Thursday, April 11, 2013

Summertime...And The Livin' Is Easy...

    First I want to say a huge thank you all for your many uplifting comments! I appreciate it so much. What an awesome community this is!

    This week we had a GLORIOUS bit of summer weather beg. Mon. with 75 degrees and increasing up to 85 on Wed.-heavenly!!  I relished every moment I could outdoors walking, reading, etc. Needless to say not much got accomplished this week.  We did get a severe thunderstorm or two later Wed. and look what happened:

   It hailed-with ice stones the size of peas and peas on steroids!! Thank goodness there was no damage here because of the small size so I thoroughly enjoyed it-I love a good thunderstorm!

  I did manage to get a little art done to share. First up are two backgrounds I started in my watercolor journal:

 This one is a gesso resist where I brushed on and sponged on some gesso a bit thickly, let dry, then painted on some watered down acrylic paints. I really like the texture you get from this.


 Same journal. This is a technique from Dina Wakley's book Art Journal Freedom in which you gesso a page, paint over the dried surface then use a stencil and baby wipe or paper towel to remove some of the paint-pretty cool!

 

  This is a 5 x 7 canvas board I used to try out another technique in Dina's book on creating "artsy birds". No step outs here-you'll have to go to Dina for that :) I've talked about this book before and shared another of the techniques in this post. Quite honestly once I finished this I thought it was one hot mess! I was going to share it anyway but you know, after I looked at it the next day I didn't think it was all that bad. I'm definitely going to practice this more as I do love birds-and if I can make them fun and not so technical-well that's just in my best interest :)

  This weekend I'll be meeting up with some friends at the Heirloom Productions Stamp Convention  which is being held nearby. Each year there are sadly fewer venues and not very many new things but it's still fun to see what might inspire. I'm REALLY hoping to see new Dylusions sprays and new stencils and I know I have to pick up some reinkers. I'll let you know my findings in my next post.

  Enjoy the weekend wherever you are and do take some time to enjoy some of the other fab artists inspirations where I'm linking up to this week:  Art Journal Everyday, Paint Party Friday, Creative Everyday, Show and Tell Saturday.

           " All the arts we practice are apprenticeship. The big art is our life." M.C. Richards

49 comments:

  1. LOVE your birds, Linda! Especially because they are blue. Have fun at the convention!

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  2. Loving your latest pieces Linda. the color combinations for your backgrounds are so pretty. Wow - you had some seriously warm temps and a nice little hail storm. Glad to hear it didn't do any damage! :)

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  3. The birds are lovely. I love what you did with the stencils and removing.

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  4. Love the birds and message on your delightful, colorful and creative collage ~ ^_^

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  5. oh wow!!! that is some hail....we had a lot of rain this week....can't wait for a clear sunny day!!! love your new pieces....wonderful work!!! the birds are adorable!!!

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  6. Love the birds, Linda. Such a gorgeous luscious combination of colors.

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  7. Hope those hailstones will melt soon. Love the work you've done with watercolors and must get on with some experimenting from Dina's book soon. So much to do and so little time is always my biggest problem specially when I see such wonderful work being done like yours!

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  8. linda thanks for showing Dina's techniques that you learned. how fun that would be; i must try it. your birds are lovely! and the entire canvas looks very difficult indeed. I am so impressed at what you were able to do with the colors but also with the realism of the birds. Mixed media and realism blended at their best! Happy balzering day Linda. lovies, samara

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  9. Love all your contributions this week. I haven't thought of gesso under, but i do like texture. Your bird painting is fabulous. I would definitely love to get away from all the technical details in drawing birds.

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  10. wow those hailstones are huge......great backgrounds created and love your little birds Linda. Happy PPF, Annette x

    http://nettysartadventures.blogspot.co.uk/

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  11. Hail makes me nervous! We had a yard destroyed once as we watched. :(
    Glad you made out ok, but such warm temps so early there...wow! It's still snowing in our mountains, here!

    I went to an art/quilt show last week and picked up some wonderful stencils by Jill Berry and J. Balzar. Last night (no sleep for me!) I got them out to play and LOVED what transpired! You were the inspiration with all your beautiful backgrounds you have been making. I just posted a couple of tags on my blog that I did and am anxious for the evening to get here so that playtime can begin.

    Happy weekend.
    Hugs
    Jan

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  12. Beautiful creations, I love those birds. Greetings.

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  13. Love what you have made, it's always fun trying out new techniques. We had a storm here today, too,but no hailstones, just a lovely rainbow! Enjoy your stamp convention and have fun! Valerie

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  14. Gesso is a great medium, You have used it to great effect!

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  15. Your birdies are so sweet. I love the colors, too. Can't believe that hail!

