Summer of Color - Pink and Gray

 I was super excited when I saw that Week 4 of Summer of Color 3 would be the beautiful color combination of Pale Pink and Charcoal Gray. So GOR-geous together, right? I guess I am not the best person to ask because I may have a mild obsession with gray. I love it with yellow, aqua, coral, black, minty green, and so on. If you were to look in my closet, you would see an ocean of black, gray, and patterns with those colors. There are splashes of color, but I usually gravitate to gray. :) SO, back to the challenge. I thought with this combo that this week's creation would be a piece of cake. Super easy. Super fast. Super fun. Ha! Super wrong!

I started off wanting to do something large, abstract, and on a canvas. But, ended up in all different directions having a very difficult time. I jumped into my journal - stuck. I worked on a mini 4x4 canvas - stuck. The creative mojo just wasn't flowing. So, what do you do when struggle finds you? Me? I walk away for a bit. That is exactly what I did. I left all my artsy tools right there on my desk and scrubbed my house from top to bottom caught up on the Real Housewives (I know, sorry. I can't help myself), played pirates with my little man, and found all kinds of other things to do. :)

After a few days I decided to give it another try. I sat at my table and like magic, my hands started working. This time I went to work on a small cardboard piece I had sitting in my collection. I worked for about 30 minutes straight and I was done (not including drying time). I let go of the abstract that I wanted to create and went with what I am familiar with. Sometimes, having a specific picture of exactly what I want already in my head hinders me. Does that happen to you? I think I try so hard to get the masterpiece in my head onto the canvas...and then when it starts to look different... I get frustrated or begin negative self talk. We all know that is NO good. So, I am glad I was able to work it out on this little cardboard piece. I will attempt that abstract on another day. :)

Come see the other pink and gray creations right here at Summer of Color 3, hosted by the lovely Kristin from Twinkle Twinkle.

Summer of Color 3 - Orange and Hot Pink

Hello Friends! I hope you are having a fabulous weekend. We have been busy bees around here with my daughter performing in her 4th dance recital last night. (She was amazingly beautiful and we are SO incredibly proud of her hard work and dedication. Wow! Is that girl a little performer!) This last week has been all about dance, but I did find some time to work on this week's color challenge from Summer of Color 3. This week's color were orange and hot pink. Last week I worked on a black sharpie doodle, so this week I thought I would change it up and paint a whimsical girl. 

I wanted to use this sketch I did last week while my daughter was giving me a drawing lesson. :) Look how cute my little dancer's girl is. She told me what to do and I followed. I am ALWAYS learning new things from her!!

I cut out the sketched face and added her with Mod Podge to a journal page I created earlier in the week. I love how bright and cheerful this color combo looks. Isn't it fun!?

I used a paint chip that I picked up at Lowe's as her dress. I always keep my paint chips! They make for great collage goodies. There is such a wide variety of color too! I added the words SHINE ON that I had in my stash.

I had a lot of fun working on this journal page this week. I am looking forward to visiting some other Summer of Color 3 artists. Come take a look!!

Hello Tuesday & Printer Questions

 Happy Tuesday Friends! 

I hope your week is starting off well. It is a beautiful cloudy morning here. After the crazy heat we have had lately, I am loving the gloom. There a little fall chill in the air and I am tempted to dust off my boots. :) Since my daughter is at school and my youngest is at Grandma's house today - I am hoping to get LOTS of painting done. Besides a doctor's appointment (Dread. Boo. Hiss) the rest of the day is dedicated to studio stuff. Yiippeee!!

My studio desk looks pretty colorful too. Current obsessions : Americana craft paints in Indian Turquoise, Pineapple, Butterscotch, Spa Blue, 

and Carousel Pink. Swoon!

I also found some circular wood panels (not very thick) that I LOVE.

The shape of it is so super fun.

You Are Sunshine - WIP

So, here is what I am wondering, if you are making prints of your work - Do you print yourself? Which printer do you use? 

Do you have them printed by someone else? Online?

Your input is greatly appreciated! :)

Have a Beautiful Day!

Evolution of a Girl

I love watching or seeing the progress of a painting. Don't you? It is so interesting to see how a creative idea starts, where it goes along the way, and the final outcome. There is such beauty in the process. Sometimes, I get so fixated on the end result that the journey becomes stressed and not too enjoyable. That is not what I want. Who would want that? So I gently remind myself to relax and let things unfold naturally.

 Many times paintings (or creative projects) begin with no intention. The painting simply reveals itself as the layers build. I have to remind myself to be patient though. Even through the "ugly" stage...patience. There is beauty on the other side.

There is such beauty in just letting the art flow too...no intention...no expectation...full of possibility...full of promise. 

