Splashing Through Life - Art by Patricia Henderson

My painting and collage have been put on the back burner for a while due to the holidays and then some family stuff. Until I get back to it, here is a little tiny tutorial on how to make stamps easily and affordably using things you might find around the house and the dollar store.  First of all, head to the dollar store or Walmart and buy yourself a package of craft foam that is adhesive on one side. Draw designs on the foam, and then cut out with a craft knife or scissors. You can then peel of the backing of the foam and adhere your design to almost anything. It doesn’t have to be fancy. Here are some examples of stamps that I have made: Craft foam adhered to jar and bottle lids. Leftover mat board, one with elastic bands, and the other with craft foam. Craft foam adhered to styrofoam cut from fast food containers. Design carved into styrofoam from fast food container with a ballpoint pen. Pattern carved into erasers with a craft (X-ACTO) knife. Be careful!...

  Finally! Bird #100 of 100! Mar 9, 2022 Updated: Oct 26, 2023 Way back in the beginning of 2019, in the "before times", I gave myself the challenge of painting or collaging 100 birds. To make it easier on myself I decided that it would be 100 birds in total, not necessarily 100 separate individual birds, so some of the paintings could have more than one bird in it. Finally, here we are in 2022 and I've recently completed my 100th bird, another crow. They are one of my favourite subjects. With their black glossy feathers that actually shine with so many colours, to their intelligence and character, I find them endlessly fascinating to paint. I want to thank everyone for their interest and for cheering me on. It took me a lot longer to finish than I thought. The pandemic didn't help. While some artists took advantage of being forced to stay home more often and created volumes of work, I found that I was often not motivated at all and often spent time playin...