Painted Michael Jackson Turned Digital Art

Sometimes I like to paint...and sometimes I like to turn my paintings into digital art. That's how I was feeling today as I was going through some photos of my artwork. This one is classic Michael Jackson.

Smooth Criminal is one of my all time favorite MJ songs. MJ has appeared in several artworks I've created over the years. It's fun to revisit past works and see what I can do to make them new and unique. I really love how this one turned out. 

MJ Forever!

Jamie and Claire Blue Digital Art

I felt like creating some Digital Art today. It's been awhile since I've made any since I've been painting more of late. But it was nice to remind myself why I love digital art in the first place: it lets me be creative, I can fix mistakes easily, and there's no mess! My inspiration for this digital art was Jamie Fraser and Claire Fraser from Outlander. 

You'd probably be surprised how many ways I did this before I was happy with it. It went through many different colors: black and white, red, brown/tan. I just wasn't sure which color looked right. So I kept playing with it, and as soon as I made this color, I knew it was what it needed to be. 

Anyone else a wee bit Outlander-obsessed? Not saying I am.

Not saying I'm not either. ;) 

Since I was working on school stuff today, it was nice to be able to take a break and get creative, without ever having to leave my office. Now it's time to get back to work!

Mermaids Digital Art

I was in the mood once again to create some digital art. And I decided I want to grow a collection of mermaid creations. So, to that end, I created two mermaid themed digital art pieces that I want to share.

I love going into my studio, but sometimes getting creative digitally is just as fun. And I'm really beginning to enjoy mermaids as my muse. I definitely need to create more with them!

Frida Kahlo Digital Watercolor - Frida Friday

Time for another spotlight on Frida Friday...artwork featuring the one and only Frida Kahlo. I follow the #fridafriday hashtag on Instagram, and it's inspired me to try to do as much Frida art on Fridays as I can while I'm off school for the summer. This one is a combination of drawing and digital art. 

I really like how she came out. And I love celebrating Frida!!

"I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone,

because I am the person I know best."

~Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo Angel - Frida Friday

I follow quite a few art-related hashtags on Instagram, and there is one that I so love: #FridaFriday. With this Frida Friday hashtag, you will get to see lots of art--of all kinds (painted, drawn, digital, etc.) that features the one and only Frida Kahlo. I decided I wanted to start contributing to that hashtag once in awhile, so this week I created a Digital Art piece for Frida Friday. 

One of these days I'm going to do a painting of her. She was so beautiful. In the meantime, I'll keep following that hashtag to find lots of inspiration. 

Teal Butterfly

I was in the mood to create some digital art this evening. I love the color teal, and I love butterflies, so they were my inspiration.

The background is actually made from a redux of a painting I did a couple of years ago, which I called Big Red Flower Mixed Media. I transformed that red flower into a teal one, and then I used it to create a mirror image background design. The butterfly gives it a pop of color, of course. I love the contrast, and the brightness of it overall. And as always, I love the teal...it's my favorite color!

Learn to Create Art Create to Learn

I did some simple sketching of some art supplies and decided to create some digital art with them. I love to be able to learn to create...and to create to learn!

Outlander Digital Art for Summer

Of late I have been starting to get ready for my new school year, so I've not been in the studio. But here and there I have squeezed in some Outlander Digital Art that I thought I'd share today. I know, I know...I'm a wee bit obsessed with Outlander. I cannae help myself. At any rate, here are some of my latest digital creations, in honor of the love between Jamie and Claire Fraser.

This first one is based on one of my favorite and very simple quotes from the Outlander book series. "It has always been forever for me." Seven simple words that say a whole heck of a lot! I liked this art so much that I used it as the header image for my Twitter account. Any sassenachs who visit my Twitter page will instantly know I love Outlander.

This next one features another simple quote, "I was born for you." When you read the Outlander series, you have to appreciate Diana Gabaldon's gift of words. She is a talented wordsmith to be sure--and the sheer length of her books is testament to that fact. But every once in awhile she writes something so simple, but at the same time something that expresses so much about the love between Jamie and Claire. This quote is one of those times.

This next one features a quote that is really about the passion between Jamie and Claire. I didn't want to focus on the physical nature of that passion though. Rather, I focused on the separation of Jamie and Claire by time--and how that longing to be together could not be stopped. Not even by 200 years. So this art features the standing stones at Craigh na dun. The quote, "Does it ever stop, the wanting you? Even when I've just left ye, I want you so much my chest feels tight and my fingers ache with wanting to touch ye again." Wow. Is it hot in here?

Lastly, this next digital art features my second favorite redhead (the first being my husband), James Fraser. His love for Claire is is so deep and abiding that he professes its depth in his soul. "And when my body shall cease, my soul will still be yours. Claire--I swear by my hope of heaven, I will not be parted from you."

This is the stuff of wonderfully romantic historical fiction. It's the stuff that makes JAMMF such a captivating icon. And it's all thanks to Diana Gabaldon. To say that the Outlander series is a 'good read' is kind of an understatement. You don't really read these books, you live in them. And this is precisely why they, along with the TV series, inspire my creativity.

Sadly, there are no standing stones and time travel in my future. I must return to planning for the school year. But I'm sure I'll be seeing Jamie and Claire again soon...if only in my digital art. :) 

MJ Dangerous Digital Art

I was in the mood for some Michael Jackson digital art today. And since Dangerous is one of my favorite MJ songs, this is inspired by that song and MJ's awesome performances of Dangerous.

