Slowly But Surely

She's coming along nicely.... but slowly! Hubby took some pics of me painting the other day.... so I thought I would share :).
Like my messy desk? I have to have everything I could possibly need right within my reach, obviously lol!


I realized after he took these pics that I did the highlighting on the top of the birdhouse on the wrong side.... unless she is from a planet with two suns. I'll have to fix that.



I'v got quite a bit more to do before she is finished. Then I have to ask my wonderful hubby to build me a frame, since she is painted on reclaimed particle board.... the heavy duty kind. I like to paint on reclaimed surfaces whenever possible.


Doesn't he take beautiful photos??? He has an etsy shop too, where he sells beautiful photography prints. You can find his work here at Shaun Johnson Photography.

I hope you all had a great long weekend!!!

Free Time = Paint Time

WOOHOO!!! Yay for free time! I actually have a little bit of time to paint this weekend. Our weekends have been so full lately, it's nice to just be able to hang out with the family at home, and enjoy some painting time at my little desk.
Here's little sneak peek at what I'm working on. There's a long way to go, but I'm liking her so far :)


Have a wonderful weekend everyone!!

New Frontiers

Wow!! It has been far too long since I have posted anything on here. There is so much going on that I want to share.... but maybe not all at once =).

First of all, Valentine's Day is right around the corner! I have been working on some LOVE themed mixed media paintings that I have just added to my Etsy store.

I am hoping to have some V-Day cards made up very soon with these images, so be sure to keep an eye out for that.

Second of all =). Anyone who knows me well knows that I am not content unless I am trying something new. That in mind.... I am considering setting up a second Etsy shop specifically for cute, whimsical accessories. I have been crocheting for a while now, and am running out of people to crochet for lol! Not to mention, running out of $ for my ever increasing yarn hoard. I haven't figured out a shop name yet... but when I do you better believe I'll be sharing the news.

Here's some photos of a project that I worked on last night... gotta keep my hands toasty warm, it gets down right freezing during these Maine winters!! These are coming in "handy" while I'm working on other projects. tee hehe!



Here is a link to the pattern for these adorable fingerless gloves.... just in case you're feeling crafty =). She also has an adorable Etsy shop with some of the cutest handmade stamps i'v ever seen!!

Learning Through Art

I am so excited to share this with you! This summer my husband and I decided that we wanted to pull our 8yo son out of public school and homeschool both him and our 5 yo. It has taken much prayer and research for us to come to this decision, but it has been wonderful so far.

I am taking a fairly relaxed approach to their schooling, making sure that the important things get accomplished daily, but giving them plenty of room for natural learning through play and creating with their hands.

I have wanted to incorporate art into their learning as much as possible. Our 8yo has been asking recently to learn how to paint and draw "like Mommy".... so yesterday we devoted our whole day to researching journal making and making him his very own handmade art journal.

We found this excellent video tutorial by an amazing mixed media artist (who I very much admire) named Tascha Parkinson.




After watching this video we were ready to get to work on our own art journals.... we just had to adjust things a bit to get a larger scale with our own books. We got our bristol paper and cardboard ready, and picked out our cool scrapbook papers.





Next we set to work gluing, and gluing, and gluing some more =).
Have to get the boys used to getting their fingers dirty if they are going to make art.



Then came the tricky part...... securing all of the pages of bristol paper inside the book. This was Logan's first time with a sewing needle.... and I think he did great!



After much work.... and thankfully no blood, sweat (well maybe a little), or tears.... we were finished!!! YAY!



Now to get drawing and painting in them!!
I specifically used the bristol paper because I knew that it would hold up well to pretty much anything we might want to play with.

We both learned so much in just this one project together. Not just art, but history, math, teamwork, following directions, and even more real life skills that will be useful for so many things in the future. And it made us closer as Mom and Son.

"Upcycled" Portrait finished... and more

I have been working hard on several paintings lately... too many at once I think =). I have a couple waiting on my dear sweet hubby to build frames for, so they will look all pretty.
BUT, I did manage to finally get photos taken of the "upcycled" project that I was working on. She came out quite beautiful, I think.

My talented hubby made the frame out of scrap wood leftover from a project that he was working on, he makes beautiful Primitive birdhouses and furniture. One day I will be a good wifey and share some photos of his work too =).

I used several layers of paint and crackle on the background, along with stamping with my new favorite tools.... bubblewrap and bottle covers for circles. Then I layered on some collage elements from scrapbook papers and some printed vintage sheet music.

