A Little Vacation...

Hi, I just want my readers to know that I have been on a little vacation. I have been dealing with personal challenges and struggles and haven't been able to do much creatively. Please bare with me. I appreciate all your visits and comments. With time everything will be settling down and I'll be back making cards and other projects. Thanks for hanging in there with me! I so appreciate your loyalty.

Spring canvas

Well, I've been working at the tax office and not getting much done at home, including my art. I finally got this done to my satisfaction but it took a long time. This is the first of my four seasons canvases that I am working on. I plan to make the next one when summer gets closer. I will hang these on a wall in my home where I can enjoy them everyday. I have to pick a spot large enough to fit all four so I can hang each one when I've completed them. 

I had to do some color manipulation in Photoshop to make this look a little more pink. The lightness of the pink I used doesn't really show up well in the picture. Here is a close up of the flowers. 

I painted the canvas with gesso, then a variety of pink acrylics. I collaged some papers onto the canvas and added some more paint. I made all these flowers and wanted to use as many as I could get away with. I know that roses don't bloom in spring but many other flowers do. I like the way these turned out. I got out my collection of pink ribbons and also added many different ones to this piece as you can see below. 

I painted some chipboard letters and added some texture to them. I really enjoyed making this and I can't wait to be inspired on my "summer" canvas. 

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look. I hope you leave a comment, I would appreciate it very much. 

I am going to enter this into the following blogs/challenges:

Artists in Blogland: Show and Tell

Create Every Day

Tax Time

Just want to let everyone know that I have been working more since Thanksgiving and will be working more hours through tax season 2013 because I am a tax preparer. It is going to get busier and busier. With this year being really weird because of a lot of changes in the tax laws, I don't know how much time I will have to make my projects. I will be posting and joining challenges, etc., whenever I can.  So, if you don't hear or see a lot going on here, it's because I can't keep up with everything. Is it terrible to wish it were all over already and that spring were here? I live in Minnesota. We are supposed to have below 0 degree weather this week! I'll be inside but not doing my "art." I have a goal this year to EXERCISE. It is the word I've chosen this year. I choose a word each year for my art journal. It is a goal, and a mission. Last year my word was transformation, and yes, I went through a transformation!!!

This year I am going to EXERCISE in more ways than one. I am going to physically exercise, exercise my mind, my faith, etc. I can't wait to see the results in December! I will share my art journaling here whenever possible.
Take a look from time to time...

Thanks for checking in on me every once in awhile and leaving comments. I appreciate all of you so very much!

Fall Fearless and Fly challenge #7

There is a new challenge at Fall, Fearless and Fly which follows. 

Headline Prompt: Future imperfect: What is different about your life now than what you once expected it to be? How is the way it turned out perfect or imperfect. If your future turns out differently than you imagined in the first prompt, could it still be perfect? 

Color Prompt: Yellow

Quote Prompt: "Existence really is an imperfect tense that never becomes a present." Friedrich Nietsche

Here is the example posted on the site by Joanne Sharpe:

Go here to visit the site

Here is what I did:

Okay, this is what I mean by "Imperfection really is perfect." Our lives are full of challenges. We deal with our challenges by making choices. Those choices are what can make us better people/more perfect or we can stay the same or regress (go backwards). So, if we didn't have imperfections we could never become better or more perfect. The question is whether one wants to become perfect or not. Or in other words- whether one wants to be a person that continually grows and becomes more kind, loving, and compassionate, serving, friendly, etc. The kind of person that possesses charity. My life is not perfect. My challenges help me in so many ways, and sometimes I can't seem to accept them, but eventually I grow to appreciate them and learn to be a stronger, better, person. 

This explanation does not do my feelings justice. It is always hard to put into words what I feel. I've tried, please make allowances for my imperfections. 

Thanks for visiting!

I'm posting this art journal page to the following:
Fall Fearless and Fly challenge #7
Paint Party Friday

Triumphs and Defeats journal page

 

Another art journal page. I meant to have this ready for the Fall, Fearless, and Fly challenge but wasn't feeling well and didn't have the energy or desire to get it done on time. I am posting it anyway because it is a page and I did paint, and I also worked on it a lot. It doesn't make sense to me yet but I had this vision.....so I went with it.

The quote is this:

"Not in the clamour of the crowded street,

not in the shouts and the plaudits of the throng,

but in ourselves, are Triumph and Defeat."

