Snow Angel Digital Art

Time for another creative challenge at the Luna Girl blog. The theme this time is Snow Angels, so I've created this Digital Collage to join in the challenge.

Snow Angel Digital Collage

I've used a vintage photo of Lily Elsie as my muse for inspiration, and I've turned her into an elegant and beautiful snow angel. She is turning into a favorite of mine. :)

We Shall Hear Angels Digital Art

The creative challenge this week over at the Collage Obsession blog is Season of Light, so I've made this Digital Collage for that inspiring holiday challenge.

We Shall Hear Angels Digital Art

The quote, in case you're wondering, is from Anton Chekhov. It spoke to me and really inspired me for this challenge. And I love angels, so it seemed perfect.

Fairy Wishes Digital Art

This week's creative challenge at the Three Muses blog is to create something with the theme of Gone With the Wind (not necessarily the movie). So I've created my Fairy Wishes Digital Art inspired by that challenge.

Fairy Wishes Digital Art

When you make a wish on dandelions, you never know what might be blown away in the process. Might be your wish. Might be some fairies. You just can't be too sure. ;)

Losing Mom Digital Art

The challenge this week at Collage Obsession is to use A Quote as inspiration for an art work. Since the holidays tend to make me a bit melancholy and miss my mom even more, I decided to let that serve as my muse for this Digital Collage creation.

Losing Mom Digital Art

The quote is from a scene from The Vampire Diaries. That's my favorite show on TV, and as dumb as it may sound, I cry every time I watch that episode where Damon utters these very words to the gravestone of his best friend, Alaric. I'm not so much crying for Damon as I am for my mom. I don't think I'll ever stop missing her. 

It's not my best art work ever, but it's certainly one of my most meaningful.

NAIH, Mom.

Red Autumn Mixed Media

Back in the Spring I did a mixed media painting that I called The Blue Tree Painting. I wasn't totally thrilled with it at the time--only because it didn't look finished to me. So I put it away for awhile, figuring that at some point I'd know what to do with it. Well, when I went in the studio over the weekend I got inspired after helping the Hubs rake leaves. So I re-worked my original painting and turned it into my Red Autumn Mixed Media.

Red Autumn Mixed Media

I decided that what it really needed was leaves and more color. So I used a stencil and stenciled on leaves in the a few shades of blue, along with a few in gold as well. I really liked it at that point, but I decided it needed just a little something more. So I created a paper leaf and added that to the canvas in relief, so that it would pop out off the canvas. After that, it finally felt finished to me. And now I love it! What do you think?!

Fall Hand Tree Art for Kids

I was inspired by a pin on Pinterest recently that showed some wonderful kids' art using their hand to make a tree for Fall. So my granddaughter, Destiny and I decided to try one for ourselves recently.

Fall Hand Tree Kids Painting
I traced her hand on some paper first and then we painted that in brown (I did more painting on the hand than she did, by the way). Then I gave her a small round sponge brush I'd gotten from the craft store for stenciling. I grabbed her egg carton, which we use for paint, and I put in yellow, red, orange, and green. Then she just dipped in one color at a time and put her "leaves" all over the tree with the sponge brush. She had a lot of fun doing this! And it's neat because it's colorful for Fall, but also because it includes her hand in the painting. I loved doing this one with her! :)

Butterfly Fairy Magic Digital Art

This week's challenge at the Three Muses blog is to use a Grunge/Print Background. So I decided to take my Vintage Flowers Mixed Media canvas and turn it into some digital art for this challenge.

Butterfly Fairy Magic Digital Art

I changed the coloring a bit from the original Mixed Media painting.  I also added the little fairy and a few other little images and effects until I got the look I wanted (Fairy created by by Lorie Davison of scrapbookgraphics.com). I love taking real artwork I've created and having some digital fun with it. :)


Minion Pumpkin

Well, I couldn't help myself. It's almost Halloween and my granddaughter had a little pumpkin here, so I decided to get creative. She loves Despicable Me, and the Minions, of course. Who doesn't? So I decided to make my own little minion a Minion Pumpkin. I've seen them on Pinterest enough to be inspired, so I went for it.

