Winter Fairy

Hi!
Before I go on, I want to explain what happened to my sketch of the day.  I was making a copper wire pumpkin when the wire pierced my finger.  Almost immediately, infection set in and I have been on antibiotics for just over a week.....and it is not cleared up yet. 
So, today was my first day even giving any kind of art a try.  Here is the result:

This is a mixed media canvas (12X6") with the background being layers of spray inks which I blended together.  Then I dripped gesso down from the top.  Next was stamping tiny snowflakes with gesso. I drew the fairy on bristol paper, coloured her face with Prisma pencils and then cut her out.  Her wings are cut out separately out of vellum and I lined the edges with paint pen (as well as adding the dots).  I then used matte medium to adhere the wings and head to the canvas.  Next was painting her hair.  I painted the part that I drew on the bristol and then carried it over to the canvas to incorporate her into the piece. I used fluid acrylics.
The last step was stamping the larger snowflakes using gesso. (I added these where I did so that I could cover over a mistake)
Now, my only question to myself...and to you....should I add some text?  Let me know what you think.
Bye for now!

Gypsy 101

I have been taking yet another class - this one from Tam Laporte.  This is her Summer Gypsy class and it is great fun.

She is a mixed media piece done on water colour paper.  The paint is mainly water colour crayons with some Crayola water colours as well.  There is some collage on the background and I used gesso to soften it down.  I drew her using graphite pencil and used the pencil for shading her face.  The gold earrings are gold sharpie pen. 
I am really happy with how she turned our although next time I might disguise the collage a bit more.
Hope you like her!

Whimsy Fairy

Good morning!
I wanted to show you my wood nymph in-training. (You can tell by her crooked wings that she has a way to go)

I drew her with pencil and coloured her face with Prismacolor Pencils.  Her hair and wings are painted with acrylics and her headband and dress are Twinkling H2Os. The background is acrylics printed using my Gelli pad.  A real mixed media work.

I am having a bit of trouble blending the coloured pencils but am sure it will get better!

See you soon.

A Baby Owl - Very Plump

Good afternoon!
I have a canvas I finished today.  Thanks, Juliette Crane, for your amazing course.

The canvas is 5X7" and the background is done on using the GelliArts plate and acrylics.  The owl is also acrylics with a heart from left over canvas on his belly.  
I wanted to make him plump since I saw a baby owl all hunkered in and he looked so fat that I had to make mine like him.  There are lots of dots on this picture used in all different ways.
I used acrylics, collage, paint pens and a Pitt Pen to create this canvas.
Hope you like it!

ATC Time

I did this ATC featuring a whimsy girl from Megan Suarez's workshop.  Isn't she cute?

Since it is an ATC, the entire size is 3.5" X 2.5" and, as you can see, she takes up most of it.  I decided to add the spring sentiment since it is such a lovely day here and she is definitely wearing a straw hat.  The girl is coloured using Copics and a gel pen for highlights.  The background paper was created by using a gelatin sheet for monoprinting.  The white parts of the paper showed up when I used a paper doily as my stencil.  The entire card is mod podged to another piece of card stock for stability.  BTW, her flower is a white one which I also coloured with Copics.
Hope you like her! (P.S. let me know)

Assignment - Background

Good day and thanks for stopping by.
Today I have an owl I did as a practice doing backgrounds.  I really struggle with backgrounds - have a hard time knowing when to stop, how many layers to use, combining colours in different layers. About the only thing I don't have trouble with is texture.  This owl started out as a background exercise but I never know what the background will look like until I add a foreground image.

I love how the dripping looks but don't know whether I should have added something else or not.  ???
The owl is acrylics and I decided to do him so that he almost sinks into the background - I think I accomplished that part of my goal.
If anyone has hints or suggestions - comments are always welcomed.

Another Little Girl

Hi again!!
Just a quick post to show you this cute little girl I created using acrylics and collage.  I like the round face and the two little curled pony tails on her.  I also like the flowers which were tapped on with a shaped sponge and then the centres were done with a pencil end. I used a couple of shades of green and an old credit card to do the grass and the lining is done in india ink.  I thought the flowers in her hair made an interesting headband.
Like my last few pictures, this one too was inspired by Natasha May.
Hope you like it!

Cotton Candy Girl Workshop

Hello and good day!
I  have been taking a workshop from Natasha May and here is my first painting:

I like everything about her but feel I could have made her just a bit happier looking.  The dress is scrap booking paper and the wings are vellum.  I accented them with gold paint and the swirls are drawn in gold marker.

I am so enjoying this class and am hoping to do some more girls during resting time on my trip.

