My paint brushes

Painting on old, grungy, brushes I have loved, and have seen me through many paintings. My life, my love,,,, my paint brush!
I will never throw you away.
Thank you for the inspiration Gwen!

Coming home

Someone mentioned to me how nice it would be to take our home with us wherever we want to go. I think that's a great idea! I'm a homebody (most of the time) but would love to take my home with me. It is hot here in Seattle this week,,,, where is it cooler,,,,, I would take my home there...?

I'm going to the ocean!

Folded pamphlet journal con't

In a few posts back I posted a photo of my latest small journal. I have painted the inside with an image of a girl. I'll use her long dress to journal on and will use a white marker so it will show up. You can see the progress I've made on it, now I just need to finish the inside covers.

Bellevue Arts Festival

I was able to go to the Bellevue Arts Festival this weekend. It is slated as one of the best in the Pacific Northwest. I went on Friday before our heat wave comes. It is forcasted to be 94- 95 degrees here all week. We will probably break weather records for being so hot for so long. And most of us do not have air conditioners. :(

A new journal pamphlet

I started this journal pamphlet tonite. Can you see the folds? I created the cover with acrylics and graphite, and Inktense. It is made on hot press paper. I don't really care for hot press unless I am doing collages, the paper is very smooooth. Anywho,,,, I was going to post one of my favorite paintings but, my creative spirit went in another direction. That happens a lot. I hate rules, I dislike guidelines, I sort of fly by the seat of my pants when it comes to being creative!

The girl in my painting feels trapped. She is actually very sad, although she looks bewildered. She never lets anyone know when she is sad. She is being held by love trees, and only then she realizes that reading all of self help books in the world can't help her state of mind.

Sisters (with bunny slippers)

Measures 9 x 12 inches, on Fabriano cold press watercolor paper. acrylic, graphite
~available in my shop

Hold me tight

Created on 140lb cold press watercolor paper and acrylic. I have been working on engaging people more to each other instead of standing side by side. Working on arms and embraces. The arms, holding.... embracing...emotion = LOVE

Measures 9 x 12.

ACEO, ATC's

I have been busy creating artist trading cards. Whenever I get tired of working large, I love making smaller pieces of art. (ACEO) stands for "art cards editions and originals" .
They are miniature works of art the size of a trading card. I will be posting these in my shop each day. I also have some more new work coming to my shop soon so stay tuned. (I have been on a painting frenzy!)

xo...

I love gesso

I love gesso, it can virtually cover all your mishaps. I am so much more happier with this one.....

than this one from my previous post.

One of my favorite illustrators, Anne Herbauts

Le drôle de monde d'Anne Herbauts
Uploaded by telerama - Watch original web videos.

I just love Anne Herbauts illustrations. She has another book out that I absolutely love called "Monday". If you like her style there is one on ebay for about 2- 3 dollars.
Label = LOVE!


Another great book by Anne.

When life gives you...

I have been thinking about the latest theme for Pocketful magazine which I am an ongoing contributor. The themes are challenging for me, but I am up for a challenge. It usually takes me a couple of tries before I come up with the one I like. The theme for issue 4 is "All that is solid melts into air”


So, I started this illo, and it's not exactly what I had in mind!! Sometimes my paintings just take on a life of their own! Do you know the saying,,,,"When life gives you lemons,,,,make lemonade"?
Well, I'm calling this painting,,,, "When life gives you poop,,,,get a dog"!!!!

ok, back to the drawing board!!!

Hooked rug progess and a little fiber art

I am making progress on my hooked rug. When done it will measure 26 x 19 inches. That is really big for me. I don't have patience and want to finish it as soon as possible so I can work on smaller hooked pieces. I am happy with the colors and layout. I am still thinking about what color/colors the border will be.



And,,, this a small fabric art piece I did, measures about 8 x 8. She looks a little like a crazed doggy to me. I might make this into a fabric art journal cover, filled with luscious 140lb watercolor paper.

xo...

You can tell me anything

Do you have a special friend you can tell anything to? I do.
This is created on 9 x 12 canvas, with artist grade acrylics and inktense pencils. I love Inktense Pencils. They are vibrant and you can use them like a pencil or wet them and use like a wash.
available in my shop tonite along with a new stoftie doll!

The Sketchbook Project

The Sketchbook Project

"Be one of the founding contributors to The Sketchbook Library by signing up to receive a sketchbook, filling it up with art, and sending it back.

Your sketchbook will be among thousands of others that were made by artists from all over the world.

Visitors will receive library cards and be able to view the books at exhibitions around the country.

The goal of the project is to create a giant collective of sketchbooks from around the globe and make it accessible to everyone."

I've also added the link to my sidebar, what a fun project! I can't wait to get started.

Hand made art journal

I made this art journal by hand. It is made with 140 lb watercolor paper and 300lb covers. Binding is made with fabric. Pages are painted with a background wash, then bound. My only challenge was making the binding and have it dry enough to work with. Luckily we had some hot days here in Seattle and it dried quickly, but when the winter comes I'm not so sure. I just love the fabric, it is sort of vintage looking with swirly circles and the colors matched my cover painting perfectly.

Delighted

I am so delighted that my friend Nicolas Jonval sent me this wonderful catalogue of the exhibition in France for Bann Art today. He was one the the artists that showed his work there. The catalogue is full of wonderful art, and inspiration. I love art brut and outsider art. I wish there were more opportunities close by to see it. I read that the Folk Art show is in Santa Fe this weekend. I so want to go!

New journal pages

While meeting with art friends yesterday, I was able to do some more work in my art journal. First I paint and collage the pages then I add my journaling text later. This allows me to take it freely with me where ever I go, to add the text when I want to. The collage elements are usually made up of copies of previous paintings I have done. It is a nice record of the ones I've sold.


This page has a lot of collage, the houses were painted with acrylic.

Beasley

Meet Beasley. She likes flowers.

Faces

I picked up the new issue of "Stuffed" magazine today. I haven't even looked through it as of yet, but somehow just buying it has inspired me again to make some softies. I was fortunate enough to be selected as one of the feature artists in the premier issue. I created these faces today in anticipation of making some more softies. I paint the faces on good quality watercolor paper. Then I print them out on "EQ Printables" injet sheets. EQ Printables is the finest ink jet transfer sheets I have found. The quality of the fabric is superb. I highly recommend it if you want to make fabric transfers. After the faces are made I will think of a design for the bodies.

Exciting news!

I am so excited to tell you I will be teaching at Artfest 2010! Here is a sneak peak of the workshop I will be offering. If you don't know about Artfest, you should. It's a wonderful venue for artists to take workshops in Port Townsend, Washington for 4 whole days. Here is a link to Teesha Moore's site. The workshops will be posted August 1st, so be sure and check back then.