Minion Pumpkin for Halloween

My Minion and Her Minion Pumpkin
She liked it!

Witchery Digital Art

The current challenge theme over at the Lunagirl blog is Witchery, so I thought I'd create some Digital Art for my challenge entry. This is what I came up with.

Witchery Digital Art

I love how my little bit of Witchery turned out. :)

Angel Blues Digital Art

This week's creative challenge at the Lunagirl blog is Lady Blue. So I created this Digital Collage for that challenge. Vintage and Blue are parts of the theme.

Angel Blues Digital Art

I made this digital collage inspired by a vintage photo of Maude Fealy. I turned her into an angel for this collage. She's always great inspiration for my digital art. She does seem a bit blue here, but she is still beautiful, as always.

Dirty Diana Spotlight Digital Art

I was thinking about Michael Jackson this week, what with the Civil Trial against AEG in relation to Michael's death. But instead of focusing too much on that, I decided to focus on on Michaels' magic instead. So I created this Dirty Diana Spotlight digital art.

Dirty Diana Spotlight Michael Jackson Art

Michael's music and magic live on, and I love using it to inspire my Michael Jackson Art.

Fall Beauty Digital Collage

I started following the Lunagirl blog the other day and they have an Autumn challenge going on right now. So I created this Digital Collage for that challenge; it is my Fall Beauty.

Fall Beauty Digital Collage

The woman in the vintage photo is actress, Lily Elsie, and she gained fame in the Edwardian era. I think she is such an amazing beauty. I found her image while looking around for vintage images one day on Google. So I was happy to use her image in this digital art. I challenge you to do a Google search and look at her photos (there are many) and compare them to a contemporary actress, Rachel Weisz. I swear those two look so alike they could be sisters. I loved Rachel from the time I first saw her in The Mummy with Brendan Fraser. So beautiful and so talented too! Just my observations. :)

If you visit the Lunagirl blog, be sure to stop by her digital store too. She has lots of digital goods for sale, along with CD's of images and what not. I haven't even had a chance to look around her store yet, but I'm hoping to do that this weekend.

Witch Magic Hang Tag

I like creating Hang Tags, whether they are 'real' or digital. I created this one for this week's Fall Colors challenge at the Inspiration Avenue blog.

Witch Magic Hang Tag

I love the colors of Fall, don't you?! :)

A Star Can Never Die

I created this digital piece of Michael Jackson Art for this week's creative challenge at the Three Muses blog, the theme of which is Music.

Star Can Never Die Michael Jackson Art

What can I say? If a challenge theme is Music, my head and my heart immediately go to Michael Jackson.

“A star can never die.
It just turns into a smile and melts back into the cosmic music,
the dance of life.”

― Michael Jackson, Dancing the Dream

Forest Magic

This week's creative challenge at the Inspiration Avenue blog is to create and share what the words Woodlands or Forest mean to me. So this is the Digital Collage that I came up with for that challenge. I'm calling it Forest Magic. (Fairy by Lorie Davison of scrapbookgraphics.com)

Forest Magic Digital Collage

When I think of forests, I always think of something that's a little magical. So, it's no surprise that fairies come to my mind as well. Hope this fairy brings a little magic to your day. :)

Getting Witchy Altered Art Hang Tag

It's been awhile since I've done some Altered Art, so I decided to create something in my studio over the weekend to add to my collection of Hang Tags. It's this Getting Witchy Altered Art Hang Tag.

Getting Witchy Altered Art Hang Tag

I used a brown paper Kraft tag, then stamped on a wood-look background. I used Distress Ink along all the edges to give the tag and aged look. Then I used black ink to stamp on some spider webs, and I put some Kraft paper flowers on after that. Next I added the witch, the stamped paper spider, and a couple of black ribbons for some embellishment. 

And now this little paper witch is all set for Halloween.

Lilies at the Farm

The Hubs and I bought an old house on an old "farm" recently, which we intend to remodel (it needs it from top to bottom) and move into within the next few years. We put our camper out there in the mean time as a little getaway place, and we like to just hang out there sometime for peace and quiet.

