2017 30 Day Challenge Day 17

DRUM ROLL PLEASE: THIS IS MY 500TH BLOG!

Thank you for reading and following!

Bird Watching

Mixed media and watercolor 15 X 22

I never imagined that I would get so involved with blogging. It goes to show you how you can do things that you never dreamed you would do.

Last week end I attended an art workshop with Karen Knutson as the instructor. She and I are fellow Minnesotans so I've known her for a long time. It was great having her in Florida to teach a workshop. 

Her first lesson was doing charcoal pours as a background for your painting. If you look carefully at the painting you see random black spray like shapes in the background. These are made by splashing water on paper that has been sprinkled with powdered charcoal. When it's dry, after it's been sprayed with fixative, you design your painting around the charcoal. It's a fun but messy process. The bird's wing has been embellished with collage papers, so it's right up my alley. Click on the image to get a closer view of the detail. 

Karen has very creative and imaginative paintings, you can see her work at www.karenknutson.com or read her blog at www.karenknutson.blogspot.com.

2017 30 Day Challenge Day 16

A Postcard

Mixed media collage 6 X 6

No birds this time, just a cute postcard embellishment. It has no particular meaning except that it was a complementary color to the oranges and yellow and seemed to fit there; also it repeats the shape in the upper right. It's all about finding what works. 

Thanks for the comments about my work, I really appreciate it. 

2017 30 Day Challenge - Day 15

Bird on a Perch

Mixed media Collage

Day 15! I'm half-way through the challenge. I've made it through an out of town family funeral, and a 3 day workshop and I have still managed to post a daily piece. I can be organized and focused when I want to be, and that's the challenge. Not so much that I make great or even necessarily good art, but that I focus on what I want to do and that's to finish 30 pieces in 30 days. Sometimes I know life is going to get in the way  of creating so I double or even triple up on some days to get ahead or to catch up if need be. 

I'm starting to love the lighter oranges and yellows. I don't think I've made friends with a true orange color, yet; perhaps as an accent but not as a dominant color. I have one more orange and then I think I will move on and start a new color series of abstracts.

2017 30 Day Challenge- Day 14

Bird on a Wire

Mixed media collage, 6 X 6

This collage is made up of the same papers as yesterday's collage. The envelope that I talked about is on the top, it's the inside of the envelope. Yesterday I used the outside. The glittery paper is on the bottom. You can make out the reflection of the glitter spray in it if you look carefully. The bird is an acrylic transfer. See you tomorrow!

2017 30 Day Challenge Day 13

As the Crow Flies

Mixed media collage, 6 X 6

Friday the 13th is not and unlucky day after all. I'm flying through the 30 day challenge just like this crow is flying though my painting. I'm still using oranges and getting more comfortable with it. This collage, and the next three, have parts of an interesting envelope. On this one it's in the upper right corner; I have painted and stamped on it. The paper on the lower right I put on gold glitter and glitter spay. I wish you could see the sparkle. The other pieces are altered magazine pages or hand painted paper. Everything is coated with gloss acrylic, fused with an iron to a backing and coated with acrylic varnish. 

2017 30 Day Challenge- Day 12

New Beginnings 2

Mixed media collage 7 X 7

Not only is this in oranges and browns, it is also a random or scattered composition so I'm really out of my comfort zone. I used a sponge roller with off white paint on the right side so that I could scribble in it. I also put some paint on the bottom and a little to break up the dark square on the top. I think the paint brought the piece together somewhat. I have a feeling I will be working on this one some more, it doesn't feel finished to me.

2017 30 Day Challenge, Day 11

New Beginnings 1

Mixed media collage, 7 X 7

I'm working in colors that I don't usually use in my New Beginnings Series. Browns and oranges are not colors that I use in clothing or home decorating. That is what a new beginning is to me; trying something new and different. I'm not quite comfortable with it yet, a little tentative and unsure with using these alien colors. I will keep trying to push through my usual preferences and go for something outside of my box.

2017 30 in 30 Days Challenge Day 10

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Resolutions

Collage, mixed media 6 X 6

Before I can have a new beginning I have to have some resolutions as to what my new beginning will look like. It doesn't matter what language you write them in, as long as they are written as a reminder of what you intend to do. I'm not good at this. My New Year's resolutions have usually been forgotten by now so I have stopped making them. You know the usual ones, loose weight, exercise more, eat healthy food, etc. Then life gets in the way. A family member dies, you get an illness, or an accident happens; the list can go on and on. But, the 30 day challenge is good because it's got an ending in 30 days. I can do 30 days! I'm already 1/3 done. So, away with the blues an on to thoughts of spring and summer, bright colors and positive thoughts.

This collage is made up of scrapbooking papers, coffee filters and acrylic paint. It's heat fused to 140# paper and sealed with acrylic varnish ready to mount or mat and frame.

2017 30 Day Challenge, Day 9

The Blues 4

Collage, Mixed Media 6 X 6

The last in this series, I hope the blues are gone and spirits have begun to be lifted. It's a new year, a time of new beginnings and planning for the future. This will be the theme of my next group of art work. 

