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.

What I've Been Working On, Some of My Favorite Products, & a New Class

Wow, I'm really getting into the swing of things now that the festivities are behind us, and the dark gloomy months are ahead in this part of the world.  I actually had been working on this piece way before Christmas.

It was one of those pieces that you start out with, and it ends up completely different than what you  had in mind.  I just wasn't happy with the background, so there are many different layers on this, which actually makes it end up better. Tara over at Aquamarine asked that question. If you're not struggling with your artwork, does that mean it's not good?  I like it the other way--when your muse takes over, and you just let her tell you when it's finished.

I also wanted to tell you of the some of the products I used on it.  My favorite one that I like to use is Golden's Crackle Paste

I  like to apply it right out of the container, but you can mix it with colors.  And depending on how thick you apply it, is how the cracks will appear when it dries.  I applied it pretty thick, so I would have the bigger cracks. It usually takes overnight to dry.  I love to paint over it, because the paint just goes into the cracks, and you can wipe over it, and add more--it's a forgiving surface.

I hand-painted papers again for the flowers and vase. I have SO much patterned paper here already that I should be using, but I really like the look and texture of the hand-painted papers.

 

After I collaged the papers, I added detail with Derwent Inktense Pencils--I had these for a while, but never used them . These are cool!  They go on like colored pencils, but when you add water, they spread like paint, and the colors are very intense just like  the name says. They say that even though they are water soluble, that once dry, they become permanent, but I noticed that the next day when I rewet them, they ran, so I just sprayed a workable fixative on them.

Another one of my favorites are the Faber-Castell Pitt pens.  I like to use these for outlining, and they are permanent (India Ink), but when they're still wet, you can smudge them to soften them up a little. I really like these, and they come in every color imaginable.

And the class I'm starting is Suzi Blu's Goddess and Poet class.  I love Suzi's art, and especially her faces, but this is fairly new for me.  I'm definitely a beginner, and this class is for beginners.  I started watching her videos and downloaded the pdf file that comes with  them--she's a very good teacher. Short of her standing right behind me, I couldn't get  a more thorough lesson--so I'm hoping I can get this.  I'm hoping to keep you posted on this.

Where I Was Last Year At This Time

Last year at this time I had just signed up for my first ever online workshop.  I was very cyber shy at the time--I was one of the 'lurkers'.  I loved the workshop and our group, but it took me a while to post my first comment, if you can believe that.  And when I posted my first photo of my art, it was a very big accomplishment for me--to actually expose my work online.  I've always been artsy in some form or another all my life, and I've sold my work at shows, but never showed it on the internet.

I also discovered the magazine Artful Blogging, and was immediately drawn to it.  I loved reading about all the different blogs, and looking at all the eye candy in it, never even thinking about having my own blog one day. But after connecting with all of the online artists, my confidence grew--you are all very encouraging and generous, and I've made many new artsy friends from everywhere.

So look at me now--I took a couple more workshops, and an actual class last fall, Mystele's, and I loved it. And this year, I'm starting another new class, and looking into another one at the end of January.  Plus, I now have my own blog--and you can't shut me up!  I think I've come a long way!!

And where else was I last year at this time--I was here :-D

I was in Disneyworld!  I love Disneyworld--I could live here, really!  I went with my husband and 33 year old son Scott  (he's a bigger kid than I am).  This was Cinderella's castle at night.  All the Christmas decorations were still up, and they were beautiful!  We went to Epcot and Animal Kingdom--

 I"d have to say the most impressive at night was Hollywood Studios--the first time we saw it at night, it really did take our breath away-

nothing was left undone!

And of course we went to Downtown Disney and went shopping, and a little more shopping.....and then we shopped again

There was a Lego store there, and do you believe that this whole family was made out of Legos? What else would you expect at Disneyworld?!

We also saw alot of Disney people

Look at that  blue sky--the weather was beautiful and warm the whole time that we were there.

They were everywhere!  Hey, we even saw Johnny Depp!

I would say that my only complaint about Disneyworld was the amount of people there.  I think I'm safe in saying that half  the population of the WORLD was there! And the crowds never let up the whole time that we were there, but that was okay.  What wasn't okay is that we had to come home : (

There was at least a foot of snow on the ground and it was 20 degrees, and  three days later, I was sitting in the dentist's chair getting an impacted wisdom tooth removed.

