Sunday, September 25, 2011

Something Different for Me

Today I wanted to try something different. I've been checking out the sites for the teachers who will be involved in Willowing's next class "Life Book".  It will be a year long class and there will be 15 different teachers. It's going to be an awesome class that's for sure!

One of the teachers, Juliette Crane, features these darling little owls on her website and I thought I'd give one a try. I think it is good to work on lots of different subjects and I have been wanting to try an animal or a bird.

I had some pages in my journal that had been started with some acrylics and pieces from an old book. So I just added to and created her with more acrylics, my rubber band brayer, a Pitt pen and a 9xxb pencil. I finished her in Photoshop Elements adding eyelashes and a tree.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Has Autumn come to stay?

It has finally cooled down a bit in our part of the world.

Autumn and Spring are my favorite seasons and probably the favorites of many if not most people. It seems like the world slows down a bit. The trees sway gently in the breeze casting shadows on my walls in late afternoon. I just love it and it always seems to turn into winter too soon.

I'm going to enjoy every minute!

Monday, September 12, 2011

Raising Ovarian Cancer Awareness

It has been six years ago this month that our mom passed away from Ovarian Cancer. 

September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. Teal is the ovarian cancer color.

My sister gifted her sisters (5 of us), to have a "Teal Pedicure" this month. A certain percentage of the "Teal Pedicures" will go to cancer research for Ovarian Cancer. Talk to your manicurist and see if they will get involved. For details visit www.tealtoes.org. Their mission is to raise awareness of Ovarian Cancer.


Sunday, September 11, 2011

September 11, 2001

Memories of that very sad time:  A friend called us early in the morning and told us to turn on the TV. Like everyone else in America we watched in horror. It was such a sad day. My dad passed away in November of that year and the last six weeks before his death, he watched the news all day long. Those terrible moments over and over. So sad...

Let us never forget what this country and our freedom means to us. Never take it for granted.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Yay! I fixed one of my problems!

I got rid of the huge space between my teacher's websites. That was really easy! I just compared the HTML code on two of the buttons and made some changes.

Blogger Frustrations for the Newbie!

I sure wish I knew html code. Maybe that will be a future project =)

I wanted to add links to my teacher's websites on my blog and finally discovered how to do it, but I don't like the way they line up - why there is such a big space in between a couple of them.

I also don't like my profile story taking up so much room, but I don't know how to fix that either!!!

It makes me feel kind of like the girl in this piece that I did for my Digital Dreams class.

Black and White Challenge

Yesterday morning I decided to take Tam's challenge over at Willowing and Friends. It was to do a piece with just the following colors: Black, grey, white, titanium buff (which I forgot!), salmon/skin tone (but not on the face), and a touch of pink. That was it.

I've always wanted to try charcoal and thought this would be the perfect medium and so I created this little girl. Charcoal was really fun. I used my fingers and a blending stump to blend. The pink and salmon colors were Pitt Pastel pencils by Faber-Castell. They work just like the charcoal.

FEARLESS™ Painting Last Class

Working with this piece was not as freeing as working on the cardboard. When I got my supplies together and put that huge 18x24 pad up on my easel, it kind of freaked me out. So much white!

I put on my music and gave it a go. I must admit I got a bit more picky with this one and so it was not as relaxing as the first two BIG paintings. It was a good exercise though. Now I hope to add some background and try to finish her neck. That may be impossible! I should have painted it in before adding all that hair, but I didn't sketch her before I started, just painted her right onto the paper.

Sunday, September 04, 2011

Total Alignment, Fearless Painting

So, I have some wonderful art teachers on the internet who share with us info about other artists. This past week, I learned about Connie over at Dirty Footprints Studio. She has a free class called "Total Alignment" the following is taken from her site, "a free online workshop that is designed to align your body-mind-heart with your creative source.  Through FEARLESS™ Painting and basic yoga goodness we mindfully begin to clear our path to creative source and listen to our innate wisdom. This workshop is intended for everyone of all skill levels, abilities, and backgrounds--from the full time professional Artist that is feeling stuck and in need of a boost of inner inspiration to the fresh newbie just starting out on their Artist journey eager to learn--and of course, every blessed soul in between! 


I LOVE this workshop! I think it's just what I needed to get me going again. In the workshop, she encourages us to paint BIG and for me that was a real challenge as most of my pieces are small. The first two pieces I did for the workshop were 9x12. I thought that was pretty good for me, but after class 3, I knew I could get so much more out of it if I would listen up and paint BIG. So I used what I had, a carton from file cabinets I bought at Ikea. She also has us standing up to paint, something I've never done. I had a little tabletop easel and that worked just fine.

The first class was on opening the heart center. For painting, our instructions for this workshop are: 1. scribble, 2. draw lines with direction and intention, 3. draw shapes and 4. Paint like a 5 year old.

This is a mother quail trying to help her baby to learn to open her heart and fly free.



The second class was on Balance. I started off with the scribbles on each side and ended up with trees and a house. This is where I decided that next class I would try and paint bigger, use my easel and stand.



The third class was on Energizing and man, she knows how to get you going. This piece is a bit wild, but I like her and she is now hanging in our bedroom.



This next photo is just to show you a comparison of my usual size of painting.


Today, the class I took was on Total Self Expression. I loved this class!


This week I will finish the last class, but this is a workshop that I will come back to again and again to get unstuck, revitalized,  rejuvenated... Thank you, Connie!