2017 30 Day Challenge Day 8

The Blues 3

Mixed media collage 6 X 6

Making art, getting together with fellow artists and creating is one of the best ways I know to beat the blues. The holidays are over, in some areas of the country it's pretty dreary outside, but if you can spend a little time doing something you love you won't stay blue very long. This collage is a combination of some of the same papers used in the first two. 

2017 30 Day Challenge Day 7

The Blues 2

Mixed media collage, 6 x 6

Fewer blues in this collage than the last one and more red, perhaps the winter is not so blue after all. One can always read and listen to music to beat the blues. One different paper in this collage is a printed paper grocery bag. Would you have guessed it?

2017 30 Day Challenge Day 6

The Blues 1

Collage, mixed media 6 X 6

A heat fused collage of 7 different papers; hand textured and painted craft paper, painted coffee filter, painted deli paper, security envelope, Chinese paper, script on tissue and music on tissue. When I get excited about using some of my papers I find it's hard to limit  my choices. Usually I try to limit it to 5 but in this case the music and script were similar enough to balance the composition. This is the first in a series of 4 exploring the use of these papers. I also used white acrylic paint to stamp circles and lines and an ink stamping of palms. It's been coated with acrylic and UV varnish ready to frame.

2017 30 Day Challenge Day 5

Shimmer 5

Mixed Media 3.5 X 4.5

This may be the last of the Shimmer series, I am moving on to some collages but I may go back and do some more of these. I like the textures that the rice paper and mat medium make. The watercolors on top can be added and removed easily until you get the look you want. This one with all the green begged for a spot of red. Is it a house on a hill or just two red spots? You decide.

2017 30 Day Challenge Day 4

Shimmer 4

Mixed Media 3.5 X 4.5

A slight change in color again, but still the shimmer is there. It reminds me of looking down from an airplane at the landscape below. Everything has a flattened perspective and you can see roads, trails and rivers all on the same plain. The link to the 30 Day Challenge iswww.saetastudio.com/30-in-30.html

2017 30 Day Challenge Day 3

Shimmer 3

Mixed Media 3.5 X 4.5

I've been so busy creating that I almost forgot to post day 3! I have a little variation in the color of Shimmer 3, I've added some blue and green. The rice paper picks up the paint in the creases and wrinkles and naturally makes the lines that go across the page. I have darkened some of these with Inktense pencils. 

2017 30 Day Challenge, Day 2

Shimmer 2

Mixed Media 3.5 X 4.5

This is a companion to yesterday's piece. The two of them would look nice side by side in either a single frame with a mat with two opening or hanging in two matching frames. 

2017 30 Day Challenge, Day 1

Shimmer 1

Mixed Media 4.5 X 3.5

Here we go again with a 30 Day Challenge. I don't know about you but after the holidays I need a push or a challenge to get me in the studio and working again. Let's face it, it's really serious "me time". I have some challenging events this month so I don't know if  I'll get 30 done or not. 

I've decided that I will do abstracts or non-objective pieces. Some of them may have a recognizable something in them but I want to push myself to do as many little abstract pieces as I can.

This one is done on illustration board with random pieces of rice paper glued on with mat medium. Then the watercolor, watercolor pencils, inktense pencils, and irridescent medium and gold acrylic to add the shimmer. Too bad the shimmer doesn't show up in the photo, it's a thin layer and adds interest.  

Christmas 2016

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

I wish you all a very blessed Christmas as we celebrate the traditional time of the birth of Christ. May you be filled with the same awe of the shepherds who saw the babe that first Christmas night, the joy of the angels who sang and the faith of the wise men who followed the star. 

December Activities

Colorful Sails

Watercolor 15 X 22

The first weekend in December I participated in a watercolor workshop with Linda Lucas as the instructor. I've been away from watercolors for a little while so the first painting we won't even photograph. This is the second painting which turned out OK. The unique thing about Linda's work is that she uses very diluted acrylic ink for her background painting. Then she uses watercolor for the subsequent layers. Why haven't I thought of that before? This allows the background colors to remain bright and unmuddied  by the watercolor layers. In this painting we used clear contact paper as a mask for the sails and waves. The acrylic ink was applied over wet paper and allowed to run across the page. When that was dry we removed the contact paper, wet the painting with no fear of removing the background since it is acrylic and allowed our watercolors to flow across the sails. This was a fun and easy way to a watercolor. 

Since the workshop everything has been Christmas! Cards, decorating, making ornaments and baking cookies and bread.

Palm Ornament

Old watercolor and glitter

Glass Ball

Alcohol Ink, acrylic pen, stick on rhinestones

Wishing you all a very blessed Christmas 

and

a prosperous new year!

On the Sparrow

On the Sparrow

collage, 4 X 6

This is one of my favorite quotes, "His eye is on the sparrow and I know He watches me." It's from an old song of faith and assurance that if Almighty God knows when a sparrow falls (Matthew 10:29), He certainly knows about me and whatever I'm going through. (Right now it's a respiratory infection like a big percentage of the rest of the country. It's good it get it over with now and not have it during the holidays).

This collage is all hand painted paper with one of the little sketchy bird stamps that I found. I've embellished it with some gold colored brads, just for interest and to repeat the dots on the other side. It's sealed and varnished and ready to be matted and framed or fixed to a panel.