Mixed Media Painting : Fresh Start

When I'm feeling a bit rusty, or I just don't have much time but want to create, I've been making these quick little 5" x 7" mixed media paintings on watercolor paper. It's fun and fairly quick, and best of all since I don't spend days on them (mostly), I can sell them for a great price. I love affordable art, don't you? They're fun to create, and my collectors love them... win win!

This is my latest, "Fresh Start". I started out by gluing random pieces of paper down to add texture and depth. Next I painted the flowers, etc using acrylic paints and added details with water-soluble pencils and a bit of gold marker to add some pizzaz to the vase. This one is available for $38! The price includes shipping in the U.S., but international shipping is a wee bit extra.

Thanks for looking! I hope these flowers brighten your day!

xoE

Edit 8/16 -SOLD!!

Mixed Media Painting: Solace

Hi there! Wow! I've been neglecting my poor blog so much these past couple of years! Instagram and Facebook seem to distract me so much that I forget about Blogland... but I really have been missing it here so I'm going to try again to get back to it. 

Anywho... let's get to it! Often when I'm stressed or not quite myself the sea will call to me. Back when I was single, after a bad day, there were times I'd hop in my car and drive to Huntington Beach (CA) and walk the pier or just sit in the sand barefoot and watch the waves. It always seemed to help me feel better. There's just something about it (or any body of water really). Sitting by it always seems to soothe me and make everything feel manageable. I can't just up and run to the beach anytime I want now because having a family changes that, but making art with a body of water on it helps almost as much! While working on this I could hear the waves crashing down below. I could almost smell and breathe in the fresh air and feel it's mist on my face.. ahh... there's nothing like it. Come sit by me and let's drink it all in. "Solace" 5" x 7" on watercolor paper. This little mixed media painting is from the beginning of summer and is sold.

Thanks for being here! Have a wonderful, creative weekend!

Three New Paintings!

Hi there!  I've been a busy little bee lately!  Recently I took part in a challenge to paint 30 paintings in 30 days.  This one above was the very first one that I painted for the challenge.  Not bad #1, not bad!  It's on a 8" x 10"x 1/2" canvas. I love Koi and waterlilies so I figured why not paint both!

This is the second one, "I AM here".  This one was much easier than the first one.  It seemed to flow out fairly easily and tell me exactly what it wanted.  I love when that happens!  It's also on 8" x 10" x 1/2" canvas.

close up of "I AM here"

"Island Of Dreams" was the third painting that I did.  Don't you want to take a boat out on that water and just float?  This one was done on 11" x 14" canvas board. 

 I like how the first three paintings all have water and seem to go together.  I think it was a great way to start off the challenge!  

Just for fun here's a photo of "Island Of Dreams" while it was still in progress.  This can almost be a finished painting itself!

So there's the first 3 out of 30!  I only have 27 more to show you!  ;-)  

They're all done now so if you can't wait you can see them all on my Facebook Art Page or Instagram 

Thanks for visiting!  See you soon!

One Lotus Painting

After doing the front of my art journal with a lotus (in previous post), I HAD to do more like it, so I did two 8"x10" paintings inspired by it.  This is one, and I'll show the other one in another post.  

This photo above shows the beginning stage of it.  First I painted the base colors, then I smeared on a thick coat of Heavy Gel Medium and drew into it while wet.  After letting that dry overnight I started to paint it.

As you can see it looked quite different at this stage.  I liked it but it didn't feel quite right to me, so I put it aside for a week or so.  When I went back to it, I just kept adding layer after layer of paints and glazes until I finally liked it.  

To finish it off I gold-leafed and antiqued the sides of the canvas, then put a few coats of sealer over the whole thing.

So now I think I'm addicted to painting water lilies/lotuses!  I'm planning on doing some bigger ones like this too.  I think it'll be fun!  And I still have a couple more finished ones to share with you.  

For a while now I had been wanting to do a series of some kind, and realized that's what this is... my accidental waterlily series!  There's nothing like a good "Happy Accident" is there?

"Waterlily" Texture Painting

Hi!  Since I keep disappearing from these parts and have tons to catch up on, I'll just jump right in...

