The Back Story

Sunday, February 25, 2018

Lastest Creations

I'd set this piece aside a few
weeks ago and finally added
the finishing touches. 

It still needs a coat of varnish
which I'm hoping will really 
make it pop. 

She went from looking Japanese
to looking more Indian. 


The following is my 4th out of 4 small
sugar skulls that my husband
cut out for me. 

I hid it behind my back before I 
showed him and said, "This is
the look on my face if I see
a scorpion in the house." 

I pulled it out and showed him
and sure enough, he laughed and agreed. 

Fortunately we don't see
them in the house very often. 



Next I made a couple of 
twin thank you post cards
for some special ladies.

"Your the best" is 
a phrase dear to my heart
because those were the
last words my Dad said to me. 

It's hard to believe he's
been gone 16 years. 

He was always such an
encourager.


This next little painting is of
a quoll. 

I'd been watching a documentary
on Australian wildlife and saw
this cute little critter and decided
to paint him. 


Last but not least, I 
painted this folk art sun today. 

My husband had cut out
the pattern I drew for him.

I gave myself a very short
time to work on it. 

I kept telling myself not
to over-think it and just paint.


It's my Sunday sun.

Thank you for visiting.

Wishing you a fabulous week ahead. 






Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Folk Art Cats

A month or so ago I base
coated several block squares
of wood in black paint. 

Then I painted a round head
with shoulders in white on each
one as a base to do a series
of snowmen. I set those aside for 
another day. 

Well, another day came last weekend,
but instead of snowmen I turned
them into cats. 

Need I say I'm ready 
to move on to the spring season?


This is my mixed media angel cat. 







I had a lot of fun painting
these and for the most part
things seemed to flow along 
quickly. 

There was one afternoon I would've
thought 30 minutes had passed when it
was actually 3 hours. 

My husband actually waved at me and 
said, "Hello. . . there's another person in
the house. . ." haha (oops, it was time
to put the brush down and give
some time to my husband). 

Except for my husband feeling neglected, 
those are my favorite kind of days.

Thanks for visiting!

Hope you have a fantastic week. 



Friday, February 16, 2018

Outsider Art

I've always loved outsider art.

I should probably qualify that statement.
Some of it can be pretty dark and disturbing,
and not my cup of tea. 

I'm drawn more towards uplifting, colorful,
positive themes and images. 

What I'm most drawn to is the idea
that this is my own little world. 

If I want a flower taller than a 
high rise, I can have that. 

I guess I'm always drawn to
the freedom of expression that 
outsider art (or art in general) lends. 

Sometimes life can seem so structured
and regimented. 

It's nice to "escape" for a little
while into a land of my own. 



I also finished number 3 of 4 smaller sugar skulls. 

This guy needs some Visine. 

That's sometimes how I feel when
I wake up.

Yikes!



Hope you have a great and productive weekend! 

Terri

Monday, February 12, 2018

Pushing Art Out

These three pieces are
the fruit of my solo
mixed media challenge
to push out art. 

I mean push it out
like squeezing toothpaste
from a tube (letting it flow
and not worrying about it). 

I'm getting pieces under
my belt, so to speak. 





Through this exercise, 
I desire solely to
learn to move freely
about my creative
surface, allowing
the inner to translate
to the outer. 

It's not easy, but as my Dad
used to tell me,
"Repetition is the mother of skill." 

All I need to do is to
keep pressing forward. 

Hope you have a wonderful week ahead! 


Friday, February 9, 2018

Frida Collage


I was going through my art journal
and came across a face I'd drawn
in colored pencil. 

No neck, no ears, and a nonexistent chin, 
but I liked her. 

I decided to throw caution to the wind
and make a mixed media collage. 

I didn't think about rules,
or what was accurate or not,
I just did it. 

"Just do it!" 


I'm kind of liking her
and that's what matters, right? 

The freedom to "go for it"
was fun.

I want more artistic 
experiences like that.  

Hope you have a great weekend! 

Tuesday, February 6, 2018

A Sugar Skull, a Puppy, and the Superstitions


There's a photo realism piece
I'd like to get started on this week. 

I'm all prepped for it and am ready to go. 

You could say the plane is on the runway 
and ready for take off. 

It's just waiting for clearance
from the tower (me). 

I haven't done one since high school,
and am finding myself procrastinating.

Why do I do this to myself?

Who cares if it doesn't turn out?

I can just paint over it and 
start again. 

While I'm in my self imposed
"holding pattern," I decided
to paint some simple light
hearted folk art pieces.  

Now that I'm reflecting on
these folk art pieces, they may
actually be harder than the
photo realism piece I'm planning. 

It's hard for me to paint freely. 

Photo realism isn't free. 

Hmmm. . . 



I finished up another
sugar skull.

That's 2 down and 2 to go
on that project. 

I only did one coat of 
the blue because I 
like a little of 
the black showing through. 

It's gives it a more rustic feel. 


I thought I'd share some pictures
from our weekend adventure. 

My husband and I live a short distance from
the Superstition Mountains and Wilderness
which is part of the Tonto National Forest in Arizona. 

It's such a beautiful place to explore. 

The only wildlife we saw this time
were some turkey vultures and
a beautiful herd of black cows
(all wearing their fuzzy winter coats). 

I wanted to take a picture of them until
we saw the bull, and then we decided to 
zip on out of there.





 Hope you're having a wonderful week!

Thanks for visiting. 

Friday, February 2, 2018

Some Heart Warming Post Card Love

I did a little prep work
before starting on my 
postcard project. 

The first thing was
to washi tape the borders
of each individual card.

This was more to prevent separating at
the edges than for aesthetics
(although I do think the border is cute). 

Then I used painters tape on the back
to adhere all 4 cards together to
make it easier to work on them
all at the same time. 


I then flipped it over and got to work
cutting, collaging, painting, and doodling. 


I used some of my old drawings
that I'd cut up for collage pieces
as well as Loteria images, and
other goodies I found in my
paper stash. 


Love always and forever. 


El Corazon


La Rosa


Love



These are for the heART exchange
if you're interested in participating
(I was a latecomer to the party.)
The deadline for entry is this Sunday. 

Hoping they'll bring a smile
to the face of their recipients
and a message of LOVE.