Sunny Days and Sundry Projects

My mind is boggled by

the weather forecasters actually 

complaining about the 80 degree 

temperatures we're expecting this week. 

Granted, the normal temps are in the upper 60's, 

but I'm not seeing a thing to complain about. 

I'm going to enjoy every bit of warm

sunshine I can. 

My husband and I are just hoping our desert 

tortoises don't come out of hibernation. 

It's still too early for that. 

We're sure to have a cold snap

or two before spring arrives. 

They need warm nights

along with the warm days

to be happy and healthy. 

I made this post card

to send to my son-in-law and

daughter this week. 

It's nice to be remembered

when you're going through 

a tough time in life. 

It looks to me like my 5th grade

self made it, but it's the sentiment

behind it that counts, right?

Last weekend I drew

out a pattern for some

smaller sugar skulls and

my sweet husband cut them 

out for me. 

I finished this one 

with the exception of

the varnish, which should

make the colors pop

even more because it's a gloss. 

This last mixed media piece

is one I'm still working on. 

I'm kind of stuck and

am not sure where to go now. 

Maybe I'll just set her aside

for a while and come back

hopefully with some inspiration

as to where to go next. 

Thanks for visiting. 

Hope you have a great week!

Frida Artist Trading Cards

I'm so excited to be participating in

Steph's "Women in Art" ATC swap.

Never having done any Frida tribute art

before, I chose her as my subject. 

It was important to me not to look at

any works paying tribute to her

before I began. 

I wanted what I created to

lack outside influences. 

Another thing I decided was to

just make an impression of her,

and not go for an actual likeness

(which is really simple to do). 

I used acrylic paint, colored pencils,

collage, pitt pens, and DMC thread.

They're all a little

different, but still

cohesive as a grouping. 

They were fun to create and

I enjoyed having an "assignment"

to work on. 

The link is up top if you'd like

to join in the fun. The deadline is

not until March. 

I'm one of those people

that don't like waiting until the

last minute. . . for doing anything.  

It's one of my husbands

favorite traits about me.

I'm always ready to go 

on a moments notice. 

Happy Weekend!

Distracted Drawing

I drawing a little Japanese

girl for a mixed media piece

on wood that I'm planning. 

You can get a glimpse of my messy

work space in the picture. 

Quite often I jump around from project to project

and it doesn't take long for my art space to clutter up. 

It's strange though, because I don't like clutter. 

Before long, I have to straighten things up.

I was like that as a little girl too. 

My bedroom would get messy and stay 

that way for a while, and then I'd get so

sick of it and have to clean it up. 

While my problem was maintaining 

a clean organized space, my husband has

always been a "clean as you go" type.

I'm trying to be more like him in that regard, 

and would say I'm 80% there. 

The following is a picture of my

dear sweet son-in-law and daughter. 

This is the reason for my distraction today. 

My son-in-law starts radiation treatment 

for his 4th bout with cancer

in the past 7 years. 

Yesterday he posted on his Instagram;

Tomorrow starts day 1 of my 18 day

radiation treatment. I've got my mental

boxing gloves on and I'm ready to begin.

Cancer has no power over me or my outlook

on life! I am blessed. 

This young man has been

a true hero and inspiration

to me and all who know him. 

If you're a person of prayer, please

remember Evan and his wife Shawna. 

It's so tough as parents having to

see your kids go through such hard things

at a young age. 

Parents are wired to want to take away 

and prevent pain and hurt for our kids. 

Sometimes, all we can do is be

there for them and pray. 

That's what we do. 

Mini Mixed Media

This was a little diversion

piece I made while taking

a break from a larger piece

I was working on. 

I've found for myself, it's good

for me to have a few things I'm working

on at once. 

This way my mind and brain 

is refreshed by something new,

without having to stop creating art

(which would be so sad). 

I finger painted the background of an ATC card. 

While that was drying, I drew my subject with 

colored pencils on a piece of Bristol paper. 

She was brushed with a light coating of matte

medium and then allowed to dry before

collaging her to the card. 

I added some designs with pitt pens and 

a few cross stitches with some bright DMC thread. 

I like her "milky' appearance, and it's kind of making

me want to go in the direction of a geisha. 

She almost has that look about her. 

*****

Thank you for visiting!

Paintings and Orange Season

It's citrus season in Arizona! 

Here's a view of our orange tree

from out our bathroom window. 

We need to get them off the tree before

blossom time around March. 

Needless to say, we've been eating a

lot of oranges and drinking a lot of juice. 

There's a bunch of trading and giving away

amongst the neighbors this time of year. 

Some have lemons, ruby red or yellow grapefruit,

navel or valencia oranges. 

The smell of their skins is heavenly

when they're fresh off the tree. 

I look forward to blossom time. 

The perfume in the air from 

the orange blossoms is intoxicating. 

I wish I could share it, and our oranges too!

The following is a sugar skull that

my husband had cut out of wood for me. 

It's 19" x 13", so it's a perfectly fun size. 

Instead of hemming and hawing about my design

for this one, I set myself an imaginary timer of 15 minutes.

I worked quickly and just let the design flow naturally. 

When my husband came home from work and I showed

it to him, he said, "That's cool, but the eyes are kind of low."