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  16. Sweet and delicate art works. Beautiful. Thank you for sharing. Big, big hugs to you, Linda.

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  17. i have to try the gesso technique, and your birds are really sweet!

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  18. Love these backgrounds. . . definitely inspiring. Blessings, Janet PPF

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  19. Sounds like a perfect weekend and your birds are charming. Happy PPF

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  20. love your birds and quote. the color combination work so well together. We didn't get hail where I am, but we did get thundersnow!!

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  21. Beautiful pages! I love the bird picture as well. I think the colors you used are fab, and the way you composed it is wonderful. I am glad you thought better of it the next day. I have done that with my art too, sometimes in the other direction...where I think I did something amazing, then I look at it the next day and wonder what I was thinking! lol!
    Have fun at the stamping convention. I would love to see those Dylusional sprays demonstrated too. I have seen a tut on youTube but would love to see and try it myself. It looks soooo fun!
    Hugs,
    Terri

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  22. Love what you have done with the gesso! I need to remember that...

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  23. I love the varied textures and patterns you created for you backgrounds, and the birds are precious. I'm glad you had no damage after that hail storm. Blessings!

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  24. Lovely birds and quote. Those hailstones are massive!

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  25. That first background is amazing! Love it! Your birds are lovely too. And Dina's book certainly sounds like an interesting read ...

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  26. 85 degrees - I can only dream of!! I love the little bird piece and the quote is perfect!

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  27. Wow--love both of those backgrounds (need to remember these techniques to try!) and your little birds are really cute! Crazy hail, huh? Glad nothing was damaged!

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  28. Your birds are so sweet, keep on having plenty of fun with them, I was thinking of doing the same lately, there is something about Spring urging me on to paint and draw birds!

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  29. I am a bird lover also and I think your painting turned out great! There have been many paintings I've done that I hated at first but after stepping away for a bit and coming back to them I realized they were not as bad as I originally thought. Thank you for sharing the watercolor background techniques! I'm always looking for new ideas.

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  30. We have been having the same weather. It is crazy but I do think that spring is here to stay. I love your birds. The colors you used were great. I often find that when I walk away from something I have painted for just a few hours, I really like it when I come back.

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  31. Hello Linda
    That's Spring weather for you! Warm one day and cold the next!
    At least you know it will be back before too long.
    I love the little birdies - they really do "pop" out of the page.
    Shane ♥

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  32. the backgrounds are absolutely awesome and I love your birds!

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  33. We had a bit of crazy hot 90+ degree weather too that really rushed the pretty cherry blossoms on the Tidal Basin in Wash DC ... I am happy with spring temps ... that hail looks serious = WOW!
    Your HKhan card is just perfect and speaks to our season ... every season really...beautiful creativity as always dear one
    oxo

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  34. Wonderful pages and canvas! Hope you find some inspiration and fun new products!
    Look forward to hearing what you got!

    I too love a good storm with a cozy fire of course! Hope the hail didn't hurt any blossoms!

    Hugs Giggles

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  35. Omg, must be scary when the hail storm is raging. They were huge :). However, I must say they do look pretty on the grass :). I LOVE LOVE your birds, so sweet. HUGS.

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  36. We are still having late summer rains and storms down here, and had hail like that just the other week... it is always spectacular... and I love the canvas... hope you do more like that ... sorry I am late getting here for PPF but figuring I am just extending the fun... well that is my excuse and I am sticking to it ...xx

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  37. love your cute lil birds and the quote is wonderful!! ♥ Conny
    http://piaromsartjournaling.blogspot.de

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  38. I can't believe the size of your hail! Lovely paintings - I especially liked your birds.
    Cheers,
    Kirstin
    P.S Thank you for your lovely comments on my PPF painting this week x

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  39. The birds are really beautiful and the colors of all your pieces are bright and vibrant. I do like that very much.
    Nicole/Beadwright

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  40. Love the quote! And the birds are just too cute :)

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  41. sweet little birds...fun colors! happy PPF!

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  42. Dear Linda,
    your birds are wonderful - I love them.
    Actually I feed birds in our garden, because winter time was so long, this year ...
    Thank you for visiting my blog and hugs
    Erika

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  43. That's a big hail. Hope we don't get any. Great painting. Love the birdies and the quote. :)

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  44. love your birds and we have had a mixture of sun and cold rain here..weird spring isnt it

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  45. I love the gesso resist you tried, Linda. You are inspiring me to try that myself!! I am also happy to visit you here again, sorry for my long absence . . . I am slowly getting back to a bit of blogging. Hopefully you will see me more often! Love, lenna

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  46. I think your birds are wonderful. I find them very hard to draw but I just got Dina's book so I'll be making a brave attempt! I love the colors you chose and the background too.

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Thank you so much for your comments; it's a pleasure to connect with you!