Unfortunately, we're not going anywhere this January, but on the bright side, I don't have to visit the dentist either : )  Gee, I wonder what I'll be writing about this time  next year?

Something Old, Something New

So this week The Three Muses challenge is Something Old, Something New, and here's my entry--

My something old was the background pieces and the birds  that I collaged onto the canvas--

I found this vintage book at a flea market with a few others.  At the time, I didn't really look through it, but it's one of my favorites now.  It's called The Junior Instructor for the parent and child, and it was published in 1918.  It covers every topic relating to school with many illustrations, colored photos, sheet music, and even a full page of the alphabet, and it's oversized (about 12" tall)--I love it.

And for the something new, I used one of my Christmas presents--

This set of Winsor & Newton Galeria acrylic paints.  I've never painted with them before--I really like them.  The colors are very vibrant, and there is a good selection here so that you can mix them to get many more shades, plus a little goes a long way.

Now that Christmas is over, and things are getting a little back to normal, it was fun just to take my time and just paint as long or as little as I wanted to without worrying about anything else. I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year!!

Merry Christmas 2009!

How much do you love this Brady Bunch photo?!

Bob was a little sad until he opened his present--a Snuggie!

Happy Holidays from my family to yours!

Three Muses Challenge

I didn't think I could do anything artsy this week, but when I saw The Three Muses  Home Sweet Home challenge, I had to submit a piece.  But I have to confess, I still didn't do anything artsy this week.  I had made this piece a couple  of weeks ago.  I like to incorporate alot of houses in my artwork, so for this reason, this  challenge appealed to me.  Here's my entry--

This is on a 5x5 wrapped canvas, and the house on it is from a Scrabble gameboard along with  the roof of the canvas.  Gameboards are great to work on--so if you don't use them anymore, DON'T get rid of them.  Put them with your art supplies, because they come in very handy, along with the game pieces. 

Wow, only 2 days left till Christmas--I better get a move on it.  It just kind of snuck up on me this year--I've  been having such a good time here in Blogland!   I  hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!!

                                                

My First Challenge

I've always liked reading and  looking at art blogs, even before I started my own.  And I've always wanted to take part in one of the many weekly challenges that I run across.  But for some reason, I  felt that  you had to be a blogger to participate--I know you don't have to--that's just the way I felt. So now that I too am a blogger, I wanted to look for a challenge.

I was reading Betzie's blog--her blog is called Time Enough, and  it's one of the many creative blogs that I've found in the last couple of weeks (there are so many, it's almost overwhelming). She was talking about letters that she had that her grandfather had sent to her grandmother during WWI, and how glad she was that she  had these treasures. So she submitted a piece of art using bits of the letters and photos of her grandparents for The Three Muses challenge of the week, which is mail art.

Like all vintage artists, I too collect old postcards, stamps, letters, and any kind of old interesting mail, to use  in my art.

My most favorite are the handwritten letters.  I think that those are an art in themself, and it's rapidly becoming a lost one.  I mean, let's face it, who really writes letters anymore when you can email or better yet pick up your cell phone and call anyone in the country for free.

So after reading Betzie's post, it  made me think of my grandparents, and that I would like to incoporate them in a piece of mail art for The Three Muses challenge. Thank you Betzie for giving me this spark!  My grandparents were both Italian.  My grandfather's father came to Ellis Island in 1892 and my grandfather was born in 1897.  My grandmother came to America when she was around 20.

They were your typical Italian grandparents.  They never held back their emotions--always laughing or yelling at each other.  When my grandmother was really mad at my grandfather she would start yelling at him in Italian so us kids wouldn't understand  her--she was definitely the boss, and she was also an excellent cook, which I never really appreciated when I was growing up--but I sure would  now!

To begin with,  I turned a gallery wrapped canvas over and collaged  the old  postcards that I had onto it.

 Unfortunately, I don't have any old  correspondence of my  grandparents, but I did find some very old photos from my cousin's Facebook--thanks Carol!!

This photo was  most likely taken around 1922.  My grandparents were in their early twenties, and their baby here is their first born, my father.  He was not quite a year old, and at the time that this photo was taken, she was already expecting her 2nd child.  They went on to have 5 children altogether, which I included in this optical lens hanging above them.

They also had 11 grandchildren, and many great grandchildren, so even though they're no longer with us, their journey together is still continuing.