Tessandore Creative

Felt Ornaments

Hoot!  This girl-owl was made by my friend Meg.  Love that little flower on her ear.  :)  We had a 'making felt things' get-together last weekend, which gave me a great excuse to buy some nice wool felt.  Turns out that a 1/2 yard of every color is waaay more than a person needs to make tiny ornaments.  Now I'm set for life.

This is the little house I made...
That's the back view with the barn doors & snow on the roof.  This is the front view after stitching it all up...
Glad I remembered how to do a blanket stitch for the edges.  Usually, I have to look it up online before diving in.  I like how my little house turned out.  Now I just have a zillion yards minus about 5 square inches to use up!  :)

If you'd like to see some houses by someone that really knows her felt, check out the beautiful work of Melissa Crowe at her Etsy shop Little Pink House.

♥

Range Gallery

This gorgeous print (titled: Afternoon at El Tapatio) is the only souvenir I brought back from Colorado.  While we were exploring Manitou Springs, we stopped in this great little gallery & met the proprietor, Kathleen McFadden.  I'm always so happy to see a woman earning her living in a creative field!  Her work is really beautiful and she was so nice to talk with.  She felt like 'one of my tribe' if you know what I mean.  I couldn't put my finger on it exactly but, from my perspective at least, we spoke a common language.  Isn't it nice when you meet someone like that?

Check out a few of my other favorite images from her gallery...

• Rhonda's Trailer
• Clearing Storm
• Western Twist

♥

Manitou Springs

The Peeps!  That's the name of this public art display by Liz Szabo in the cute town of Manitou Springs, Colorado.  Probably since I'm a new chicken-owner I seemed to be spying hens everywhere.  :)

The whole downtown area was sprinkled with artistic touches.  Loved these store fronts...
The basket on this pink bike says, "See the World".  It was sitting in front of Black Cat Books & Wine.  Books & wine?!  How great is that?  :)  
It was a perfect walk-around kind of town.  We left with some locally made chocolate and a photo purchased from Range Gallery.  More on that tomorrow!  We packed so much into this vacation, but I didn't want to put it all into one mile-long post about the mile-high city.  ♥

The Art Hermit & a Curious Chicken

Love Coffee and love this artist!  Micki Wilde a.k.a The Art Hermit is the talent behind this wonderful original painting.  I found it on her Etsy shop and had to snap it right up.  Looking at this cute girl with her cup o' java just makes me happy.  I thought I was going to hang the painting in my office, but I kind of also want it at home in my kitchen.  So while I decide, I've been carrying it around with me all day!  Luckily, it's painted on a wooden box so it's pretty sturdy. 

I know you're going to get tired of looking at the hens, but I'm so in love with them right now!  Luckily for you, the amount of photos may just be regulated by their tolerance for being photographed.  Every time I brought the camera out tonight, this is what Henrietta did...
She even pecked the lens!  Silly girl.

♥

Bees, birds, interesting connections & a wonderfully spooky story.

The Jardin box on the bottom is the one I mentioned yesterday as the "before" of my project.   When I saw them at Michael's, I really loved the shape & they were a great $ deal.  {About $4 each I think?}  I knew the word on the box was French, but actually had to look up what it meant - Garden, of course.  It's not a word that speaks to me, plus I think they were supposed to look aged, but they kind of looked dirty.   After sanding off the word & most of the paint from the outside, I painted the inside a bright white to clean up the look a bit.
With the inside white, I thought it would be easier to see buttons or whatever small things end up being stored in there.

Then I got busy on the design for the outside.  This was going to be the back, but I actually like it better than the image on the other side.  :)

My favorite part though is the little bee hive on the end!
The holes there on either side of it are where the handles will be screwed back on.  Just have to paint them white too before they're reattached.

