three flowers, start to finish

It's definitely all about the process.

I started out with a 4x6 canvas and a quick wash of acrylic paint in a shade of fuchsia I love.  I usually cover the whole surface so no white shows - why would I not do that?  I just wasn't feeling it today.

I have a box full of collage elements - including many pieces of scrapbook paper that I cut into circles a few months ago.  I considered using one - I like the contrast between bold pink and a black and white pattern, but the size seemed all wrong.  I moved on.

I added brush swipes of bright yellow, and a border of tissue paper and painted coffee filters.  Notice that I am now making a habit of putting a coffee filter under my projects.  Why should my newspaper-covered table get all of the leftover paint and brushstrokes?

In fact, a coffee filter that had just been used earlier today became material for the flowers in this painting.  I love those colors!!!  At this point, I think I decided that I didn't want to use any green.

I positioned three circles for flowers, and several drops as accents.

I glued the shapes down with mod podge, leaving space open for the stems.

I found a painted index card in my box of collage elements, and cut the stems.  If you've been reading this blog for a while, maybe you remember that I use remaining paint in my palette on index cards - this has been useful for all kinds of projects.



I like the colors in this stage of the project so much!  I wish it felt finished at this point, but it didn't.  I have yet to reach a comfort level with minimalism.  Would this even be minimalism?  Probably not.

Instead, I added tiny coffee filter dots and flower centers.

Then, I drew all over it with a white gel pen, and lightened up the background with a light turquoise color, to help the stems stand out. 

After feeling like my flowers had too much white, I added fuchsia into the largest flower with a tiny paintbrush.  And then, around two hours later (three full half hour cooking shows and parts of two others, probably) I added a few more white dots and called it finished.

This particular piece isn't perfection, but it's incredibly fun.

this unfinished collection

I found that I had stowed away a collection of paintings from a few summers ago.  I painted them during a relaxing Mackinaw vacation (and maybe a few from before or after that).  Most of these, if not all, are from 2011.  I haven't seen them for quite a while, and now I am sharing them with you, in their various stages of finishedness. 

Make Something Beautiful Today: This one, I think, is definitely finished.  It makes me happy to look at it.

Always Be Kind:  This one is not entirely finished, although I don't have a vision right now for what I want to add to it.

The Good Old Days Are Still To Come: My college roommate Catherine (who is awesome, and I miss her) wrote a similar phrase on our dorm room wall in chalk.  I love the optimism in this phrase.  I also like these bright colors!  This one isn't finished - it looks like it needs some white stars and doodles to fill the spaces.  Some of the flowers were punched from newspaper I used as a base for the canvases.

Slow Down:  This one may have been added to the box later than the others.  It probably isn't finished but really, I think I would just add some more to the left side, vertically, and then it would probably be finished.  This is incredibly busy already for such a simple sentiment.  It doesn't need much more.

I Will Keep Happiness In My Soul:  I like this, but I think it's not finished, and needs something that I couldn't decide in 2011 and can't figure out tonight.  I like its color scheme, and this makes me happy to look at even in it's unfinishedness.

You Are Amazing:  This was finished, but now it needs a few repairs.  I think it's funny now that I just drew on the canvas with oil pastels.  Why did I do that?  I don't know - I like this, though.  It's sufficiently bright and the flowers are fun.  My favorite is in the bottom left corner.  

I Am On Your Side:  This one is so not finished.  It's barely begun.  But I wanted to include it because I like its orangeness and wow, this one really has a long way to go.  You can still see my pencil marks!

There were more, mostly about as finished as the orange canvas.  I've been working on some special projects recently, so I will get back to these soon.  Maybe.  I hope so!

all day

All day today, I painted. The flower above is my favorite project from this afteroon. Today was a blessing. I am so thankful for the free time, and the opportunity to rest my mind. I also slept in until 8:55. I am now on a weekends-and-holidays-included conference call every morning at 9:00 a.m., so sleeping until 8:55 has become somewhat of a luxury. I am almost a morning person now, which is so strange to me!

 Days have been packed with family, friends, work, and all of the mundane bits that hold everything else in place. Maybe later, I will share some photos from this month. For now, I think I may begin to wind down with some tea and begin to prepare for a Monday full of meetings. I hope that you are warm and well, and that your week will be punctuated with moments of all kinds of awesomeness.

