Funky Art Queen

What do you see? I think it looks like a turkey under the x-ray machine. That is side one of this handbag that I created today. I used some ink blot art I created on black canvas to create the front and back of this bag. I used vinyl and a sort of crazy material on the inside for a liner. I was so pleased to find the animal print purse handles in my stash as they seemed to just fit perfectly with this purse. Here is the other side: I think it is cool to have a one of a kind bag like this. I don't believe I could recreate this one exactly! Now, do I keep it or send it away on an art journey? I might have to keep it. We will see.

I just wanted to play with inkblots. Do you remember doing this in school when we were kids? I did this with acrylics on black canvas. I used the compressed air (like you use to clean your computer) to spread my blobs of paint around and then I folded it together to create the "blot". Then, I digitall altered it. I want to design some kind of T-Shirt with these. I think they should say something like "I'm not crazy....I just see things differently than others". Then perhaps on the front of T-Shirt "What do you See?"

Let's take a break from all the holiday madness and just fly away! A mixed media piece gone digital altered piece. It's fun to play with a piece you have created and create a whole different look by cutting and pasting and digital play. Tomorrow is Friday.....then, we are off to New Mexico to spend Christmas with my sister. I want to "fly" there now...but, I have one more day of work. Then we will "drive" there. Long, long drive....I would rather fly to get through it quicker but it's just too much money to spend....so we will drive. Can't wait to get there. I will have to take my journals and journaling supplies so that I don't go crazy on this long drive. I'm so looking forward to seeing my sister.

Meditation JuJu Doll If you are like me, you are so busy about this time. The holiday panic is landing on you about right now...oh my gosh....I still have some shopping, baking, and wrapping to do! So, I thought this JuJu would be a good reminder to us all to stop and take time for ourselves. Happy Sunday. Have a nice relaxing day! Oh and I wanted to show you the girls. I have dusted off a shelf and displayed them in another area of the house. They were a little crowded in their last home. So, they are all together again. I did not make the catrina or the fabric doll in the back...but the rest are my little creations. Happy Holidays From All Of Us!

A mixed media piece inspired by Chagall and Karen Michael. I called it, "The Bird". Lesley Chandler

I had such a lovely birthday. Can I please have at least one day that is my birthday every month? So many of my family and friends called and I heard several renditions of "Happy Birthday". My husband got me two CDs I really wanted and the best birthday card ever. Then my sister called me two times and sang two different versions of Happy Birthday. She sent me a musical birthday card with my favorite get down and get funky song ever....."BrickHouse....she's mighty mighty just letting it all hang out yea she's a brick house".......I'm sure the battery will be run down soon because I keep playing it. My other sister called and sang the birthday song and my Mother also called me and left a voice mail and then when she actually caught me she sang it again. My daughter....well that is the last blog entry. Oh, I love birthdays. Everyone should be so lucky to have such good friends and family. My friends Marisa, Renea, Lisa, and Kim called to wish me a happy bi...

My sweet daughter walked into the kitchen early this morning while I was enjoying my coffee. She had this big gift bag with tissue paper and a birthday card. She begged me to open it today because she could not stand it any longer. I told her that I wanted to wait so I would have a surprise tomorrow (on my actual birthday for any of you who don't know that...)but she looked so anxious for me to open it. So, I did what any mother would do and I opened her precious and thoughtful gift. She got me these warm and comfy slippers from Avon. They even have some kind of smell good stuff in them. The foam on the bottom is so thick so you feel like you are walking on a cloud. My baby girl knows that I have perpetually cold feet and that I needed some slippers. She is my precious angel and I wanted to share her sweet gift with you. This is me enjoying my new slippers. I wonder if they would mind if I wear them to work......hmmmmm-

Oh, I have been a bad blogger this week. Please don't tell Santa Clause on me. I will try and make up this weekend. OK! That being said, I have to tell you why I have been so absent here this week. I have been working on a project to send in for a call for art for the Stampington Company -Somerset Studio Magazine. I'm so excited about it but I don't want to put the picture of it until I know if it gets published or not. But, I can tell you about it. I am always looking for new techniques and media to use in my creative work. I discovered the "faux stone" look using Styrofoam and modeling paste. So, I created a sort of shrine to Frida to submit to the "Heroes" call for art. The deadline is December 15th and I just decided to do this last week. I like to live on the edge. I plan to ship it out today! So, wish me luck. Since I have no eye candy for you...I wanted to share these thoughts and news: "Blessed is the season which engages the w...