So, why all the bees?  I've been following Sharon Stiteler's blog.  It's mostly about birdwatching, but she's got a whole bee-keeping section that I just love!  Through her writing & wonderful photos, she really makes a person want to try having their own bees.  Fresh honey ~ neat!  I haven't read all the way back to the beginning yet, but from what I gather, she's keeping bees with her husband & two friends.  The friends happen to be Neil Gaiman and his assistant Lorraine!  Kinda crazy. If you're not familiar with Neil Gaiman, that won't seem weirdly interesting.  But trust me, its pretty cool.

Speaking of which ~ if you don't know Neil's work {pretending to be on a first name basis with him...ha!} please do look into it.  He's an amazing author, but has his hand in so many creative projects - not the least of which beekeeping! - that it would be hard for me to give a short run-down.  If you're in a story-listening mood however, I really recommend checking out his reading of The Graveyard Book.  It's so great to hear the author read his own work + it's appropriate for all but perhaps the most easily spooked really young child.  It's so good.  I enjoyed it last October while working on miscellaneous Halloween crafty things.   So good!  :)

♥

Love Birds

This sweet image is by the incredibly talented Geninne D. Zlatkis.   I happened across her work on Etsy, where she's got so many gorgeous prints for sale ~ it's hard to choose which are my favorites!  This one seemed to have special significance for me though because the topic of Love has been on my mind.

Lately, I’ve been admiring the lives of married couples around me.  Including some of the lovely relationships woven through the blogs of women I admire...

Kelly Rae & John
Alicia & Andy Paulson
Marisa & Sean at Creative Thursday
Emily & Josiah at the Black Apple

At 40 years old and having lived single for most of my life, I really long for the type of wonderful partnerships these folks have. I’ve certainly been coupled, even married once, but I’ve never had a real partner.

A friend of mine always says that by our age, we’re pretty set in our ways.  We are who we will be and aren’t likely to change ~ implying that it will be near impossible to let someone “in” and find love, what with all the compromises it can sometimes take.

I maintain that when we stop learning & growing, we might as well be dead.  I would hate to think that who I am now is exactly who I will be at 60 or 80.  Plus, when you find the right person those compromises don’t seem to feel like much at all.  I am so ready to grow together with a man who is confident & honest & kind and wants to have & be a partner. 

I believe there are many people who could be “the one”.  I don’t have a shopping list of attributes, because I’ve always been surprised at the qualities I enjoy in the few men I have been in love with.  They never end up being the person I would have set out to look for.  But some of those unexpected qualities are the things I’ve loved the most.

It seems to me that people who are happily married to their best friend can stand up a little bit straighter as they walk through life.  I haven’t always felt this way.  I know how to live very well as a single woman.  I would rather be single & happy than unhappily coupled, so it’s not that I need somebody.  I know how to feed my soul, care for myself, treat myself well.  I don’t wait for an occasion to do special things.  And I’m proud of raising my daughter by myself, buying us a home, and the fact that she & I still have a great relationship in the midst of her teenage years.  But more & more I think how nice it would be to know that no matter how my day goes, there’s someone in my corner above all.  I have good friends that love me and whom I love.  But that’s not quite the same as having a husband to love & love you is it? 

I hope this hasn’t seemed like I’m complaining.  My life is very good ~ but I’m just ready for more.  I celebrate the warm, loving relationships I see around me and my heart is so full for those of you that have them.  I know I’ll have one too and I thought maybe saying it out loud (or in print I guess) would help get me there.

In my list for 2009 I said I wanted more romance.  But I was just being vague.  I want Love.  I don’t know how it will come my way, but putting this out there to you reading it (& to the universe I suppose) feels like a step in the right direction.  I like remembering that “Yet” is just one letter away from “Yes” if that makes sense.  I’m excited to see what tomorrow will bring!

♥♥♥

Blowin' in the Wind

What a nice surprise!  I received a email this evening from fellow Etsy seller, Judy at Key West Designing, letting me know that she included my girl in her treasury.  Thanks, Judy!

