"Great Blue" Finished!

I think I'm finished with this one! Will be entering this and a couple more of my recent pieces to Eye 4 Art exhibition at the Thames Art Gallery in Chatham, ON.

Great Blue

Mixed Media

(Torn Paper Collage/Acrylic)

18" X 24" X 1.5"

Getting close!

Getting closer to the finish! I find it really helps to put a photo up on the computer. I can more easily see what needs to be tweaked, or what might have been forgotten.

A few more feathers

Still working through the ugly stages...adding one feather at a time!

Rainy Day Collaging

A rainy Saturday, hot tea, mellow music, quiet company and collage. My perfect morning!

Working on some feathers....

My companion and fellow ripper of paper.

And some more progress...

Time to stop for lunch! (Me that is! But this fellow could be fishing for his...)

A Quick Update on the Heron WIP

Here's a peek at where I'm at on this one:

Starting to take shape!

What's on my Easel today?

Here is a peek of what I'm currently working on, a lovely Blue Heron. So far, the background is done and I've applied my drawing of the heron. Next I will be starting to collage! Not the best photo, but you can see the ghostly outline of the heron.

Reference photo courtesy of PaintMyPhoto.com

Summery Collage Finally Finished!

I've been working on this collage on and off all summer! It seems like these hot days are more conducive to swimming, reading and watering the garden than working on art. But I've buckled down and finished this today. Still pondering on a title...I've got a few in mind, but if you think of anything fabulous just leave a comment! This piece will be dropped off at ARTspace in Chatham tomorrow.

Untitled (for now)

24" X 12" X 1.5"

Torn Paper Collage on Canvas

And here is the original concept sketch! Done way back on June 1st.

World Watercolor Month July 10th

Sunny Sunday Sketching Summer Susans!

World Watercolor Month ~ Day 5

I've planted a few Milkweed plants in my garden to hopefully help with the Monarch Butterfly population. So far I haven't seen any eggs or caterpillars, but hopefully some day I will!

Milkweed

5.5 X 3.5"

In my Garden Sketchbook

World Watercolor Month ~ Day 4

Here is a little corner of my yard, and a couple birds cooling off. A very quick little sketch today!

Cooling Off

4" X 6" 

in sketchbook

World Watercolor Month ~ Day 3

Whoops! I missed a day! I'll try to catch up later, but today was a lazy day, sitting on my deck by the pool, so I sketched what was in front of me!

Sitting on the Deck

5" X 8" 

In Moleskin sketchbook

World Watercolor Month ~ Day 1

Now, I'm not promising that I will do all 31 days for world watercolor month, but I'll try to do as many as I can! If you are interested in joining in, check out worldwatercolormonth.com or look into their Facebook Page HERE.

I thought I'd give my sketching skills a little workout, so for my first sketch I painted a tree trunk that is behind my garage. I thought it had quite a bit of personality!

Rhino Tree

Ink and Watercolour

8" X 5"

Moleskin sketchbook

Watercolour Wednesday ~ Peaceful Morning Sketching

It was so peaceful on my back porch this morning,while I was sketching in my idea book. We had some tiny visitors to the hummingbird feeders lately and that inspired me to develop an idea for a collage. This is a very small doodle of my idea so far.

 I was kept company by Mrs. Robin on her nest, and Miss Maggie by my side.

Hummingbird Collage Idea

In my Sketchbook

6" X 3"

NFS

Having a Play!

Every month I get together with a wonderful friend and we play! We try out different art techniques and media and  get our creative juices flowing.

Yesterday we got out two books by Mary Todd Beam, Celebrate Your Creative Self and The Creative Edge. I was lucky enough to go to one of her week long workshops at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Tennessee about 4 years ago. It was great to get out her books and try out some the excercises. It brought back some wonderful memories.

Here are a couple of experiments that I tried yesterday:

I Dreamt I was a Dragonfly

9" x 7" Acrylic on Mat Board

Under the Mountain

14" X 9" on Mat Board

Sketching Outside ~ Watercolour Wednesday!

After a fairly mild winter around here, spring has been a bit hesitant to arrive. This week, however, has been sunny, warm and beautiful. I think sping is here at last! Along with spring have come my allergies. So while sitting outside this morning sketching these pretty Grape Hyacinths, I was fighting the wind, and watery eyes, and sneezing. But I'm not complaining. At least there weren't any mosquitos!

Grape Hyacinths

In my Garden Sketchbook

NFS

Homemade Stencils for the Gelli® Printing Plate ~ A Little Tutorial

Browsing through Pinterest the other day, I saw how a lady had made her own stencils for use on a Gelli® printing plate. I am always on the lookout for things that are fun, easy, and cheap (or free!) to use on my Gelli plate, and this fit the bill!
Here's how I made one:

I bought some of these plastic Index Dividers from the Dollar Store:

Then I drew a pattern on to a piece of computer paper. I shaded in the parts that are to be cut out, so I don't get "lost".

