Inspiration from Alisa Burke

i loved doing these....they are painted on salvaged 4x4's......i did them for Christmas gifts.......thank you for the inspiration Alisa.....

my halloween grandbabies

reeci, annie and piper.....

face3

another face for 29 faces of september....i have sketched another in my altered book.....this time i painted the page with "absorbent grounds" by golden.....i wanted to soften the writing on the page but still be able to use watercolour.....this did the trick.....this is a quick sketch with pen and then colored with watercolour...my time has been very limited for art these days....

face 2 for 29 faces of september

another quick sketch in my 29 faces altered book....pen and watercolour

it's here again-29 faces

29 faces of september....i could not resist to do this again for september......go here and see what it is all about.......

here is my first face...a quickie on a piece of scrap paper that i pasted in a altered book......this is where i will keep all of my sept faces......it really is fun to see all of the great faces each day......

cold wax

since i have not posted here for almost a month i thought i would share this cold wax "experiment" i did some time back ..... this is small, 4x4......interesting to do and i am pretty sure i will try it again as soon as things slow down for me.....busy, busy, busy.......

class with Jane Davies

among many other things , i am doing  "Keys to Dynamic Composition" with Jane Davies..... i have a way to go but thought i would share this piece with you...........i love jane's work and this is the first class i have taken with her.....she is going to be teaching in saluda, north carolina  at random arts in september....the 7th, 8th and 9th......i am really looking forward to it.....

a WIP for Annie Kate

i am doing this mermaid "as per request" for my grand daughter Annie Kate...she is 9 years old and loves mermaids....i have made a promise to her that i would have it done in 2weeks......this has been a WIP for soooo long.....soooo, this is going to be my main project for the next 2 weeks......and i finally found the sea shells that were collected in the florida keys many years ago... i am going to use them on the mermaid picture....she already has a shell "headband".....by the way, Annie Kate  loves glitter, so there will be loads of glitter...

idea book

one of the on line classes i am taking is julie prichard's new mixed media class ..(.link on my sidebar)....i love her classes...she is a fantastic teacher.....this is the photo of an "idea book" she instructs you to make...it was fun just grabbing whatever and sewing it into a book.....

art on a board

yes, this is painted on a piece of "lumber"....a leftover piece from some work our daughter was doing at their home....i raided the scrap pile.....it is 5 1/2 x 16 inches tall....it was inspired by a picture i saw in a asheville, nc "about town" magazine.....i used acrylics and prismacolor nupastels on it.......i do love using the nupastels...... i just love using my fingers to blend them......i have a load of pan pastels but cannot get used to using the "wand"....

doodle wip

while my husband was in the hospital having back surgery i was doing this...a doodle that took forever to get to this point.....but it kept me occupied.....the husband is doing great...me, i am exhausted from being away from home for 4 days and staying in a motel......hospital is 3hrs away from home .....and then there was the trip home in the car......i won't even go there..........

#22

calling this #22 for 29 faces of may.......i did not want today to go by without at least a very quick face sketch ....this is done with a 6b pencil and i used  nupastel for some color...finished in less than 10 minutes on text weight paper......

#21

for 29 faces.........

#17,18,19 and 20 for 29 faces of may

9 more faces to go .....or more maybe.....i hope you are not getting bored with book pages faces.....i can do them quickly...my days are pretty full right now with all of the extras that life throws at you.....thanks for the comments....they make my day........ ;-)

#16 for 29faces of may

i worked on this most of the day today...i don't know why...it almost hit the trash can a couple of times....it is on a collaged canvas....this canvas is doomed because this is the 3rd "painting try" on it.....but anyway, here it is as much as i dislike it, it is my face for this day.....it is 11x14............

#15- 29 faces of May

another Modigliani type piece.....

29 faces #14-wip

a work in progress....a gift in the making ...it is large,24x24....... ...bright, huh??

for 29 faces

i guess you will be seeing at least 29 posts of faces for may here on my blog....if i do this i will amaze myself........the 3 faces here are drawn in ink and then watercoloured......of course, as you can see, they are on book pages.. i used my rotring ink pen....it is not waterproof and i like the effect you get when you apply water....takes some getting used to though.......i used india ink on the second girls hair with a new dip pen i just bought and it is waterproof . i wasn't happy with the hair markings.....and just getting used to the dip pen.....and the 3rd girl is weird looking...