♥

Wedding Buttons

I spent the holiday weekend celebrating with my friends at their wedding!  The weather was perfect -a relief since the ceremony and reception were both outside.  The ceremony was beautiful, relaxed, funny in parts.  It all came together so wonderfully.  The photo above is the button bouquet she carried.  It was made by Letters4Lilly out of Perth, Western Australia.  There are quite a few folks out there making button bouquets, but this woman's work really stands out.  She has a great, creative eye and the construction is solid so there were no worries about it falling apart as the bride came down the aisle.

Since I was in the wedding party, I didn't get a photo of this - but you should have seen the ring bearer.  Their Corgi dog came trotting right down with the rings tied to a flower on her collar!  She was quite the star.

Hope you had a long, wonderful weekend too.  ♥

Good to Remember

Even though others may not support you,
Even though the world doubts you,
Even though you feel like you haven’t made much progress,
Even though that person over there seems to be running down her path with total ease,
Even though it seems no one sees you,
Even though you are unsure,

You just keep on...
Follow that map imprinted on your soul....

These wise words resonated for me this week.  I found them on Jen Gray's blog.  She has so many insightful & encouraging thoughts + beautiful photography ~ both well edited, which makes them all the more powerful.  I feel like I must be the last person to catch on to her blog, but if by chance you haven't seen it I hope you'll enjoy the discovery as much as I did.

Keep on your path!  ♥ 
xo ~ karen

A Treasure in the Mail

Look what came today!  This wonderful little sculpture by Julie Thompson is my Round Robin surprise.  I just love it.  Actually, I love all of Julie's art  and she's got the warmest spirit too.  I feel so lucky to have met her at Art Nest and I keep eyeing her workshops.  I want to take all of these:

• Dry Brush Painting Technique
• Shadow Boxing
• The Household Object as Art
• Just "Dolling"

I either need to get my booty down to Santa Fe, or find a way to get her up to Alaska to teach.  I'm still working on that second part.  :)
Thanks Julie!  ♥

A bit of this, a bit of that...

This is the dolly I've been working on as part of the Cloth & Clay Dolls group.  :)  She may not look like much yet, but I'm kinda proud of her because I'm just not good with sewing!  I usually have to call in back up (Mom) to help me with the sewing machine before I toss it out the window.  But I managed this one all on my own.  Well...with the considerable help offered by Jane (the teacher/creator of this doll technique & online workshop) and her instructional videos.  She's got a really exciting project organized for us to work on this summer!  If you are at all inclined to make a doll, run right over and sign up.  I've learned so much already ~ it's great fun! 

I also wanted to share this treasury from Etsy...
That's my Veronica there with her camera!  Susan Hale put together this treasury and was kind enough to include my girl.  Thanks Susan! 

I should have guessed from looking at the all the cameras, that Susan is a photographer.  Take a look at her gorgeous work:
That's an artist's studio in Amsterdam.  
And look at the light in these two:
I really love that window image.  Anyway, she just started her Etsy shop in January and she's got many, many more lovely photos at really great prices.  Check it out!  :) 

♥

Cloth & Clay Dolls

This is so exciting!  I've worked quite a lot with Paper Clay and have always been drawn toward a folk-art type of doll.  I think I fell in love with Nicol Sayre's dolls originally.

Then recently I found this "virtual classroom" online that shows how to make exactly that combination of things ~ a folk-art doll with a paper clay head/face.  The class costs $40 and I keep promising myself that I won't invest any more $$ in my art/craft pursuits until I can sell some of my art. 

I couldn't resist this though.
I signed up and it was SO worth it!! 

Jane DesRosier is the teacher.  I find her very pleasant to listen to and the video classes are casual, well paced & detailed.  When I joined tonight, there were just over 250 members.  In addition to being a self-paced class that you can revisit as needed, there's a nice community going in there too!  You can customize your page, chat back and forth with other members and take inspiration from the photos everybody posts of their dolls.

This brings together many, many of my art loves into one project.  I'm so thrilled I can hardly articulate it.  I'm not sure where I'm headed exactly with my art, but I've got the most amazing "on the verge" feeling.  How wonderful and what a privilege to be learning & making art every day.  It's just one foot in front of the other taking me on this journey...I can't quite see around the corner.   I don't even know if there IS a destination exactly.  I'm just happy every day to be doing what I love. 

