Nature inspired Circle Weaving

All the wildly creative weaving projects I'm seeing online are making me drool all over the keyboard.

So I decided to give it a try. This is project #2 (the first one I'll share soon, it's just these photos turned out, the others were dark).

I was aiming for eye-of-God reimagined as a bird's nest or flower... my mind... this is how it works. LOL

The leaves are hand-painted on canvas and attached to branches.

And the big leaves are also hand-painted canvas backed with batting. The copper wire and beads are a nod to the shiny bits and pieces you sometimes find in nests.

Painted Owl Pumpkin

You all know how I love Take The Challenge with Mou, right?

So last night when I saw the challenge go up while I was at the grocery store I immediately decided to paint a pumpkin with chalkboard paint and then turn it into an owl. 

The challenge is:

October is the month of Halloween, at least here in the States. If  you are around children, you know that what they love most about that, is the Trick or Treat ritual. So, I thought, for October, why don't I issue you a two-part challenge? No no, don't worry it won't be too tricky and as always there will be a treat at the end! And even if you are not in the States, you can totally play along too. So, without further ado, your challenge this month is:Part 1: Use BLACK Chalkboard Paint (as much or as little you like) on something you create. It does not have to be Halloween-related, although that would be fun too! Part 2: Add an owl. Sketch it, doodle it, draw it, transfer it, stamp it... you decide it.

I think it turned out pretty adorable, my not-so-hot owl drawing skills aside :-)

The steps were simple:

1. paint pumpkin with black chalkboard paint. Let dry.

2. Sketch owl on pumpkin with chalk

3. Paint owl.

4. Add details with paint pen. 

I think he needs a name.

Cute story: when my boys were 2, 3 and 4 they loved a book called 'Owl Babies'. That same year, their Uncle Al came to visit. They were ecstatic as they thought 'Uncle Owl' was coming. And they referred to him as 'Uncle Owl Babies' for years. 

My porch is starting to get the memo that fall has arrived!

Thanks for visiting!

P.S. Thanks to Alisa Burke for inspiring this attempt :-)

Hand Painted Fabric Flip Through

As part of the #28 Patterns I made in February, I painted a bunch of fabric.

Here's a quick 15 second flip-through:

And some stills:

Thanks for visiting.

Altered Calendar Challenge

My friend Darcy has an altered calendar challenge going. It's so great!

You start with a cheap calendar and then you go to town altering it as you see fit, including the monthly challenge. 

I really don't get excited about Monet (so not my taste) so I chose one of his calendars to paint over. 

The poor man is probably rolling in his grave.

His pretty painting of sailboats:

My take on it :)

I'm including this photo to show that the wings are crackle painted as per the January challenge. The clear crackle really didn't add much to the composition at all aside from shine and a little texture. I'll be sure to use a colored crackle if I try it again. Also, I used my french book script stamp to add book text to the image in a very subtle way. My goal was to keep the original art as 'intact' as possible while altering it radically.

And I think it's safe to say that collaborating with a 15 year old boy who is drawn to horror themes has really rubbed off on me. LOL

Painted Thrown Pillows: Upcycle

I had bought some orange cushion covers at Ikea 

No matter what I sat them next too, the brilliant orange looked a little rusty and autumnal. While that is gorgeous, my house leans more towards the bright and bold so dusty colors just don't gel with the rest. 

After placing them in my donation box but dragging my feet about dropping them off, I finally grabbed some fabric paint to see what I could do. They were already a loss.

Now we love them! And the pillow forms inside were thin and cheap so I double-stuffed them with my lumpy old gray cushions too. Those things looked like they were full of baking potatoes. 

But the two together - rich, thick, deluxe comfort. 

I'm a happy lady and my living room has one more bright pop of color.

Bald Face: Art Journal Page

Meet the latest, and by far the most androgynous, addition to my art journal. 

At home I refer to this as my palace eunuch - been reading a little too much Game of Thrones. LOL.

Aside: still have not watched any of the HBO series. I've read the book and they do nasty, horrible things that I never, ever, ever want to see. I already need mind-bleach due to some of the ickier bits so I've refrained from watching it in HD.  Whenever someone tells me they've read it I always think their a bit of a perv. Having read it myself…    I know! 

Anyhow, before I offend, back to crafting.

Meet Bald Face. 

In Pam Carriker's Art Journal Live workshop, Pam mixes acrylics with tons of water making a soft, pleasant watercolor-like wash. I've never done that before so my end result ended up being very acrylic and not light like the example. 

If you want to see some of the other work from the class, Julie Balzer posted some on her blog. You can really tell which one is hers, which is Dina's, which is Traci's. Their style comes through so clearly. 

It's going to take a lot of practice to approach a project like this with any sort of competence but I'm looking forward to figuring out the lines and planes of the face - if only so I can mess with them egregiously later :-)

My kids art journaled with me and made some terrific pages. Here is T.'s:

And this one is B.'s

Thanks for visiting. 

Note: Found this in my drafts folder from January, never posted. Sorry!

Mermaid Upcycle

When I was at the second hand store I saw a piece of wood that looked like a pickle jar and I snapped it up immediately. My long suffering husband didn't even flinch. He's used to me shuttling perfectly good things out the door in the name of minimalism, simplicity and paring down while dragging home the most egregiously random crap imaginable. 

It was such a neat piece of wood, I couldn't resist. The shape immediately brought matryoshka dolls to mind but it felt too obvious. So I made a mermaid. 

First I blocked out the general shape with paint and a stabilo.

Then I dabbed in some general landmarks with my pinky finger. It's weird that I think of them as landmarks, but it's how my brain works. I thought hair, face, chest and tail were what needed to get in there. 

She went on a diet this step :)

I wanted her hands to be fins but I'm not sure if that came through. Next time I'll add webbed fingers and see if that is better. 

Then I added in shading, texture, pattern, splatter (oh, gold! How I love you!) and stamping. I also extended her eyes, brow bone and gills.

The wood is an inch thick so I was able to wrap some parts to the image around the sides. 

It also stands up on it's own which is nice if you want to display it on a side table.

When my youngest saw her he said, "Cool mom. You have an OC!" I immediately asked for clarification... OG I know, OC? Huh?

Turns out on Deviant Art (his favorite hang out) OC is an Original Character and he thought this mermaid has a similar vibe to my last recycled mermaid project.