I taped down the paper and then taped the divider over top and traced the pattern. I filled in the places that I want to cut out with the marker.

I then placed the divider on a cutting mat and using a craft knife, started cutting away the coloured-in pieces.

I trimmed off the divider tab:

Lets try it out! Using a brayer, spread a thin even coat of acrylic paint to the Gelli® plate.

Place the stencil on top of the plate and then place a clean sheet of paper over the stencil. Using pressure from your  hands or the brayer, rub the back of the paper all over the printing plate, making sure you have pressed evenly all over. Then slowly pull off the paper to reveal your print.

In the print on the right, I used the paint that was left on the plate after pulling off the first sheet of paper and put the green paper down on the printing plate and rubbed it again to get the "ghost print".

I decided to do another print over top of the first one I did, but rotated the stencil. The print on the right is the "ghost print", 

Well, that's my little tutorial! If you have any questions, just comment below and I'll get back to you with an answer very soon.

Watercolour Wednesday ~ Tea at Grandma's

Finally getting to my little art trading card for the Grumbacher Art Swap! The theme this time is coffee or tea. I dug out a really old teacup that was probably one of my Grandma's and did a really quick sketch this morning. Not my best work by a long shot, but it brought back nice memories.

I remember having tea with my Grandma and my mother and aunts at Grandma's house. Sitting and listening them talk about people I didn't know, but being perfectly content. I didn't remember the teacups being so tiny though! Compared to my tea mug, this one contains about two big sips!

Tea at Grandma's

Art Trading Card

2.5" X 3.5"

Watercolour, ink and gold acrylic.

Not for sale

Watercolour Wednesday ~ Uphill Climb!

We all have days when it feels like a continuous uphill climb...just like this little lady bug. Luckily, if she gets tired, she can spread her wings and fly!

Uphill Climb

2.5" X 3.5"

Original ACEO

Available in my ETSY SHOP

The Watcher ~ Mixed Media/Collage

I've been working on a mixed media collage of this handsome fox, nicknamed "Mulder". He turned out to be a little more tricky than I had imagined, but I'm pretty pleased with the way he turned out.  Here is the finished painting, and underneath are a few of the steps I took along the way.

The Watcher

24" X 18" X 1.5"

Step One: The Drawing

Step Two: Creating the Background, layering papers

Step Three: After dripping and drizzling Clear Tar gel medium, starting to apply acrylic paint over the background

Step Four: Transferring the drawing to the canvas.

Step Five: Starting to collage painted paper scraps to Mulder.

Step Six: Continuing the collage process.

Step Seven: More of the fox is appearing.

Step Eight: Almost done! Adding grass at the bottom.

Step Nine: Finished!

Watercolour Wednesday ~ Something Springy!

I had a request today for Watercolour Wednesday. Paint something springy! Maybe it will bring on some spring like weather...hopefully! Here are some sunny little Crocus. (Crocuses? Croci?)

These are a part of my ongoing "Language of Flowers" series. The language of flowers was used in Victorian times as a means of communication in which flowers were used to send coded messages. Each flower had a special meaning.
The Crocus meant "Youthful Gladness."

Youthful Gladness (Crocus)

Language of Flowers Series ACEO

3.5" X 2.5"

Available on ETSY

Bouquet of Brushes ~ Watercolour Wednesday!

It's a wet and windy Wednesday today. A perfect day to be inside and sketching a little bit. Today the first thing my eyes landed on was my vase of watercolour brushes.  I thought they looked like a nice bouquet!

Bouquet of Brushes

5.5 X 3.5"

In my sketchbook

NFS

Chicadee-dee-dee! ~ Watercolour Wednesday Makes an Appearance

Okay, I'm REALLY going to make an attempt to keep up my Watercolour Wednesdays! LOL 

Today I'm posting a little Chicadee that I am submitting to the Grambacher Trading Card swap. This month's theme is birds. You can check out the swap page HERE. Each time you submit a card, the punch a rewards card. I will have three holes punched after submitting this little birdie, so that means I get three tubes of paint!

I love Chicadees and wish that they came to my feeder. I have heard them in the small woods at the end of my block, but they don't seem to want to venture over to my yard. 

Chicadee-dee-dee

2.5" X 3.5"

NFS

Feeling Just Ducky!

This colourful little fellow is feeling just ducky today! The colours in this small collage are even richer in person. During these dull days it is hard to get the camera to pick up the colours accurately. I will be popping him into my Etsy shop shortly, or if you'd like this little fellow to brighten up your house, feel free to contact me directly!

 Now on to my next project, I wonder what that will be?

"Just Ducky"

8" X 10" X 1.5"

Paper Collage on Canvas

Reference photo by Shawn Parker

 @Artist Reference Photos