What is *your* favorite MJ song? I also love Thriller, Blood on the Dance Floor, Billie Jean, and You Rock My World (just to name a few!).

Dylan's Sunflower Digital Art

In the past I shared a photo of my grandson Dylan's Sunflower. I've always loved that sunflower he planted. So I was flipping through some of my photos and digital art and decided to share this digital art that I created from one of those photos of his sunflower.

Sunflowers are such happy flowers, don't you think? I still have some seeds from this one somewhere. I need to find them and plant some again with Dylan!

Angelina Redux

I've been in the mood for creating digital art the last few days. And today I decided to play around with a photo of one of my old celebrity oil paintings and make some digital art out of it.

Now if you didn't know this was supposed to be Angelina Jolie, you might think it was pretty good. I love Angelina's face and features; I think she is really beautiful. But try as I might, I've not been able to capture her on canvas as well as I'd like. I do still like my painting of her though, so it was fun to turn it into some digital art. 

To see the original oil painting, just click here:

Angelina Jolie

One of these days I will attempt to paint her again. :)

Jerusha Digital Art

I felt like doing some genealogy today, and some digital art. So I combined those two loves into this digital art of my third great grandmother, Jerusha Harmon (Sutton) Templeton.

I love this photo of her. She is another one of my ancestors who I wish I could have met. What a beautiful lady too. It's sort of bittersweet to feel so connected to someone that you never even knew. Yet without her, I wouldn't be here! 

Here's to all of the ancestors who helped bring this Art Chick into being!

Grandma Kephart in New York Digital Art

Since I haven't done any in awhile, I decided to create some digital art this evening. I used my Great Grandma Kephart as my muse, in a photograph taken of her (in the 50's, I believe) in New York.

Lots of layering of digital imagery in this digital art too. I really like how it turned out. And Grandma always loved roses. The NAIH is a family motto: Never Apart In Heart. Always true.

Love and miss you, Grandma!

Sparkle and Shine Digital Art

I'm supposed to be doing prep work for my new Title 1 Reading teaching job that starts in a couple of weeks. But I needed a little bit of a creative break, and since I don't have time to go into my studio all day, I thought I'd create some digital art instead. So this is what I created.

Maude Fealy was my muse once again for this creation. She was so lovely and I always sense a bit of sparkle and shine about her anyway. So this seemed perfect.

Now I'd better get back to work! 

Claire Returns to Lallybroch Outlander Digital Art

I was in the mood for some digital art today. And since I'm missing Outlander, I decided to create some art about the moment Claire returns to Lallybroch and remembers being there with Jamie. Such a bittersweet moment full of feels.

I really hate that we have to wait for April to see Claire go back through the stones to Jamie! Thank goodness for streaming so I can return to Scotland whenever I feel like it. But I'm really excited for season 3 of Outlander and it can't come soon enough for me.

Outlander Back Through the Stones Digital Art

I'm rather obsessed with Outlander, and I'm feeling a bit blue now that the season has ended. I've just started to binge-watch all of the series episodes to try to fend off the Droughtlander blues for awhile. And I also created this digital art to spotlight the emotional goodbye between Jamie and Claire near the end of the show--when Claire gets ready to travel back through the stones to her own time.

Sigh. That was a tissue moment for sure. I hate when I love a show so much...it makes it so difficult to wait for the next season to begin. But alas, I'll wait as long as it takes for Outlander to return. I can't wait to see Claire travel back in time once again to find Jamie twenty years after the Battle of Culloden! But if Claire can wait twenty years, I guess I can wait until next year when the series returns.

Frida Kahlo Digital Art

Since today is Frida Kahlo's birthday, I created some digital art in honor of the occasion.

Happy Birthday, Frida, who was born on this date in 1907. One hundred and nine years later and she is still an inspiration.

Lilacs Fairy Dance

Well since my granddaughter and I attended the local Lilac Festival today, I was in the mood for Lilacs. So I created this digital art from a photo I took of my Lilacs. Nothing like a little fairy dance to bring some magic to May. 

Hoping to get into my studio tomorrow to have some messy creative fun, but in the mean time, a little digital art is always fun too. :)

(Fairy girl image by sussieM Designs)

Outlander The Red Dress

Are any of you Outlander fans? I'm a wee bit obsessed myself. I even have a Tumblr blog dedicated to the show. I just did some digital art for that blog last night, but thought I'd share it here too...in case any of you are Claire and JAMMF fans. :)

I've only read the first three books in the Outlander series so far. I'm planning to read more, and I especially want to stay ahead of the TV show. I can't watch a TV show or movie and THEN read the book it's based on. That totally ruins the book for me. I can only do it the other way around. :)

Anyway, I'm looking forward to episode 3 this weekend. Vive la France!

Dracula Digital Art

I was in the mood to play on my iPad Pro a couple of weeks ago. I need the practice in making digital art on that, since I'm so used to doing it on my PC. I have several great apps on the iPad that I'm still learning to use. So I decided to create some digital art for one of my former students, who has a real love of horror movies and characters from them. Dracula ended up being my theme--and I mean old school Dracula, because those are the only horror movies I ever really watched growing up. This was the result.

I used a combination of three apps: ProCreate, Stackables, and Brushstroke. And then also a couple of minor editing using Paint Shop Pro on my PC after I was finished using the apps. I really like how this turned out. And the bonus is that my former students seemed to really like it too. Win!