Inspirational Paintings

Hello creative friends and Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate it.  My granddaughter came to stay for the Christmas holiday and between all of the Christmas festivities, we managed to find time to do some art.  We painted an inspirational picture.  Here is the painting I created, I chose the word Create:

 

The tree is turquoise, but it looks more blue in this picture.  And here is the painting my granddaughter created, she chose the word Inspire:

 

 

We had a lot of fun creating these inspirational paintings.  My granddaughter also created a journal page.  Here is the journal page she created:

 





It's funny she painted a pink page, because pink is not one of her favorite colors.  But it turned out really cute.  I was really looking forward to having time to do some art journaling, but then was not feeling very inspired to create one.  Are there time's when you don't feel inspired to create?  If so how do you get past it?  I would love to hear about it.  We did have a lot of fun doing the paintings, I just wish I was inspired to do more.  Well until next time, happy creating and I hope everyone has a happy and safe New Year.

Christmas Painting and Tribute Journal Page

Hello creative friends and Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it.  Hope all is well in your world.  Mine has been very busy and not as much time for art as I would like.  Lately I have been working on a painting of my daughter and her fiancé as a Christmas present for them.  The picture I used was from a cruise they took during the summer.  Let me say first, I have never painted a picture of people like this before and am semi-happy with the outcome.  The painting has some resemblance to them, but not as close as I would like.  Here is the painting:

 

I painted it in acrylics.  I plan to practice more portrait paintings so that hopefully with more practice I will get better.  I guess the important thing is my daughter liked the painting.

 

I also completed a journal page.  This is one I had been wanting to do for some time now.  It is a journal page that is a tribute to my grandmother.  Here is the journal page:

 

 

My grandmother liked to sew, so I used a journal page that I had covered in dress patterns and used Ranger distressing inks to color the page.  I did a little stamping on the page as well. I added elements to the page that had to do with sewing and other things she like, such as hydrangea's and gardening.  I included two pictures of my grandmother, one when she was younger and one when she was older.  My grandmother was also very religious, so I included a picture of Jesus, and she was deaf, so I included a card that has sign language on it.  I added words that describe my feelings for my grandmother, such as special and a blessing and I feel she is my guardian angel and that she has beat the odds.  Even though she was deaf, she never let that get in her way or hold her back.  She worked a full time job, supported herself and two kids, my mom and uncle, and raised them as a single parent and managed to buy her own home.  She was a very strong woman and an inspiration to my life.  Have you completed any journal pages that is a tribute to loved one's or someone you find inspirational?  I would love to hear about it.  Until next time, happy creating and hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas.  



ICADs

Hello creative friends.  I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving weekend.  My weekend was very relaxing.  This weekend I played with my supplies on index cards and made a couple of ICADs.  I really liked the fluorescent ATCs that I made a couple of weeks ago for an ATC swap, so in the same spirit I created these two ICADs.  I used fluorescent paint pens that my husband bought me to create these.

 

Then I created two more ICADs.  I used Ranger distress inks for both of these backgrounds. 

 

 

ICADs are quick, each and fun to make.  Have you made ICADs before?  If so, I would love to hear about it.  Until next time, happy creating.



Lighthouse Painting

Hello creative friends.  This past weekend I painted a picture of a lighthouse to donate to a charity auction/drawing at work.  I painted it in acrylics and really like the way it turned out.  This is the painting I did.

This lighthouse is in St. Augustine and I have been wanting to do a painting of it for several year now, since the first time I saw it.  I had a lot of fun painting this and I want to do another painting like this for myself some day.  I drew and painted this same lighthouse on an art journal page I did after a trip to St. Augustine me and my husband took several yeas ago and posted.  Here it is again.

I really like this lighthouse and enjoy painting it.  So what have you been working on lately?  Have you ever donated your work for charity before?  I would love to hear about it.  I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving weekend.  Until next time, happy creating.

ATC Swap

Hello creative friends.  This past weekend I worked on creating two new ATC cards for an ATC card swap that I signed up for on Willowing's website.  The theme for this month is Fluorescent and I recently bought some fluorescent paint and my husband bought me some fluorescent paint pens that I was itching to use.  Here are the two ATC cards I created. 

 

The first one was created with the fluorescent pens that my dear husband recently bought for me.  The second card was made using fluorescent paints that I bought some time ago but hadn't had a chance to play with yet.  I finished them off with a quote from my stash and an embellishment.  I really enjoy participating in these ATC swaps.  It is sometimes hard to mail the cards off after creating them, but it is fun to receive and collect creative cards from other artist.  Another artist once suggested that I make duplicate cards so that I could keep one set for myself and mail the other set off, but so far I haven't bothered, oh well.  So what have you been up to lately?  Have you participated in an ATC swap before?  I would love to hear about it.  Until next time, happy creating.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween creative friends.  We had so much fun at work this Halloween.  Our theme was Batman and we decorated our area like Gotham City.  We decorated up the windows I painted on poster paper for Halloween with cobwebs and pumpkins.

We hung black table cloths on the cubicles and on one side I drew a picture of Wayne manor and on the other I drew a skyline and others added windows.

I also drew silhouette's for the wall.  I took a black table cloth home and had my granddaughter lay down on it so I could draw the silhouette's around her and cut them out.

And we turned a table into a bat mobile by using cardboard boxes and a black tablecloth.  We put bat cutouts on the wall and used a flashlight and bat cutout to cast the bat signal on the wall.