I'm going to start sharing some of my art that you haven't seen  yet out there in Blogland.  This piece was finished last May and I'm completely in love with it!  So much so in fact that it's recently sparked a whole waterlily/lotus series that I'll share with you later.















I started by printing out one of my photos in black and white onto paper, sealing it, and gluing it down onto a canvas.  I then used heavy gel medium to create texture, and painted over it all when it was dry.















Love that texture!















To finish it off I gold-leafed, antiqued, and sealed the sides.

The photo that inspired this piece was one that I  took many years ago, of a waterlily in a koi pond in my parents backyard.  I always knew I wanted to do something with it.  I'm so glad I did!  Ah... so pretty!  (Can I say that about my own art?  hee hee).















I have greeting cards available of this painting, and will get some prints made of it also.  If you're interested just let me know!

So what have you been up to out there in Artsy Blogland?  I'd love to know, it's been too long!

Where Do I Start?

Where do I start? 

How many times have you asked yourself this when you're faced with a daunting task at hand? Or many tasks?  Where do I start?  It's often enough to freeze us dead in our tracks.  We don't know where to begin... there's just too much to do.  Overwhelm happens and what often happens next?  Nothing.  We do nothing... and stay stuck.

Yup.  I know this well.  That's one of the many reasons that I disappeared from my blog for so long.  There was so much going on that I just didn't have the time or energy, and when I finally wanted to get back to it... I froze.  Where the heck do I start?  So what did I do?  I would piddle around for a bit, then would freeze up, overwhelmed.  Where do I start?  How do I explain my absence?  Then I finally did what I should've done months ago.  I brought out my art journal.




Now mind you, during most of this time I hadn't made any art either.  I felt rusty and out of practice, but I had to get back to it.  I told myself to just start.  So I shuffled through my art papers and my folder of collage bits, and I pulled out a few things that spoke to me and started gluing them down into the journal before I could over think it. 

He who hesitates is lost.

Proverb 

Then out came the paints... 

I had to get paint on my hands... and quick.  Oh how I missed you... paint covered hands (deja vu, I think I've said this before!).  Ahh... I could breath again.  I'm me again.  

The background was done, so now what?  OK, just journal about what's on my mind a lot lately... in many ways about many things.  "Where do I start?"  How do I write a blog post after disappearing for so long?  How do I get back to my art?  I don't even know where to begin.  So back to the art journal... the answers came easy while working in my journal.  Where do you start?  At the beginning of course! Or wherever you want, wherever you are.  Start right here, there, anywhere... JUST START.  Dive in, stop over thinking it, there's no wrong answer here.

The only wrong move is to not make one, and stay stuck (man, I need to pin that to my wall... or forehead).

Easier said than done, right?  But reminding ourselves of this really can help from time to time. 

 And for those of us who finally do get started (like I did on this post), but then get tripped up by perfectionism and get stuck again...tonight my husband reminded me to "Keep it simple".  Forget perfection, etc... just get it done!

Ok, I have a lot to share with you all, but to keep this from turning to the longest post ever (isn't it already?)... and to keep me from freezing up while trying to write this, again... I will give you a very short-hand version of what I've been up to lately and fill you in with PHOTOS and whatnot in upcoming posts.  Deal?

OK...

*Had an art show.  Yay!!

*Went camping up in Kern River 

*Went on a month long trip to South Australia to visit dearly missed family

*While we were over in Australia, my Mom wound up in the hospital over here for about a week and hasn't been the same since, so since we've been back I've been over there helping her out as much as I can.  I've also been researching non-stop... healing foods, recipes, etc..  This has been my main focus since getting back from our trip.  She is doing way better these past few weeks, but still has a long way to go.

Ok, so those are the main things that I've been up to.
Oh, and Pinterest.  Darn Pinterest sucks me in, but I love it for keeping all the wonderful recipes (and art) that I'm finding all in one place! Then there's Facebook... I have been updating my FB art page more often then my blog.  


So what did I NOT do this whole time?  Art, blogging, and yoga.  How did I feel?  Crappy.  