I said, "Really? They may be a little on the small side, but

I don't thing they're too low.". 

Then I realized, he thought the cheeks were the eyes! haha

Oh well, I'm not changing it. I kind of like it like it is. 

I'm back to my pink cacti in this next piece. 

I just love cactus and I love the color pink. 

It was fun figuring out what to do with her glasses. 

Maybe next time I'll experiment with a glaze

as well as highlights on the lenses. We'll see. . . 

Wishing you a wonderful and creatively

productive weekend! 

Wonder Kitty

Something simple, light hearted,

and fun was what I felt like painting.  

I came up with the idea

of a folk art Wonder Kitty!

I didn't search before I 

made my painting to see if

it had been done, but afterward

I searched for "cats in clothes paintings". 

There are so many images

of paintings with cats in clothes

(much more sophisticated than mine).

Scrolling thru them made me smile.

Painting this piece made me smile too,

which is the heart of what art is about for me. 

She may be primitive and rudimentary,

but to me she's PURRFECT! 

Painting Frustrations and Lessons Learned

It's not fun to share my disappointments.

But it's important for me to be 

transparent about my art journey

(the successes as well as the failures). 

*****

*Remember to keep pressing forward.

*Don't linger too long on any one painting. 

*Move on to your next piece.

These are some of the lessons

that I learned over the weekend. 

I was working on this folk art piece and 

thought my design was okay, but I wasn't 

happy with the colors. 

Imagine a visual "scratching on a chalkboard".

That's the best way to describe it. 

 Instead of leaving well enough alone, 

I decided to rework it. 

Hoping to harmonize, I ended

up making a big mess of things.

I kept working and reworking it.

Whatever I did seemed to get me further

away from where I wanted it to be. 

I came to the conclusion, that it'd been

better had I just left it alone and moved

on to my next painting. 

On the bright side, I learned something of value.

I'm not sure if I'll paint over this one

and reuse the board, or keep it as a reminder.

Either way, I'm excited to be moving on to my next piece

and taking this valuable lesson with me!

"Home Tweet Home" Bird House with Stand

It feels so good to have this one finished. 

I've finally freed up a little more floor

space in my art room. 

It's funny though, solving one problem can 

sometimes create another.

The newly created space in my art room

is now filling up space in our guest room.

Oh well, hopefully we'll get some of

these sold and that'll free up that room.

Dream big, right?

I wanted to take this out in the yard

to get some pictures, but we had

a much needed rain storm last

night and the ground is still wet. 

This'll have to do for now. 

We've made two stand sizes for our

bird houses. This

size is the shorter of the two. 

The flower embellishments on the sides of 

this house are raised wood cut-outs. 

I drew a couple flower patterns on

wood and my husband cut them out

and affixed them to the sides. 

The next two pictures I took from underneath

so you can see that every spot is painted. 

This was an important tip I learned

from a very wise gallery owner and art dealer. 

Don't leave any blank spaces!

Thanks for visiting!

Folk "Heart" Bird House with Stand

This cute little bird house has been sitting

on our guest bed just waiting for me 

to paint a stand for it. 

I've had 2 unfinished bird house stands sitting in my 

art room/studio FOREVER (it seems). 

They're taking up a bit of floor space

and starting to get in my way. 

It's one of those projects that I know

will take some time, so I put it off. 

One day rolls into the next and

well, you know. . . 

Last weekend, I felt the need to check 

it off my list and "get 'er done"!

I set a goal for myself of one day

to accomplish it. 

It was such a good feeling to have 

finished it in the time I allotted myself. 

Today's goal: 

*Paint the 2nd stand. 

The only problem is that today's goal

is in competition with 5 loads

of laundry AND changing the bed linens. 

We'll see, I'm going to push myself. 

I'm all about striking while the iron is hot!

Folk Art Santa

Before the season gets too far away,

I thought I'd share this

piece I recently finished. 

First, I'd like to tell you about an artist I absolutely 

adore by the name of Julia Eves. She has

an Etsy Shop & Instagram that are easy to find if you'd

like to check out her work (you won't be sorry). 

I had seen an ornament she made from an old

paint can lid of an adorable Santa which

really inspired me. 

I drew out a big Santa head pattern on wood

and asked my husband if he'd be so kind as to 

cut it out for me (it's about 13" x 18").  

Here's how it turned out. 

I just love it! It's hanging in my

art room and I have no intention of taking it

down just because the season's over. 

That's not too surprising considering

Christmas music has no season in my world. 

Thank you for your beautiful work

and inspiring me Julia Eves! 

Sah-WAR-oh Folk Art

Saguaro's are a sign

of HOME for me.

They're sometimes refered

to as the sentinels of the desert.

It's so much fun creating worlds

where pink houses, real rosy

cheeks, turquoise hair, AND saguaro's exist. 

Desert Folk Art

My husband and I went

exploring in the desert

yesterday on his ATV. 

I saw some beautiful pink

prickly pear cactus and

had to paint some in

my own little world. 

I'm trying to paint

with more freedom

and simplicity and 

strangely enough, am

finding it very difficult. 

That said, I'm not

giving up. There's

something very pleasurable

about it. 

I keep reminding myself

that repetition is the mother of skill.