What's been really fun for me though is discovering all the nature and wildlife that's out there. There are frequently deer and wild turkeys running in the fields behind our property; that area is owned by a farmer who has crops growing there. On our property though I discovered lots of different flowers at various times over the spring and summer. One of my favorites were the lilies that were growing right next to the old grainery building that will one day become my studio. I snapped a couple of photos of the lilies and thought I'd share one with you.

Farm Lilies Photography

Aren't they pretty? We have some other lilies that grew out there too, along with some other things...and lots of wild daisies. My mom would have loved those, as daisies were her favorite flowers. I like to pretend that she makes them grow there for me...or at the very least, that she's with me when I'm walking around enjoying them. 

Flowers always make me smile. They're like a free little gift every time I visit the farm. Can't wait til I can move out there and plant a garden and just enjoy all the nature every day.

Trash to Treasure Chairs

I've been going through all of my photos in my house recently--and I do mean ALL my photos. Even the ones that pre-date my digital camera. I'm trying to get them all organized so they're easier to pull out and look through whenever the mood strikes. Of course, most of them are older, since more recent digital photos only get printed if I want to put them in an album, which is really the nice part about digital cameras--you only have to print the ones you want!

But anyhoots, in going through all of my photos I found a photo of some Adirondack chairs that I transformed several years ago. I thought they'd be a good Trash 2 Treasure feature here on the blog. The original (before) version wasn't really "trash." It really just needed a little TLC and a facelift, so that's what I gave it.

Trash 2 Treasure Adirondack Chairs

I had two of these chairs, both made by my father-in-law, and I loved them, even in the "before" state. But I was doing an all white theme on my front porch at the time, so I decided to paint them white, and then use some floral stencils to make them a bit more decorative. They almost had a Shabby Chic look about them. I loved how they turned out and I used them until the day my husband tore off the porch because he was putting on siding AND planning to redo the porch itself. Unfortunately, the chairs got put in storage and basically got ruined. I was not happy. But I did love them for the time that I had them. And they sure looked nice on my porch!

Childhood Fairy Digital Collage

I'm starting to participate in challenges from the Take a Word Challenge blog this week. The theme for this week is Childhood, so I created this Childhood Fairy Digital Collage.

Childhood Fairy Digital Collage

The little girl in the photo is my mother, whom I lost last year. She is wearing a dress that was handmade by my great-grandmother. I guess you don't see too many fairies wearing black dresses, but you know what they say...creative license.

I love the photo of my mom. She was around four at the time. And she was very close to her grandmother. She was such a pretty little girl, who grew up to be a beautiful and amazing woman, and she inspired me in more ways than I can ever say.

Miss you, Mom. NAIH.

Renaissance Lady Digital Collage

I was checking out this weeks' creative challenge on the Collage Obsession blog and the theme is Renaissance Woman, so I created this Digital Collage for that challenge.

Renaissance Lady Digital Collage

A beautiful Renaissance Lady, some vintage hues, some digital elements, and a touch of magic helped me to create this digital art.

Leaf in the Sky

I'm not sure if I posted this photo before, but I'm sharing it now because it fits for the current challenge at the Inspiration Avenue blog.


The challenge theme is a "Kodak Moment." The idea is to enter something that, in our eyes, captures the meaning of a Kodak moment. This image, my Leaf in the Sky, does that for me. It was a moment where you see something, and you just HAD to snap a picture of it. I've always loved this photo, and it really captures the fun of Photography for me.

Minecraft Birthday Party

Over the weekend, my grandson, Dylan turned 10. Back about a month or two ago he decided he wanted to have a Minecraft Birthday Party. Cool idea, since he really loves that game. And considering the popularity of that game, you'd think there'd be lots of Minecraft party supplies around, wouldn't you? Well, think again. There are really zero Minecraft-related party supplies. So what did I say? Challenge accepted. I got into crafty mode and hit the studio to make as many Minecraft treats and decor items as I could. 