I do apologize for my long, unintentional blog break, but the thing is, I want my blog to be a place of inspiration, but to possibly be inspiring you have to be/feel inspired... and that's hard to do when your mind is on other things.  Its also hard to do when you're not doing the things that inspire you... like art, blogging, and yoga.  It's very much a catch 22!  So now I'm jumping in and getting started again, with all three of those.  I've been "warming up" my art by working in my art journal lately, but I can't wait for some time to work on my canvases again.  This is my 2nd blog post in the past 2 weeks... I could do better than that, but hey... it's a start!  And tomorrow I'm meeting with my amazing yoga instructor again to get me back to it... which to me is a huge inspiration in itself!  Yay!  Progress... and hopefully tons of inspiration to come!

Without inspiration the best powers of the mind remain dormant. There is a fuel in us which needs to be ignited with sparks.
Johann Gottfried Von Herder

Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us.

Samuel Smiles

 Is there anything that you've been stuck with lately, and you don't know where to start?  Try to remind yourself that the only wrong move is to not make one, and stay stuck!  Now get started!  You'll feel so much better when you do!

Turquoise Crackle Bird Collage

Hi there.  I've got a fun little collage to show you.  It has tons of texture, turquoise, AND a bird.  How could you go wrong with that combo?!

It was a gift for my blog friend Mandy.  She won a drawing I had a little while back and I was so happy that she won.  She was with me from the very beginning of my blog and ever since then she's been one of my biggest cheerleaders.  I wanted to reward her with more than just the 4 greeting cards that she won, so I made this little birdie collage especially for her.  

I had enlarged and then printed out parts of my "Branching Out" painting onto watercolor paper for another project and had some left over.  I thought that it would be the perfect base to start a collage.  I glued down a small strip of a vintage dictionary page across the background.  I then drew out the bird silhouette onto paper and cut it out, then brushed Distress crackle paint onto it and set it aside to dry.  

What is that pretty strip of scalloped goodness going across the center you ask?  Sometimes I wipe excess paint from brush onto an index card, and if I like how it looks when it's all covered in paint I keep it to use in a collage.  Quite a while back after one was all covered and gritty with dark metallic grey and turquoise paint I used it to test out a new border punch that I bought.  I loved how it looked with the paint splotches so I put it aside in my scrap box to use later on a project.  I knew it would be perfect for this.

After that was glued down, I tinted heavy gel medium a dark metallic grey, then I troweled it through a stencil. The photo below was taken with my iphone while the gel was still wet to see where to place the bird.  It was a bit too busy so I wiped some of the stenciled gel away before it dried.  Then I glued down the bird, added a bit of paint here and there over the back ground bits and outlined the bird to make it stand out more.  Phew.  Done!

I'm linking up with Paint Party Friday for the first time!!  I've been wanting to join in the fun but haven't been able to until now.  Whatever shall I wear? ;-)  If you'd like to join in with your own paint projects or just see what everyone's doing what click on the link above.  See you there!

Finished Painting : The Healing Tree

Hi there.

I'd like to share my latest mixed media painting, "The Healing Tree", with you. It's my new favorite.  I've been working on this on and off for the last 6-7 months... not straight through (thank goodness).  It's driven me crazy and caused many labor pains to be born into this world, but it was well worth it.  

It had quite an interesting start...as it didn't start off as a tree at all... but a peacock feather!  This was the first stage below.

A nice start I thought... loose and free, but then something went horribly wrong and it evolved to this below.  I had something in mind, but now I can't remember what.  OK, it's not THAT bad really, and I really like the depth and texture that was added by the torn papers and stamping...you can click on the photo to see it better.

So after that I put it aside and let it stew for a bit.

Then one day I suddenly wanted to paint a tree.  NOW!  I looked around, saw this canvas and thought "Nope.  Not feather..... TREE."  (what am I, a caveman?  no sentence.  just word)  Umm...yeah...

So I painted over the whole thing, drew a tree with orange water-color crayon, grabbed some aqua paint and a spiral suddenly appeared.  Hmm... ok... I like it.

Then I started on the tree and tore some vintage book pages into leaf shapes.  I created even more leaves with cream paint and others with green.

Then there was a lot more painting, glazing, and layering to create more depth, vitality, and luminosity.  I also used a few water-color crayons to give it some "pop" and bring out some details.  Don't forget to use a spray sealer after using these crayons, or it'll easily wash away.

One of the final details was adding the rain.

