the time off of work, I think I'd spend a month painting from my photos. I haven't even looked at my Hawaii album, and I'd love to do a couple sunsets over the water.
Have you ever taken a photo and created a piece of art from it? While I do like this realistic portrayal of my photo memory, I think I prefer the randomness of my other water colors where the wet paper takes hold of my paint and has her way with it, leaving me to find form where she has left lovely chaos! What's your preference?
Well, whatever it is, have fun doing it!!  Happy crafting, peeps!

The Ocean Calls Me

Internet was down earlier today, so I managed to get some time in with my water colors. I picked up a couple seashells a long time ago while I was vacationing in the Florida Keys. For inspiration, I placed one of my shells on the table and, well, I hope it looks like a shell to you!! LOL
I am still learning what I can do with water colors, and today I learned to put a very small amount of paint into the water when I wet my paper. Not only does it show me where the paper is wet and the paint will spread, but it also gives me a shaded background so that when I finish my focal point, it's not sitting in the middle of a white background. I've found it very difficult to add a background after I paint something.
I also learned that I can turn my paper to pull color in the direction I want it to go. I was having trouble with giving dimension between the front and back of the shell (still am). I had better luck when I rotated my paper 180 degrees.
Again, what I created can pass for a shell, but is in no way perfect or even great. But my art is an educational journey, one I want to share with my fellow artists. I am determined to keep stretching my creativity, opening myself up to more inspiration and more creative outlets. When I first started playing with water colors, I could only paint backgrounds (and some of them had to be "edited"). But as I kept at it, I experimented, I took out library books, I bought better paper, better paints, watched YouTube videos.
I was determined to figure out why paint moves the way it does with water, how I could get more dimension in my work. I thought about taking a class or two.
Now I'm thinking of just continuing on my own. All because I was determined to make water colors one of my "techniques" in my little corner of creativity. And I am happy I kept on.
What are you determined to learn, to discover, to conquer?

Journey into the Depths of Endless Possibilities

Another journey along the path of watercolors...
Along the way, I followed a fork that let me discover the endless possibilities of my creativity.
This watercolor did not start out at the bottom of the ocean where a few stray jelly fish linger. I splashed some color onto the page, thinking of maybe a desert scene with a few cacti. But the paint and my muse took me to another habitat altogether, and I started detailing coral and underwater life. I added definition with a white gel pen.
I don't like it much. I need even more definition, more shadows and light. But as I mentioned in other posts, every canvas cannot be a masterpiece, but every canvas can teach.
In the end, I added hand-lettering to inspire me and other artists to go down the fork in the road and let inspiration and creativity lead you. The path never ends, it just twists and turns and forks into endless possibilities...
Come join the Path of Positivity Challenge Blog where this month's theme is Possibilities. Inspiration and a chance to win some awesome prizes await you!

A Blog Hop with a Difference

I was invited to this blog hop with a difference by Lisa from the Path of Positivity. This hop gives me free rein to write and showcase any of my work, as well as answer four questions about my creativity. In turn, I have chosen three bloggers and their links who I have "tagged" to continue this blog hop with a difference. Those are below. Now for the answers to the questions:

1. What am I working on?

I just sent off a personal essay for the Path of Positivity. I love to write. I've been having a torrid love affair with the English language since the second grade, when Sister Carlene applauded my short story and told me I was destined to be a writer. On the crafty front, I design for Squigglefly Designs as well as for Lisa at the Path of Positivity, and join in challenges on a regular basis. Above is a card I created for the Digi Stamps 4 Joy Progressive Christmas Card challenge using Snowglobe by Margy from DS4J. I created an easel card after fussy-cutting the image. The faux snow on the image is homemade "SoftSnow." It's easy to make--all you need is two balls of styrofoam and rub them together, then gather it all into a container. 

I'm also into watercolors. I started with kids' water paints and cardstock, and graduated to cold pressed paper with lots of tooth and liquid water colors.  Here's one I recently painted from a photo taken while visiting Seattle, Washington. Between my photos and Pinterest, I'll run out of paints before I run out of inspiration.  

The last project to show you is a shadowbox I made of my son's wedding last July. My mom liked it so much I decided to make one for her as well, and it is sitting on my craft table until I get the time to put hers together. This is what it will look like. And let me tell you, if I had gone around the world looking for the perfect wife for my son, I couldn't have done better than the one he chose for himself!! 

