Funky Art Queen

Hi all! It is freakin' cold here today in Big Spring, Texas. Yesterday, I wore no coat and had to take off my suit jacket several times because it was too hot. Well, this morning, we have a little snow and the roads are icy. They have closed the interstate I have to use to go to work.....darn! Heehee. Anyway, that is the joy of living in Texas. The lovely weather. So we don't know how to handle these kind of days. There have been wrecks all over the place. O.K. Yesterday, I picked up two books to help satisfy my appetite for eye candy to inspire me. The first one is so wonderful! Oh my gosh! It is fabulous!!! I have always loved the Quilting Arts Magazine http://www.quiltingartsllc.com/shop/cq_book.html because the images the ladies create on fabric are just crazy, wild, beautiful, and brilliant! I can't say enough about it. Did I mention I am not really into quilting? Anyway, I picked up this book called "Creative Quilting" The journal Quilt Project. It is a huge...

I have had so much fun playing around with all the fun tools available for tweaking your photos. I created this one this morning. Yes, that is what it would look like if I was a famous artist. They will come for miles and miles to view my art-(insert sigh here) heehee. This tool can be found at http://www.dumpr.net/ It would be easier to do if you had a flickr account. I'm almost finished with my kitchen project. I still have to put a poly finish on the cabinets and I need a few more little doodads to put up on the walls. It was a hard pr0ject mostly because of the border scraping I spoke of last time. NEVER AGAIN!!! JUST SAY NO TO BORDER. I have had the last 4 days off from work. My husband and son went on a little trip together so it was just me and my daughter. You would think that I might have taken that time to relax and "gather my thoughts" but no, I had the psychotic idea to do the kitchen. I am so sore in my legs and back from getting up and down from the stool...

I worked on this piece for the last day or two. That is, in between scraping the tenacious border off my kitchen walls which was not so much fun! Shew! I got some of this stuff that was supposed to make it easier when you sprayed it on...wait 15 minutes and it will come right off! NOT!!! But, I did get a good work out for my arms. Since I ate so much Thanksgiving dinner....as Martha Stewart says, "it's a good thing". I decided that it was so hard to get off because the last time I redecorated, I probably did not wait long enough for the paint to dry before I put up the border. I also used a border paste because I did not want it falling down. I decided I would never do border again!!! It just makes me dread painting and redecorating. I plan to paint cabinets and walls today. So anyway, here is the abstract piece. I did it on a canvas board. It is 12"X16". I used acrylics, H20 Watercolors, and inks to create this funky woman and bird. It is funny how you think yo...

This was my weekend project. I first had this vision of a woman smelling of flowers. More of a full body pose. However, after looking for inspiration, I found a photo in some stock art of a picture sort of like this. This is my version of that. I have always loved lavender. First of all, it is purple and that is a color of passion! Secondly, oh, it smells wonderful. I love for my house to smell like lavender. It is truly a relaxing and pleasant scent. Ok, enough about lavender. My son critiqued this for me. He said she looks like she is in water and her hat hangs over too much. Ouch! But, after looking at it some more, I see that. So I put the butterfly on her hat to deflect a little from the "too big" hat. The water? Well, I worked a little more on the lavender field above her. I tried to make it look like it was further away from her. We learn as we go don't we? By the way, this is a mixed media piece. I started out with acrylics but found that the watercolor softened i...

Oh, Yesterday was a lovely day. I received my Sommerset Studio package in the mail. They have finally used a piece of my art for their magazine. It will come out in the Winter Gallery magazine in December. They used my "Gypsy Children" piece. I can't wait to share it. I just feel giddy about it. It means I can say, "I'm a published artist" heehee. I won't share the photo with you until it comes out. I have been telling all of my friends and family about it. It could be a little tiny picture that you will need a magnifying glass for but I don't care because they still put it in their magazine. That means Published! So, I met one of my goals this year. Oh, thank you Lord! Sommerset Studio Magazine rocks. http://somersetstudio.com/index.html

My Sister and I went to El Paso last weekend. We were fortunate enough to find the Hal Marcus Gallery. We met Hal Marcus the Artist and viewed lots of wonderful art. Of course I loved most of it because everything was so vibrant and whimsical. The whole gallery is huge and has a little cafe upstairs. It was closed on Saturdays-darn! Anyway, I was so inspired by Hal's work. I wanted to share it with you. Please click on the link and go and take a look at his work. You can click on each artist's picture to get a sample of their work. I realize I have not updated in some time. This is my usual pattern. I get busy with other things and get distracted. But, I think the trip pulled me back a little. I always dabble with art in some way. I have done several little projects. Since I returned home from El Paso, I started on another "Me and My Little Bird" picture. This one is larger than my normal work. It is 30"X24". Here is a picture of the beginning of this work. ...