The best part of everything is that my personal life is going extremely well too.  Not that my art isn't personal...but you know what I mean.  Friendships are rich & my heart is full {romantically speaking}.  All is in balance.  

♥ ♥ ♥

A New Shop

Have you heard of this?  I started hearing more and more references to Art Fire on different blogs, so I finally checked it out.  It's an online store {competing with Etsy actually}.  They're brand new - just online toward the end of 2008.  Since they're still working out the kinks it's in beta testing mode, but because of that it's kind of a fun time to join up. 

Unlike Etsy, there are no listing or percent-of-purchase fees.  You can join for totally free if you want, or pay a small monthly fee for expanded features.  Ultimately that fee will be $20, but if you sign up really soon (only about 100 spots left) you can get a $7 per-month-for-life price.

You might have noticed the new Art Fire link on the left side of my blog, so obviously ~ I joined up!  It was after I read this post on the Vol.25 blog that I went for it.

A funny thing...I found the Vol. 25 blog from a link on Gloria's site and have been really enjoying it.  What I didn't realize until yesterday was that it belongs to Jessica, who is an artist I've been admiring for quite awhile!  Here's some of my favorites from her Etsy shop:

Check her out her Art Fire store too.  

And hey...if you do sign up, there's a little space to mention the name of the person that referred you.  Please drop in my name {Karen Tessandore} if you think of it.  I'm working toward a free membership deal they've got goin'.  :)   Thanks!  ♥

Easter around the corner...

So, I probably shouldn't be allowed into Michaels within several weeks of any holiday.  Too temping!  I have no impulse control when it comes to all the goodies that accompany most holidays.  Luckily, I have several girls in my life that definitely need Easter baskets.  :) 

This tiny bird is sitting on a cute paper cupcake that opens up ~ leaving a perfect amount of room for jelly beans!
+Yellow fluff-chicks always remind me of these books, which are so clever & hilarious.

After more than an hour of blissed-out gathering at Michaels, I called the trip successful and came home to assemble all the treasures.  But ~ see that kind of blank space in the middle of the basket...?
I forgot the chocolate bunnies!   What's an Easter basket without a chocolate bunny?!   One more shopping trip to rectify that & I can wrap the baskets up to admire for awhile before they're delivered.  It's been a lot of giddy, hand-clapping fun for me.  I'm nerdy like that.  :)
Lastly, speaking of bunnies...please take a moment to check out these handmade beauties by Black Crow Primitives on Etsy.  I ordered this one for my daughter and couldn't wait for Easter, so gave it to her last week!  They're really well made.  Wonderful work, and I think very under-priced at about $30 each.  But at that price the artist is selling them, so maybe it's better to keep them affordable and have them find homes.  We're happy to have one in our home!  ♥

Chit-Chat at the Golden West

Last night I was lucky enough to get together with Jane & her husband Thomas.  It was so good to see Jane again after our Art Nest experience!  They took me to the Golden West Cafe {above} in the Hampden area of Baltimore.  Wonderful food - I had a burger topped with Granny Smith apple slices & brie cheese.  Yum!  And the ambiance was kitchy & perfect.  During dinner they offered up a wealth of information on the business of art, which is one of my favorite subjects. 

Oh, and I thought it was funny to come all the way from Alaska, only to be dinning with a Moose here!
After dinner, they drove me all over the city and gave me a wealth of information on the history of Baltimore.  I couldn't have wished for more gracious hosts!
Thanks, Wynn's!  ♥

La-La-Loving the Process

It's been an exhausting, wonderful, concentrated evening of painting.  I wanted to get last night's idea completed to show you tonight, but there's just too much left to do!  {Above is a peek at one corner of the canvas.}  My intention is to work on finishing it for much of tomorrow, but I also have to make time to pack ~ I'm leaving for Baltimore Sunday.  Not quite ready for another trip, but once I've arrived I'm sure it will be good.  Plus, I'm bringing my art supplies to entertain myself at the hotel.  I can never sleep when I'm on the east coast.  I'm such a late-nigher anyway, so if you do the math:  normal bed time 2 a.m. / adjust for 4 hour time difference = wakeful until 6 a.m.   The glitch there is that I have to be up for work during the day, so I'll try to split the difference and also find the coffee cart.