When paint was first laid down on this page I had no idea what it would become. It was actually just a page used to capture left over paint, excess paint from stencils, and a place to wipe my messy (happy) hands. I always have extra paper, a journal page, newspaper, book pages, or tissue paper handy when I am working on something. Any excess is slapped right down. I know I will be able to use it later. I hate wasting my paint...even the cheap craft paint! :) The page started out something like this. I forgot to take a picture of the actual background.

There it sat for weeks. Then one night while watching some horrible (Oh, but I love it!) reality TV, I sketched this face. I like keeping a notebook, journal, or random paper with me while I watch TV. You never know when inspiration will hit or when you might be bored out of your mind! :)

Yesterday, I grabbed her while my kiddies slept and painted away. I love using Caran D'Ache crayons and gesso for portraits. I rarely use white acrylic for faces. I don't know why. I just really like the way the gesso blends the colors. You can see that I am still enamored with pink hair. (I would never get pink hair. That is too scary for me. But, I love it on other girls. I think I am too old for pink hair too. Is there an age limit? Lol.)

I kept thinking about the three hearts up top (from leftover paint & a stencil). These words came to mind....

Love will always find its way to you.

It will! I promise! If you feel like love has hit the road today...hang tight. 

It will return! It always finds its way back.)

So there you go...an evolution of a girl. Once the wasteland of excess paint with no intention to a fun little journal page. :)

Hoping you are surrounded by tons of love this weekend!

XO,

Rejoice in the Simple Things - Journal Page

Hello my friends! Happy weekend. Happy loooong weekend in the States! School just started for us, but I was VERY excited to have 3 days off. Shouldn't every weekend be like that? We are only two weeks into the school year, and I am already looking forward to the lazy days of next summer. Lol! Just having that one extra day with my family makes my heart sing. :)

This last week, I started on another journal page from my portrait journal. I was inspired by Jenny & Aaron from Everyday is a Holiday who are sharing their wonderful creativity for an art journal class each Thursday. I love, love, LOVE the color palette this week. It was so much fun to work with!

I started by laying down some random scrapbook paper, vintage music sheets, and gesso. I also used some of the craft paper that I line my table with to add some texture. Whenever I change the paper (after I let it get grungy) I tear it into small pieces to use later. You can see it on this page in the bottom left corner. Next I added some acrylic paint and some more gesso using a popsicle stick. I love the texture gesso creates when I glob it on thick. 

I sprayed a white doily using fabric spray (post about it here), let it dry, and then attached it to the corner. It started to look like a body, so from there my girl was born. I love how she is turning out. Look at that pink hair! Love. I think the pink hair comes from secretly wishing I could dye my hair pink, loving Jenny's, and Daniele's fabulous style too. :) I added more paint, washi tape (new obssession - like I need more!) and words.

When I needed to choose some words, I looked through the stash I keep in a file folder by my table. The words...Her days were spent rejoicing in the simple things...jumped out at me immediately. I had recently read this amazing blog post written by the ever beautiful artist Melody Ross. I can speak for myself in saying that I take so much for granted...so much. The simple fact that I was able to get out of bed today and face this amazingly beautiful day God created with a healthy body, healthy children & Hubby, with food on my plate, a roof over my head, and hours filled with laughter - I am lucky. I am grateful. I am rejoicing in the simpleness that makes this life so wonderful. :)

Summer of Color - Pink!

It's that time again! The summer is full of color and this week I worked with some pink inspiration. So fun...so girly. 

I love pink. 

I guess I should say that I love pink...now. As a little girl, I was not dripping in the color. My mom did not deck me out in pink head to toe. My love affair with pink did not start until later...until I was older, an adult...when I became Mama to this little angel...

After this little one's arrival you would have thought a pink tornado whipped through my house. :) Oh yes, this one was dressed in pink...head to toe. 

Even her tiny hair clips were pink, and later her cowboy hats.

So, needless to say I fell in love with pink & she did too. I still love pink (and paint with it A LOT), but lately my heart has been stolen by turquoise. But let's not tell that to Pink. ;)

I had lots of grandiose plans for pink this week & wanted to tackle the challenge (somehow using wax). 

But, the week ran away too quickly! I ended up working on a fairy/angel princess in my journal. I think she still needs some words. I'll get to that later.

 

I used acrylics, pencil, watercolor crayons, book pages, and some sparkle.

I want to thank you for all the wonderful, sweet comments. I can not express enough how they warm my heart. Seriously. 

I love every. single. one.

Traveling around to all the other artsy, creative blogs is super fun too!

Super huge thanks and hugs to Kristin - our ever sweet 

Summer of Color hostess. :)

What about you?

Do you like pink? I won't hold it against you if you don't. ;)

XO