Painted pages

I just don't know what it is....but I've been enjoying painting on old book pages soooo much lately!

There is just something about the color and the text....sort of adds a dimension to the painting that you couldn't get otherwise. Love it!!!
My new addiction!

Fall Rolo Contest

I've done a couple of pieces for the Fall Rolodex Contest. We're allowed three, but not quite sure if I'll get another one done. I'm pretty pleased with these two.
The one with the leaves is all watercolor with a small touch of ink. I printed out the personal info on clear acatate.
The one with the winged cat is a watercolor background. I then took two stamps I had...the wings and the cat, and put them together. I love how well they worked as an image. I then added some color, cut them out and applied them to the background.

Postcard Challenge

Well......although I don't really look at myself as really being very good at collage...I decided to take part in the weekly challenge at Mail Art World. I figured that if nothing else, it would give me a reason for more practice.
Once a week a sheet of images is emailed to everyone and you have to use at least half of the images in your postcard....more if possible.
I didn't feel brave enough to give it a shot the first week, but by this week, the second round, I went for it. This is my end result. I used at least a piece of every image except for one!! Yay for me. I actually think this came out pretty well. Makes me feel like there's hope for me and collage yet!

Remembrance

What started out as a local high school art project...evolved to an exhibit that has been on display in DC.

On Saturday I had the chance to see and take part in this project...Remembrance .

My sister-in-law, Amy, held the workshop at her lovely new wellness center, Lotus Rising .

The display was created in remembrance of all of the lives lost in the war.

The young woman who came up with this project, Merilee Bowers, was there to show us the process that is used to create abstract figurative sculptures using dried tea bags, sticks and twigs, bits of fabric, and buttons. Each figure is to represent a life lost.

To this figure a strip of paper is added which has the name, location, age, and date one of these brave souls lost their life.

The two slips of paper I took from the box were the names of two young woman, ages 19 & 23, who died just several months ago.

As you pick a name out of the box that is sadly filled with so many names and start to create one of these figures, you do feel a sense of connection with the people and the war that is deeper than just hearing a blurb in the news. You connect when you take that slip of paper with the name and attach it to the little figure that will be placed upon the wall panels with sooo many others....knowing that as this display grows...so will that box of little slips of paper with names.

Digital pics

can sometimes take forever to find their way from your camera. Well...only took a bit over a week to get to these. Wanted to share some of my shots from the Maine weekend. The shots above are from the auction on the grounds of the museum. As you can see, once again there was a great crowd. The shot in the center shows that Yes...my paintings were there at the silent auction.!
The shot to the right is of a portion of the crowd that was sitting and waiting for the live auction to begin for all the large high priced item that were donated.

I did for a walk through the museum the next day. Luckily they actually let you take pics of most of the inside. To the left is the quilt room. Just amazing pieces to look at...all the detail.
The center is the stairway from the upper level. I just love the way things look when looking down from an awesome stairway.
The shot to the right is of a lovely stained glass piece that the light was just pouring through.

In this piece to the left (and details in the center pic) is a dress form that was just so wonderful to look at. It was all done with clusters of seashells. I know of a friend that has customized a vintage dress form that will love seeing these shots!

The final photo to the right is simply an awesome oil painting that brought back childhood memories. The glasses in this one with the little metal rack are exactly the same as some that I used as a child. I'm such a fan of vintage/retro. Don't you sometimes wish you'd kept everything you'd grown up with??? Oh yes, to give credit to this artist, her name is Janet Fish and the piece is called "Fruit Juice Glasses".

More postcards

Since I do seem to be surrounded by fellow artists who create these little pieces at an amazing rate....it's a real task trying to keep up!

The fun part however is the fact that it's another way for me to experiment. I've been able to play a lot more and experiment with different methods.

The postcard to the left has a watercolor background. The background was made with really juicy washes and then plastic wrap placed on that and left to dry. A little bit of thirsty brush was used after that. Next I use some awesome clear stamps for the flower petals. Love these clear stamps. Ever so much easier to see where you're putting things! After the petals were stamped I used ink to finish the design and glittery gel pens to add a finishing touch that really looks wonderful in person.....trust me!

The postcard in the center was done mostly the same way with the exception of adding salt to the watercolor before the plastic wrap and no thirsty brush at the end.