A couple recommendations to share:
I was digging through my books to find quotes to use in paintings & re-discovered the book Life Lines:  365 Meditations & Inspirations.  Besides having good words to use, there are beautiful background photos and the pages are a good weight & not glossy.  (A non-coated page works well for my taste...kinda blends with everything better.)  You can pick up a copy from Amazon for less than 50 cents too.
~ and ~
Craftcast.  Have you heard this?  It's a free weekly podcast (I downloaded all 100+ from i-tunes) by Alison Lee.  I love listening to radio shows while I'm working and this one is really well done.  She interviews a wide range of artists and professionals in the creative field.   Sometimes talking about technique & inspiration, sometimes about the business of art and often collecting great stories of how the artist got started.   Each episode is about 45 minutes to an hour.  I must have gone through about 6 of them tonight!  Inspiring stuff.

Ok, one last peek at tonight's project from the initial lay-out stage...
♥

Spring Dress

This girl's just for me!  Actually, what happened is that she came out a little too closely inspired by Kelly Rae's lovely girls for me to feel comfortable trying to sell her.  Not that I'm comparing my work at all to hers...but you know what I mean, right?  I'm SO grateful for artists that are willing to teach their technique but I always worry that I'm going to end up "borrowing" a bit too much from them.  I guess I'm still trying to define my own style, so I sometimes slip into the zone of those who inspire me.  :o)  Does that happen to you too?  All part of learning I think.

I did have fun tonight though.  ♥  What a joy to cut, paste, & paint!  It makes me feel like I love the whole world ~ all expansive and happy. 

And can you tell I just bought a new gel pen?   Note the photo above ~ I was having fun making white dots.  She almost didn't make it past collage stage...
...'cause I like her just like that.  But I really wanted to try Kelly Rae's technique for making a dramatic dark dress, so I had to push on.  Oh, hey!  I just got another idea for something half-way between the collage & painting stages.  But since it's almost 2 a.m. that inspiration will have to simmer until tomorrow evening.  Better sketch it out before I forget though...

Good night!  ♥

Treats, friends & a bossy bird.

I didn't think anything could top my long weekend at Art Nest, but I came home to some wonderful birthday treats!  My friend Meg made these gorgeous cupcakes.  They were all dense & fudgey ~ my favorite.  I love the color combo of the dark chocolate & pretty dried flowers + I think the frosting was flavored with espresso.  mmmmm.  Tasty works of art.
My co-workers spoiled me rotten with so many thoughtful gifts and nice wishes.  Here I thought coming back to work on Monday was going to be hard!  The kindness of friends was really the icing on the cake this year.

I also wanted to share a few more bits from the nest.  This painting is by Jolee Jane. 
I was thrilled to bring this canvas home with me!  She traded me for my girl in the pink dress that I made the first day.  I love the colors she has going here, and the words "Unity, Community, Love" + it's so funny that she called it Bossy Bird.   Check out Jolee's nonprofit too, Art Takes a Village. 
Jolee {on the right} was invited to Art Nest by her friend Gloria {left}.  That's me in the middle.  :)  I am so happy to know both of them.  They're beautiful girls, inside & out and such talented artists.  Check out Gloria's blog.  In the last couple days she's posted some art that she made since being back home.  I especially love her little owl!

Hope you're all having a creative & restful weekend.  ♥

C is for Cookie

Did I mention the wonderful Art Nest food?  Well, in addition to all the yummy goodies Candice & Julie prepared, Lorraine also brought these scrumptious cookies.  There are no words to describe how much we all loved them!  She was kind enough to share the recipe and gave me permission to post it here too.  I'm not sure of the name, so forevermore they'll just be referred to as...

