Febuary is here

Good morning Monday and February!  It is a cold one here, we received over 7 inches of snow this week-end and the roads are icy.  Reno does get cold and snow, unlike Vegas.  So it looks like a great day to stay inside, have potato soup and paint all day.  Well I will paint as long as my neck and shoulders will allow me.

This painting is from last year and is sold, but I thought it was appropriate for today's post, plus it is available on my Society6 shop in prints, pillows and more.  https://society6.com/product/radiant-heart-zh4_print#1=45

So today is a share of some of my favorite heart items I have made.


Being that it is February, I thought I would share a few of the heart items I have created this past week and are in my Etsy shop.  I like heart items all year round, not just for Valentine's.  But not everyone thinks like me.

This little mixed media sculpture was so fun to make and I can see me making a few more.  Fun and a little whimsical but still trying to keep an abstract edge.  You can see it HERE.

 These two canvases was on a night that I didn't feel too creative and boom.  Once I felt the clay hearts in my hands it was pure joy!  Both are listed HERE.

So no telling what today I will create but I can assure you that it might include a heart. May your Monday be warm and remember it is a new week which means fresh start, clean slate and a bright new week.

Judy

MIA...I have been missing

I have been missing from my blog for a few days, but I have been creating.  Sometimes I start on a project and forget to share.  Today is not a Christmas ornament, tomorrow!  I wanted to share what I have been working on for the past 2 days.

My hubby made these wood canvases for me and I have a few sitting in my studio.  After taking my class with Ruth Rae, she suggested that I try the plaster technique on other surfaces.  So this was a test to see if I could plaster over and existing wood panel canvas. 

I love the thick, chunky shadow box effect that it makes.  The was on the surface reminds me of old stucco buildings.

And it looks great hanging or on an easel.  I can see a series of these in the near future.  What do you think??

Just a quick share to let you know that I am not MIA, I am just hiding out in my studio. - Judy

Day 7 of Christmas crafts

Today I had plans of cleaning up my studio work space, however it got was cut short.  Why?  Because I am so adhd and little shiny things have me at "hello".  Yes, in the bottom of my rolling storage of beading supplies I found these glass and frame pendants.  I know I must have bought them for a project, but at this point \i can't remember since I bought them at a rubber stamp store in Anchorage, AK.  I haven't lived there for over 5 years.

Anyways, I just love the size...1 1/2" x 1 1/2".  Next thing I know I am pulling out all my scraps and not so good paintings and here are a few that have made so far.

Again I can't tell you how much I like to work on miniatures.  A little glue, tweezers and my reading glasses...oh what a fun afternoon it is going to be.

I pulled out a failed watercolor that I tried to revive with pen and ink.

Not sure if this one will make the cut, but I can see that my studio cleaning has been stalled for another day.

Happy Monday! - Judy

Day 5 & 6 combined

A very busy week-end but I have two projects that I finished, yeah!

Saturday I attend a workshop taught by Ruth Rae.  I knew it was going to be a challenge for me since my dr. has had me on 5mins at a time working on art projects.  This workshop was scheduled for 5 hrs!  Yikes.  The second challenge is Ruth's art style is more vintage than what I do.  Believe me if I could embraced the vintage style I would, but it has always been a struggle.  If you want to look at Ruth's artwork go here.

So being the brave soul, I signed up for the challenge.  The class was a mixed media, plaster and encaustic class creating a box.

The first part of the class was creating a box and plastering it.  Wow!  Talk about messy.  I struggled a bit with that part, who am I kidding I struggled most of the class!  Then way got to play with clay and create hearts.  I never thought I would like playing with clay...that was much easier for me, or less messy...lol.

After the plaster was dry, we painted, I added collage papers, poured wax and waited to see our creations.

When I came home and created a mini canvas for the center of my box and discovered the heart fit perfect.

I love the dimension and layers that you get in this project.

And it looks cute hanging on the wall.  I have to say I have gained confidence to do another!

I also made this heart, which is now an new ornament on my tree.  This heart was constructed out of cardboard, plaster over it, then painted, collaged and then bees was.  I love the texture.