Everyone dressed up as a character from DC Comics and we had lots of candy and other goodies for the kids.

We had a lot of fun decorating and the kids seemed to enjoy it as well.  I was surprised we were able to accomplish so much for very little.  Most of what we used to decorate was bought at the Dollar store.  So what did you do for Halloween?  Did you create any of your own decorations?  I would love to hear about it and see what you have done.  Until next time, happy creating.

One Page Mini Albums

Hello creative friends.  This weekend my granddaughter came to visit and we made mini albums.  Julie Fei-Fan Balzer has a pattern on her blog for a one page mini album and I had some poster paper left over from the window project I did for work.  After cutting and folding the paper our albums ended up being approximately 7"x7". 
Here is the album my granddaughter made and some of the pages.

And here is the album I make and some of the pages.

We had a lot of fun making these mini albums.  I have more poster paper left so we will probably make anther one soon.  So what have you created lately?  I would love to hear about it.  Until next time, happy creating.

Work Project and more ICADs

Hello creative friends.  This past week or two I have been working on a project for work.   We have a theme to decorate our area at work for Halloween - Gotham City.  So we came up with an idea to put windows on our cubicles to make it look like store fronts and a city street.  I bought some poster board and painted some window scenes for our cubes.  Here are the window scenes I painted.

I had a lot of fun painting these.  We are going to decorate them up more for Halloween with some spider webs and bats.  I also created some more ICADs:

 

I really enjoy creating these little works of art.  They take no time at all and are a lot of fun to do.  So what have you been working on this week?  I would love to hear about it.  Until next time, happy creating.

Art Journal Pages

Hello creative friends.  I have been very busy lately with several creative projects.  I have been working on a painting that I tried to finish last weekend, but am not completely happy with it.  So I am planning to go back in and adjust a few things.  I've also been working on a project for work to decorate for Halloween, which I will take pictures of and share once I get them up at work.  And my granddaughter came for a visit this weekend and we finished a journal page that we started the last time she came to visit.  We took painted papers, paper towels and baby wipes and collaged them on a page.  Then we drew our design onto tracing paper and glued them to the page.  Then we applied a wash of gesso and then water color paints around the images.  I really like the way the pages turned out.  Here is my finished journal page.

 

And here is my granddaughter's finished page.

 

I like how you can see the colors underneath the images. 

Then we each completed another journal page on our own.  I worked on a journal page that I started a couple of weeks ago by collaging scrap paper on the page, coloring it with watercolor crayons, stamped flowers on it and then added a layer of gesso.  Then I got stuck.  I didn't know what to do with it and was not particularly happy with it at that point.  So this weekend I decided to paint a face on the page. 

 



 I like the page now, however I would like it more if some of the background showed through.  Oh well.  I also bought my granddaughter some neon paints and a new XL journal, so she painted this journal page in her new journal with her neon paints.

 

So what have you been working on lately?  I would love to hear about it.  Until next time, happy creating. 

Creating ICADs

Hello creative friends.  This past weekend I had my granddaughter come for a visit and we had a lot of fun being creative, as usual.  As I mentioned last week, I have been watching Aaron's videos from Imperfect Impulses and wanting to try making a few ICADs.  Which stands for index card a day, if you are not familiar with the anonym.  Not sure about making a card a day, especially since the time I have for being creative is so sporadic, but I can make a couple at a time.  I painted a few cards last weekend and finished them this weekend.  I also made a few more this weekend with my granddaughter.

Here are the ICADs I started last weekend and finished this weekend.

 

And here are the ICADs I made on Saturday and Sunday.

 

 

 

Here are the ICADs that my granddaughter made.

 

 

We had so much fun creating these miniature pieces of art, I can see us making many more in the future.  They are so quick and easy to make.  The only issue I had at first, was what to put on them and what word or phrase to add.  But then I decided to select the word or phrase first and create the card based on that, which made them come together much more quickly and easily.  And I decided that I can just make a card for fun and not always a word or a phase.  Have you created ICADs before?  I would love to hear about your experience creating ICADs.  Until next time, happy creating.



 



Visit to the Harn Museum

Hello creative friends.  This past week was a very busy week for me.  Thursday night I accompanied a friend to an opening at the Harn Museum.  Friday night and Saturday I joined another group of ladies for scrapbooking and got a lot of scrapbook pages done.  However, I also realized I am 4 year behind on my scrapbooking, yikes.  I guess I have been having too much fun art journaling and painting.  And what little bit of time I was able to spend in my craft room over the weekend was spent messing around.  I managed to put some paint on paper and start a couple of ICADs but was not able to finish anything.  I have been watching Aaron's Imperfect Impulses YouTube videos and he has me interested in trying some ICADs, which I will share what I have done next weekend once I finish the one's I've started.  For now here are a few pictures from my visit to the Harn Museum.

They have a lovely oriental garden.  Which I took several pictures of so that I can maybe do a painting of it.

 

A few of the art pieces that I liked and found interesting.

 

 

A few pictures of the reception.  It was a nice gathering and they had great appetizers and drinks.

 

 

And a picture of the museum at night that I snapped as we were leaving.





We had a great time and saw works from local artists.  This was the first time I have visited this museum and would like to visit again sometime.  Have you visited any good museum's lately?  I would love to hear about your favorite museum's to visit.  Until next time, happy creating.