The Back Story

Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Lost in a World of Painting

This week I'll share some
of my most recent creations. 

The following piece
is dimensional. I designed 5
raised pieces that were cut
out and attached to a 
plywood base. 

Trim was added to the edges
to frame it out. 


Blue Kitty. 



Purple Kitty with some mixed media additions. 



This is a sweet little kitty that started
as a pattern I drew and my husband
cut out for me on our scroll saw. 

He used pine and said it was a really nice
material to cut. I painted the sides to
match the floral motif on the front. 



I also drew a fish pattern for my husband to
cut out for me using the same pine. 

It was fun painting something new. 



Lastly is this yellow kitty
that I just finished this morning. 

Such fun! 


I hope you're having a wonderful day! 

Thanks for stopping by.

Terri 

Thursday, October 11, 2018

Frida Boxes and Fur Baby

Our little grand pup is growing quickly!

Gus loves this little patch of grass we
have in the backyard for our tortoise. 

It's the softest and coolest place to lay.
No wonder he gravitates there
every time he visits. 

Our son-in-law is in the middle
of a 2 month long chemo treatment. 

Every opportunity to help the kids out
during this tough season of life is a blessing. 


This is one of my two Frida 
shadow boxes. 

The yellow background on this
one is an easy way to tell the two apart. 

(Just a little side note, there's a glare
in this picture that isn't in the actual piece.
These are hard pieces to get good pictures.)


This one has loteria cards
on the side. 


 This is the second one. 


It's sides are painted with gems added here and there. 



I've left a spot in front of each to
place some tea light flameless candles. 

It'll help to light up the inside. 

Personally, I don't think pictures
do them justice. 

I love the way they look in person if
I do say so myself. 

Hoping you're having a wonderful 
week and all is well with your soul! 

Terri 

Monday, September 24, 2018

Frida Folk Art Painting

I'm having fun working on some
Frida boxes that I look forward 
to sharing with you in the near future. 

In the meantime I finished this 
Frida painting. 


We're finally seeing a break in
the weather here in the southwestern United States. 

The monsoon season is coming to a close. 

We look forward to sleeping with the windows
open very soon. 

Wishing you a wonderful week ahead! 

Terri


Wednesday, September 5, 2018

Grand-pup and Painting

In a mother's heart there's a desire to nurture and care 
for little ones that never goes away. 

At least I can speak for myself, and don't
think I'm alone. 

Many of my empty nester friends have gotten
pets at this stage in life. 

That need to "mother" always has
a place in our hearts even when our
kids are grown and gone from the house.

These were my thoughts as I painted 
this week's painting. 


This past week I've been dog
sitting for the little white pup in
the next picture. His name is Finley
and he's a sweetie. 

The little black cutie is my new
"Grand-dog" Gus. 

He's only 8 weeks old. 

He's the most adorable little Berniedoodle. 


Here he is after sniffing around in
some mesquite leaves. 

He's the sweetest puppy ever! 

I just love him. 


Growing up, I had an Aunt that
was a golden retriever breeder.

I have the fondest memories of going
over to her house to play with all the puppies. 

Finley's heading back to his home tomorrow.

He'll be missed, but I'm really looking forward
to my future visits with Gus. 

Hoping you're having a wonderful
week so far. 

Warmest regards,

Terri



Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Paintings and Thoughts on Procrastination

I've found one positive thing about 
myself in regard to procrastination today.

When I procrastinate about doing 
the thing I don't want to do, I'm extremely
productive in doing everything
else that eventually needs to be done. 

Laundry's done, dishes are done, birthday card
that had to go out is in the mail, blog post
almost finished. . . 

Speaking of which, I'll get
started on now. 

I was sort of willy nilly in my
painting this week. 

I had some wood pieces my husband
had cut for me that I wanted to use up.

Here's what I came up with for now. 






It's funny, the thing I'm procrastinating about
is not a big deal at all.

It's just something I don't feel like doing. 

Oh, I just remembered the pomodoro time
management method!

That's what I'll do, set the timer and get started.  

Thank you for visiting today!

I hope you have a fabulous week.

Terri

Monday, August 13, 2018

Back on the Farm

My sweet friend Aimee asked if
I'd help add some color and
cheer to some of her animal shelters.

She wanted a border painted around
the edge of two of her new shelters
that someone had kindly donated. 

I knew there would be no way I could be up
on a ladder in 105 plus degree weather
during monsoon season
with all the inquisitive (and large) animals 
trying to figure out what I was up to. 

I immediately thought painting wooden
boards that could be affixed to the metal
sides was the way to go. (I'd let
my husband work out those details). 

Twenty-three wooden flowers were added 
throughout the design to give it dimension. 

My husband gets the credit for cutting 
those out for me. He had at least as much
work on this project as I did. 

I had 10 boards to paint. At one point they
were spread all over our family room floor,
the fireplace, our kitchen table, 
and the kitchen counter. 

It's so good to have our house back!

As I was painting and maneuvering backwards
on my hands and knees around the boards
I felt a sharp painful pop on my left side. 

It turns out I dislocated a rib. Ouch! 

When we went to install the pieces, I decided
to feed the animals first and keep them busy
while we worked. 


This is the larger of the two shelters. 

Her family of animals are so sweet and
she takes such good care of them. 


