Seek Peace. . . . A New Painting

"Seek Peace . . ."

mixed media on 9x12 canvas board

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Here she is in her painted version! Although I like the original sketch better I do like the color palette which was a mystery to me even as I was painting her. She ended up more goth than I expected! This time I used some distress ink around the edges and I like the effect it gives. This one is also inspired by Tam's class Art, Heart, and Healing. Check out the link along my sidebar and join us if you haven't already!

In other news I sold my first painting! And I wasn't even trying. I have not listed any of my paintings in my etsy shop as I don't feel confident enough in them yet to sell them. I just posted a photo of it on FB to share it with some friends as I always do with my artwork and I received a comment from someone that loved it. He asked me if I would consider selling it because he wanted to give it to his 8 year old daughter who is an aspiring artist. She recently won a first place award in an art contest and told me how proud he is of her. He thought my painting would help inspire her to follow her dream.

I have to say I got all choked up hearing this story. I instantly thought back to when I was her age and won the first place ribbon for my pastel butterfly. Then I thought about how neither of my parents ever encouraged me with my creative interests. I waited until the age of 40 to begin painting. I instantly felt a connection to this little girl who is blessed with a dad that wants to support and inspire her dreams. That pretty much sealed the deal for me. I felt it was no accident that I was presented with this opportunity to help inspire her. It was syncronicity for me! You can see the photo of that painting here.

Oh, and one more thing . . . thanks so much for your lovely comments on my sunset photo!

My Creative Sunday . . .

"Listen To Your Dreams"

mixed media on 9x12 canvas board

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Yesterday I had a great time speaking in Philly at a women's cancer symposium. Although it was 6 hours of driving round trip it was worth it. The event had a good turnout, I met some lovely people and even got to sign some of my books! I truly feel grateful for those moments when I get the opportunity to inspire others through sharing my cancer survivor story.

Today I enjoyed a quiet morning painting the sketch from my last post. I used the water soluble crayons again (love them . . . I still need to order the caran d'ache!), watercolor pencils, graphite pencil, my brayer, white acrylic paint, and some new stamps I bought.

I have to say that I had a bit of trouble with layering my background. Only because I didn't quite like how it was coming out. I didn't wait for my stamp ink to dry (it was taking very long!) and when I added the next layer it was smearing all over and mixing in as color. Anyone else have this problem? Any tips? So I used the brayer and added more white paint to cover what I didn't like. I just tried to go with what was happening realizing that no matter what I could always fix it.

I am happy with how she came out. Those words popped into my head as I was painting. I outlined them with graphite to make them blend into the background.

All in all a nice way to spend part of my Sunday!

Tonite is dinner with my hubby at our favorite local italian restaurant!

Hope you are all having a lovely day!

New Sketch Waiting to Be Painted!

I wanted to share a new sketch I did yesterday. No words have come to mind yet but hopefully they will when I paint her. I am planning to use her in a mixed media piece as I did for Tam's class using the new techniques I learned. In case you missed it you can read that post HERE.

Sketching always quiets my mind. It is fun to see how the face will turn out. It seems a secret to me while I am creating. I always look forward to the big reveal!

Tomorrow I am off to Philly to speak at a women's cancer symposium. Hope you all have a great weekend!

Open Your Heart . . . Mixed Media

"Open Your Heart"

mixed media on 12x16 canvas board

This painting was done for Tam's free class Art Heart and Healing. I sketched her out first. You can see the initial sketch in this post. In that post I shared my frustration with painting on a journal page. So I decided to paint her on a canvas board. I really had fun with this. It is my first painting incorporating mixed media techniques like layering, stamping, and collage.

I only used water soluble crayons for the entire piece as Tam does. The only paint used was some white acrylic for the background and a bit to mix in with the crayons on her face. And I only had student grade cheapie crayons in standard colors. I loved using them! It made shading the face so much easier for me than when I have used just paint. I may have to invest in some of the caran d'ache crayons I have heard so many good things about! I used my graphite pencil for shading which blended nicely into the color. Using a brayer is also new to me and how fun is that?!

If you haven't joined us already please do! Tam is great and I love her style of teaching! You can sign up for this free class over at Willowing !

Art Journal Frustration Leads To A New Sketch

I am taking Tam's free class Art, Heart, and Healing. It is my first class with her and love her style of teaching. I watched the first video for this week and was all excited to get started. I have never done an art journal before so I was curious.

I gessoed the pages of the journal to prepare it. But I was frustrated that my pages were warped and curling up. I was just too distracted by the warped pages to keep going!

So, instead of giving up I grabbed my sketchbook and graphite pencil. I decided that I still wanted to do the exercise even if I couldn't do the mixed media which I was so looking forward to after I watched Tam's demo. I sat and sketched this girl last nite. ( I have to admit that sometimes I enjoy sketching more than painting.) I finished her up this morning and used my very first stamp to add the hearts around her. I really do like her. I felt good when I finished the sketch. Although I gave up on the art journal I felt some sense of accomplishment with the completion of this sketch. I am finding that when I start something new I have even less patience for the learning curve!

If you haven't signed up already head over to Tam's site and join us! She is just lovely!

For those of you who art journal, any suggestions for my page warping problem?

Fall Colors Along the Walk Trail

Yesterday was a perfect weather day her in NY. It was 70 degrees, cool and breezy. Hubby and I headed out after breakfast to the walk trail with our pug in tow. It is just across the street from our house. I took the camera along. I was able to get some great shots of the foliage. Not sure if the colors have peaked here yet but they sure look close to it! I love the colors of the leaves reflecting in the water in the above shot.

Loving the orange and yellows!

More pretty reflections in the water!

My hubby took this one!

I may even try to paint one of photos with the water reflections if I have a brave moment! Water reflections are not easy with acrylic. Of course I can always leave that aspect out. Hmmmm.....not sure yet what I will do!

Oh, and today Art, Heart, and Healing a free course on willowing.ning starts! I am excited as I have never taken a class with Tam. Hope to see you there!