Wordless Wednesday

Meet Rocky

Most of you know by now that we have a new addition to our family. We lost our sweet Bosco back in September and Rocky joined us in late October. He was a surprise from my husband that I felt I was not ready for. My heart was too broken and still is. Truth be told if it were up to me I am not sure how long it would have taken me to feel "ready" for another pup.

So after 5 weeks I am now finally ready to introduce him to all of you! The adjustment has been very difficult, there have been many nights of no sleep, crate training trouble, and lack of patience on our part. But now we are getting into somewhat of a groove, getting to know each other better, and settling in with each other.

My husband bonded with Rocky right away while I was trying my hardest to resist even liking him. I am still finding it hard to risk another broken heart. Slowly though I am feeling better about it all and am letting myself get to know him, hold him, and hopefully love him one day.

He is starting to break the ice around my heart with his funny ways, cute face, and mischievous behavior like when he hopped up on the laundry bag and started chewing the strap! I just had to get a photo of this moment. Look at that face. He knows he is busted! lol

These are the moments when I enjoy him the most, like in this shot where he is just laying in his bed quietly enjoying the sun like Bosco did. Sometimes I see Rocky looking at something in the room that I don't see and I can't help but wonder if it is Bosco stopping by to show him the ropes . . .

Black Friday/Cyber Monday 30% off Sale!

Hoping all of my American friends enjoyed a lovely holiday yesterday! Although I don't partake in black friday madness this year I am having a sale in my etsy shop starting today through monday.

Just use this coupon code for 30% off your order!

CHRISTMAS11

To those of you venturing out this weekend to shop be safe and Happy Shopping!

xo

Finding Beauty . . .

“On a day
when the wind is perfect,
the sail just needs to open and the world is full of beauty.
Today is such a
day.”

~ Rumi

Texture Tuesday . . . NYC

click image to view larger

I am sharing this image today for Kim Klassen's texture challenge. I shot this in NYC and I had fun processing it with Kim's "the ladder" texture. This one gives a great grungy distressed look and I thought it worked well with this urban photo. I used one layer of "the ladder" at multiply 80%. Initially it looked like too much texture but I do love it!

Here is the original image. . .

Come on over to Kim's blog and see all the texture loving being shared today!

Click HERE!

xo

She Dreams of Love . . .

I am so hooked on graphite and despite the fact that I long to paint my sketches I don't want to add color. I think I am just afraid of it. Maybe I hide behind the monochrome because it is more comfortable for me. Ok, way too much analyzing here! lol

Anyway, I really enjoyed sketching her especially with closed eyes. I am crazy with eyelashes no matter if the eyes are opened or closed. After I drew the heart wings those words came to mind "she dreams of love" and I thought the perfect place for them was in her hair.

Someday maybe I will try to paint her. In the meanwhile I am sharing her over at Sunday Sketches this week. Check out Sophia's blog for all the details!

Paint Party Friday . . . Be Free

I found a window of time last night when hubby and puppy were both asleep. So I crept back to my art space and started collaging some paper on an 8x8 flat canvas board. I was so happy to be back to smearing my mod podge around to glue all the paper. I could hardly wait for it to dry before I added the paint. I actually spilled a ton of my golden fluid raw umber (ugh!) because I poured it out and then ooops too much! Oh well! Anyway, I decided to just use raw umber, white and blue. I really like the light blue with the brown.

I smeared the paint around for a bit and it didn't feel complete to me without stamps. I so love adding stamps to my work. My favorites are butterflies, numbers, and words. Oh, and my dogwood tree stamp is cool too!

I wish I had taken images to share the progress of this piece but I guess I was too in a zone to stop for that. So the finished piece will just have to do. I am slowly finding my way back to my art and although I still feel disconnected to it I am happy with this piece.

I am sharing this today over at Paint Party Friday. Come on over and check out all the great work! Thanks once again to Kristin and Eva for hosting!

xo

Wordless Wednesday . . . A Moment In NYC

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Beach Love

click image to view larger

I miss the beach. I have a need to be near the ocean. I only wish I lived there. I do live near a lake so that will have to feed my need for now.

I am sharing this image over at Texture Tuesday this week. The challenge was to use one layer of her texture 'phoebe'. I like this texture because it has a subtle border around it that reminds me of old photos.

Here is the original image . . .

Come on over to Kim Klassen's blog and see what's new this week! There will be lots of cool photography to check out!

