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 

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

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

Little Girl At Heart Art

As I look over this collection

of pieces from the past

week, it reminds me that I'm 

still a little girl at heart. 

Bright colors

and cheerful themes

are what I'm drawn to. 

I'm the same way when it comes

to movies. 

I want to leave the theater uplifted and happy,

not drained or discouraged. 

There's enough heavy stuff

going on in every day life.

Movies and art tend to be pleasant escapes

for me most of the time. 

*******

The following are mostly mixed

media pieces, which

I've been having fun

with lately. 

The saying on this last piece is actually

one of Willie Nelson's song titles. 

My dear artist friend Dede and I both

love Willie Nelson music and this

is her favorite song of his.

It makes me smile. 

Thank you for visiting. 

I hope you have a fabulous and productive week! 

Terri

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. 

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! 

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! 

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. 

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!