Thursday, February 4, 2016

Spring Is In The Air

 well, for now at least!! Thankfully the higher temps are quickly melting all the huge mounds of snow and I can see much of the grass again. And on Monday I was delighted to be greeted by a large group of robins flying overhead and even visiting my yard for worms and leftover crab apples on our tree. I have always thought them to mean spring is truly just around the corner even though sometimes robins will stay year-round.


 The page was painted with some yellow, turquoise and pink paint. then I glued down a gelli printed deli paper over it. The robin and branches was painted with acrylic paints with a touch of colored pencil. Circles were punched from printed papers then enhanced with charcoal pencil. The music notes were stamped using Jet Black Staz-On ink.

 My page was inspired by my photo of one of the robins I had taken, along with this piece:




 It was in a post by fellow blogger Carol who ends her posts with wonderful random thoughts for the day. I LOVE this one with those happy, bright colors!





  I see many of you are doing the 29 faces challenge and I am enjoying all the creative faces you all are posting. I really thought I'd do it this time around but just knew I wouldn't accomplish a face a day. So instead I will share a new face when I get one done. I 'm using a very small book (4" x 4") and plan on filling it with quick face sketches. This is my first entry:





 She was inspired by Jane Davenport's lessons in her book. I used only colored pencils and then just a teeny bit of water to activate some of the lines. This is not watercolor paper so I had to go very lightly. The plan is to do a variety of faces in a variety of mediums such as pencil, pen, paint, oil pastels just for practice.

  BTW- Jessica Sporn is revisiting her posts for her Stencil Test Drive each month and offering a giveaway too! In this post she revisits her frame stencil and I was one of the participating artists (thank you Jessica)! Do have a peek into her gorgeous, colorful art and why not enter the giveaway too?

 OH, anyone watching Downton Abbey??? OMG- I am still shocked by that unexpected scene at dinner!! Never saw THAT coming!! That's all I can say about it in case anyone hasn't seen the last episode yet, but, oh my!

 Linking to Art Journal Journey; Art It Friday- Show Your Face; and Paint Party Friday.

"When Spring returns, the earth becomes a child who recites poetry."    Rainer Maria Rilke






35 comments:

  1. Love all your art, the birds are beautiful - I loved Carol's post, too, and the face is GORGEOUS! But you have me worried - WHAT happened at Downton Abbey? Is it a new series? I must know!!!! Have a great and arty weekend, hugs, Valerie, and of course, thanks for joining us at AJJ!

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  2. What a lovely page - love the springlike feel and always a pleasure for me to see birdies - your art always makes me happy Linda! Super idea with your "faces in different mediums project"! Have fun!
    Your first one looks lovely...
    Thank you for such a lovely AJJ entry and all the links and information - congrats on being featured in Jessica's post - beautiful pieces! I wish you a happy weekend ahead!

    ♥♥♥
    Susi

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  3. Lovely! Beautiful little birds and your wonderful face. Thank you for sharing!
    xoxo
    Michelle

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  4. I am ready for spring so your beautiful bird piece really caught my attention. I really like the soft background colors you used.

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  5. Lovely pieces this week Linda glad the weather is getting better

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  6. We haven't had any Robin yet but I'm on the look out :) Your's is great! Thanks so much for linking to my blog ♥ You are a sweetheart♥

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  7. What a gorgeous page! Thanks for letting us know how you got to the final look. I love the music notes you stamped near the bird. Love everything about this page. Robins stay here year round for some reason.

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  8. Wonderful Linda! I love your signs of Spring and your fabulous face. Great work. I still feel like I'm waiting for Winter! It is weird to think that we are in February already! Have a lovely weekend and thanks so much for linking up to Show Your Face! Kx

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  9. A beautiful Spring page, the colours are lovely.
    xxx Hazel.

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  10. I love the face and the idea of the small book with just faces ! It will be fun to see them all together!

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  11. Oh, I hope that I'd see some signs of spring, but oh no, to be spring in February in Finland, is never to be seen. Winter just lasts and lasts.

    Your bird luckily sings for me a spring melody.

    A book filled with faces sounds fun!

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  12. This post so cheered me up! I love all the colour and the birds:the robin is lovely. I've been with my mum today and the 2 robins who visit her garden have been feasting on all the seeds we put out for them. I love the face you shared this week too. A book dedicated to faces alone sounds like a brilliant idea. thank you so much for your visit to my blog earlier. xx

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  13. Lovely pieces of art. I love the robin too, and all winter I've had a couple in my garden.