I've created two collage photos of what we did for our party. I want to share this because I know I was looking all over Pinterest and the Web for ideas myself, and really, thank goodness for Pinterest because that was a big help! So hopefully this will give you some ideas too if you or someone you know is thinking of doing a Minecraft Birthday Part too any time in the future.

Minecraft Birthday Party Decor

Black sheets of "Duck" brand duct tape was my friend for this party. I used to to jazz up plain, bright green cups, which I purchased at the dollar store, with Creeper faces. We put the plastic ware in those cups. I also used it to put creeper faces on Dylan's presents (top right). On the bottom right you'll see some boxes I made to represent the Mincraft blocks/cubes--I created water, cobblestone, wood, and grass (two sizes each) and just stacked a few on each table. The grass ones were also decorated with patterned duct tape; the others were decorated with scrapbook paper. In the two smaller pics (right middle) there is tissue paper grass on top of "grass" tablecloths, and on top of the grass are wood boxes filled with either coal (just black stones I found at the craft store in the floral department) or colored plastic gems, to represent diamonds and other gems. I purchased a few things from Amazon: 2 foam pick axes and one Steve figurine. Not cheap either, so they counted as part of Dylan's gifts! But they were a great addition to the party theme. And the Creeper cake was made at a local bakery. I also made Creeper Punch--forgot to get a pic of that! It was just Sierra Mist and Lime Sherbert--and it was quite tasty!

Minecraft Party Goodie Bag Treats

The key to making all the treats for the Goodie Bags was really just making a lot of Minecraft-themed labels. I used Hershey's nuggets for Minecraft Gold and Silver. I got some green mini frisbees that we personalized for Dylan's party. I made Minecraft labels for little bottles of bubbles; Steve faces for the blowouts, and Minecraft Coal labels for the coal gummy candy (that is really Christmas coal candy, but the label hides the Christmas wording on the package, for the most part). I also made Zombie faces for some green "slime balls" candy I found online. And we got some silver buckets too and put Rolos in them for another form of gold. There was other stuff in the Goodie Bags too--some straws, some pens, some Mike and Ike's candy, and some Minecraft rubber bracelets, which I found on Artfire.

I also decorated two bright green T-Shirts, one for Dylan and one for my granddaughter, Destiny. I made a stencil of a Creeper Face and used fabric paint to get it on the shirts. Destiny is modeling hers in this photo. :)

Destinys Minecraft Creeper Shirt



Dylan's shirt turned out to be a little too small for him. So he wore a different Minecraft shirt, but we put his Creeper shirt to good use. My daughter had the wonderful idea to have everyone sign that shirt so he'd have a nice memento from his 10th birthday. It was a hit! It's hard to write on a T-shirt though, let me tell ya! It was neat though. All in all it was a great day. Everyone had a good time, and most importantly, Dylan had a great Minecraft Birthday!

Dylans 10th Minecraft Birthday Party

Michael Jackson Eyes

The Three Muses blog has a challenge this week called Eyes. So I used my favorite muse to create this Michael Jackson digital art for that challenge.

Michael Jackson Eyes Digital Art

Consciousness expresses itself through creation. This world we live in is the dance of the creator. Dancers come and go in the twinkling of an eye but the dance lives on.

~ Michael Jackson, Dancing the Dream

Little Red Riding Hood

I was in fairytale mode when I created this Digital Art using one of my favorite vintage photos today. I originally posted it on My Enchantments blog on Tumblr, but I loved it so much I wanted to share it here too.

Red Riding Hood Digital Art

The little girl is so beautiful. I couldn't help but be inspired.

Black or White MJ Moment

I've been so busy dealing with moving all of my blogs over to Blogger that getting into my studio has been an impossible task. So I've really only created some digital art here and there. With Michael Jackson's birthday coming up on August 29th, I thought this would be a nice piece to share this week.

Michael Jackson Black or White Digital Art

This image is from the "Panther Dance" segment of the short film, Black or White. Really an amazing performance. I still remember the first time I saw it...and what a media-storm it created. It was tame though compared to what a certain Disney star (who shall remain nameless on my blog) did on the VMA's this week.

Anyway, this one's for Michael. Keeping the legacy alive.