So day 5 and 6, two projects, only one a Christmas ornament but love learning new techniques and sharing.  I hope you enjoyed this week-ends share too.

Judy

Last week's project...conquer the BIG canvas fear

Conquer  the big canvas fear!

Actually I worked on two of my fears last week...big canvas and testing fibers on canvas.

First let me talk about my fear of big canvases.  I have tried doing larger canvases and have hated them and they sit in my closet waiting to be be painted over.  Generally I like to do small works from 3" - 12".  the are nice doable sizes and usually on paper, not canvas.  But if I do a canvas it is small also.  Ok, so I like painting on paper because easy to ship on my Etsy shop and if the don't come out as I like they can go into my scrap box for the one day when I conquer my collage fear (coming soon!)

Canvases on the other side, I am really scared to mess them up.  But this week I went decided to just do it.  So here is my canvas.

 
I prefer the vertical position, but wanted to show up the horizontal too.  I have a hidden signature so it can be hung either way.

So let's talk about size!!  24" x 12", ok as I type that size it sounds small, but it is much larger than my comfort zone.  As you can see in the next photo, it takes up my whole photo light box!

 
Now I need to talk about my second fear/challenge...adding fibers to canvas.  A long time ago, about 11yrs ago I had this dream or desire to create works of art that encompassed me.  What do I mean me?  Well I have tried every so many things like stamping, scrapbooking, beading, sewing, quilting, embroidery, fiber art, and painting.  I knew back them I wanted to create art that incorporated all my skills into one piece.  But, when I told friends they would look at me weird and ask what would you do with it?  Funny thing I heard about mixed media back then, but much of what I was seeing was vintage or grunge, neither was where I wanted to go.  I knew it would be abstract and textured.  Somehow, this week I feel I am getting closer.  Those darn baby steps take so long to get up to running.  In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this wild, bumpy, crazy ride.

So, take some time to look at some of these yummy textures....

Alright, I have to admit I did enjoy doing that larger of a canvas once it was finished.  In fact today it was hard to go back to the smaller ones for my next project.  This next week I am going to conquer my fear of collage.

See you on my next adventure.

Judy

It's been awhile, I missed you

Well that is what I would love to hear from my blog readers, "It's been awhile, I missed you."  But I know they busiest time of year has just past and people are trying to get back to normal.

For me that means, back to painting everyday.  I have lots of photos of the daily painting I have been doing AND a explanation of why I have been away.  To make this fun I will mix in the paintings along the way.

Our family has been under a lot of stress...if I was asked our stress level from 1-10, I would say 13!  This is why I started painting little mini canvases each day.  These little pieces may not be much to some, but they are the best medicine for me.

Here is day 1 for 2015

the challenge for day 1 was to work with pink.  Pink is not a color I use much.

Day 2 for 2015

what a bright little canvas.  Again not a color combo that I use much.  It even surprised my daughter that I did a primary color canvas.

Day 3 for 2015...

 

 Day 4 for 2015...

I love black and white, but wanted to throw in a POP of color.  I can see more of these in my future but what POP of color?

Day 5 for 2015...

ok, so I stayed at black and white for a bit.

Day 6 for 2015...

 I wanted to play with some texturing mediums, so this one has fiber paste to the canvas.  And of course I was excited to work with orange.

Day 7 for 2015...

 I am not sure how long I am going to do these daily exercises, but they are my little piece of JOY.  And I hope that you like them.  They are all available on my Etsy shop (side link of blog).  I usually shy away from blue and I don't know why.  I love this blue and lime, which was a happy accident.

Day 8 for 2015...

 Started to think about Valentines.  Not quite the traditional colors but who knows someone might think it is cool.

Day 9 for 2015...

Still not finished with the blue I guess.  But I have to say I love bright colors.

Day 10 for 2015...

Ok this one got me excited!  It has orange and is textured.  I can't wait until we move and I can play with more colors.  Yes, a move is possible within the next year.  No location chosen and it is all based on hubby's job promotion.