Most of my gifts this year will be homemade. I guess I took the ETSY homemade challenge out of necessity. But, I think that personal and homemade gifts are great! And, just for the record, I really don't want anything for Christmas. I just want the family to be healthy, happy and grateful for all we have. I would like us to remember what Christmas is about and engage in the spirit of giving. Giving does not necessarily mean buying or giving things of material nature. We can give extra time, do favors, make homemade personal gifts, and many other things. So in that spirit....I have some ideas to share for your spirit of giving this holiday season. Cocoa Cones -I got this idea from my friends Renea and Lisa-here is a great link for instructions on this idea A special letter -write a letter to someone you love and say all the things you have meant to say but havn't...tell them you love them Personalized photo gifts -like a fabric transfer pillow Cookies in a Jar -There are tons of...

Here is a pic of the mood blocks! I finally finished them. There are 5 blocks in all. Happy Mood- Angry Creative PMS Romantic I'm sure I could have come up with several more moods but I did not want them crowded in the box and to tell you the truth....I was ready to move on to something else. Have a Most Happy Friday! Get ready for a creative and fun weekend. I know you are going to be making gifts, wrapping gifts, baking, shopping?(yuk) but you will be creating! So enjoy and don't forget to rest! HUGS! FUNKY ART QUEEN

I am so excited because I came up with this idea for "Visor Charms". I hung one of my soldered charm necklaces from my car mirror the other day and it occured to me that these would make great car charms. The chain should be a little shorter of course. So, on the front I placed this wonderful picture of Jesus. On the back, there is a wonderful prayer for protection. These charms are handmade. I created each one with art papers and gel medium and the soldering technique. I only use lead free stain glass soldering wire. These would make great stocking stuffers! These charms are available for only 10.00 a piece. Email me if you would like one! lesley432@gmail.com

A new JuJu! This one is the JuJu of Peace and Serenity. I wanted to make a doll for a contest on EBSQ. So this is what I came up with. With all this time off, I have had lots of creativity time. But, I'm getting a little cabin fever! It won't quit snowing! Hellooooooo, this is West Texas. It's not supposed to do this. Oh well, at least I got the time to put up my Christmas tree yesterday. I still have a few final touches to add but here is the (heehee)"upside down tree". Well, no one else in the family really liked my idea for the upside down tree. My husband and son are such traditionalists that I felt like it would be a bit disorienting for them. Plus, I could not find one for a reasonable price. So, a traditional tree it is but I did use a lot of hot pink and lime green ornaments. I still want to get a few more on there.

This piece is available now on ebay I wanted to do a series of mixed media pieces inspired by 1980's music. That was my "back in the day"period. So, one of my favorite songs was by Tommy Tutone -867-5309. I imagined a bathroom wall with all this graffiti (like we often see in public bathrooms). I painted this on canvas board with multiple layers, textures, and colors. I used stencils, stamps, pencils and markers. Excuse the language as I was keeping it real.

Go and check out my Flickr updates to see our white Thanksgiving and some of the family gathering shots. http://www.flickr.com/photos/funkyartqueen

Happy Thanksgiving Before I begin preparing my contributions for our Thanksgiving meal, I wanted to stop and say 'thank you' to all our friends and family. Relationships are a lovely balance of give and take. Today, this bird feeds his friend....tomorrow his friend may need to feed him. We are so blessed with friends and family. For that, I am thankful-so very thankful. I don't think we could manage without all of these fine people in our lives. So, I hope that you will take a moment today to be thankful for your friends and family. Now, I want to leave you with this little part of Carrie Underwood's song "So Small". It has such a good message. ".......Cause sometimes that mountain you've been climbing Is just a grain of sand And what you've been out there searching for forever Is in your hands And when you figure out love is all that matters after all It sure makes everything else seem so small"

I wanted to show you these bottles. The little ones on front are actually vintage bottles. I cleaned the bottles as they were full of dirt. I dried them good and then set out to recycle them. I poured some watered down Mod Podge into the bottles and poured out the excess. Then I poured some snow/glitter inside and shook it up and poured out any glitter that did not adhere to inside of bottle. I stamped the outside of the bottles with snowflake stamp and embossed with gold/silver and a glittery white. I cut out some vintage looking pictures to add to the fronts of the little bottles and tied a little sparkly tie. I printed out the words "Spirit of Christmas" and adhered them to the bottle with gel medium. THEN....shew...I made some little lids for the tops with polymer clay. I just rolled up balls and used a pencil eraser to sculpt out the inside of the lid. I baked as per instructions on package of clay-oh, I used some of that Pearl Ex Pigments on the lids before I baked th...

I need help. I want to enter some art in a "call for art" art show (it would be my first one) and they want the art to be presented to them as 'art slides'. Can someone please direct me as to a reputable company that can do this for me and make my photos art show ready? I have looked on the internet but I don't know who to trust.