Lorraine's Cookies

1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 sticks of butter (do not soften)
2 eggs
2 tbsp vanilla
2 cups flour
2 1/2 cups oatmeal (blend with flour)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 bag milk chocolate chips
1/2 bag of coconut
1/2 to 3/4 bag of milk chocolate toffee chips
fun size milky way bars

Heat oven to 350.
Cream together butter and both sugars until smooth.  (Lorraine says it's important to start with cold butter ~ it will keep the cookies plump!)  Add the eggs & vanilla and blend.  In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, oatmeal, baking soda, baking powder & salt.  *Blend into the creamed mixture until just incorporated.  Stir in the milk chocolate chips, coconut & milk chocolate toffee chips.  Cut fun size milky ways into 1/3 portions and wrap inside cookies.  *Bake for 16 minutes.

*Tips from the Big, Soft, Chewy Cookies book ~
1) When mixing cookie dough, do not overbeat the dough once the dry ingredients have been added.  Mix just until the flour has been incorporated in the dough.  Overworking the dough will toughen the cookie.
2) Do not overbake cookies.  Remember that cookies will continue to set as they cool.

Like a true baker, Lorraine wrote the recipe from memory and listed just the ingredients, temp & cooking time.  I added the mixing steps based on other cookie recipes I've done,  thinking it might be handy for those that don't bake as often to have it broken down a bit.  But maybe you could just mix all the ingredients at once and it would still be yummy.  I'm thinking the real secret is that surprise milky way center.  Yum!!!

♥

Wise & Beautiful

This lovely painting is by Julie Haymaker Thompson.  I am absolutely taken by all of her work ~ it just makes me happy.  Take a closer look at the words by this sweet owl:
Isn't that a wonderful message?  I think it also describes Julie pretty well!  She was super enthusiastic about everyone's work and great to talk with.  In fact, there were quite a lot of wise women at Art Nest.

I really wanted to take that Owl girl home with me, but it was on a 12x12" canvas & I had no more room in my suitcase!  Luckily, she also made these little 3x3" paintings...
I'm the proud owner of Miss Jenny Wren {there on top} and the cute girl on the bottom + one other.  They were so tiny & cute ~ I had to keep going back for "just one more"!  If you're quick, you may be able to find the Owl girl or the "Listen" {middle, above} painting on Julie's Esty site. 

Ok, back to my work table now.  My canvases arrived today ~ time to get painting!  ♥

Smiley girls & more Art from the Nest...

It's me and Michelle!  This is from Saturday night, by which time we were all goofy-happy and trying to take photos with everyone before we had to pack up. 

Here's one of Michelle's paintings...a kitty!  Love the colors here.
It never occurred to me to do an animal, but Jane Wynn made a kitty too {below}.  Ok, am I the only one that likes to say "Jane Wynn" instead of just "Jane"?  It's one of those names like Charlie Brown ~ there's a rhythm to it or something & you just gotta say both!   Or maybe that's just me.  :)
Neat use of text in her dress, isn't it?  And I'm in love with those stripey socks.

Ok, stay tuned if you can stand it ~ more Art Nest tomorrow.  There are just too, too many great pieces of work to show you.  I'm working on some new girls too, so those will make it in the mix here soon.  Did I tell you, I placed a big order for new canvases from Dick Blick before we even left Utah?   12x36" baby!  Trying to keep the momentum...I would have never been brave enough to try a painting that size before.   Wish me luck.   ♥

Breakfast with Friends

Meet Lorie, Natalie & one of our oh-so-talented teachers, Kelly Rae.

