March Art--Painting Faces and Mixed Media Art and Happy Spring!

 Happy Spring everyone!  Even though it's still a bit cold out and snowing right now (April 1), there are definitely signs of Spring in the air which makes me happy!  And looking forward to warmer weather and getting out more especially now that I am officially fully vaccinated.  Times are still definitely wierd but a little more hopeful than it was last time this year--little did we know that in a year's time we would still be basically staying close to home and wearing masks (kind of a way of life now).  Ok, but I'm here for the art which is my way of being content and less anxious.

So as the title says I've been painting fun faces--thanks to Lifebook2021  and Next Jeneration Art (Jenny Manno's Facebook group).  My first one here was from Maria Pace-Wynter's lesson in Lifebook--

I loved how she came out!  I was so happy that Maria was an instructor there this year--I love her art and so glad that she shared her talent with us.

Next 2 girls are inspired by Jenny Manno--

I love how Jenny shares how to use so many different mediums--the last girl here was done entirely in chalk pastels--so fun.  Remember she also has a You tube channel too, and each Tuesday she has a How To Tuesday video--it's great!

And another great lesson in Lifebook  from Susan Nethercote--

painting loose and free florals, which was a bit hard for me--I'm glad I tried it and trusted the process, because I had a hot mess going on for a while before the end result

Back to my Etsy shop-- for this month some mixed media art with lots of dimension and some assemblage--

I've also been playing with my painted papers--love how they come together to create a story--

So these last 2 were painted but I like to give the feel of the collaged papers--I love color as you can see  :-)

So, needless to say, I've been making lots of art.  I 'm always more content when I can spend every day in my art studio even if it's just for a short time--hope you can do this too everyday--whatever makes your heart sing!

Paper Mosaic Houses

I'm  always  trying  to  think  of  a  way  to  use  up  my  paper  scraps,  and  this  time  it  was  a  very  fun  way--

I  purchased  these  long  wood  boards  from  Lowes,  and  then  had  my  husband  cut  them  down  into  12  inch  tall  'houses'. 

Now   if  you  don't  have  a  husband  and  don't  know  how  to  do it  yourself,  Lowes  will  do  it  for  you  :-)

 Next,  I  gathered  up  some  of  my  paper  scraps--

This  is  only  a  fraction  of  what  I  have--I  just  didn't  want  to  get  overwhelmed.   And  then  I  just  started  collaging  the  papers on  to  the house--

A lot  of  times,  I  will  just  randomly  adhere  the  papers  on  as  I  find  them,  but  this  time  I  had  a deliberate  plan  in  mind.  I  wanted  it  to  look  like  mosaic  tiles.   And  the  heart  is  a  wood  heart  that  I  glued  down  on  to the  surface  to  give  it  more  dimension.

Next,  I  gathered  my  embellishments--

...and  added  color  to  them  to  make  them  more  cohesive  for  the  piece.  My  finished  house--

start  of  my  next  house--

...and  the  finish--

And  I  kept  going--

Here  is  my  quirky  village--

....all  in  a  row...

This  is  a  great  way  to use  those  paper  scraps  that  you  may  have  and  don't  know  what  to  do  with--any  paper  scraps--or  fabric  scraps  for  that  matter.   Once  you  start,  they  will   make  themselves--which  happened  to  me  in  this  case--they  were  very  fun  to  create!