New Black and White Altered Photo Art :)

"Love Today"

mixed media on 8x8 canvas board

Somehow this morning I managed to get in some art time for the first time in a few weeks since we got the new puppy. I took the opportunity while he was sleeping to sneak back to my art space and work on this piece. Actually I started out playing around with an image in photoshop which was fun and then was inspired to try it on a black canvas. I think these are my favorite pieces to do. They are quick, creative, and allow me to combine my photography and painting. Most of all they feed my need for instant gratification. lol

Here is the original image that I digitally altered to the image you see in the above piece.

This is a heart shape I found embedded in the blacktop along the walktrail I frequent. I thought it looked so cool. This morning I added some texture to the image and played around with some digital collage. I really like the end result. I decided to add a pink tone to the altered version because I thought it would be nice with the black.

After I glued the image to the board I used some of the photo scrap to punch out the butterflies and then stamped onto another scrap piece for the words up in the top right. I added the finishing touches by scraping paint (a mix of burnt sienna and titan buff) around to incorporate the collage. I added some of that same color paint to my script stamp just cause I love to use that stamp any chance I get!

I am sharing this over at Paint Party Friday which I have missed so much the past few weeks! Be sure to hop over to the party and check out all the cool artwork being shared!

Click HERE!

xo

PS . . . If you are a James Patterson fan check out my last post. I will be giving away one of his latest novels "The Christmas Wedding" !!

Calling All James Patterson Fans . . . For A Book Giveaway!

I am just feeling better from a bad bout with a crazy stomach bug that took me out yesterday afternoon. It seems to be a 24 hour thing thankfully but man it was brutal for a while last night! Must have been all the puppy stress catching up with me. 3 weeks of no sleep and getting used to a new routine with no art time has been difficult to say the least.

Anyway love to read and decided that from time to time I want to host giveaways to pass along some of the fiction novels I have enjoyed to anyone who is interested. I recently read James Patterson's latest romance novel "The Christmas Wedding" and loved it. It is a quick easy read about a woman who is getting married on Christmas Day to one of three suitors who don't find out till she walks down the aisle.

So if you are a Patterson fan and would like to win this hardcover copy all you have to do is leave a comment! That's it! And I will randomly pick a winner next Wednesday, 11/16. Feel free to spread the word if you please.

xo

Sunday Sketches

I am glad to finally be back for Sunday sketches. This girl was done with graphite and colored pencil using techniques I learned from Jane Davenport. She shares an easy technique for

figure sketching backs.

I am not a big fan of using colored pencils, I do not really like the gritty look they give. I am partial to graphite with its smooth and easy blendability. Graphite also eliminates the color factor which is always a challenge for me. But I did try to embrace my pencils with this sketch.

I am sharing her over at Sunday Sketches today. Check out Sophia's blog for inspiration! Hope you will join us sometime!

xo

More Somerset Studio Excitement!

I went to the bookstore the other night to pick up the new issue of Somerset Studio and as I flipped through it I was stopped in my tracks when I saw the subscription ad. The first two pages from my article in the last issue were used in the ad!

It was so amazing to see my article in print and now to see they used it in a new issue makes me smile! So exciting! With all of the puppy drama going on in my life right now I certainly could use some bright spots. And this for sure was just that!

Maybe I should take this as a nudge to finally sign up for a subscription to my favorite mixed media mag! lol

A Snowstorm and Some Pumpkin Bread

Wow how I have missed my blog! We have been offline since Saturday when the northeast snowstorm began. We lost power early Sunday morning and thankfully had a generator to get us through the 20 hours till our power was back on. Still hard to believe that we had snow in October. I have lived in southern NY state my whole life and never have we had snow so early! Not fun. The poor trees hadn't even lost their fall leaves yet. But most importantly we made it through with only minor damage to our property due to some fallen trees.

On Sunday via generator power I baked. I wanted to share this amazing recipe for pumpkin bread that I got from my mom who found out about it from weight watchers. So EASY!! I have never taken food photos so this was the best I could get to share for this post.

There are only 2 ingredients . . . any brand of spice cake mix (18 oz) and one 15 oz can of pure pumpkin. Mix them together (it will be gooey and sticky) and spread into a 9x5 loaf pan. Bake according to the directions on the mix which for me was at 350 degrees for approximately 60 minutes or until the a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Oh my gosh it is so good!! And I am not even a big pumpkin fan. My husband is and I was baking it for him. It is super moist too! I still cannot figure out how it works by eliminating the eggs, oil and water the mix calls for but who cares when the results are WOW! lol

Hope you give it a try! If you have any good fall baking recipes to share I would love to hear them!

xo