A Little Doodle

I was really feeling parched, artistically, and wanted so badly to indulge in my art. For various reasons, I just have not been able to (mostly because of my health), but today I was determined I would at least doodle in my journal. I also had some issues pressing on me, and thought playing with my art would divert my mind. And it did!

Some of my brushes and my water pail had been patiently waiting for me to begin.

This is the journal doodle. I started out using a leaf stencil with oil pastel sticks and found out quickly that that wouldn't work, so I colored in and added the lines later. Acrylic paints, Stabilo pencil, torn pages of a Shakespeare play and some doodling and some press-ons, and I was pleased to be once again doing something artistically!

My husband and I made a donation to Water Missions International as our Christmas Gift to each other and to Tabitha. They are a fantastic organization which helps to supply water where ever it's needed - third world countries or when disaster strikes in any other areas, such as Hurricane Katrina. John knew the couple who started it and once they organized it, he served on their board until we left Charleston. They have saved many, many people's lives by providing safe drinking water.

I'll share some of the fun things we received:

Tabitha gave me a great book about the painter Renoir, written by his son. Renoir has always been one of my favorite painters and this is a very thick book, blending what was happening in the world with what was happening in Renoir's life. It's a used book, she knows I like used books because there are so many choices to be had for so little money. 

Tabitha also made four lovely stationary cards for John, each one an original ink print of different leaves. She had inked up the leaves and rolled them face down once she had them arranged the way she wanted. They turned out beautifully! She also gave him several bags of boutique popcorn flavors, as that is probably his favorite snack.

One of my sisters gave me a brightly colored, sturdy tote bag and a fuzzy pair of slippers. The slippers had to be exchanged because they were a size too small, so they weren't available when this photo was taken. They have since arrived!

Tabitha surprised me with postage stamps made of one of my paintings! This picture is a bit fuzzy because I scanned the whole page, and then realized afterward that they were too small to make out. So I cropped them to this size.  I've been busy using them, so that's why there is not a better picture, they are mostly gone!

And now I am very tired, but glad I could share a little with you!

Click on any photo to see it closer.

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Christmas Gift

I promised I would show what I gave to my sister on Christmas Day and so here it is:

Purple Prose

(click for details)

My sister loves purple, and I could not remember what else (and I didn't want to ask), so it's purple plus a few other colors. My husband really liked it and said that it had sort of a Asian relief map feel to it. I painted some rice paper with old Japanese writing on it, adhered those to the acrylic painted canvas. I collaged with other papers and postage stamps, and then used Golden bead gel, Golden crackle medium, origami netting, waxed cording, ceramic bead points from Italy, and Interference Violet paint to create the sheen effect. It's on a 12 x 12 wrapped canvas, and also includes oil pastels, Stabilo pencils, and a handful of violet micro beads. And she loved it! I'm so glad it turned out to her liking. This is the second mixed media piece I've done as a gift and therefore in specific colors. A lot of love goes into my paintings! 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

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FINIS! on the Art Postcards!

I hope that my American readers had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We celebrated at a local nice restaurant, and I will tell more about that later. I finally finished the postcards I was doing for some other ladies who have this same illness. It was a protracted project because of my own illness, and some of the photos may seem a bit out of focus because my fibro has made it difficult to bend over. But all that aside, I hope you enjoy looking at them!

The beginning posts are here, here and here, if you would like to see how things started and how they progressed. The materials I used include printed tissue paper, acrylic paints, soft gel, silver leaf pen, gold leaf pen and copper leaf pen, sequins, pages from old books and music sheets, "gems", metal pieces, postage stamps, dried flower petals, old jewelry, and stencil.

 Please click on any postcard you would like to view closer for details.

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

A Little Bit Of Art

In the last post I was excited to have gone to to Jones Gap. Since it has been several days ago, you might guess I sort of overdid it, and you would be right. It's been a rough few days, but it was soooo good to get out and do some walking!

I was hoping to show a painting, but it isn't finished. I did however, get one more page done for the Milk Carton book. (other pages are here, here, and here.)

Page 4, Front

Page 4, Back

The front includes a scrap from an earlier painted paper (with some stamping & mesh netting), acrylic paint, ribbon, metal buckle, and postage stamp. The back is a collage torn from paper I didn't like, and painted over before it was torn. I also scattered acrylic paint across it. 

Lord willing, I will continue to gain a bit more strength so that I can show you the painting. It's mixed media, paint and collage, with some transfer. Hope that stirs your curiosity!

(Click on any picture you wish to see closer.)

