Roses in Vases Painting

 I've seen so many artists doing still life paintings of flowers in vases--particularly in vases with stripes or other decorative patterns. So I was inspired to create a couple of my own. 

These are meant to be a pair, and both are painted using acrylics. They are on 12x12 canvas that was primed black. The background color is more minty green than it looks in these photos. And the bee was a suggestion by some of my followers on Facebook. The color combination is something I'm always drawn to...pinks, teals, mint greens. The black really makes everything pop, in my opinion.

I really loved painting these and love how they've turned out. Now I kind of understand the appeal of these types of still life paintings. So, I think I'll be doing more of this style in the future. I love flowers anyway!

Spattered Elephant Painting

 I created this painting for a dear friend for Christmas. I found the idea on Pinterest and thought I'd give it a go. My friend loves elephants, so I knew I wanted to paint her an elephant. But I wasn't sure exactly how I wanted to paint it. 

It's not everyday I use the spattering technique on a painting, least of all 2/3 of a painting. So this was pretty fun and different for me. It was rather messy, even though I covered my work area well. I still managed to get paint all over my arms and on my desk. But it was worth every stray drop to make this for my friend.

Pretty Pink Owl

At school each year, my school does a 'Mystery Friend' thing where we draw a staff member's name and become their Mystery Friend for the year. We each fill out surveys about things we like (favorite colors, foods, places to go, etc.) so that we'll know what kinds of things our recipient friends like. Then once a month, we buy little fun gifts to brighten their day. I always have such fun doing this. This year, I was so happy to be able to create something special for my teacher friend, who absolutely loves owls.

I had never painted an owl before this one. All I knew was that I wanted to do something cute and a little whimsical. So this Pretty Pink Owl was the result. I painted it on a wood canvas that I found at Walmart. It's fun to paint on different surfaces sometimes and I really enjoyed doing this. 

On the last day of school I was finally able to give my teacher friend this gift. The end of the school year was beyond strange and sad and maddening at times, thanks to the pandemic. But it was so nice to be able to give this to my friend and see her smile upon receiving it. We couldn't hug, because social distancing. But I felt her hug regardless. I absolutely love creating art for other people. It gives me so much joy, and this gift was no exception.

Dream Wish Imagine Art Journal Spread

I was looking through the blog and I realized I had not yet shared my latest art journal spread. Not sure where my mind is sometimes. I'll just blame it on the pandemic crisis and leave it that. But here it is: Dream, Wish, Imagine.

This is a mixed media journal spread. I used Inktense Pencils, colored pencils, and a little bit of acrylics as well. Sometimes, a girl just has to dream, wish, or imagine. Don't you agree?

I hope you have a creative weekend!

What is an Artist?

This art quote speaks so much in so few words, so I had to make this to share with you. It really speaks to me as an artist.

An Artist is a world trapped in a person.

So very, very true.

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!

3 Poppies Mixed Media

I've been working on this painting of 3 Poppies for awhile. I'm still doing school work as needed, but it's nice to have some extra time for painting while I'm not at school teaching everyday. Still miss my kiddos though, even the ornery ones!

Anyhoodle, thought I'd share a couple of photos of the acrylic painting in process before I share the finished project. I did some underpainting of the poppies before painting on the red color. That always seems to help cover the white of the canvas easier.

And this is the finished painting. I used primarily acrylics, but also used Prismacolor colored pencils for some details and shading, which is what makes this mixed media. 

I really love how this turned out. I don't know what it is about poppies, but they seem to find their way into my paintings every now and again. I think I'm going to hang this one in the studio. I love the bright color of the poppies. It just makes me happy, and every studio needs a little spot of happy.

Through the Rabbit Hole

I created an art journal spread over the weekend, inspired by a prompt on a Jane Davenport group on FB that I belong to. She has a month of challenges planned for April, all based on the theme of Alice in Wonderland. The prompt for April 1st is 'Through the Rabbit Hole.'

I'm not sharing this in the FB group, simply because the group is meant for sharing things created with Jane's art supplies. I don't have many of her art supplies, so it wouldn't be right to share this in the group. But I love the Alice theme, so I'm just going to occasionally create in response to some of the prompts--for the fun of it. 

Almost all of this was created using Neocolor II crayons. I love how versatile they are and I think the pigment is great too. The only thing that isn't Neocolor is the paint used for the little glass bottle. The glass part was painted with Metallic Accents watercolors by Prima. Those are always fun to use because they have a lot of shimmer to them. You can almost see that in the photo. 

This art journal spread also seems timely, because it seems as though we've all fallen into some sort of rabbit hole of late. The world is a weird place right now, my friends. Fortunately, I can escape the madness of it through art.

Stay safe and well!

Mermaid Shimmer

I was in the mood to paint some Mermaids the other day. My granddaughter had just finished an underwater silhouette painting with a turtle and some other sea-life in it, so that must be what inspired me to create this.

A good portion of the background of this watercolor painting was created with Metallic Accents watercolors by Prima. I love those watercolors because they have a neat shimmer to them--as you'd expect from something metallic. I like the idea of having the background sparkle a bit, but that also makes it challenging to photograph it well. So, you can't see all of the background fish; and one of the darker fish is cut off too since I wasn't paying good enough attention as I snapped the pic. Oh well. The darker parts of the painting are all done with acrylics. 

I'm still not actually sure I'm finished with this. It looks unfinished to me. So for now, we'll call this a work in progress. I do like it so far, but sometimes I don't know exactly how I want to finish a painting. So I have to step away from it for awhile and then (hopefully) come back to it at a later time. Do you ever do that?