Inspired by an article by Kelly Rae Roberts in Cloth Paper Scissors-November-December 2007 issue . "Patch it Together" pg. 72-77 I was instantly inspired by Kelly's article in this never ending source of inspiration magazine-Cloth Paper Scissors. I was pretty pleased with my outcomes but I am still not completely comfortable with painting with a brayer. I just need to do it some more. This was a peace I created with the inspiration to do something with meaning. I feel like my art is often void of feeling and meaning. I took the time (on this piece) to think about what I was feeling and what I wanted to communicate. What do you get from this painting? Does it say what I wanted it to? Let me know what it speaks to you. I will tell you what I was feeling at the time later.

OK, let me first say, I am looking at my calendar and I realize I have not blogged all week. My apologies. I have been thinking of blogging but I had so much going on. Lets see....my son returned home from college, my daughter had a wisdom tooth removed, I got some kind of stomach virus and was so very sick one day this week. It's been a long and weary week and yet....I made it! YAY!!! It is Saturday and I have had a very creative day so far. Actually, the creativity did not stop.....it just kind of slowed down. So, that being explained.....Here is what I have been up to. I call these "Mood Blocks". I just wanted to do something different in the altered block area. I have this little glass box that I am going to set several "Mood Blocks" in. The idea is that you would place the mood block that matches your current mood on top of the box. That way, no one has to guess your mood. This could be very handy for husbands, bosses and fellow employees. No more gue...

I wanted to share this little scarf and mitten set that I created this weekend. The scarf is just a double crochet with fringe on both ends of the scarf. The mittens are just a plain set of black mittens I bought at Wally World and embellished with yarn stiching and some beads as you can see here: I mean, really, you can't just wear plain old mittens. You gotta fru-fru them up a bit Sister! It was really very simple and I had this bucket of beads that just beg for attention all the time. I know, I know...it does not really get that cold here. But, there are days that are cold enough for a scarf and mittens. In fact, I use my mittens a lot in the winter because I am very cold natured. Now, I need a red set, a blue set, and oh yes, a pink set (oh with pearl beads, and a winter white set. Hmmm.....gotta get more yarn.

My daughter just noticed my little collection of Altered Art Dolls on my dresser the other day and she thought they were cool. I have been meaning to take a picture of this collection of mine for some time now. I finally took this pic this evening and wanted to share it with you. I made all but the Catrina (Day of the Dead) figure. I purchased that in El Paso on a fun trip with my sister. Happy Day of the Dead...coming soon! Happy Dia De Los Muertes! Day of the Dead! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_the_Dead

Thank you K.G. for your creative advice on ideas for this Unfinished Project ! At least I think it is finished...I'm already picking it to death this morning. I see some places I want to fill in and work a bit more on. I have not sprayed it with a protectant yet so I can continue to play a little more tonight. Anyway, here is the mostly finished project.

Happy Halloween! Just another fun day in my neighborhood. Can you believe I did not dress up this year? This is the first year in I don't know how long. I just did not have the spirit this year. And of all things, my dear and sweet friends; Renea and Lisa decided to dress up this year! They never dress up and act like nuts...I think I have been a bad influence~ heehee . So here they are in their precious costumes. Renea .... in her little camouflage pants! Cute! Then Lisa.....Lisa the Fly Fisherman or Fisher woman I should say. They were so cute. Boy...the one year I did not dress up.....Shew!!!!!! Oh, and I have to tell you about my favorite girl in the whole world! My girl, my sweetie, Heather! She got first place at her work for her costume! She called me at work so excited! She did her make up all by herself! Isn't she the cutest little Joker? I have fond memories of Halloweens from the past. My mom used to dress me up as a Gypsy! I loved it because I got to wear make up...

I started this about two weeks ago. This will give you some inkling as to how my brain works. (scarry) Originally, I wanted to do something very textured and geometrical. One night, I painted this crow like bird on to this abstract canvas board. Now it sits.....just like this...in this unfinished state and for the life of me....I'm not feeling it for completion. From experience, I know that sooner or later the feeling will come to me....the idea will just pop in my head and I won't be able to get to it quick enough. But, for the sake of blogging and because of my lack of anything better to blog about....I am asking for your ideas. What do you think I should do to finish this mixed media piece? Don't be afraid to share your ideas! Please email me or comment here! I would love to hear what you think. You also have my permission to take this piece of art and tweak it digitally. I just want this 18X24" piece of canvas board not to be a waste. Shar...

Two new creative journal entries:

OK...I have to tell you about this book I picked up at B&N the other day. I have noticed it before...several times. I just had this idea in my head it would be just another trendy/fad like diet plan so it did not really spark my interest. But, for some reason, the other day while shopping around at the book store....it sparked my interest again. Maybe it is because my clothes are all getting too tight and I know I am gaining weight needlessly. I look a mess. I even had this older gentleman friend see me at the grocery store and tell me that I had put on some weight. No wonder I never see him with a woman. Anyway... It is called "Skinny Bitch" and the message is so inspiring. (It's like bootcamp for the unhappily overweight reader.) They just say it like it is. In short, if you keep eating crap, you are going to look and feel like crap. Don't let the fact that these two women have been models or agents scare you off. They are very smart about nutrition and they kno...