Lorie was one of my 2 roomies at Art Nest.  Luckily, she & I & Diana all liked a chilly room to sleep in so we kept our window cracked at night.  It sounds like a small thing, but rooming with people you've never met...that could have interesting to say the least.  But it, like everything else at the Nest, turned out great!  (Hi Lorie!)  And Natalie - I was so excited to meet her because I was already a fan of her blog ~ it was like a celebrity sighting for me!  :)  Check out these little pins she made for each of us.  I'm still wearing mine every day.  ♥

At the bottom of that photo above, you'll see a bit of breakfast from that morning.  Here's a better view:
German Apple Pancakes!  They were sweet, but not too sweet & good with or without the maple syrup.  The food was amazing at every meal & there as a lot of wishing that perhaps Julie & Candice will make an Art Nest cookbook.   Julie was kind enough to share the recipe for this particular treat:
Give 'em a try!   ♥

40 years old & all full of happy!

It was almost 1 a.m. Sunday night when I finally walked in the door ~ back home in Alaska after celebrating my 40th birthday in Utah at Art Nest.  The first thing I saw when I came in was my work table.  It's the same basic 5' or 6' foot long costco-type folding table that became our work surface at Art Nest.  Sitting on the table was the canvas I started last week (a lifetime ago!), and all my brushes in their jar, bits of paper, felt, etc.  And you know what?  I just about cried I was so happy to see it!  It's the same old table, but it means so much more to me now.

I want to make this post about a 3 feet long and show you every wonderful bit of the Art Nest experience...but I have to go paint!  Don't want to lose my creative momentum.  :)  So I'll dole out snippets from our nesting time over the next few weeks.  Here's the first:
This is one of the many beautiful paintings created by my new friends.  I love it & I really did laugh out loud when I saw "Belly Laugh" written there.  What a nice thing to remind yourself of!   This one is by Jodi, who is a beautiful woman & is actually not a boisterous laugh-er.  I was delighted when I found out it was her work...how wonderful that she found a way through art to share this happy thought.

I'm not sure you can see it well online, but the bird's nest in her painting is partly represented with strips of paper.  She made it during Mati Rose's class & incorporated words from this poem that Mati shared with us:
Thanks Mati Rose!

And thanks to everyone from Art Nest for...everything!
I'm so full of happy, I could bust. 

Thank you, thank you, thank you.
♥♥♥

Best. Day. Ever.

I'm not going to elaborate on that.  You'll just have to take my word for it.  ♥  But really...it was an unexpectedly great Valentine's Eve!

What I can tell you is that I made a couple new paintings today.  I'm still really enjoying these tiny watercolor papers.
After finishing this little blue dress, I had an idea for using a left-over candy heart box for a canvas.  I started by just covering the top with gesso, then drawing a cute girl...
She was colored in with my watercolor crayons.
Some details & outlines were added with a fine point marker.
And some background color to finish her up!

Oh, and I also added a nice coordinating ribbon around the edge.
A post from Carla Sonheim started me thinking about using recycled materials for painting.  Check out this great three part tutorial on her blog.  She's using a recycled cereal box as a canvas...neat!  ♥

Cupid Bear

She's walking down the lane, headed your way!  

She's all needle felted with jointed arms and legs so she can move around.  Her dress & wings are made from felted wool sweaters.  Here she's takin' a stroll over my work table:
I was inspired to create this little bear girl by Jennifer Stanfield's blog, Cupcake Bears.  She's s so talented, and obviously has tons of patience.  The detail in her work is what really makes it special.    ♥

Still Learning

I am loving Shiva Artist Paint Sticks!  These are the oil paint crayons that I mentioned a couple days ago.  I’ve only ever used acrylics for everything and have been totally happy with that.  But these oil paint sticks are sooo creamy and blendable.  Love ‘em!  The only drawback for my impatient self is that I have to wait a day or 2 for the paint to dry before I can do face details over them.  Still...love ‘em.

That I can recall, I’ve only ever taken one art class.  (Learned how to make lampwork beads – SO fun!)  In general I’m reluctant to take a class because I’m wary of copying other people’s work or ideas.  It’s only been in the last year or so that it clicked for me I could learn a new technique and then make it my own.  Thankfully that process seems to happen very organically.  This is a theme reinforced by the book Taking Flight that I’ve had not far from me for the last 2 weeks.  This is one of my works-in-progress inspired by the author, Kelly Rae:

To my eye it doesn't quite look like my own original work yet, but I have faith that it will evolve.  And I’m having so much fun learning & playing!  ♥

Utah in February?

