Photographs

I have starting adding photographs to my repertoire at Fine Art America to see what they will do. I don't get out very much, but I pulled up some from the few times I was able to get out, and then added some taken from my yard.

Campbells Bridge, not very far from our house

I always thought this was funny - even though the road is only a few hundred feet long, it gets a name!

Sunflower Side View

Buttery Yellow Daylily

Abelia shrub coming through the fence.

I'm also experimenting with old photographs to see what I can do with them. Stay tuned!

What do you think? I love to know!

Click on any photo you would like to see closer!

Come see my latest postcards I've received on Postcards Buffet!

Another Project

I joined another workshop group at Artful Gathering in something completely unrelated to what I've been doing, just to keep the "little grey cells" (as Poiroit calls them) from becoming stuck in a rut. The workshop is only for 6 weeks and it's another one of those that I can take at my own pace since it is already on video. I have been working with clay, and the instructor  is well known (in the art world) for her clay work, especially in whimsical Santos. So that's what we started off with. She also has instructions for whimsical animals, but because I have not been doing very well this past week, I am not sure how many I will get done. But! On to my Granny Santos! (Warning - a lot of pictures today!)

Here's all the supplies. Doesn't it look like fun?

And first off, I found I do not have the requisite doll head (it looks like a bad Barbie imitation), so I scrounged around in my "toy box" and found the eyepatch I had when I had eye surgery. Soooo, pop off the blue rubber rim, attach a small cork for the neck and a small Styrofoam ball for the head and voila! (So, yes it pays to be a pack rat!

The clay has been added, I decided I'd add beads to the wire halo, and a filigree piece to the neck. The white beads are only on there to make indentations as it dries.

another shot of the head

Now the lampshade for the body; the instructor uses the kind that has wire "ribs" and tears the shade fabric off. I had these lampshades left over from the closing of my antique store and I could not let them go to waste, even though they have no "ribs", so mine is going to look different. Well, it already does since I decided to use beads!

Using dry floral foam to give my torso a way to top the shade. We also used a product which dries hard like plaster casting.

upside down view

So now she is on the shade! With extra girth, I might add.

She now has some hands, and some stamping in the torso and everything has been covered with gesso and then dry brushed with paint. The trim was removed from the shade.

side view

back view

Sari ribbon. The instructor uses white sari ribbon (strips made from making saris) but mine came in a bundle of color which lit my heart up because I prefer color to white!

Before the beeswax is applied

The finished Granny Santos! (my name for her)

Finished - side view

Finished - back view

So that was a new adventure and I enjoyed it very much -3D art! - it was great fun and I will probably make some more, if only to use up my supplies; but it will still be great fun! My instructor loved it!

What do you think?

Click on any photo you would like to see closer!

Come see my latest postcards I've received on Postcards Buffet!

Latest Paintings

So, where to start? I think I will share with you my latest paintings. I've been working with a product call OPEN acrylics, by Golden. It allows the working time to last a lot longer, almost like oils, but without the smell and mess. 

I have two colors - the Titanium White and the Titan Buff - which means I can use them with any color.

I use the OPEN Acrylic Gloss to mix with other colors to create a glaze that will give me a long working time with those colors.

So, with these two new products, I created these:

Yesterday's News

Under The Ice Of Venus

The second one is my favorite! But the first one I like too - the goal was to make it look more aged. 

So, what do you think? The first one is for sale, but I think I will keep the other one. :)

I have them both listed in Bellesouth Studio at Fine Art America. Come on by if you are interested in different size prints, or if you are interested in purchasing the red one, Yesterday's News, it's a 12 x 12 x .5 stretched wrapped canvas, and the price is $150. I still need to spray it with a protective coat and it will be ready to hang - no frame needed!

Click on any photo you would like to see closer!

Come see my latest postcards I've received on Postcards Buffet!

Coming Up For Air

What a tumultuous past three weeks! On May 29, 2 days after I wrote the last blog, our precious friend, our dog Taylor, died during the night unexpectedly. She was 11, but we thought we had a few more years with her. Our other dog Abby was with her when she passed, and I think that has helped her deal with it, but we have all been grieving.

I had an appointment in Charlotte with the specialist, an appointment a couple of days later with my GP for a routine checkup and also in the same week, an appointment with the acupuncturist. It's taken me some time to recover from the trip to Charlotte, and while there, he diagnosed me with another issue to add to my long list - heart problems. However, they are being dealt with quite well with another medicine.

I have been trying to paint some more in a class I have been taking which includes a new product I am finding great fun to use, but I have not felt very much like painting till recently. More on that another day, with pictures.

I have been trying to market my art, and that has taken effort to look at the options and figure out the best direction to go. And with a tired mind, it's been slow, since I have spent a good bit of time resting.

I also started a 6 week workshop doing something completely different for me - playing with clay! I will share more with you about that in the upcoming days, again with pictures. Both this workshop and the other class are more or less up to me to schedule - the videos have all been done and I can view them and work according to my energy level.

I have also had some neat experiences with the birds in the area, especially with the Sharp Shinned Hawk, who likes to pluck birds from our feeders. He's come very close to the house, in fact in one instance he was sitting on the porch eyeing a small bird in the shrubbery, right outside the dining room window as I was eating lunch. I was able to enjoy an up close examination of him, and he (or she) is so beautiful. Thankfully he did not get the bird or that may have ruined my lunch!

Anyway, I wanted to let you know that I have not skipped out on my blog, and I will bring more details to you in the coming days!

Come see my latest postcards I've received on Postcards Buffet!