I recently picked up Kelly Rae Roberts' book "Taking Flight". WONDERFUL!!!! I can't put it down! It is both informative and inspiring!!! I decided to give some of her techniques a try and this is what I came up with the first time around. I have a few more that I am finishing up using many of the same ideas.

I am really having a hard time figuring out where to list my paintings! I might try these out on ebay and see what happens. Selling paintings is still very new to me. Still testing the waters a bit =).

"Upcycled" Portrait Work in Progress

You may call it "Upcycle", or "Recycle" or just makin' fun stuff out of old junk... but regardless of what you call it, for the frugal crafter/artist it's the way to go! Not to mention saving trees and keeping waste out of the landfills =).

Lately I have really been thinking about ways to make my art a little bit more "green". Finding ways to use something that may otherwise have been tossed away. Hubby and I are in the process right now of cleaning out our storage unit, and I am finding loads of treasures! Old baby books that were damaged... or chewed on. The board books will be especially fun. Books of poetry and classic stories that had been water damaged. An old dilapidated bookshelf that I have already had hubby cut into perfect canvas sizes and layered with gesso. The possibilities are endless!!

Right now I am working on a beautiful portrait.... but if you saw the "canvas" beforehand you would have thought I was crazy!

Upon going through the boy's old baby toys I came across several board puzzles with missing pieces. I was able to pry the top cutout layer off of one of them, leaving a lovely piece of sturdy thin particle board. (i'm pretty sure hubby thought I was crazy) The only problem..... it was covered with animals =).
After a layer of Gesso, this is what I had.


You can still kinda see the animals peeking out. I'v been working hard on her all day, and am really loving how she is coming out. She isn't finished yet.... but this is what I have so far. The background looks black... but it's really Burnt Umber.


I will post more photos when she is finished.
Thanks for looking!

Now on Etsy & Ebay

These are my offerings for the week on both Ebay and Etsy. You can click on the photos to see the description and more photos.
It feels really good to actually have some things up for sale again!
Be sure to check out my other items on Etsy, I have a couple of prints for sale on there right now too.

Fairy Princess & Angel

I have been working one some new mixed media paintings over the past week, specifically for prints. They are 9x6 paintings on watercolor paper, and have been mounted on thin sturdy cardboard. I'm not sure if i will be selling the originals to be framed, or just the prints. But either way as soon as i can get the printing sizes worked out i will have them up on Etsy.

"Long Ago and Far Away" was created using collaged pages from a 40's vintage book, acrylics, watercolor pencils, printed paper, charcoal and is sealed in beeswax.

The angel is watercolor pencils, acrylic, charcoal and is also sealed with beeswax.
Look for them soon on my Etsy shop.

He loves me... He loves me not...... Art Journal Entry #1

I have finished my first art journal entry.
I did not intend for this to be a "Valentine's" theme... but i find it to be very appropriate.

I am posting photos in stages, i love to see how a painting develops from sketch to finished product.

In this first stage i have sketched, in graphite, a general idea of what i wanted the finished product to look like. I don't particularly like drawing hands, and my hands aren't very good for modeling. However my 7yo son has very nice hands... so i made him be my hand model for this sketch =)

Next i painted in her face with a mix of watercolor pencils and acrylics. Her hair is painted in acrylic, and the background is different shades of purple acrylic wash.


I just love how the finished product came out! I finished off her hair with highlights of plum, and her dress in turquoise acrylic. Her corset is silver, and i have used a piece of old lace as a kind of stamp to give it a black lace effect, which i also used down the left edge of the page. The daisy in her hair is from a gardening magazine. I finished it off with wisps of wind in silver, aswell as black and silver heart lacy stamps.

Experamenting with Beeswax

This is my first attempt at sealing with beeswax. It took a bit of work, and some scraping, but it came out ok for my first try i suppose. However i did learn that sometimes layers of acrylic, and hot wax don't really mix. I had a bit of trouble with this piece, mostly around her chin and jawline... although the photo accentuates the flaws a bit more than in person. Overall i am happy, and really enjoyed the process. Awe shucks, i think this one might just have to stay with me =).

And on a side note, beeswax smells WONDERFUL!! My house smells like honey all the time now =)

An Altered State of Mind

I have decided to dive head first into the deep end of mixed media painting and altered art. Now that I have begun, I can't stop!

I have been experimenting with different ways to create texture on canvas.

Revelation 22:2
"On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding it's fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations."

This first painting is of a "tree of life". I started with a canvas panel, which I then decoupaged with tissue paper (recycled from Christmas of course), and then covered that with acrylic gesso.
The rest is painted with acrylics, and detailed in black ink.