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

The Midnight Painting

Another difficult night to get to sleep last night, so up to my studio I went to see if I could get the "wired and tired" down to just "tired". I grabbed a canvas and this is what came from my time in the studio.

Mermaid Illusion

(click for details)

This is a 10 x 10 wrapped canvas. The base was painted in two colors of acrylic and then I added a portion of an old French dictionary page, and two other scraps of paper. On the right is part of a Cavellini postcard I had received, where I succeeded in detaching the body of the peacock from the head when I was trying to separate the paper it was printed on. (If I get more than one of an interesting postcard, I try to reuse it in my art.) I decided - why not just use the tail - so it was placed under the tag I had made earlier. You can't see it, but the tag is covered in granular gel, which is why it looks a bit hazy. I then doodled some shapes, added paint, added oil pastels and tied some colorful couched thread through the tag and out onto the painting. I showed this to my daughter and husband, and this piece got the " I really like it except for...." reaction. My daughter didn't care for the tag, but her first impression was one of a mermaid. My husband has never cared for "those thready things" when they show up in my creations. It's an experiment piece, so I don't mind the critiquing. In fact, I'll step out on a limb here - what don't you care for about this piece? Really, let me know! :)

UPDATE - I redid the painting and it's at this link. Check it out!

While I was on the porch, I took a quick shot of Cossette eating. :)

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Postcard Art and Tuesday Story Series: 67 Plymouth

Recently we purchased the dogs some new toys - stuffed animals without the stuffing, so they are very flat. Well, not having the stuffing took all of the interest away for our dogs! But I took a photo of one of them because it is a great illustration of how I felt this morning when I got up. Or tried to get up. Last night was very rough and I honestly can say that I felt just like this:

Yeah, he looks cute, but I didn't!

In the afternoon I began to feel like I had a little life in me, so I finished a postcard I had started yesterday evening.

On My Way

(click for details)

Mixed media includes collaged tissue strips, cheesecloth, rubber stamping, Russian postage stamp, acrylic paint, vintage earring, metal sun, gem brad and liquid watercolors. It also has some gold accents.

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'67 Plymouth

56th in the Tuesday Stories Series

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that we had once lived in the community of Goose Creek. Before we moved, we had been living in a small rented brick house where we had started married life. When we met, John was driving a nice, navy blue Buick Skylark, and I was driving a slightly run down red Ford Maverick. John, being the true southern gentleman that he was (and still is) insisted that I keep the Skylark for when I needed it and he would take the Maverick to work. This was a sacrifice in several ways on his part - the car used a quart of oil a week, was not reliable and as the head of the agency where he worked, it was a step down to be driving that car. It left him stranded several times on the Interstate, and sometimes he would come home with a face as red as the car's paint! 

After Tabitha came along, we decided we needed to get rid of that car, and find something more reliable. We knew a man who fancied himself as an expert on cars, especially old ones, and had several contacts in the car world. We asked him if he could recommend someone to us for buying a used car, because our budget was tight, and he said he had just found out about a good bargain. One of his friends had just rebuilt the engine on a 1967 Plymouth and the body was in great shape. He took John over to see it and give it a test drive and talk with the owner. We decided that the price was right, the owner was honest and the car was much more reliable than the Maverick. So, it became ours. It was huge, a white boat of a car, and when in it, you had no fear of being squashed if you were hit!

(This is not a picture of our car, but the one we had looked just like this, except it had hubcaps on the tires)

Soon after that, John was offered the job in Goose Creek, we found a place to live, and started packing our belongings. It was summer in Charleston, it was hot, we were very tired and after our friends had taken the truck on up to the new place, we loaded the rest of the things into our cars, including a cranky baby, and gratefully drove off to meet with the rest of the moving team. I mentioned in the other story that Goose Creek was some distance away from Charleston, so we had several miles to go on the Interstate. John was driving the Plymouth and I was following in the Skylark. Suddenly, white smoke came billowing out of the Plymouth, so thick I could hardly see the car ahead of me. I didn't know what was going on, but we were near our exit and John was able to keep the car limping to our new condo, where it died. It seems the engine blew. The new, rebuilt, engine.

A couple of days later we sold the car to a scrap dealer who came and towed it off. As I stated before, we spent our time in Goose Creek with just one car. At John's next job, in Charleston, it came with a car as one of the perks and once again we were a two car family. When we mentioned to our friend what had happened to the car he recommended, he said he was really sorry. It wasn't his fault, necessarily, but we never asked him for advice again about car purchases!

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