Marching On...

   and hopefully thawing out a bit. It truly is wonderful to see some melting of all the snow still piled up all over. And has anyone noticed the birds are changing their calls to songs of Spring? Oh it's also Daylight Savings Time here on Sunday- we move our clocks ahead 1 hour, giving us more daylight in the early morning. Three things I am grateful for! (If you click on the link it takes you to a list of DST dates for 2014 all over the world).

  The art today begins with my March calendar spread. This idea was a prompt from my DYAY class with JoAnne Sharpe (link on sidebar).

          The really tricky part was making sure to get 31 leaves across the pages in the right sizes!

  And here's a close up of days 1 and 2  filled in. I am caught up but  took this picture earlier to share with the class.

                                            linking to Kate Crane's Calendar Challenge 2014

This next mixed media page in another one of my art journals was created for Piarom's (Conny) Mix it Monthly challenge for March. The theme is abstracts and the color inspiration is orange and blue.

   The background was done by scraping acrylic paints over the page with an old credit card. Mark making was added and then when I spotted the two postage stamps I took off an envelope recently (thank you Patty-I know you do the same:) I collaged them on. I wasn't quite sure what to do next to add interest so I played around with a variety of punched  card stock shapes over the page. Once satisfied with it I glued them in place.

  In an earlier post I shared two pages I had finished drawing in my DYAY journal but they still needed the watercoloring. Here they are all done!

   Well, that's all for today. I'm trying to get ahead on some things for the coming week because next weekend St. Patrick's events are being held in town-which I won't miss-and in addition, the 15th is not only my birthday but also my two year blogiversary!! Wanna know how I will celebrate? With 3 giveaways!!!
So, stay tuned...

  And thank you all for your comments last Friday. Sadly, the time got away from me and I did not reply to each. Just know how much I do appreciate your thoughtfulness.

  Linking to Creative Every Day, Kate Crane's Calendar Challenge, Mix It Monthly, and Paint Party Friday.

   " We gain strength and courage and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face... we must do that which we think we cannot."    Eleanor Roosevelt

Tuesday "T" s

   Good Tuesday morning! I'd love for you to grab your favorite cuppa and join us at Bleubeard and Elizabeth's T Stands For Tuesday.

  My first "T" is for thank you cards:

 

     I used an oldie but goodie rubber stamp from PSX, gold embossed it and colored it in with markers. 

  

  The stamps used are a clear UM set "Just Saying" by Inkadinkado and the die I used is a custom die template by Spellbinders.

  We were so very lucky to have missed the heavy snow and ice that reached many parts of the northeast again Sun. and Mon.!! I swear it's because I waved that snow stick around like a magic wand and wished so very hard for the snow to stay away this time :) However, it is unseasonably bitter cold. The perfect way to stay warm? Well for me it begins with a good hot cup of coffee first thing and then besides water I sip tea (decafe only) throughout the day.

 This is what my art desk  is looking like right now, complete with a large cup of dark cherry berry tea:

  Notice that my cup is on the left. I am right handed so this way there is no chance of dipping a brush into it:)

As you can see I am very busy with my drawing lessons, but we'll see how far I actually progress today because early this evening my friend Carol and I have tickets to see and meet with Ryan Kelly of Celtic Thunder! He's going to be at our local PBS station filming a promo for Celtic Thunder's new "Symphony" tour. One of their tour stops will be right here in town at the Sands Event Center on Nov. 23rd and you can bet I'll be there:). This will be the 5th time hubby and I have seen them!

 OK, off to visit you and get myself together for tonight...

     "Springtime is the land awakening. The  March winds are the morning yawn."  Lewis Grizzard

                                

Windows Of My Heart

     Friday and time to turn the calendar page to March. Oh I can only hope for some Spring-like temps this month.  It's also Paint Party time -yay!!!

   Still working on (albeit slowly) my Draw Your Awesome Life and Draw Your Awesome Year  online classes (links  and badges at right sidebar). I was looking to see where I left off at the Awesome Life class and realized I never shared  some lessons I had done in January. So here they are.

  For lessons 4 and 5 we were to find an interesting leaf and branch to sketch and practice with and I chose these from the backyard.

                                                                      first  sketch

                                  using a technique for shading with only a marker and water brush

                                          practicing various drawing techniques with one subject

   and more techniques for varying sketches -note- the water colors were before I had purchased the Peerless colors which are SO much more vibrant!

  Those of you who stopped by last week know I shared my enthusiasm for a tutorial  YouTube video Serena Barton shared on her blog recently. Curb your enthusiasm? Not me! If you didn't check it out, go here for the links. I have two more canvases to share this week :)

  This is how the canvas started:

                                                   just  squares of paper scraps in my stash


   And finished:

                                                    Seek Within      (6" x 8" canvas board)

Reinkers, acrylic glazing medium, blue acrylic paint, card stock stencil, door image (Paper Whimsy), recycled dryer sheet, dress pattern tissue paper, typed words, pencil, black ink pad.

  the second canvas base:

  And the finished  canvas:

                                             My Heart Has a Window    ( 6" x 8" canvas board)


Reinkers, glazing medium, green/ green black acrylic paints, Victorian pattern wall stencil, window image and girl image (Paper Whimsy), found words, recycled dryer sheet, black ink pad.

