Get up. Get Dressed. Paint.

Another early morning painting session with Rae Missigman’s SUMMER RE-RUN SERIES - 15 MINUTE FAVORITES.  This is week 17 of this painting journey and I find I still look forward to getting up with my morning coffee and painting the morning away. 

 I have decided to begin a “play practice” where I allow myself to practice and play with the different techniques I stumble across while blog hopping.  My Pinterest boards are full of inspiring journal pages and techniques but what good are they sitting there in cyber space?  I want to create a space where I can try these techniques without judgement where I can learn and play.

Do you have a journal in which you allow yourself to practice and learn; no judgement just a place to play?  If so, please leave a comment on how it helps you in your creative journey.

SOC week 6: orange + orange + blue

By coincidence, this was the quote on my Seize the Day calendar yesterday.  I have been focusing on cleaning, organizing, and purging my home, trying to regain some control after the looong school year.  This quote spoke to me, reminding me of my commitment and my One Little Word, simplify.  I chose to use the dandelion seed stencil because of its association with growth, warmth, clarity, healing, radiance, and illumination.  Most of us can remember making a wish then blowing on a dandelion seed head.  My wish is purge my home of everything we don’t need and have a less cluttered life.

Colors used:

Dina Wakley tangerine

Dylusions ink spray in squeezed orange

Apple Barrel laguna

You are cordially invited to snoop around in my creative space HERE.  

Paint Party Friday

It's all about the paint

SOC Week 5:  green + green + pink

Okay, so you are looking at this thinking there's too much pink, where's the green?  I thought it was pink + pink + green!  Will have to do a do over but for now here's what I created:

I love the bright colors with this stencil.  Reminds me of the psychedelics of the 60's or something from the show Laugh-In.

Colors used:
Americana Neon in sizzling pink
Apple Barrel in kiwi
Tim Holtz Distress Ink in picked raspberry

Get up.  Get dressed. Paint.

I went back to January 20th for this week’s painting with Rae Missigman’s 15 Minutes of Mixed Media.

It was a fun lesson because she had a video camera glitch so the video went from her drawing the initial design to the end showing her painting in the last few details.  I was all on my own figuring out how she put it all together.  Challenging but a fun page to paint!

After it dried I looked at it and it needed something.  Using my creative license I got out my gel pens and white uni-ball and had fun adding on some doodles.  

What I learned

Ø  How to put together a page using paint with paint pens and sharpies.

Ø  While I can figure out what she did, I find it easier now to do it my way with the supplies I have and come out with similar results.  I am gaining some confidence.

How did you use your creative license this week?

Paint Party Friday

What color are your fingers this week?

I must admit, I had a do-over for this week’s SOC 5: Week Four: red + red + metallic.

First attempt:

I just wan't feeling it but knew this wasn't it. I left it incomplete then this morning I got up and started over:

What's the 4th of July without some glitter?

This time the blotches of paint on the quote were unintentional (see THIS post).  While I was away from my desk washing stencils, Allistair walked across the desk, obviously walking across the red glitter paint and the quote laying nearby.  

Not-so-innocent Allistair

Deco Art Glamour Dust in Sizzling Red

Deco Art Acrylic in silver Morning

Tim Holtz distress ink in barn door

So what color are your fingers (or paws) this week?

Joining Twinkle Twinkle Sparkly Things & Such for Summer of Color 5 week four challenge.

It's a Flower Frenzy!

While I love this week’s colors for SOC Challenge Purple + Purple + Yellow, I just couldn’t get my groove going.  To find some inspiration I searched though my pile of saved quotes from my Seize the Day desk calendar.  Found this one with 2 shades of purple and a yellow; perfect!  The flowers inspired me to use The Crafter's Workshop 12 x 12 Flower Frenzy stencil.

While I love this stencil, I never really know how to go about coloring it.  After pushing modeling paste through I hand painted each flower then did some doodling.  It turned out a little too fussy and busy for my tastes.   But it’s done.