This is a mixed media piece I called "One Heart". Any romantic can figure this one out. My husband thought it was a woman with a split personality. He cracks me up. MEN! Anyway, this has been my weekend project. Well, one of them. I have been working on Cody's room. I took off the border and started painting. I'm painting the room a "Bitter Green". I'm so excited about how this turns out. Quite a change from Burnt (Texas Longhorn) orange. Heather was worried Cody would be mad but I already discussed it with him and I got permission! I think when I told her we would make it a girls tv room she was concerned that maybe we would not have a place for Cody. Cody knows that is his room! Always! We won'tfru fru it up too much.

A few weeks ago, I saw a little handout from Hobby Lobby demonstrating a beautiful photo of an "Umbrella Christmas Tree". Basically, it is an upside down Christmas tree. Oh, I have seen Christmas trees hanging upside down from some kind of hook and I always thought those were cool...but not practical for me. But this tree was different, it actually sits in the tree stand upside down! WOW! I Wanted it!!!! I had to have it. I have been obsessing about it since. I looked at the Midland, TX Hobby Lobby but they did not have this particular tree. Renea called me yesterday to tell me that they have the "umbrella tree" at the Odessa Hobby Lobby. So, off to Hobby Lobby in Odessa I must go.... soon. I told my sister I wanted this type of tree and she joked that this was totally against all Christmas Tradition. I don't think it has any kind of evil connotations. She joked that it was sacrilege ...I just like it because it is different and funky. How is the Christmas T...

I did this last night in my creative journal. Wanted to share it with you. I'm pleased with the colors and brightness. I was inspired by a little square plate/tray that my dear friend Renea gave me for Christmas or my birthday. I don't remember. Anyway, it was very artsy and has a picture of a face that is divided down the middle by colors and design. I can see it when I set at my computer and I have always wanted to draw/color something like it. So, here it is.

What a great weekend this has been. Yesterday, (Saturday) Heather and I went over to Stanton Trade Days and shopped around most of the morning. She found some treasures and I was excited that she wanted to buy some old vintage photos because she wants to try her hand at art. Oh, that is so cool. So she bought three great vintage pics. I will scan them for her and we will experiment with some art. And.....look what I found! Look at these great gumball machines! I bought both of them for $20.00! I was so excited to find these. I have been wanting a gumball machine to somehow mount out by the pond with fishfood in it. I think it would be so whimsical and fun to be able to turn the little handle and get fish food. Little children should love this. I got up early this morning and I have already been out to my little garden. I collected a bounty of tomatoes and a few peppers. I'm thinking salsa today. I'm also thinking Sebastian has the right idea on how to spend the weekend. zzzzzz...

I have been working with transparencies to incorporate images in my art. Last night, I finally came up with something I like!! Now, I'm going crazy printing transparencies. I like this whole black/white/lime green combination. I'm thinking about redoing Cody's room in this color scheme. Print on your transparencies according to your directions. Let the transparency dry and cut it out and use adhesive spray (outside) it is so strong. Spray the back of your transparencies and add them to your prepared canvas. Add, embellish, paint over, go CRAZY~

I just had to make another paper flower bouquet. But this one, this one had to be a Halloween Bouquet. I picked out some scarry blacks/oranges/ and green papers to make my flowers. Then I painted my little clay pots and filled them with painted styrofoam balls and added the paper leaves. NOW...WHAT TO DO WITH THEM? I have some ideas. Anyway, I also (even though I should be getting ready for work) have to share this with you. I hope M.R. does not mind. Look what she did with my little JuJu doll. She is so talented. I told her I should have her photograph my work so I could sale it! See what a difference a photo makes. There is a beautiful story that goes along with this ju ju doll and when I have more time and with M's permission, I will share it with you. For now, you just get to see my juju doing her work.

I have finished a few pieces of art and I wanted to share them with you. The first piece you see here is another altered art dress form. This one kind of started with the idea of fall leaves and the gold,brown and reds of fall. But, as my art often does, it turned into a whole different thing that I can't even explain. Where does it say that is has to make sense? I did not read that rule in the Rules of Art book. Then there is my newest polymer clay tin. "You are my Sunshine". Isn't it fun? Here is a side view: I have several more unfinished projects just waiting for me to finish....but I finish them at my pace. Then I will share them with you. Now...Now....I have to share this wonderful photo with you.....my sweetheart and his puppy.