For Art Chick Studio Email Subscribers

I've imported all my email subscribers into Mail Chimp so that you will now receive your blog update emails that way. A test email should arrive in your inbox around 8am Sunday. If/when you read that, if you wouldn't mind, please either reply to the email to let me know you received it--or--hop on over here to the blog and leave a comment. Or if you follow on my Facebook page, feel free to post there as well. This is not mandatory, so no worries. :) I just want to be sure the email update reaches you. So if I get even a few responses, I should know all is working as it should be.

And hopefully my next post will be some new art to share, because I want to put all this hacker business behind me once and for all. So until next time, thank you for your patience and your readership. Stay creative and be well!

Art Chick Studio Badge

New Home for Art Chick Studio

I've made the switch to Blogger with my domain so this is basically a test post. I will likely be switching to Mail Chimp for email subscriptions, as that allows me to import my existing subscribers without losing them. It will likely take a full day for all my domain's DNS changes to complete during the transition. Please bear with me! And email subscribers, I hope to have that all set up this weekend so that your emails will continue uninterrupted.
 

Thanks for your patience!

Beauty Full Mixed Media

I managed to get at least a few creative juices flowing in my studio over the weekend. Even though I've still been doing Minecraft birthday party-related stuff for my grandson's upcoming party, I found time to get a Mixed Media painting done in the studio too on Sunday. I'm just calling it Beauty Full. :)

Beauty Full Mixed Media

I used tissue paper to create texture for the flower. There are some bits of torn newsprint tissue paper here and there, some rolled on acrylic paint, some brushed on paint, and some dragged on paint too (using the edge of a piece of foam core). I also stenciled a bit in a few spots, and the letters were added with cardstock and stickers. The flower is kind of a stylized poppy. Looks a bit more like a peony, but hey, stuff happens. Sometimes you just gotta go with the flow...of the paint.

Love Wings Mixed Media

You know, I always swore I'd never be one of those "hearts with wings" types of painters. Not because I don't think they're cool and all, but because it seems like everybody does them anymore. But I finally had to cave and do one, if only for the sake of experimentation.

Love Wings Mixed Media


See, I had this little 4x5" canvas I wanted to use, and I also had some wing stamps I'd never used before. And as I sat there thinking in my studio of how to use the wings, the cliche got the better of me and I decided to paint a heart. And then I stamped on the wings and added some other details and embellishments.

So yeah, it's not the most original painting or subject matter in the world, but it turned out kind of cute and I like it, so that's all that matters. I also managed to start another Mixed Media painting over the weekend, and I hope to finish that and get it posted next week.

Fly Mixed Media Painting

I made it into the studio yesterday (two weeks in a row, yay!) but I was so tired I wasn't very productive. My husband had gone on a camp-out with our grandson Saturday night and I've discovered that sleeping in my house alone is NOT fun for me. So I was up most of the night unable to sleep. I didn't even think I'd make it into the studio because I was just so tired, but I decided to get in there and at least try to finish this little Mixed Media painting I had started last weekend.

Fly Mixed Media

This is a 5" canvas using acrylic paint, some stenciling, and some stickers. The butterfly itself is a sticker, though I added some painted accents to it too. I love butterflies, and I love using them in my artwork. I bet my granddaughter will like this one too. :)

Michael Jackson Digital Art Pieces

I haven't posted any Michael Jackson Art for awhile, so I thought I'd share these Digital Art pieces I've created in the last week. Digital art is one of my passions, and I do it a lot during the week when I can't get in my studio. I mostly post it on my Michael Jackson Tumblr blog, but every once in awhile I do something I think is worth sharing here as well--because I know at least a few of my followers love MJ as much as I do.

Dirty Diana Michael Jackson Art

This piece is from Michael's Bad era short film, Dirty Diana. Such an epic MJ pose.

Smooth Criminal MJ Heaven Digital Art


This image of Michael is from Moonwalker, from which was created the epic Smooth Criminal Short film. The digital art I created was meant to be as if Michael is looking down from Heaven--and him amongst the stars...where he belongs.