Thanks for stopping by!

Let Yourself Go

Hi, it has been weeks since I posted but here is my latest painting:

Now that I look at it, I see that it requires a bit more definition on the right edge of her face.  I will have to fix that.  But I think she is cool!  And something quite different for me.

The Christmas Cat

I am having so much fun painting these little girls.  This one is in her jammies and sees a kitten for Christmas.

These characters are a great way to practice my face drawing and whimsical bodies.  I am especially happy with the softness of her face and the cute pig tails.  Also, I have never drawn a whimsical animal and I think the cat turned out sweet.

Thanks for visiting!

Another Christmas Whimsy

Hi again!
I do not know why but I LOVE whimsical characters and am immersing myself in learning how to draw them.
Here is the second of my Christmas whimsy pictures.  This one is definitely going to be my Christmas card.

I have to get some better water color crayons as I have nothing which is dark enough blue for night sky.  I also want some more colors.  I will have to order neo colors.

I really like the face on this girl.  I hope you do as well.

Thanks for visiting!

A Girl!!

I finally did it.....I painted a person.  I have been feverishly taking classes and this canvas is directly a result of the Summer Girls class I took on line by Tam.  Here she is:

She is sketched and then painted with watercolor crayons and pencils.

Here is a closeup of her head:

I am quite happy with her for my first ever person.  I think she is pretty.  I am a bit disappointed in the page though.  I should have used a smaller canvas rather than the 9X12 watercolor paper for the background.

Please let me know what you think and thanks for stopping by!

Frankie Halloween Canvas

It has been a bit of time since I could do any mixed media work but I got a chance to work on another Halloween canvas the last couple of days.  This one is a cute Frankenstein.

When I got him done, I looked at changing his stubby fists but decided I kind of like them.  They remind me that he was put together of different body parts.  Contrary to the original Frank, he is a bit shorter so that his big head can draw a lot of the attention.  I love his juvenile expression.  He is pretty close to my original sketch other than I added striped socks (just because I like them).  Here is my sketch:

I think this is the last of my Halloween canvases but - if I have time - I want to do a haunted house...my favourite symbol of Halloween.

Bye for now!

More Halloween Art

I am back at it again. Another Halloween canvas.....this time a witch.

My little witch is a cross between grumpy and sweet (if that is possible).  Her face looks a tad stern or "witchy" if you want but the rest of her is like a little girl.  I used sheet music for the background and I could not get one wrinkle out - but, oh well, I can live with that.

Here is my original sketch:You will notice that my final work is very different from it.  I decided to soften her nose and make her much taller and thinner than the original. I also did not include the bat and moved the jack-o-lantern to the middle and to put a black cat in it.  I also liked the idea of making her pumpkin and cat 3-d so that is what I did.  Since the witch has darker clothes, I decided to make the background base yellow with orange and green accents.  The raised dots are molding paste mixed with orange paint.
Hope you have enjoyed my Halloween pieces as much as I have.  I may be finished with them - but, then again, maybe not.
Thanks for stopping by.

The Grim Reaper

Yet another Halloween piece- this one of the Grim Reaper (cutesy style).  It was more difficult working with a dark figure.  I did a lot of the shading in white or grey.  It was also a bit harder working on the background knowing my figure would be dark.  For my foundation, I used anatomy book paper and, if you look hard enough, you can see a bit of the skeletons in the background.

And my original sketch:

The sketch was a bit chubbier and his head a bit rounder but once I started working on an 8X10 canvas I needed to make him tall, dark and handsome - LOL.  He is a cutie in either version and I really like him ALOT!!
Thanks for visiting!

Halloween Art

Well, for my first real post, I wanted to show you a couple of canvases I did which are inspired by the Cider and Pumpkins workshop I am taking on line from Christy Tomlinson.  She is an awesome artist and an amazing teacher and I am having the greatest time with these little Halloween paintings.
My first is an owl all decked out for the spooky night:

And here is the sketch I did to start from:

As you can see, he underwent quite a few changes from sketch to finished piece.  I am trying to get into the habit of sketching before I jump to the canvas.  This does not mean that I have to copy the sketch, it just is a starting point.  It helps push me in the direction I want to go.

The second one is a little pumpkin boy:

And here is his sketch:

As you can see, this little fellow went through quite a metamorphosis to reach his final shape.  His head is rounder, his body fatter and his clothing is just a bit different.  I had originally envisioned his head sort of checkered but decided to make it all orange and his hands now wear dotted mittens.

Please let me know what you think of my little guys - good or bad.  They are my vision, yours could be quite different.  That is what makes art - art!