Saturday, April 27, 2013

GIRAFFE DREAMS!

 if you had asked me if i thought i would be painting a giraffe, 3 years ago, i would have laughed so hard!
 
 
 
 and would i be painting a 3 foot giraffe? i would have laughed even louder...wishing though, that i COULD or WOULD!
 
 
 
 "TELL ME...JUST WHAT'S WRONG WITH HAVING YOUR HEAD IN THE CLOUDS?"
:)
 
 
 
 a partial side view...you should see the mess on the OTHER SIDE that isn't in view...
woe is me in the clean up department!
 
 
 
this is before i put some white in both flowers...
 
 
i hope all my friends are having a marvelous weekend of some sort!
xoxo

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

TEACHERS that light that fire under us!

 There are so many wonderful, INSPIRATIONAL teachers available to all of us these days. and i continually am so grateful, from the bottom of my bloomin' heart for their inspirations and good teachings...
i bought the book PLASTER STUDIO by Judy Wise and Stephanie Lee. and i took their class, involving excerpts from the book.
i adore working with plaster and painting on it is a JOY, like no other.
i made four small burlap plaster substrates to experiment with, and this one has a flip side i didn't like.
THIS side shows even more cracks and crevices of which i embraced!
 
 i love painting so many different subjects, but portraits remain my favorite and this imperfect plaster piece was the BOMB for me...
 
 
 
 i took some "close-ups" for ya' all, so you can get an idea of just how crackley and lovely this is!
 
 
 
 
 and this is to show, just one of the many stages in change...i photographed and looked at this on my computer and saw, that i needed to change the darkness around this eye, VOILE...the camera doesn't lie!
 
 
 
 
 i did fix that eye problem...but during this entire process, i kept in mind, not to over work the paint, as i didn't want to lose that cracked and imperfect effect...
 
 
 
 
she is almost done...i am going to make some teeny changes on her lips and some teenier subtle colors in the eyes, they are too perfectly blue for me...but all in all, i hope this is inspirational to anyone, letting go, and experimenting. over and over! THIS was pure joy to paint on (with an eensy bit of frustration here and there ;)!!!
 
THANK YOU,
STEPHANIE LEE and JUDY WISE
XOXO

P.S. you may find a recent previous post that i painted poppies (possibly, that's what someone else named them) showing how the smooth side of this technique transforms. it was also a pure DELIGHT to paint on!

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Hanging Basket and the start of a Three Foot Giraffe!

 This is a little hanging basket...
 
 
 
 the fibers were so interesting to crochet and knit with...
there are coconut, bamboo, linen and silk fibers...
then i wove some strips of tea bags in between some layers...
the one that has a little green print you may be able to spy, is stamped with a friendship quote on it!
 
 
 
 when i couldn't find a gift for mother-in-law..
 
 
 
 i pulled this out of my stash, and thought, WHY NOT for HER...
this bag is so special to me and i KNOW she will love it too...
 
 
 
 she FAVORS raspberries, so i beaded on just a sprinkling of red for her to cherish, and will put a little love note inside for her to find and keep!
 
 
 
and this is a portion of my 1 ft. X 3 ft. giraffe that i started last week.
she is almost finished and i am so in love, i may have to do more!
 
 
HAPPY WEEKEND TO YOU ALL! XOHan

Sunday, April 7, 2013

SPRING and SPRUNG!

 i have trialed and errored for some time now...
 
 
 
 
 on plastering burlap as a substrate...
 
 
 
 
 then painting, and/or making transfers on to the plaster...
 
 
 
 
 and today it finally was actual fun and promise!
i have also been knitting with some strawlike fibers in previous post, wanting to incorporate the pieces into my mixed media..which i also did today, hoooo ray!
i am going to put some words on this canvas, special ones to help it SING!
AND then will glue the entire piece to another substrate as well and then a hanger.
GOOD teachers, stephanie lee and judy wise i THANK!
 
 
 
 
and one little tiny newborn baby bird that is living right at the front door, (bird brains) that i hope will survive either our surprise attacks or mama and dad's surprise attacks. 

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

FINISHING TOUCHES

 sooo...richard cut some more barrel staves up and they made perfect little stand up, block wood paintings!
 
 
 
 this one is for one of my sisters...
 
 
 
 i finished this piece yesterday...yay!
 
 
 
 it's title is OUR FAMILY EXCAVATION
 
 
 
 THERE are lots of hidden and not so hidden treasures within this painting...
 
 
 
 ...and i tried to get one shot, so that you can see, there is a little bit of gold gilding in the arms of the figures ;)
 
 
 
 knitting yesterday with straw-like fibers...thinking i may turn this into a basket with shells attached, or
 
 
 
someone on face book suggested a wall hanging...GOOD IDEA!
 
i hope that everyone is thinking up new and creative projects and then actually getting them finished!
:))))