She loved roses

I don't paint commissions because I have a difficult time painting "on demand", but when a lovely lady contacted me and asked if I could recreate a painting she saw me show on YouTube I immediately agreed. She asked me to change the color of roses to red and yellow, and to add an angel wing.

I agreed because there was a story behind it, she had a reason for wanting this painting. It touched my heart, and I couldn't wait to transfer the emotions into paint. The whole process left me feeling fulfilled, and happy with knowledge that through our art we can sometimes connect to people who need it and help them in a very small way. A good, humbling feeling.

Guardian

What is she guarding? You'll see... a little village.

I used layers of peeling paper and paint for the background, acrylics and oil pastels for the angel, but the real inspiration for this painting was a collage sheet with little houses from my digital kit. I saw it peeking from a pile of collage material and wanted to see if I could use it on a bigger piece.

When I created this collage kit, I used it for ATC cards (2.5"x3.5"). Cutting different elements and combining them worked fine and was fun.

If you purchased one of my collage sheets before, try looking at them with a different mindset. Cut some shapes, leave background peeking through, change color by painting transparent layers over... it can turn into something completely different.

Her Own Song

-mixed media on 11"x11.5" watercolor paper-

Thanks for visiting!

Have a happy weekend!

Feelings shown

I am enjoying my big journal very much!

So many things fit on a big page...  it's like all that space allows the story to unfold.

This page started with a tiny torn out piece of paper. I found that little scrap on a street at least two years ago (probably more) and it kept showing up on my desk. I decided it was time to use it.

I don't use faces from magazines, but sometimes I use other, unrecognizable parts for color or texture. The girl and boy were in my throw-away pile. Something about the way they were accidentally cropped (while I was tearing paper around them) made me like it, so I added that piece to my page. And the one above it too. 

After that it was easy to add found words from a book and form some kind of a story... 

Speaking of stories, two amazing story-tellers are sharing their knowledge - Katie Kendrick extended sign up for her online workshop, and Lynne Hoppe is generously sharing how she paints her magical people. So much inspiration...

A day for angels...

Over and over and over...

What do you do when are not happy with what you painted?

I paint over it. In this case maybe it wasn't that smart, because I'm fighting with her (or she is fighting me), but I'm taking my time and hopefully the result will be the way I want it :-)

Happy weekend!
P.S. Can you tell me, please, does the video show up in google reader?

Preserved Memories

I wanted to preserve some memories in a little book.

I made darling pogo prints of photos that captured some of my favorite moments.

I gathered some of the supplies we used and splashed them fearlessly on pages.

I picked an adorable photo of her.

Wrote a delicious recipe that she made (not from the adorable creatures in the photo bellow). 

And I wanted to show it all to you, but I can't.

In my hurry to send the little surprise, I forgot to scan or take pictures of all pages...

I was sure I did it and confidently opened my scans folder today to prepare them for this post.

Imagine my surprise when I saw only 4 images...

Oh well.

You get the idea. 

 Pogo prints, tons of texture and paint, and memories preserved in a little book. Fun project!

Untroubled

I have a BIG new journal. So does she. It is really a beautiful journal, right now - my favorite. I love working in this big format (11.75x16.5"). This is the second page I did. I'll show the first one soon (as soon as I get photo of Sharon's page, so that we can all see how different they turned out).

I loved making up a story on this page, two girls thinking completely two different things.

Or it could be just one... conflicted about something.

Notice the word "But". When I was cutting it from a book I was obviously too impatient to be careful, so I cut it in half... Does that ever happen to you? Rather than looking for a new 'but' word, I decided to glue down both parts.

While the left girl is obviously worried, the other one has no care in the world...

SEEM + ED. Again a found word thing... Much easier to find word seem, than search forever for the correct tense. I do this often - cut a word and add 'ed', 'ing' or whatever is needed from a different word. Makes things easier.

Speaking of easy and untroubled - how easy is it to enjoy the long weekend? One more day!!! I hope you're having fun!

Four men

This is how I spent time on the airport - making 10 second sketches. You really can't stare at people without them looking back at you, so I found a spot where I could glance at people passing by, then quickly scribble something in my journal. They never noticed and it made my time go faster...