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?

Every artist puts his or her sweat, emotions and heart into each work, whether it's a card, a layout, a canvas or journaling. I am an eclectic artist in that I am all over the place. The companies for whom I design never know if I will give them a fancy-fold card or a piece of altered art, a piece of room decor or a mini album. I like it that way--keeps them on their toes. LOL

3. Why do I do what I do?

Why do birds sing? Why do stars twinkle in the sky? I do what I love and love what I do. I feel blessed to be able to create with paper and paint and words. I was never one to look a gift in the horse's mouth (or is it a gift horse in the mouth?), so if I can do it, I will do it. End of story!

4. How do I come up with stuff?

I very rarely have a sketch or plan when I sit down to make a card. I just root around my craft room with an image I want to use and wait for the muse to attack me. And you know what? She never ever fails to do so! There is so much inspiration out there if you only keep your eyes and heart open to all the endless possibilities. Color, texture, scents, memories, music--they're all I need...that and a tall cool glass of iced tea. 

Now on to the crafters I've "tagged" that I think you might find interesting. Please check them out and leave a little love.

JOYCE GUTHRIDGE - Joyce and I are co-administrators of Your Scrapbook Place Challenge blog, and both members of SBP Yahoo Group. She crafts from sketches and templates so we are totally opposites and yet great crafting friends. Her projects always inspire me, and I know they will you, too!
VIOLET - Violet is a writer, and her blog posts shout passionately about self-respect, loving yourself and psoitivity. I enjoy her youthful and colorful discoveries, experiments and exercises she shares with her readers to help them over the hump of self-criticism, doubt and depression. 
VIRGINIA - Virginia is an avid cardmaker and talented crafter. She has a brand new blog and would love to see more crafters checking out her art and leaving some love.

That's all for now, my crafty peeps! Happy hopping!

Waterscape Minus the Swans

After a very long week where all my crafting went into vacation bible school decorations, I was finally able to pull out the paper and paints and try my hand at another waterscape. I tried the same technique of wetting both the back and front, then painting a line across the paper, tilting it up and then down, for that water-mirror image.
I even added some clouds into the sky (patting myself on the back) and remembered to color the water beforehand. This time, instead of swans being the focal point, I decided to paint in some brush and rocks into the foreground and let the shoreline across the water be the focal point.
As you can see, I signed it, which means I like what I created. All my watercolor paintings are put into my art journal, but only the ones I like have been signed. I treat the others as learning tools.
I won a non-credit course at the community college at an auction last Spring, and had planned to take a watercolor painting class. By the time the Fall semester offers its catalog of classes, I might just have to look for something else!
If you were able to take a free class, what would you choose? I want to learn Adobe Photoshop Elements 12, how to roll sushi, learn German, move around to Zumba, and about nine other things! If I had the time and money, I'd be a professional student!!

This Girl Is on Fire

This girl is my daughter. She is the reason I am grateful today. She is working hard in college (straight A's last semester) and about to start a new job. She is creative, and enjoys exploring art journaling, water colors, mixed media, blogging and writing poetry.
She is my biggest supporter and my inspiration. She is thoughtful, generous and determined to make this world a better place, one step at a time.
When my dad passed away, I was adrift with the loss. After ten years of no birth control and no pregnancy, I was shocked to find out that I was pregnant again. My daughter was God's gift to me for losing my dad. I am so very thankful she came into my life.
Her heart is big enough to heal the world. I know it healed mine.

Learning from Mistakes

Well, I created another water color, this one of a frog. I don't like it much, but I wanted to post it for two reasons. The first is that no one is perfect, and every creation cannot be a masterpiece. The second is that I've been challenged to face my fears, and my biggest fear is of embarrassing myself.
This is no masterpiece, but I can learn from it. I learned that I need to let more "white space" show when painting with water colors. I also learned to think about the colors I'm using, as the frog is practically hidden with all that green. I also need to pay more attention to shadows and highlights.
We all like to show our best sides, which also means we like to show our successes and not our failures. But art is not a science. And every time I pick up my brush I am practicing and improving something I enjoy doing. Should I show the good with the bad and the ugly? Why not if it lets me vent, forces me to evaluate, and possibly helps others in their own journey?
So, blushing, I show you not a masterpiece, but a part of my journey.