29 faces #10

another gouache resist for face #10......

Face #9 for "29 faces "

faces, faces, everywhere on my table........ this is another for "29 faces of may"..... it is a gouache resist....(google it) if you want to learn about it...there are several ways to do it....... anyway, i did a Modigliani  type painting...a really fast drawing......but i had fun....actually, i did several of them so you might see another soon......lol

face#8

#8 for 29 faces in may....the day got away from me but i did manage to take 30 minutes to sit down and do this quick sketch with pastel pencils.....very hard to get a picture of this...but you get the idea...

29 faces #7

this face turned out to be a mess....i grabbed a can of spray that i thought was my fixative and it was not....i went to put color on the cheeks and what a mess.....it is in a altered book/journal so i decided to just go with it as is because i was getting very frustrated with trying to fix it.....amen, and on to tomorrows face....

Faces 6 for 29 Faces of May

2 more faces towards my goal of "29 faces in May".....these, again, are in a book and are drawn with graphite crayon  and colored with watercolour......i then coated the pages with water-based "Polycrylic" by minwax for a protective finish.....

Face 5 for "29 faces"

for this face i used watercolor crayon and white acrylic paint......it went very fast ...i could not sleep so i headed to the studio and did this.......it is a "Tam style" face..... and i already started one for tomorrow....

faces 1,2,3,and 4

ok, i am going to challenge myself to do a face a day for 29days....... go over and see all of the fabulous faces...here are 4 of mine...they are sketches with pen or graphite crayon in a book that i am going to fill with faces ....some i will color in the future...

Always Play

doodle

i "doodled" (is that a word) this while waiting for something to dry........what the heck, i thought, i will blog it ....it didn't take but 5 minutes to do on some paper i had on my table......another redhead !!!

march "canvas create"

i have signed on to create one canvas a month for a year with Donna Downey.... fun, relaxing, no stress creating..... this is march's canvas.......i love this crafty fun.......

i painted a pear

my very first pear...........Martha Lever has a "Pear-ology" class that i am taking.....she paints the most beautiful pears and is such a great teacher...... this is the first pear for me...... i painted it on watercolour paper that really is the worst...... i do have great paper but this was right in front of me and so i tried it.....i threw the rest of it in the trash, thats how bad it is......

more spring flowers

i love spring.......this bush sits right beside my "studio" and it is gorgeous....... i believe it is called "spiaria" (?)...... i love white flowers...

Lilly of the Valley

the lilly of the valley is starting to bloom on my bank and the winds are bringing the fragrance right up to my front door.......... i just love it........ happy easter everyone.......

another red head

it seems when i get to the point where i do not want to, or don't have the desire to paint , i drag out the paper, pen and watercolours.......this is a 15 minute sketch and color......i have a limited palette of watercolours that i use when i am sitting around watching tv.......that is why i turn out all these red heads.......i surprise myself with these sketches....some of them turn out pretty good.....i think.....

flora's class progress

some progress in flora's class.........the 5 weeks of class was amazing.....i really enjoyed it and will take with me some wonderful moments........as you see, i am still not close to being finished with my paintings......many layers to come .......our goal was to learn the process, the amazing process that will stay with me forever.......

the 1st canvas pictured is now the bottom canvas..........for a while........

Spring is about here....yippeee

a few pictures i took today as i enjoyed our beautiful north carolina weather.....it was in the high 60's today and it was glorious.......rosemary is in bloom, red maples are budding, old red wagon waiting for pots of flowers and the garden area is tilled and planted with potatoes and onions this year.......we allow a neighbor, who is an organic farmer, use this part of our property to plant some of his veggies......and we benefit from it by having all the organic veggies we need all year long.....how lucky are we.....

WIP for Flora's class

the top photo here has become, after a few layers of paint, the bottom WIP......still more layers to go in flora's class.......i have to tell you it is soooo much fun to experience the whole concept of painting soooo freely.......will update soon.......forgot to mention this canvas is 36x36 inches...

paint party friday

yet another quick face sketch for ppf.....this is quickly drawn with a sharpie, then watercoloured with some dried, leftover paints i had sitting in front of me on a plate that i mix colors on....i think i completed it in less than 10 minutes......on copy paper......