Vintage Flowers Mixed Media

Finally...after three weeks of not being able to get into my studio to be creative I was able to get in there yesterday. Felt so good! I spent most of the day working on this 12x12  Mixed Media acrylic painting.

Vintage Flowers Mixed Media


This started out as a blank white canvas, which I then covered with two kinds of tissue paper using mat medium. You can see the vintage newsprint one in the background. After that was all dry, I used a brayer to roll on two different colors of paint--one was unbleached titanium and one was in the burnt sienna family. I also added some bronzed mica flakes fragments into the wet paint in a few spots (though it's hard to spot it in the photo), which gives it a little shimmer here and there. Then I painted on my flowers using acrylic paints, along with some floating petals here and there to move the color around the canvas. Next I stamped on a butterfly, and added a bit of paint to it as well. I also stenciled on some beehive texture here and there. And finally I used some Gelatos to add some shadows to the flowers and petals, to help kind of pop them up a bit off the canvas.

I love, love, love how this turned out and will be hanging it somewhere in my home. Just have to figure out where. I have really been trying to find my creative voice in the past couple of months, and that is still a work in progress. I am really loving working in mixed media, and I think I will continue to do more of that. And I really think that nature is going to be a frequent theme in my work. I seem to enjoy that the most. :) But I will continue to explore lots of themes, ideas, and techniques on my path to creative self discovery.

Fairy Princess Destiny

This is just some Fairy Digital Art I made from a photo of my granddaughter, Destiny.

She is my favorite little fairy. :)

Destiny Fairy Castle Digital Art

Butterfly Mixed Media

I haven't been able to get in my studio for the last few weeks and it's driving me crazy! But I realized as I was looking at some paintings here in my office that I hadn't yet posted the Mixed Media Butterfly painting I did in early June. So thought I'd share that now.

Butterfly Mixed Media


I think my granddaughter may eventually end up with this. She already snagged my Bloom painting of a flower that I did. And she's asked me about this one a couple of times.  And what my Destiny wants, Destiny gets. :)

Vintage June Bride Digital Art

The challenge theme this week at the Three Muses blog is June Bride, so I created this Digital Art inspired by that theme, using a vintage photo of Maude Fealy.

June Bride Digital Art


Maude has to be one of my favorite muses for digital art. She was so beautiful! I love working with images of her, as they always inspire me. Be sure to check out all of the wonderful creations for this challenge on the Three Muses blog.

Damon and Elena Digital Art

I was in the mood for some Vampire Diaries Digital Art last night, so I created this digital collage and thought I'd share.

Damon and Elena TVD Digital Art


I hope some of you are TVD fans too. I love my TVD! And I love Damon and Elena. :)

Fairy Autumn

A new fairy was born in my studio yesterday...in this new Mixed Media painting. :) Her name is Autumn.

Fairy Autumn Mixed Media


I used some matte medium to adhere some patterned tissue paper to my 12x12 canvas. That gave it some pattern, design, and texture. I had already sketched the fairy's face so then I just painted her on the canvas. The wing shape was something I saw in the pattern of the paper, so I just outlined it with some paint--sort of like finding images in clouds. I love when that happens! I added some stenciled design, some rubber stamped images and rolled on some paint here and there, and added some detail and embellishments in spots as well.

The Hubs said this is his favorite painting of my recent journey into mixed media. That made me feel good. :) I have another painting in progress, but I'm thinking that one will involve flowers instead of fairies. Stay tuned!

Two Fae Moonplay

I was in the studio all day today creating a new mixed media fairy painting, which I will be posting tomorrow. But I've also been having some digital fairy fun on my computer, so I wanted to share my Two Fae Moonplay digital art as well. (Fairies by Lorie Davison of scrapbookgraphics.com)



Two Fae Moonplay Digital Art


I know, I know...I'm a fairy addict. :) But we all need a little magic in our lives, don'tcha think?

Building Her Wings

Just a little inspirational digital art and quote for today.

Building Her Wings Digital Art

Bloom

I finally got the finishing touches put on last week's Mixed Media painting, so thought I'd share it today.