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  14. Oh yes I am thinking of spring too. Your robin came out great and looks like he is ready to sing us a song. Yesterday we had spring weather and the birds were singing and today we got 8 inches of fresh snow. Oh such a fickle winter we are having. I love all little shapes you added on your page too. They really lighten it up and make it fun! Have a wonderful weekend!

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  15. Sweet pieces Linda...I love your face... have you ever tried putting down gesso to strengthen your paper? A thick gesso though...some are too thin. Love when the robins show up!! Thanks for sharing the links too!!

    Hugs Giggles

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  16. Your robin is sweet Linda and I too always associate them with spring. They've been busy here too.
    What a lovely start for your small book of faces.
    She's a beauty and looks like she has a story to tell.
    YES Downton Abbey was shocking and everyone seemed sort of calm considering the drama of it I thought. I don't like to think of this being their last season.
    Happy Weekend to you
    and Happy PPF
    oxo

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  17. Love the transparancy in your first page, and your face is beautiful ....

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  18. So pretty! Lovely signs of spring--I love to see tham outside or on paper--they give me hope. Thanks! Have a nice weekend. xo

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  19. I was SO impressed with your lovely face. She has such a sweet and innocent face. Her mouth is perfect with that slight pouty look, too.

    Gosh, that robin is impressive and I hope it stays around because I hear weather in the northeast has turned a bit snowy.

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  20. I do like your robin painting very much with its dotty tree and blue heart. Here is is very unusual to see more than one robin at one time, maybe a couple in Spring.
    Your portrait is good, excellent idea to make one when you have time, not every day.
    Thanks for not disclosing the Downton Abbey surprise, haven't seen it yet.

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  21. I can hear the Twitter of your spring birds. I am also taking part in February Faces for the first time

    Thanks for dropping in to view mine

    Much love...

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  22. Lovely & beautiful work!!!

    Smiles, Saskia :)

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  23. Gorgeous Robin - yours are so different than ours in the UK - how wonderful to see flocks of them.
    Your face is so lovely too - I love Janes book too.
    Sadly Downton finished here so I won't say anything other than I know exactly what you mean about shock of the table scene.
    Gill x

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  24. What a wonderful robin... they are one of my favourite visitors to my garden. I happened to see four all very near one of my feeders earlier in the week which is very unusual to see so many together. They are such territorial wee feathery critters.
    I've missed the whole of Downton Abbey Linda, since it was on whilst we were in Melbourne. I've never caught up with it. (Gasp) I know!
    I keep promising myself that I'll get the box set and watch it. It seems to be a firm favourite with so many people... so there must be something in it!
    Have a wonderful weekend :D

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  25. Glad spring is in the air for you. All of your art is wonderful. I am doing 29 faces this year and find it not hard at all to get a face done. I thought it would be.

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  26. Such a pretty sky with the robin! And the face is great, so expressive!

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  27. Spring is we have to wait for some time.

    Beautiful colorful art.
    Beautiful face of the obvious grief.

    Warm thank you for visiting my blog!

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  28. Robins are such a delight. We are lucky to have them in the garden year round and they are a very cheerful presence. You've captured that perfectly in your art.

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  29. I thought your 'American' robins looked a bit different in the previous post to our 'English' robins :) Characteristics sound the same though :)

    Downton :) Finished over here :( but yes... that scene was a bit... colourful!

    Another lovely face and great lips! I decided not to sign up this year but oddly enough have been doing lots of faces!

    Glad your snow has not hung around like last year :)

    Karen x

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  30. In all the poems I read and learnt during my school days the sight of the robins meant Spring was in the air!
    Oh they look such sweet little birds - we don't have them in NZ so sadly I've never seen one in person.

    Love your Robin painting - so much going on - a bright beautiful welcome to Spring!

    We saw the final series of Downton late last year so my lips are sealed - I'm sad those wonder actors won't be stepping into my living room again - they were all superb!

    Shane x

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  31. Lovely post and I love the birdie who sings a song about spring..yeah! ♥ Conny http://piaromsartjournaling.blogspot.de

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  32. I paint more than one face at a time, no time to do one per day...
    D A was here, for some reason I didn't watch it. But Aaron and Julie was...intensive, heartbreaking, well acted...great. Showed 3 episode series here.
    Have a good week!

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  33. Beautiful art! I love both the bird and the face. And I'm with you on Downton Abbey! Wow!! xoxo Silke

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  34. The robin has made me ready for spring though out here in the northeast US, spring is not ready to come yet. Beautiful face. I don't watch Downton Abbey though I heard about what happened at the table.

    Thanks for visiting my blog and for the lovely comment.

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  35. What lovely artwork. I love robins. We have one that lives in a tree at the bottom of the garden. It's such a joy to see him/her sitting on the fence early in the morning.

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