 Couldn't help myself!

Day 11 for 2015

Blue, purple...hmmm...I like it. I was thinking there is not enough purple on my shop and I should play with it.

Day 12 for 2015...

Two hearts...I wanted to know if I could embroider on a canvas.  I could and I love it.

See how looking at all these little painting make you feel better.  I needed it.  Back to the stress level of 13.  My Nov & Dec was filled with lots of Dr. appointments.  First my hubby broke two ribs which meant an x-ray, which lead to a ct scan, more appointments, then a PET scan.  He has a mass in his lungs and after all the appointments is not cancer, but need a scan every 6 months.  Whew!  But at the same time my father-in-law fell a fractured his back and need back surgery.  We were omg! traveling to SC was not an option.  We didn't stop going to Dr. appointments, because my daughter who has been sick for 2yrs and unable to work found a neurosurgeon who is familiar with her condition.  She has Chiari Malformation.  It is a brain condition that she has to live with and it is very painful.  She had her MRI's 2 days before Christmas and it has been confirmed she needs surgery in a month.

So stress level through the holidays sucked.  I know that 2015 is going to be better, but we have a few rough bumps to get though the next 2 months. 


All I ask that you as blog readers stick with me, encourage me and provide a ray of sunshine.

Now I don't usually ask for help but if you like any of these paintings, please go to my Etsy.  All profits from my shop until 2/20/15 is going towards my daughters surgery.  We are going to have about $6000-$10,000 out of pocket expenses.  I don't want to burden my daughter with this debt while she is finished college.  So please visit my Etsy or any of my print shops.

Happy 2015 - Judy

#55 of 200...Monochromatic

Today is 55 of 200...sounds like a BIG challenge, doesn't it?  I have had some nay-sayers about this challenge.  But this is a new day and I did a great job so far.

The watercolor challenge was to do a monochromatic dream scape.  Dream scape was a little too challenging, so I went with monochromatic.  Here is my sketchbook.

I decided to go with my signature color, orange.  What fun just pull out my red and yellow watercolors.  I wasn't too happy with the sketchbook, but somehow it sort of looked like a cactus and a sun set, so I will go with that.  Just because this is going to be am art journal I added my black lines and left a space for writing.  Georgia O'Keefe has been on my mind this week, so maybe one of her quotes would work in this page.  At the end of the 6 weeks, I will share how I embellished some of these pages, for now you will see the rough watercolor experiments.

Back to the little purple canvas...monochromatic water colored canvas, my pen and ink circles and coated with a was medium. The fiber piece was created by laying fibers and wool between two pieces of water soluble stabilizer and free motion stitching.  They are a blast to make.

Now to decide which direction it should be laying on the easel, but I guess that is up to whom ever purchases it off my Etsy shop of Facebook page.

If you are interested in this piece or want to request a special order, please contact me.

Have an artful day! ~Judy

3D tree quilt to share

 

Today I'm sharing a art quilt that I made for this month's challenge.

The challenge theme was coffee or tea, then why did I do a tree?

 

 

Well here is my thought process...

I was thinking that the other participants were going to go with tea pots and cups or coffee.

 

So here is my spin on the challenge, the background fabrics were all tea dyed.  Some of the teas were raspberry, peach and black tea.  I have to tell you when I was pressing the quilt it smelled yummy!

 

 

Here is a side view to show you how the tree bark was curved.

 

 

The leaves were made from Tyvek, stitched and melted with a craft heat gun.  Then the tough part was attaching them to wire!  At first I was hand sewing them to the wire, but gave up and used E6000.

 

 

 

 

I wanted to show you the tree bark...it was felted with brown craft felt, brown velvet, sari silk, quilting fabric, wool roving and yarn scraps.  I have to tell you the bark was a BLAST to make.

 

But when you peak into the tree hole, you see paper music score.  That paper crafter or should I say that mixed media inner artist in me could not resist.

 

I will post more pictures about the challenge on Thursday so you can see what the rest of the group did.  Until then go get crafty!

 

Judy