More Layers

So  this  week  I'm  the  guest  host  over at  The  Butterfly Effect  and  it's  all  about  creating  layers  in  your  artwork.   And  I  explained  in  my  post  that  when  I  was  making  my  original  piece,  I  was  using  a  smaller  canvas  (8 x 8)  for  my  paint  palette  because   I'm  tired  of  wasting  paint  and wanted  to  do  something  with  the  the  paint  that  I  always  have  left  over.   So  every  time  I  was  finished  painting,  I  would  take  the  unused  paint  on  my  "palette"  and  just  play  around  with  it.

........so.....here  was  the  first  layer  of  another  painting....and  I  kept  going  with  it...

.....and  I  kept  adding  so  many  layers  that  I  hated  that  I  lost  count,  but  then  I  started  liking  it...

(wow--it  doesn't  even  look  like  the  original  canvas)....there  were  so many  layers,  that  I  was  able  to  see  the  house  on  the  left  side  that  I  pulled  out  and  if  you  look  at  the  top  right-hand  corner,  you  can  see an  image  of  a  butterfly--which  kind  of  led  me  to  a  butterfly  theme.

details ..

  

there's  only  one  way  to  get  all  of  this depth  and  texture,  and  that's  with  layers.    And  this  one  took  a  while---I  would  leave  it  for  a  day  and  add  some  more  stuff  to  it,  and  I  kept  doing  that  until  I  was  happy....but  it  took  me  a  while  to  get  happy  (I  almost  threw  it  out).....but  I'm  glad  I  didn't   : )

Wings and Imagination

Wings is the the theme this week at Mixed Media Monday,  and a couple of weeks ago, I made my
garden angel. so this week for the challenge I made my butterfly angels--

 The butterflies are Dover images and I used my favorite garden book for the background again--

And when I was making this, I knew that I wanted to add text or a quote.  I don't really have a way with words, so I just went to Google and found this quote:

"Imagination will take you everywhere" 

The actual quote is "Logic will get you from A to B.  Imagination will take you everywhere."

I found it here:

Now, I'm really proud of this.  I was never able to figure out how to get the actual utube video up on my post--I'm still in computer grade school.  So with a little help from my son, Nick, via email, I did it.  My son is a college professor, you know (Dr. Salter), and he's been teaching me computer skills since I started my blog, but he'll only tell me how to start things  and then let me figure out the rest by myself.  Look Nick, I did it!

This video has really great quotes in it, that I know alot of artists like to use in their art, and also there are some amazing butterfly photos in it, or if you just want to be a little motivated, it's nice to watch.  Okay, if anything, at least put it in your favorites (after all this trouble I went through  to figure it out). There really are some wonderful quotes on here.  And I want to give credit to the utube artist Elaine Gilbert for putting this together.

Isn't the internet wonderful?  It has become such a useful tool for artists.  I can't even count all the techniques I've learned, and look, I'm taking a class that I've always wanted to take.  I really don't think there's a local Goddess and Poet class in my town. I think one of the best parts about it, is just interacting with other artists all over the world.  If I have a question or need help, I always know where I can go.  What was it like for artists when there was no internet I wonder? 

And in December, I bought myself a laptop for an early Christmas present.  The main reason was, so that I could have it up in my art room, because I knew that I was going to take a class, and it would be much more convenient for me.  But it's really become one of my art supplies that I can't do without--for instance when I wanted to find a quote.  She's become like my little art assistant. I call it a she, because there are days when she's a bit moody, and there are days when she can be a downright  ITCH with a B, but most of the time we get along very well and I've become very dependent on my little Dell.  And after reading what I just wrote, I  think that I'm spending WAY, WAY  too much time in this house and I think I need to get out more : )

Angels

This week The Three Muses challenge is angels.  I love  angels in artwork.  I especially love the folk art  and handpainted ones.  And of course angels are always around, no matter where or what you're doing. That's why I decided to make a garden angel.

Even though we still have 3 good months of winter here (Spring doesn't begin until April around here), I'm thinking Spring with blooming flowers and butterflies, and starting your garden.

For the background of this, I used another vintage favorite book of mine--

I found this a couple of years ago at a yard sale.  Look at that price--what a find!  And I know that book was headed for the trash if I hadn't of rescued it.  I've used it on countless numbers of artwork.  It's probably about 15" tall and the pages are aged perfectly. I also collaged again this time with scrapbook papers, and the butterflies are Dover images.