Colors used:

Folk Art Metallic in amethyst

Pantone Multi-Surface in passion flower

Pantone Multi-Surface in gold fusion

Joining in on the Summer of Color Challenge week 3.

Sometimes blotches of paint can turn into a new technique.

I had no idea as to what I was going to do with this week’s SOC challenge pink + pink + orange.  What resulted was certainly surprising:  

Started with this quote from my Seize the Day desk calendar: 

Covered the watercolor paper with book paper from an old algebra book and Decou-page: 

• Put on a wash of light pink paint.
• Pushed modeling paste through a stencil.
• Painted over the modeling paste while the stencil was still in place with darker pink.
• Tore scraps of scrapbook paper into squares.
• Crinkled the squares.
• Edged the bottom piece with distress ink.
• Glued in place.

This is where the blotches of paint came in.  The dark pink paint that I squeezed out on the deli paper was still wet and I accidentally got some on one the squares as I was gluing it down.  Liking it I added more using a makeup sponge.

deli paper with paint

Lastly, I edged the whole thing with distress ink. 

What came out was a rather fun and funky collage!

What mistakes have you made that turned out to be a new technique?

                         Joining in on the Summer of Color Challenge week 2.

Colors used: 

Martha Stewart's Pink Dahlia

Apple Barrel's Pink Polish

                             Tim Holtz's Distress Ink  spiced marmalade

This Week’s Challenges

Light and editing continue to be source of frustration for me.  Because I do most of my creating before the sun rises, my office is dark except for the artificial light coming from the desk lamp or ceiling light.  Because the colors and shadows come out all wrong I can’t take any good photos of my creative process.  Any advice you can offer would be deeply appreciated!

Summer of Color:  Week 5

No title for this one as of yet.  Looking for suggestions.

Color pallet for that week was Red & Royal Blue with a Smudge, Splash or Pop of Light Blue.  I missed this week because of the boys all coming home for our family reunion.  I decided to do a mixed media collage that was more on the challenging side this time.  I went to my Mixed Media Mayhem board on Pinterest and found this   https://flic.kr/p/8fpLSn canvas to use use as inspiration.

 

Birds misted with Fireworks! in Summer Sky

Seize the day outlined with Liquid Pearls & ACTION colored with Sakura Gellyroll Stardust pen in red

Stamp colored with Sakura Gellyroll Stardust pen in royal blue

Ferro Special Effect Paste in Graphite

Inka Gold Metallic Rub in Lava Red on edge; VIVA Modeling cream  in Pearl used for flourishes

Journal52: Week 28 Technology

This was easy for me because when I took the Big Picture’s Cell Phone Photography course last summer, a whole world opened to me and I've been snapping photos like crazy ever since.  This is me this past February when I was celebrating my birthday with the hubby at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens Conservatory. 

Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt

 Captured two photos on the list:

#3: Birds on a wire

 This one continued to elude me.  Birds can easily be found hanging out on the wires during the winter but not so much during the summer.

#21: Me with something representing the season (summer in the midwest)

I wasn't sure how this one was to be captured: can someone take this of us or are we to take a selfie?  Let me know if I need a do over. 

Big Picture Classes The Phone Photography Project 2:  Day 1 Light

Experimenting with angles and types of light.

 

retroCamera App: pinhole camera

I took all of these this morning.  I found that while I noticed the morning light, I never truly examined it while inside the house.  I desperately need to work on editing to enhance the light rather than focusing on contrast and brightness.

Little  Photo App

Noticing the shadows

Love the light shining through the wine bottles

light & shadows cast indoors

light streaming  through the windows of the front door 

Allistair's silhouette  

It was a busy week playing catch up.  This was good as it helped alleviate missing the boys. 

Any guidance and/or professional advice is warmly welcomed.  Please don't hesitate to leave a suggestion in your comment.