Aimee also asked if I'd paint a board
with a rainbow and a peace sign on it
for her horses palette shanty. 

There'll be some girl scouts coming
by soon. She's asked them to paint
the rest of the shanty boards in rainbow colors. 



Now I'm back to painting
some smaller pieces and
giving my ribs a rest. 

I hope you have a wonderful week
and greatly appreciate you stopping by! 

Terri

Monday, July 23, 2018

Daily Paintings of Late

My goal is to finish
a painting a day. 

I'm not always successful
with that goal, but I have
been successful in pressing
forward whether I reach it or not. 

This fact is a win for
me on it's own. 

Here are some
of my most recent
accomplishments. 

I'll keep my words
to a minimum in this post.











Thank you for visiting
and touching base.

I hope you have a fabulous week!

Terri

Tuesday, July 17, 2018

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall. . .

One of my neighbors kindly gave me
a big mirror a couple of months ago. 

It's 38" x 32". 

Another neighbor that knows about the mirror
keeps asking me if I've done anything
with it yet. 

Well, it's finally time to call her over
to see the mirror. 

I should say, the frame of the mirror. 

I'll let my husband get the mirror
part securely back in the frame. 

The frame was initially a brown
mottled paint and it was primed
in white to start the process. 


These first few pictures were taken at sunrise.

That's why they're a little dark. 

Next, I drew out my design and made
patterns for wood pieces that my husband
gladly cut out for me on the scroll saw. 


I placed the pieces where I wanted them
just to check my design, before
they were adhered to the frame. 


Voila! The finished piece. 

It's much more bright
and cheerful now. 



Thank you for stopping by.

Hoping you have a wonderfully
creative week! 

Terri




Monday, July 9, 2018

Giving New Life to an Old Guitar

My dear friends and neighbors
will sometimes give me things
they think I may like to paint. 

This old broken down
guitar is an example of one 
of those things. 

It's been sitting in the corner
of my art room for  a couple
of years waiting to be brought
back to life. 


I had a design percolating 
in my mind, now it was a matter
of putting it all together. 

The same friend that gave me the guitar, 
also gave me the cool wooden heart she'd
designed and had her husband cut out for her. 

I designed a pattern for wings and the "Love"
sign, and my husband cut them out for me
on the scroll saw. 



I strung beads where the tuning keys
would've been.

I used my wood carving tools to 
give the "Love" sign a little dimension. 

I also decided to change the plain heart 
into a flaming heart. 


My husband made
sure every piece was secured
properly with a combination of 
liquid nails and nails or screws. 



Here's another view from the front. 


I'm pleased with the way it 
turned out. 

It was so much fun to create. 

I hope you have a wonderful week ahead! 

Thank you for stopping by. 

Terri






Wednesday, July 4, 2018

Camping Dreams Become Reality

Camping is something I've
always loved to do. 

Being out in nature, wandering 
around and exploring new places,
is so much fun for me. 

Rocks, insects, creatures, and plant life
are all things I patiently observe and study
when we camp and hike. 

I decided to paint myself a camper.

Of course, it had to be pink with
lots of flowers. 

I added a little kitty that I'd drawn with
prismacolor pencils and adhered
it to the piece with matte medium. 

I showed it to my husband when I finished
and asked him if he'd travel with
me in my pink camper. 

He said as long as I was with him, 
that was all that mattered. 


Apparently I wasn't the only one 
with the camping bug. 

My husband was itching to go
back to one of our favorite spots
in the Chiricahua National Forest
in Southeastern Arizona. 

I thought I'd share a picture or two
of one of our "go to" camping spots. 

We've been to this one several
times over the past 20 years or so. 

I'm sure you can see why. 


Of course we had to do 
some hiking while we were there. 

The following are a couple
pictures from the trails
around our site.


In 2007 they had a bad forest
fire that really changed the landscape
for many years to come. 

It was still beautiful though. 


We stopped for lunch on our way
home in Safford Arizona and I spotted
this artsy camper in the parking lot
of the restaurant we visited. 

Whenever I see things like this, it makes
me smile. No matter if it's a little cooky,
or masterfully done, it's a slice of Americana. 




Thank you for coming along
with me on my little camping adventure. 

I hope you have a wonderful 
rest of the week! 

Terri





Sunday, June 24, 2018

Superior and Artsy Sites to See

This week is a little mix of
work and play.

Although, I'd never call creating 
artwork, actual work. 

Onward, to some play and play then. . . 

Here are a few of my pieces from this 
past week. 

~Mixed media fun. 


Pink kitty



Mixed media with colored pencils,
paint, and collage papers. 



Blue eyed Frida mixed media



Folk art bird.

The quote is one of my favorites on faith:

Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings
when the dawn is still dark. -Tagore

Been there. . . 


On Saturday, we took a visit to Superior
Arizona. It's not too far from our house. 

Here are a few fun pictures of the 
desert and the town. 

The fruit on the saguaro's are open
now, feeding many of the desert animals. 

That's Picketpost Mountain 
in the background. 


They drop from the top to the ground
and feed more creatures there. 

Isn't it pretty? 


This was one of the fun artsy houses
we drove by. 


This house made me smile when
I saw John Wayne at the front door. 


The following are some of the
town shops with their murals. 



Thank you so much for 
visiting!

I hope you have a wonderful week.

Terri