Bloom Mixed Media


I'm trying to explore more mixed media techniques and working on getting more layers and texture in my projects. I'm still a work in progress. :) But I'm getting there.

The Blue Tree Painting

I did something a little different in the studio recently when I created this Blue Tree acrylic painting.


It's very difficult to tell from the photo, but the tree is in relief. I used modeling paste over a tree stencil on a blank canvas, then I painted the background with shades of red. You can't see all the shades of red in the photo though. :( It's actually much darker than this photo portrays. I'm experimenting with lots of different techniques, and modeling paste was on my list of things to try. I'll definitely be using it again. I just wanted to get a feel for how it works and I loved the tree image.

The Blue Tree Mixed Media


I have another mixed media painting almost finished and ready to share as well. It's turning out to be one of my favorites of late. Hopefully I can finish that one up in the studio this weekend!

Fairy Pink

This Acrylic Painting is my latest creation after working in the studio yesterday. I'm calling it Fairy Pink, because she's a fairy with pink hair.

Fairy Pink Mixed Media

The colors are not reading accurately in the image above, just FYI. The background is a robin's egg light blue--which you can see at the very top of the painting. And her hair is not as red as it looks in this photo--it's more pink and white with some red in it. But hopefully you get the general idea. I had such fun painting her. I think she will have some fairy friends in the future!

Finished Beauty

I mostly finished my Beauty mixed media painting last weekend. I still need to seal it, but the painting part of it is complete.

Finished Beauty Mixed Media


I'm still getting used to working with acrylics, since I've been an oil painter most of my adult life. Even in high school I gravitated toward oils. But my goal this summer is to keep stretching my creative skills and working outside of my comfort zone--and I'm determined to keep moving forward. I like how this turned out, but I don't 'love' it. I did enjoy the process the most though! And it's given me ideas for other things.

I'm really just trying to find my own creative voice. I don't think I've ever had a creative voice that is uniquely me. You know, where you could look at my artwork and know that Tina Grimes painted that. It's frustrating. But that just makes me more determined than ever to find it. I wish my Mom was here to help me. She always had the best advice, creative or otherwise.

Also, just so you'll know, my blog/website was hacked recently, and I'm still working to get that fixed. [Thanks, Michael for being an ASS and proving that you never loved my mother.] So if my blog disappears briefly at any point in the near future, please don't give up on it. It's just part of the process of fixing everything. I basically have to delete everything here and reinstall it all. Assuming I don't screw it up in doing so. Please hang in there with me during this process. And if you don't follow me on Facebook you might want to, because I will post updates there if the blog will be down for any length of time.

Thanks a bunch!

King of Music Digital Art

This week's creative challenge theme at the Three Muses blog is MUSIC. So, of course, my music muse is always Michael Jackson--the King of Pop and the King of Music!

King of Music Michael Jackson Art


An epic moment from the Black or White short film...with a little digital magic thrown in.

Winged Elena Digital Art

I made some new Vampire Diaries Digital Art last night, featuring Elena (Nina Dobrev). Just wanted to share. :)

Winged Elena TVD Digital Art


Only a couple more episodes until the season finale. This season has been such a journey--lots of ups and downs. And the season finale is supposed to include a "declaration of love," destruction, tears, and someone taking the cure, according to producer, Julie Plec. Wow. I can't wait!

Progress on Beauty

Just an update to show this week's progress on my 'Beauty' mixed media painting. It's not finished yet, but I did get a lot done. And just a note--the background is not actually the color of blue that it appears to be in the photo. It's actually turquoise blue. I took this photo with my iPhone and it's never 100% great or accurate with photos that are taken indoors. But oh well.

Beauty in Progress Mixed Media


I actually hated this painting a little ways into it. I almost gave up on it. But then I got some ideas going in my head and just kept plugging away at it--mostly because I love the drawing part of it and I didn't want to see it wasted! So even though I still don't love it, I don't quite hate it anymore. And I am going to see it through to the finish...love it or not. :) After all, this is about getting outside of my comfort zone--learning new things and trying new techniques, right?! I can't grow if I don't try new things, so I must keep going! The next photo I post will likely be the finished product (I hope), so stay tuned!