2013

Happy New Year! Did you watch the Tournament of Roses parade this morning? It always amazes me - the floats made from natural, perishable materials - they are all so beautiful. And while I was looking forward to another year of surfing dogs, the Natural Balance pet food company created another impressive display this year. I spent some time painting, during and after the parade. I experimented a little bit with watering down paint into tiny spray bottles, but I'm not sold on that technique yet. I painted a canvas with a layered flower. It looks a little bit like I'd imagined it in my mind, with much more added detail. Sometime, I may paint something similar with more restraint in the details. I like it, regardless. It's bright and reminds me of patchwork, in a way.

One layer of the flower is a piece of coffee filter, on which I wrote my goals for 2013. They weren't resolutions, just ideas that came to mind about improvements I'd like to make in my life. They are simple, and they are mostly about simplicity, health, using resources wisely, being present and intentional, challenging myself creatively, and spending time with family and friends. There are so many opportunities ahead for me to grow.

May your 2013 be filled with peace and joy!

you can and you will

I don't remember what prompted me to stop what I was doing at work, open up the notes app on my phone and write this simple phrase, to become a project later. I've been working on this bit by bit over the past few weekends, until I woke up early this morning and decided it was time to finish.

It's true that I have felt creatively out-of-sorts lately (since about June, seriously), and that doesn't make for a great Etsy experience or a blog that is fulfilling to read, I know. I stopped making treasuries. It wasn't even like painters-block or busy-ness. I had ideas and sometimes I had time. I just didn't feel like I had the energy to reach the level of quality I expect from myself. My brain was everywhere else. I'm getting through it, though. There isn't time to dwell on it.

Much of the border on this piece is made from torn tissue paper from last year's after-Christmas sale. It's a perfect match. I used a coffee filter again, this time with words I wrote this morning in Micron Pen. I had so much fun cutting out letters and pennants and painting little flowers and stars. This whole piece makes me feel extremely happy.

just a little something

Sometimes I struggle with things that I shouldn't worry about. It's at those times that I wish I could just remember to keep my focus, and to keep working, and just to do the best I can. I feel like I'm moving at a slower pace than I'd like sometimes as far as creativity. I've been purposefully quiet here because my brain is full a lot of the time. I would like to update the Mirthmarket, so I am working on that, too. Here is a flower for you today. I hope your week is surprisingly special!

the process (with the wax paper heart)

When I sat down to make the piece I posted two days ago, I decided to photograph the process. Before I started, I knew which canvas I wanted to use (I had pre-painted it, and it was more pastel than usual) and which words I wanted to use. I just wanted to let the rest of it happen.

I started out using a coffee filter. Coffee filters are completely awesome for mixed media - they are sheer like tissue paper, but withstand paint and tearing and scissors so much better. I had pre-painted this coffee filter as well, and decided I would write a stream-of-consciousness list of phrases on its surface with fuchsia ink and a tiny-nibbed fountain pen:


The ink dried quickly, and I cut the coffee filter into little pieces. I like putting borders around my mixed media projects, and I usually use torn tissue paper for this, but I decided today that I would use the coffee filter, altering the direction of the words (upside down, sideways, ink side down, etc.) until I had covered the edges. I used Mod Podge for this.


Keeping with the theme, I knew that I wanted to add a big heart, and I wanted it to be fuchsia as well. I considered cutting paper, but then thought I might experiment with wax paper.


I painted the wax paper with acrylic, then added some white swirls, then scratched into the swirls to leave some clear areas. After taking the picture below, I decoupaged the heart onto the canvas. You can see some of the pastel yellow background underneath the scratched off areas.


At that point, it was time to work on the words. I am really enjoying a cut and paste technique with words right now. I have a bin full of pre-painted index cards, scraps, telephone book pages, origami papers, etc. and I chose a few that would complement the colors I was already using.


I painted on each of the papers, positioned them, and glued them down with Mod Podge.

This is the point where the doodle painting begins (An awesome Pinterest follower used the phrase "doodle paintings" to describe my work and I like it!). I collected some paper punches (particularly stars), painted over some of the scrapbook paper and the striped paper I'd created myself, then added layers of embellishments, and painted flowers, stars, dots, leaves, pennant garlands, and other designs, until it felt complete.



It felt complete, but I wasn't happy with it. It felt full, but bland.

It needed some more visual dimension in the form of deeper color. I contemplated using oil pastels for about five seconds, then brought out the watercolor paint.


After the watercolor dried, it felt finished. The process is complete!

new today

It's been nice to have time off of work. Every day has brought something new...I am finding joy in the delightful randomness of life: from silly cable tv show marathons, to a dinner at a Japanese steakhouse with my former college roommate (who has moved back to Indiana after eight years - yay!), to meeting friends of my family who only knew me as a tiny toddler, and so much more. Today is the first day in weeks that I've really sat down to create something, and here's what happened within the next few hours:



I hope you have a wonderful Thursday!

grateful today

I'm grateful today:

*That the car accident I was involved in yesterday was so minor that I barely realized it happened. It will still take an insurance claim, though, and I'm grateful that I have insurance.