 

The color theme is obvious: black and white. It was really different to work with just these colors but I love how it turned out.

To tell the truth I don't know what I would have colored this if I could have used any color!

 



 

Close ups of the two halves.

I'm also sharing this page with others on the following blogs:

Paint Party Friday-92

Art Journal Everyday -this is a group, you might have to join to view the artwork.

Creative Everyday-Art Every Day Month (Nov) #46

and Mandarin Orange Monday -#42 (for my "orange" version of this page below)

 

 

I just love photoshop! All I did was adjust the hue, saturation, and lightness of my page and this is what I got. Love it!

Create Everyday

 

I have been creating everyday this month. I've only done one art journal page but I've also made a card, a scrapbook page and I'm journaling in my smash book. I am loving it.

This page is me, I am very passionate about everything. I am also stressed out a lot. I have to learn to relax yet live passionately. Is that possible? Well, at least I hope you find this page interesting. Thanks for looking!

 

If you are interested I will be giving away some free scrapbooking software on my blog--shariscardsandpapercrafts later this week. Check back on Thursday or Friday.

Artists in Blogland-Challenge on Fall, Fearless and Fly #2

 

I made this art journal page for the Fall, Fearless, and Fly art challenge #2. Take a Chance is the title for it.

I used the question prompt which reads: When did you take a chance or a leap of faith?

My answer: I take a leap of faith everyday, and God-well, He catches me.

 

That is how I really feel most days. It is an experience that is quite unnerving to me and I have been struggling for about a year or so now with learning how to deal with my autistic son. He recently had an experience that brought out his autistic tendencies along with ADD, Anxiety and depression. He has drastically changed from a boy I knew and raised to someone I have to get to know all over again. It is a big learning experience to say the least! (for the whole family)

 

I also used the second prompt-color prompt, which says:

Which color do you like least? Use it!

I used browns, which I like the least. I don't decorate my home with it and I don't wear it or use it in my artwork very often. After this challenge I just might use it more often because I have discovered it is a very useful color. It is found in nature, it reminds me of fall which is one of my favorite seasons, and there are so many different shades or tints of brown that one can use! I have rediscovered brown!

 

Thanks for visiting my blog! I really appreciate comments! And come again sometime!

 

Orange Cat, Blue Dog

 

 

Orange Cat, Blue Dog

 

I did this painting in my art journal this week. When I was checking out some of the online challenges this idea popped into my head. I love cats and this one isn't too happy about the dog walking along down the street. I love using bright colors! I especially like using colors on subjects that you don't usually see them in like the blue dog. I guess cats can be orange, but I have never seen one a bright orange like this.

I am including this page in the challenge over at Artists in Blogland called Fall, Fearless, and Fly.  I incorporated the colors for the Fall, Fearless, and Fly challenge, which is the second prompt. They wanted Oranges, reds, pinks, and yellows. I could have included more of the prompts but they don't really fit with this painting. You can check it out by following the link if you are interested in finding out more about this challenge. I am also posting this on the Inspiration Avenue site. The challenge is that we were supposed to use orange in our work and I think my orange cat satisfies that requirement. I view orange as a happy color. I also love contrasting colors and blue is one of my favs. I love to wear orange clothing, or any shade of orange. Coral is another of my favorite colors.

I used acrylics for this painting. I hope you enjoy it. I would really appreciate any comments you would like to leave. Thanks for visiting!

kelly rae

I was just reading on Kelly Rae's blog. This is what I came across:

"The deepest secret is that life is not a process of discovery, but a process of creation. You are not discovering yourself but creating yourself anew. Seek, therefore, not to find out who you are, seek to determine what you want to be” – Neale Donald Walsch

No wonder I've been going around in circles! I was trying to find me and all the time I should have been thinking, "who do I want to be?"  I think this is going to be so much easier to do because I already know who I want to be....

I want to be an artist. I already consider this done.
I want to be a kind, compassionate, caring, and creative person. I want to be helpful, supportive, and friendly. Oh, the list could go on and on but I won't bore you with it all. You should make your own list, yeah, that is a good idea, don't you think?

If you would like to read kelly's blog for yourself, here is the link:
http://kellyraeroberts.blogspot.com/
I hope you enjoy reading her stuff like I do.