Sometimes when I create a painting, it's just to have fun and make something pretty.  Other times I have a deeper meaning in mind (and heart) before starting.  And sometimes it starts as the first one, but then evolves to become something much more significant.  This is definitely the last one.  It started becoming more meaningful when I painted the spiral and just kept growing from there.  It's not something I can completely explain or even understand, but as I was working on it, I could feel it.  I could feel that this painting is about more than just a simple tree, that there is a deeper, spiritual meaning to it.  The title "The Healing Tree" came to me when it was almost finished.  It is obviously a huge part of it the message, but there's more to it than that.

It's in the details...

 The spiral.
The branches.
The white leaves.
The rain.
The falling leaf.
The tree itself.
Maybe even the book pages.

The meaning isn't always revealed to me as I'm working on it.  At times it can take a while after I've finished it for it to come.   I've yet to completely grasp this one.  I've had some whispers, but not the whole message.

Whatever it's full meaning is, it speaks to me.  I'm going to hang on to this one.

Finished Furniture Piece

Here are photos of a large armoire that I painted this summer for a client.  I showed you a peek of the bird that's painted on it in the last post, which also showed a wee bit of the house that it now belongs in.  

Here (below) is a photo of what the armoire looked like before.

Just a slight difference  ;-)

The armoire wasn't too bad to start with, but it just didn't go with their gorgeous beach house... too much Country French, not enough Tommy Bahama.  So I hired a painter to sand, prime and base coat it for me... you know I don't do that... I'm an artiste! 

 I started by painting the turquoise details, then glazed the whole thing with a nice neutral tan color.  I sanded back some of the edges to rough it up a bit and make it more casual to go with the more beachy, yet elegant feel they have in their house.

 

The wonderful interior designer had suggested painting a tree branch with a bird sitting on it, and I LOVED the idea!

After I painted the branch and cockatoo, I antiqued the whole thing with a dark brown and wiped most of it back, leaving it a little heavier in the grooves.  Then, when it dried, I put several coats of sealer to protect it.

The hardware that was originally on it went beautifully with the new look. 

So what do you think?  I haven't done this type of work for at least 5 years.  Do I still have "it" or have I lost my touch?

I also did a few more small, very simple pieces to go in another of the client's homes, but I'll share those with you another time.

Buried Treasure : Potential Unleashed Again

This was originally posted On March 7, 2011.   I'm reposting it for the Buried Treasure collaboration, which is hosted by the very talented Seth Apter at The Altered Page.   We are asked to dig through our own art blogs and repost a favorite post of ours.  Potential Unleashed is a favorite because I was not just deeply inspired while creating the art, but also while creating the post.  So here it is...

Potential.  We all have TONS of it.  Yet how many of us truly live up to ours?  How do we tap into it... and unleash it?  What holds us back?

We do.  We hold ourselves back.  Oh yes... we have our excuses, but that's all that they are.  Excuses.

Hidden gems revealed

We all have these wonderful gems that we've been given...our true light... I say stop keeping it all locked up inside and let it all come exploding out for everyone to see!  Let your light pour out.  It's time!

I struggled with this painting, perhaps because I was struggling with coming to grips with my own potential.   I've been an artist my whole life.  It was never a secret to any who knew me, but I didn't think I was any good for the longest time...in fact most of the time.

I thought I had come to terms with it, but I still held myself back until something finally snapped in me a year or two ago.  I realized that God gave me this gift, and I thought I was using it, but deep down I knew better.  I finally realized all that I had, all that others saw, was kept in my tight grip.  I was so afraid of messing up and so wanted to please people.  What if they didn't like what I made?  What if I proved that I really wasn't any good...just like I thought all along?

But what I realized was in doubting myself I was doubting what God had given me.  I mentioned it before, but it must be said over and over until it sinks in for you too.  God doesn't make mistakes, so if you doubt your gifts and your potential, then you're doubting Him.

Our true selves and struggles are released onto the canvas...each one a self-portrait of sorts.

To sum this up way better than I could, here is one of my all time favorite quotes.  This is so darn powerful.  It gets me EVERY time I read it.  Copy it.  Paste it where you can read it everyday.  Let it sink in.  It will change you.  It will help you unleash.  Let it.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

--marianne williamson