The postcard to the right was a new process for me. I glued a vintage book page to cardstock and when dry, drew the tree in ink. The color was added with acrylic paint. I stamped the bird onto black paper, then cut that out and attached it to the tree. The text is a lovely sticker I had.

I may learn collage yet!!!

Back from Maine

YAY...finally back from Maine. Not that I don't
enjoy being there mind you....but this visit was not quite what I'd hoped.

But first....here are the pics of the paintings I did and donated to the fundraiser for the Farnsworth Museum that I'd mentioned in my previous post.
"Gulls" and "Outdoor Dining". How lucky we were that Saturdays weather turned out well.

As for why this trip wasn't one of the most fun ones...it started with the room we were given at the TradeWinds. First of all, let me explain that there were no other rooms in town that would have been available to trade for, so what you got was what you got!
In this case it was more like what you "didn't" get.....WINDOWS.
Have you ever heard of a hotel room without any window??? Well...I should say that yes, there was one, which looked out into the hall!!! In my opinion, if the window only looks into the hall and not outside...it's not a window. Because of this, the lighting in the room never changed. You couldn't look out to see if it was day or night or even what the weather was. Each morning I'd have to get up, dress, then go to another area of the hotel where there was a window "to the outside" to see what the weather was! Thank goodness the room was at least cute and clean, it's only saving grace.
Then, as luck would have it, it rained sooooo hard on Friday, all day (I had to keep going elsewhere to find a window to check) that I couldn't even leave this room. Parts of Maine were sooo badly flooded that some streets collapsed.
By the end of this day I was going stir crazy from being in this windowless box and had wished someone would pop some holes in the top to breath!!
I had hoped that maybe being able to get the internet would help me a bit, but of course the signal wouldn't last and I'd get 5 minutes if I were lucky before I'd be booted!

Luckily the weather cleared for Saturday & Sunday. As you might imagine, I spent all my time outside!!
When the show ended yesterday around 4pm, we packed up and went to spend the night with friends who live about 1 hour south of Rockland.
We had a lovely evening with them and headed back home this morning.

Word of advise.
Previously I would ask when booking a room if there was a "view". Now, if they say there is no view.....I intend to ask if there is at least a " window"!!
Who would have thought to even need to ask that question???

Missing Muse

Very sad news today about a friend has made my muse run and hide.
I was planning on a fun and uplifting post for today...but somehow that just won't come. It shall wait for another day!
I will at least have to get myself ready for a long weekend trip to Maine. We leave in the morning for Rockland, Maine because my husband will be working the boat show.
I go with him most years and take one day, this year it is Saturday, to paint with the Farnsworth Museum. They hold a "paint the town" event which is open to area artist. You paint for the day and donate it to the museum. At the end of the day there is a cocktail party and auction on the museum lawn. Proceeds go to the museum for whatever needs doing that year.
By Saturday my muse will be back! I already see her hiding in the corner!!

Another newsletter

for the new Etsy networking blog, http://etsyhandmadenetwork.blogspot.com/ has come out. This is our second. There is a list of our shops with the "specials" for the week. My specials this week are the addition of my new item... my notecards with images from my paintings.
A few days ago I posted the "beach" collection, and I've just now posted the "botanical" collection. I've got a special on these with Free Shipping for the week.
Love this new networking system. I have noticed more traffic lately and if all goes well, more sales will follow. It's a great idea for this to get off the ground over the next couple of months so that it'll be in full swing for the Christmas shoppers!
If you're an Etsy shop owner....think about joining our group!!

Postcards

Finally had a bit of time for creating a couple more postcards!
I really enjoy making them....and of course getting them....but always seem to lack the time. These were such fun to do. Hope I can do a bit more this week! Would love to add to this collection.

Notecard sets

I finally decided to introduce my notecards to my Etsy shop. I've been selling these for a few years now to a local gift shop and they've done quite well.
They are made from my original watercolor paintings.
I've started with my "beach" notecards. Four different designs sold in a set of four, one of each.

In another day or so I plan to introduce my "botanical" set. Again, a great set of four different designs.
If these do well...I hope to add some larger sets, 8 & 12 pkgs.
I already have two sets of holiday cards and hope to create a few more designs for the holidays as well.