*For friendships that sustain over the years, with friends I see often and others I see only a few times a year. (I really, really enjoyed catching up with Nikki, Joyce and Jenifer at Scotty's last night - so much laughter!)

*For Tazo tea, and sparkling lemon water, and spring water, and Starbucks, and restaurants that bring me bowls of lemon slices, for helping me get over the Mountain Dew/Soda habit that I've given up for lent.

*For my job, where I feel fulfilled, creative, and challenged. I work with kids who are starting a band! And I know nothing about the technicalities of it, but I know they are talented- and I love encouraging that!

*For my coworkers, who listen and help and care.

*For this blog post by Valarie.

*For my family - quirky, sometimes exasperating, yet truly a blessing to me.

*For down time, even when it's carved out of other time.

*For games of DrawSomething with Heather and Jenny.

*For inspiration, which is usually right where I look for it.

*For grace, and for so much more.

march forth

I've been quiet lately...mostly working on a huge new plan for work (that I'm really excited about!) and working on mixed media paintings which mostly exist for practice and joy. I am loving the process. I have dabbled in mixed media before, but didn't really give myself a chance to explore it very well.


I've been aiming to create at least one new piece a week. I'm learning to let the piece happen in front of me, as if I'm drawing in the margins of a notebook during a meeting (yes, I do this, not ashamed). Once I decide if the piece will have words (and that's seriously the hardest part), then everything just flows. If something feels unbalanced, I balance it. I add familiar layers and different kinds of paper, and doodle with paint until it feels complete. It's really therapeutic, actually. It feels like creative rest.

Also, I think I'm finding a style that completely suits me. It's what was there all along, just amplified. Mixed media is just using more than one form of media. I see so many examples of mixed media work -and it's often beautiful, well created work- that uses such similar themes and arrangements that it kind of gets me down. The challenge is how can I continue to express something that has likely already been said (original thoughts also welcome) in my own way. I like that challenge.

Have a wonderful week!

2-29-12

Happy Leap Day!

I hope you had a really nice day.

2-22-12

i really like painting fanciful flowers.

let's make a memory today

I am working from a slightly different color palette than usual. And I like it!

more awesomeness

This ring, which honestly, didn't have many page views or hearts in my shop, has been featured on the front page twice in the past two days! Thank you to OhDearWatson for including me in some beautiful treasuries lately!!! I don't think I will ever get to the point where being on the Etsy front page is not completely thrilling.

I went back to see another taping of Jimmy Fallon's show - my brother got tickets - and it was awesome again. This time, the guests were Snoop Dogg, Shaq (in a pink bikini, seriously), and Fitz and the Tantrums. I think Jimmy Fallon should just tape his show here forever. Or at least for a few weeks each year!

I was also so excited to see this on the Artsyville blog! Thank you, Aimee - it made my whole weekend!

And today, while listening to all of the Super Bowl broadcasts just to hear what visitors have to say about my city, I am happily painting and creating. I decoupaged a bowl last night, which I may share later. And today, I used some of the scraps to make this:


It looks Christmaslike, maybe? I like it.

There is so much more to come. More awesomeness every day makes a happy life.

1-21-12

I originally made this for the new year, but it's really appropriate any time, don't you think?

playing with color and pattern

This year I am going to make and post so many more mixed media projects, and hopefully by year's end, I will have a little collection that shows how my style develops over time. Today, no words, and, well...maybe a flower. I like flowers, you know.

this is so much fun!

layering these round flowery shapes makes me happy. it's like a culmination of most of what i love about arts and crafts:

*painting (of course)
*doodling
*mixed media
*bright colors
*cutting and gluing/decoupage
*paper punches
*even some glitter

this one would make a splendid blossom, don't you think?

what will you do today?

Today's date is 9-10-11.



(and use it wisely)

alphabet

In creating a few mixed media pieces this summer, I realized that I really wanted to work on lettering with a paintbrush. I created this alphabet over a few nights last week. I plan to cut copies of the letters apart and use them in other projects. I like the way they look as a group, too.

yes

i took the watercolor sheet from yesterday, photocopied it, painted words on it, and drew outlines and dots with a white gel pen. and i like it, i really do. i'm such a fan of interchangeable words (i've created many variations) that i knew i wanted to do something that i could use in mixed media pieces. and now i would like to stay up all night creating, but sleep calls me. tomorrow, the fun continues!