There is Always Photography . . .

I meant to put up a post on Friday as I always do for the Paint Party Friday link up however I haven't painted in a couple of weeks.  Haven't been painting much since I have been sick.  

The other day I was scrolling through some photos and found a cool one I shot a few years ago in NYC.  I put it in snap seed and spent some time altering it.  That sometimes can feel like painting to me.   I get lost in the moment of creating.  

I went for vintage and grunge on this one.  And it just works.

Hope you are all enjoying the long weekend.  I am soooo looking forward to fall and the crisp weather that hopefully is on its way soon!

xo

Finding My Way Off Of The Couch . . .

As you may have noticed I have not blogged since Friday.  That is because I have been sick since Saturday evening.  And today is the first day I am finally feeling better.  It started with a sore throat that I brushed off to allergies which progressed pretty quickly to a full blown bad cold with a fever that has kept me couch bound with my puff's plus tissues for the past four days.  

In other news Rocky had surgery his neutering surgery yesterday so we are both resting.  Although I seem to be wanting to rest more than him.  He is of course bouncing back much more quickly than me!

I have not painted in almost 2 weeks which always makes me nervous.  You know, like I will never want to do it again.  Silly girl.  But I did manage to play with some iphoneography which I have to share with you today.   

The above image started out as this . . . 

I put it into Snapseed, one of my fav iphone photo apps and love the result.  Cool makeover that I hope you enjoy!

Hope you are all well!!  I have missed visiting all of you!  I will make my way around soon!

xo

More Love And NYC . . . New Collaged Canvas

Haven't collaged a canvas in awhile so I thought that since I had some photocopies laying around of my NYC photos I would use them for collage.  I reused a canvas panel I had with an unfinished WIP.  It is a 16x20.  I am enjoying creating larger.  

I used matte medium and quickly glued the papers down not really paying attention to where I was putting them or which images they were.  I used payne's gray and raw umber to add color.  I tried to keep a few images exposed like the cab and some of the buildings.  I stenciled letters with some black paint.  Finishing touches were added with white out pen and black sharpie.  

Thought you might like to see the collage before I went crazy all over it! 

I liked this image so much I printed it out as a photo.  You can read all about that in this post HERE.

Sharing this piece today over at Paint Party Friday.  

Wishing you all a lovely weekend!

xo

Flowers In The Sun . . .

Love Balloon . . .

"love balloon"

8x10 mixed media on gallery wrapped canvas

available on etsy

You just never know what can happen when you paint over an old canvas.  That is what I did for this painting.  I had an 8x10 canvas with the beginnings of another idea that had been sitting for about 6 months.  All I had done was created a teal background and sketched an idea on it.  So without really thinking I grabbed it and added some alphabet stencils with black paint randomly.  

I decided that I wanted to use purple and magenta so I started smearing some of that around over the stenciling.  I wiped away some of the purple which revealed some of the black letters and loved how that looked.  Actually that is my favorite part of this piece.  I also scraped some scribbles into the paint.  I tried some drips with the spray bottle as well.

When it came to the heart that is when I struggled.  I must have painted over that heart 4 times before it felt right.  About 2 hours today I worked on just that part and felt such relief when I finally made that "breakthrough"!  Then it felt complete.  

I am sharing today over at Paint Party Friday.  Please stop by if you have never been!  

Click HERE!

A Beautiful Surprise . . .

Yesterday was one of those days.  It was a rough morning, there was a bit of a crying meltdown, some anxiety, and a hyper puppy.  I had planned on meeting a friend for lunch.  I didn't want to go.  I was too bummed out.  

Then I thought that it may help me feel better, getting out of the house, enjoying a nice visit with my friend.  So off I went.  

These flowers were a belated birthday gift and brightened my day.  I had an amazing time. I think sometimes the universe sets things up to give you what you need, what will help, what can heal . . . 

And She Appears . . .

Continuing along my current obsession, using fluids and a spray bottle to create abstracts I grabbed a small 8x8 canvas this time and tried some different colors.  (I have to admit that having used that 16x20 this felt way too small!)  I originally used my favorites, payne's gray and burnt sienna, but HATED the result.  So after that dried I decided to use colors I typically do not like at all, red and yellow.  Actually it was magenta and yellow.  I wasn't sure what would happen painting over the darker background but I feel like it gave some nice depth to the piece.  

I smeared the paint around with my hands and then just started spraying.  It is so cool and weird to me how sometimes things just appear when you are working so randomly.  I do not pay attention to where I am spraying.  I didn't notice the figure until I went back and looked at the canvas when it had dried.  I was surprised to see what looks like the side profile of an image (in yellow) with water dripping from the forehead. I also see a bare shoulder with a drape over it as well.  

I am curious to know. . . 

Do you see what I see??