Bath Redo

 

when you don't have any luck finding a soap 

dispenser for your bath redo....

paint your own!

She Who Is Blessed

she who is blessed....that's ME!

it's time for a little redecorating around here.

i've decided i need a more artful home.

my starting point is my main bath. i've ordered

this shower curtain from one of my favorite

artists...Linda Vachon:

and this rug...

and i painted the she who is blessed picture over

a 24" x 36" canvas that was already hanging

in there. i was trying to make it in her style to keep

with the theme. i'm not sure what i'll put on the

counter and other walls.

oh...and i also ordered a duvet for my bed:

LOVE! LOVE! LOVE!

this is going to be sooooooo

much fun!

I Stand Alone

some days it just feels like this...

Still the Mind....

i did a little porch sitting yesterday with

a praying mantis. i'm fascinated by these

little creatures....though some aren't so

little. i've got several around my porch

that are larger than my hand!

i took this picture of my porch sitting buddy

and turned it into a brush to use in my

art journaling:

there are several lessons praying mantis brings...

one of which is to still your outer mind and go

within.

i need that reminder every so often....

thanks little 

buddy.

Making Stencils with Contact Paper

when you live on a wing and a prayer you have

to get creative with your art supplies. i like using

stencils in my journaling but don't have the budget

for them. today i tried making my own using regular

shelving contact paper and some scrapbook paper.
they worked great! i blotted on the paint with a

makeup sponge and then wiped the stencil clean

with a baby wipe. these should hold up well with
 repeated use.

i made a quick little video on this….something that

is waaaaaay out of my comfort zone but maybe

i'll get better!

Making Stencils with Contact Paper:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxEbZ8df4kM

ps….
nothing says Starving Artist like using a paint stick
and binder clip to hold your phone while making
a video…..lol

There's No Lie in Her Fire

todays journal page inspired by the
following poem:

An Almost Made Up Poem

I see you drinking at a fountain with tiny

blue hands, no, your hands are not tiny

they are small, and the fountain is in France

where you wrote me that last letter and

I answered and never heard from you again.

you used to write insane poems about

ANGELS AND GOD, all in upper case, and you

knew famous artists and most of them

were your lovers, and I wrote back, it’s all right,

go ahead, enter their lives, I’m not jealous

because we never met. we got close once in

New Orleans, one half block, but never met, never

touched. so you went with the famous and wrote

about the famous, and, of course, what you found out

is that the famous are worried about

their fame –– not the beautiful young girl in bed

with them, who gives them that, and then awakens

in the morning to write upper case poems about

ANGELS AND GOD. we know God is dead, they told

us, but listening to you I wasn’t sure. maybe

it was the upper case. you were one of the

best female poets and I told the publishers,

editors, “ her, print her, she’s mad but she’s

magic. there’s no lie in her fire.” I loved you

like a man loves a woman he never touches, only

writes to, keeps little photographs of. I would have

loved you more if I had sat in a small room rolling a

cigarette and listened to you piss in the bathroom,

but that didn’t happen. your letters got sadder.

your lovers betrayed you. kid, I wrote back, all

lovers betray. it didn’t help. you said

you had a crying bench and it was by a bridge and

the bridge was over a river and you sat on the crying

bench every night and wept for the lovers who had

hurt and forgotten you. I wrote back but never

heard again. a friend wrote me of your suicide

3 or 4 months after it happened. if I had met you

I would probably have been unfair to you or you

to me. it was best like this.  ~charles bukowski

Reading My Scars

scars…..

we all have them.

physical…

mental…

imagined…

they're like bread crumbs
dropped along the path of life
...giving you a map back to the
beginning like written memories.

with the passing of another birthday
i sit in quiet contemplation…
...reading my scars
...like words on a
page.

Pocket Journal

i made myself a little pocket journal out of a playing card
box after watching Tracy Moore (Teesha Moore's husband)
construct his in a video through The Artstronaut's Club.

i have to say i'm pleased at how it turned out. the link below
is a video flip through. i'm not set up to video in my studio
so it's just my phone camera and a one handed flip through
but you'll get a glimpse anyway.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glcJ8IORQas

More Random Acts of Kindness

it's been a while since i've abandoned any art.

i'm having lunch with a friend today and plan to

leave the cork for the waiter….the rock will be

left at the book store.

everyone likes an occasional gift.

do you practice random acts of kindness?

Queen of the Land of Bad Hair

can you tell what kind of 'hair day' i've had today?

Offer Yourself....

 

it's all i have to give...

Happy Camper!

 

I've been published in Somerset Digital Studio.....

 

hApPy cAmPeR....!

The Sisters

 

i tried to do some clay mono printing that resulted in

a major fail. i could have kept trying but when it dawned

on me that i was limited to the material i could print on

i decided to try something different. i purchased a Gelli

Plate last year and had never even opened the package

so i dug that out and started experimenting. i'll have to

say...my first few prints were failures also. the majority

of my paints are not heavy bodied and trust me when i

say...it makes a BIG difference. i'm going to have to

"rob peter to pay paul" and go on a paint buying spree.