With as much snow as we've got here, you might think I'd want to head somewhere warm, right?  But in February I turn 40 years old and I want to do something really special.  I had a BIG {Europe} trip planned, but it didn't quite come together.   Now I’m looking for something more medium sized but still wonderful.  I may have found just the thing:  the Art Nest Retreat.

Art Nest 2009 starts right on my birthday.  It’s three days of making art, learning new techniques & making new friends with a group of like-minded women that will come together at a beautiful lodge in Utah.  How fun does that sound?  I feel like I should be saving my pennies for other priorities in the coming year.  But I also see this as a potential investment in myself and in my dreams.  I don’t know exactly where I’m headed creatively, but if I look back at my journey I’m reminded that you only have to see one step ahead and trust in what the future will bring.

I hope there are still spots available by the time I make up my mind!  ♥

Inspiration

These two books have really been getting me by lately and I recommend them to anyone in need of a creative boost. 

The first:  Taking Flight by Kelly Rae Roberts.  I don't know where to start praising this one!  In part, it's a great "how-to" book from which I learned some handy new techniques.  But more than that, it's an encouraging story of living your dream.  I lover her writing style and it led me to search out her blog, which is just as upbeat and honest and lovely as her book.

The second:  Living the Creative Life by Rice Freeman-Zachery.  For this book the author interviewed 15 artists working in all different mediums about their work and how they get it done.  I always like hearing about how people have their studios arranged, how they organize their day, where inspiration is found, etc.  Plus, one of my favorite artists - Scott Radke - was included. 

So - to elaborate a bit on the photo from yesterday's post - these are some of the new techniques/ideas I collected from the Taking Flight book.  I started with rolling out some sculpey clay and using an exacto-blade to cut out a girl:

I was particularly happy with how the little cross-hatch texture there on the skirt turned out.  Then, using the oil-paint crayon type things (new to me!) I painted her face.  Her skirt and shirt were first painted with some brown oil paint to fill in the texture, then gone over with some metallic acrylics to give 'em a sheen.  Oh, and for her hair I used this wonderful curly wool that I ordered from Woolpets on Etsy.  Laurie, the proprietor, gets the wool from her own little flock of sheep.

She's only (obviously) part way done.   I'm working on the board background.  It will be painted and have some kind of quote.  Anyway, it's fun to be working in some new mediums ~ or rather, familiar mediums but in a new way.  

Phew!  I've been kind of short-changing my blog lately, so I decided to do a full post tonight.  I think that about covers it!   But it's after 4:00 a.m. now ~ time for bed.  G'night  ♥

Makin' the big time...

An update from yesterday's post:   I was lucky to be included in a treasury that today made it to Etsy's front page!  At the risk of being redundant, I just have to show it again in all it's awesome front-page-ness.  Ta-Da!

It's my first time being included on Etsy's home page -  in case that wasn't obvious by my excitement.  :o)

An added fun thing about this is being included in the same treasury with a painting from mincingmockingbird.  I've admired his shop and sense of humor for quite awhile.  (That's his bird there on the top left.)

Purple & Brown

A fellow Etsian included my girl Kai in her beautifully selected treasury today:

Nice color scheme, isn't it?  Thanks for including me, Shay!  :)

A twofer

It's been awhile since I went searching around for some new inspiration.  Last night I found 2!  First, the amazing creative work by Victoria Usova:

So beautiful, aren't they?  I've never gotten the hang of working with watercolor.  Her images are so great though - they make me want to pull out my paints and try, try again!

The second find - also thanks to this artist,  I saw while looking around on her blog.  She says it best, "This is a wonderful animation by Mikhail Aldashin "The Other Side". Life, Love, death and destiny in the life of a worm."