 What I love most about creating these is just laying down the various papers,  seeing the transformation and  really just playing with mixes of reinkers and glaze directly on the substrate for some really good results. I either start with a word/ sentiment or an image and go from there.  BTW, Serena kindly took the time to send me a note and share my work on her blog. She also heartily agreed that if you create something inspired by her videos or her book or classes to contact her and let her know.  I so appreciate the time she takes with everyone and the fact that she has given me a way to put my  art and spirit into these projects.

  Who have you learned from in the world of art lately that really moves you to create and bring out your true authentic style? And have you told them and shared with them?

  Linking to Paint Party Friday, Art Journal Every Day, and Creative Every Day.

 Thank you all for your comments as always (I cannot thank someone personally though if the setting is a "do not reply") .

           " Your  every new journey is your new window opening to new ideas."   Mehmet Murat Ildan

 




  

All About Bunnies

 well... mostly anyway. Funny how this theme came together by my taking photos of a special set of coffee bowls and then my son sharing the most delightful You Tube video with me. But first I want share the gorgeous Valentines I received:

   From the top -a gorgeous digital collage from Debby in Canada, a pretty card with a vintage image from ARTchix Studio from Sallie in CA who shares a love of  ARTchix images, a stunning felted card that shimmers like magic -and those ocean colors had me swoon-from Patty  in VA,  the beautiful card with the awesome intricate die cut is from LuAnn-who actually lives only a few miles from me in PA-however, it took her card an extra week to get here arriving only last Saturday. Can you believe it? Thank you lovely friends for thinking of me with your special hand made greetings!

 On to the bunnies. I've always adored bunnies -especially the lops ( the long-eared ones) and have a bit of a collection of  bunnies. I'll only share a few I thought you might enjoy. But first,  you must watch this very short video. And my son is right -this could SO be me :)

  Here is a collage of a set of coffee bowls I bought in France some years ago:

  And to give you an idea of the size here is a pic of me at my aunt's house having breakfast in a typical bowl for coffee the last time I was in France (almost 6 years ago):

 This is a cute but unusual bunny that was gifted to me-do you know what makes it unusual?? Take a guess. I'll show you at the end of this post.

  

    And this is a small table vignette-books and bunnies :)

  Since St Patrick's Day will soon be here I wanted to start by making a fabric hanging to decorate:

 

 Asst. fabrics, transparency ( Paper Whimsy), crocheted lace, 4 leaf clover button, vintage buttons, rubber stamp, hand dyed ribbon, dowel, glitter glue. Too bad I couldn't capture the lovely look of the glitter glue all over the lace bottom. No, it's not sewn with any precision and there are loose threads but that's the way I like it and I'm sticking to it! 

 So did anyone guess about the bunny? It was a gift for my baby shower and here's what's special:

                                    His ears are a baby spoon and fork! Now how cute is that?



  Please feel free to join me over at Elizabeth and Bleubeard's for T Stands For Tuesday and see what all the lovelies are sharing this week. And now I will get a hot cup of tea while I hop along the link ups :)

      I thought this quote quite appropriate to end this post since it is flurrying at the moment.

              " In every winter's heart there is a quivering Spring..."  Kahlil Gibran

A Mix Of Projects

  Despite the fact that we've had such a  snowy, icy winter I have had robins in my yard and on the crab apple tree. Usually they're not seen in the winter so I was delighted and for me it's surely a sign of Spring:) So for Conny's Mix It Monthly challenge "Be Inspired By Pets" I chose to create a journal page around the robins and my love of birds.

  Bits of torn tissue were added to the watercolor page before adding the paint to give it some texture. The nest of birds image was torn from gift wrap tissue and glued down over top of a flower I drew and painted. The bird in flight is an image from Stampington.

  Here is a collage of the day a flock of robins visited my yard. It was an absolute delight to watch them "working" the crab apples off the tree!

  These are two more pages of lessons from the "Draw Your Awesome Year" class. These are WIPS-the watercoloring needs to be done next:

                                                   The pg. edges are lined with washi tape.

  My last project for today was inspired again by Serena Barton who recently posted a You Tube tutorial on her blog. For some reason I wasn't able to put the actual video here but you can use this link or go here to see it. It is really worth watching!

 My stretched canvas began like this:

 And here is the finished piece:

                                                         Beautiful Dreamer (6" x 8")
  
   Vintage image; patterned papers; dress pattern tissue; stencil; reinker glazes; acrylic paint; black ink pad.

  I've already begun two more canvasses which I'll share when completed. I'd love for you to share if you watch the video and create your own project (and I know Serena would too:)!

     Linking to Paint Party Friday; Art Journal Every Day; Creative Every Day; and Mix It Monthly.
 Have a great weekend everyone!

    " A lot of creativity comes from just being in a place where it is allowed to happen spontaneously."
                                                                                                            Carla Hannaford