(i say that like it breaks my heart...snerk!)

 

that's my mother in the lower right corner and the

middle of the three girls. the others are her sisters.

i've got a box of old family photos that i don't think 

either of my children will be interested in saving

after i'm gone. i decided to put them all in an art

journal in hopes that maybe that will entice one

of them into continuing my position as the

family history keeper. i plan to include an index

in the journal with the names and a little history

of who is in each piece.

 

Once Upon a Time.....

today's journal spread with a quote from Terry

Tempest Williams book...When Women Were Birds.

i love this book...i've had it for years and frequently

reimmerse myself in her world.

i'm a singer....

i sing all the time...

people would appreciate it

more if i could carry a tune....

doesn't stop me....

i am NOT my Mother

i did a little journaling with Procreate today. 

i really like digital journaling. the cost of apps

is way less expensive than art supplies. i usually

print the page and glue it in one of my journals

adding a little paint or ephemera to finish the piece.

by the way….every time i pass a mirror i have 

to remind myself that i am NOT my Mother...

Self Portrait

kinda feels like standing naked on

a podium posting my drawing lessons.

this is my self portrait done in pencil.

i think it would have been easier in charcoal.

i seriously don't have lips but make up

for that in wrinkles!

i'm really looking forward to becoming

better at drawing...

added a little color using Procreate..
Repix & Snapseed

Skulls..Eyes…Noses & Mouths….oh my….

i mentioned in my last post that i was taking Gillian Lee Smith's

Unearth Gather Create class. i'm posting these images for myself…

to show my weaknesses and …hopefully…improvements over time.

first of all…sorry for the poor photos…the

lighting in my studio leaves a lot to be desired.

this was an exercise in mapping the skull using

a square as a starting point. in all these photos i

used a standard pencil and dollar store note pad…

drawing along as i watched the lesson... 

so i wasn't trying for life like shading….just correct

proportions….and no….he's not wearing sun 

glasses…that's just a representation of the size

of our eye sockets.

here i tried eye proportions from the 

front…side…and 3/4 view.

next was the front view of a nose 

and mouth.

and last a 3/4  and side view

nose and mouth.

i really am loving this class and

Gillian's teaching style. she mixes

her formal training with her personal

experience presenting the lessons

in a laid back style. i also like that

even though the material list suggested

for this class would be more than i

could afford she emphasizes to use

what you have….even if it's just pen

and paper. i'm looking forward to the

remainder of this class. 

Layloni

she wears flowers in her hair…..

i'm taking Gillian Lee Smiths Unearth Gather Create class

in hopes of improving my drawing/painting skills. one of my

first assignments was face mapping and shading. this is my

first attempt:

as far as face mapping.. the proportions aren't correct..

although with faces really anything goes. i opened my

drawing in iColorama and changed it in Style to

Threshold to get this:

i took this to PS CS5 and used the select tool on the

black…saving it as a png (i also made a brush to use

in CS5). this allowed me to use the drawing without

including the white background.

next i opened this image of a Klimt painting in Repix:

 i used the Van Gogh brush to blur

sections of the photo ending up with this:

then on to Procreate where i added the

png of my drawing:

i cropped out the section with the face and

painted in the flower..white high lighting and

the design in the lower right corner. 

next i took it to iColorama and added the lettering

in the lower left corner and the paint drips.

i then opened it in Analog…adding the white dust

and scratches…to get the finished piece.

Home

they always stay close….

Hello Ruby in the Dust

listening to a little Neil Young and playing

with apps….

Stardust & Fire

…had a wonky face 

and no neck….lol

House of Cards

sometimes it feels that way.....

Swimming in a Fishbowl

aren't we all…..

here's the original photo from the 2013 Beard

& Mustache Championship:

i added the goldfish using PS CS5 and then opened

it in Brushstroke app applying Simple 5:

opened this in Repix and blurred the background:

took this to Procreate and painted in the color/bubbles:

took this back to Repix and scatted a little dust around:

i finished up by taking it to Path On and adding my

own version of some Pink Floyd lyrics.

He Captured Her Heart

they have a way of doing that.......

the original photo:

opened in Brushstroke and changed to a painted image:

taken to Procreate and added some color:

still in Procreate...overlay an old digital collage,

masking out her face:

opened in Analog and added a few scratches:

took it back to Procreate and added

the heart and string:

finished by opening in iColorama and applying
Style/Coherence and painted some white
splatters using Brush/Paint

Star Light Star Bright

…i wish i might

have this wish

i wish tonight

i started with this magazine ad:

cropped to get a close up of her head

and took that to Brushstroke to give it

a painted look:

took this to Repix and blurred the background,

 smoothed some skin texture and added some stars:

opened this in Procreate and added some more color

to her face and the light reflection on the side of her

head. i finished it with "star shine" using LensLight

and adding the wording in WordSwag.