I Found My Wings

I thought it was about time to mix my new passion for water coloring with my steadfast passion for mixed media and create a page in my art journal.
I water-colored a background on homemade paper. After it dried, I cut it and attached it to my journal page.
Next I brought out my butterfly die and my folder of butterfly stickers and wings flew here, there and everywhere.
My sentiment says it all--I found my creative wings to merge two of my favorite techniques into a nice work of art.
Have you found your wings yet? I am constantly on the prowl to get up off the ground in new and exciting ways. Who knows what may come next--all I know is that my heart and eyes are open to every possibility out there.
Keep your eyes open and happy crafting!!

Memories of Seattle Aquarium in Water Color

We took a trip to Seattle over Spring Break so that we could check out Seattle University for when she completes her A.A. at the community college. It was fantastic, so much so that I want to go back to college as well!!!
We also took in the sights, including the Aquarium. It was an awesome visit, and I took tons of photos. One of them inspired me to water color this today.
I am a novice to water colors, but the last couple I've completed, I've liked enough to sign my name to them. This is one of them. Although to be honest, I should have started the jelly fish higher on the paper, as its tentacles(?) should be longer.
I'm going to dig up more photos that I can possibly use to practice my water colors. Have you tried sketching or painting from photographs?Any tips you can give me??

Just Flying Through

Another day, another attempt at a landscape! Today I painted wet on wet and made a background of sorts and let it dry.
Then I painted what I hope looks to you like a tree. I think I did a pretty decent job. I even tried to get some dimension by painting thin lines into the trunk and up into the bushy leaves.
My scene looked pretty bare until I tried to let some high-flying birds float past my tree.
I guess I need a little more practice with letting the colors blend together in my sky. Doesn't matter, I'm having fun with my new "passion."
Have you started a new passion?

Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries

Got some time to play with water colors and ended up with a page full of brightly-colored circles. They reminded hubby of cherries so I added stems and a sentiment to my newest water color journal page.
I dipped my brush in water and then one corner went into a magenta paint and the other in yellow. Then I swirled circles with my brush.
Still learning what paint will do in water, and water will do to paint, but having fun during the learning process!
This week I was challenged to do something adventurous, something I fear. After thinking about it, I discovered that what I fear most is being embarrassed.
So to me, showing you my "experiments" in water colors is facing my fears. I know I'm no artist, but by showing visitors my attempts to improve on my technique, I might just help someone else face their own fears.

Doing What She Loves

My grand daughter is in her second year of ice skating lessons. She loves them, and what ever she loves she excels in. She grew up learning to love books, and her reading surpasses her grade level expectations (skipping right past kindergarten). She loves to hula hoop and she can twist with the best of them.
She sees what she wants and works at getting it. I hope she never loses that zest for life and learning new things. She's one of my favorite crafting buddies, too!
So, I made a card today for my Bella. I used an image from Art By Miran called Skating Girl and colored her with my trusty Copics, adding some added dimension with white gel pen. I fussy-cut her out (one of my signature techniques), leaving the ice on which she skates.
The background is actually a watercolor painting my granddaughter created a couple weeks ago. I hope she recognizes it and gets a kick out of my use of her art with my own!
The patterned paper is CTMH and I used leftover lace and ribbon. I finished off my card witha Tim Holtz Idea-ology metal tag that reads: "The journey awakens the soul."
The Art By Miran challenge blog has an Anything Goes theme this month, so you have no excuses to get on over there and play. And as always, crafters, have FUN!

Poppies

I decided to try my hand at another water color.  I have learned to use more color, to brush on some water so that the paint spread, and to press the paper between books once dry so that it will stay flat. And the most important thing I learned is that I can add dimension, focus and structure with pen and ink.

While the paint was still drying, I already saw the poppies on the page. It took me almost two weeks to gether my courage to draw on my painting, but once started, I used the black and white ink pens to define each poppy.  Then I added some Copic coloring to add depth.

I am still learning how the water colors swirls, blots, drip and pool on my paper, but I think I am making headway.  At least enough to buy some heavyweight watercolor paper and to use bigger brushes! Art, after all, is a  journey of self-discovery. I am but a hiker on a colorful new path.

Where is your art taking you?