Weekly Challenge at Inspiration Avenue: "Green and Purple"

Here is my weekly entry for the challenge at Inspiration Avenue- "Green and Purple".  This is my (mostly) finished page for Kim Mailhot's sketchbook, featuring the month of June.  When I think of June, I think of warm Summer nights and beautiful gardens in full bloom lit with moonlight and fireflies and sometimes candles- maybe even a lantern?....so that's the direction I went in with this...

I trimmed out the existing page to create a profile and added an extension to the other side repeating the lines of the profile to create a sort of triptych effect opening to:

 the painting I shared for Paint Party Friday....there will be some journaling in the blank space on the left- I might also use the space to describe the techniques and all- to be able to do something extra on the back page which is stamped in the same way the borders are with prints of flowers and leaves from the garden.

 I had the HARDEST time finding the right words to go with this...finally I stumbled across this quote by Anthony J. Angelo who I'll give credit to somewhere in this ;)

And for those of you who weren't around on Friday, here's the painting before I glued it into the pages- several people noticed the edge of a face and wondered about it- now you know WHY it's there!
That's it for me- be sure to check out everyone's art at Inspiration Avenue- it's a gorgeous collection as always!
Toodles,
Stephanie

Paint Party Friday- May 27

Whew, I really feel like I'm late for the party, but I'm here at last!  For this week, I'm sharing part of my spread for Kim Maillot's sketchbook for the month of May for our traveling sketchbooks. 

Some of you might notice that the colors are primarily purple and green- there's a reason for that!  The weekly challenge at Inspiration Avenue is based on that color combo....I should know, since it was my turn to set the challenge, lol!  I'll be posting the spread in it's entirety in the next day.....for now, this painting had a mind of it's own from the start.  I knew that it was going to be these colors, but that's the only thing that has stayed since I started it.  First of all, I started with a lavender sky- and lots of clouds.....the woman was in a kind of frolicky ballet pose- she was meant to be one of my Joie de Vivre figures....but, the muse said uh, uh!  It needs to be night with the suggestion of trees and the lady NEEDS a lantern....so there there you go!  I might do a little more, or I might call it done- it's at the point where I'm pretty happy with it and I always worry about overworking at this point!
Be sure to stop by Paint Party Friday to see what everyone else has been up to this week!
Cheers,
Stephanie

Been Busy with a Little Bit o' Mojo......

So today is Friday, which usually means that this post would be based on the work I've been doing this week.....BUT, in a moment of weakness LAST Friday, I gave in to my children's begging to adopt a new kitten.  Enter Mojo, a little 6 week old scrap who spent the majority of the week missing her mommy and getting used to us and our other cats.  SO, I got very little done this week that wasn't kitten related!  However, I WILL be posting something for Paint Party Friday- it'll just be a little later than usual today!

So, I'll be back in a bit for PPF, until then, have a great Friday!
Stephanie

My BOGO Sale is over, BUT my Spring Cleaning Sale has only begun.....

Hello my bloggity friends!  I just want to give y'all the heads up that while my BOGO sale ended on Friday, many of my paintings are now in my Spring Cleaning section and marked down to 40% off!  You can check them out HERE!

Also, I finished the rose painting and it's now in my Etsy as well- that link is HERE.

"A Tale of Two Roses"

And I also decided to list my Chartreuse zinnia- sometimes I like to live with my paintings for a while before selling them!  That link is HERE.

"Zinnia in Chartreuse"

That's all for now, have a GREAT Sunday!
Stephanie

Paint Party Friday- May 20,2011

It's Paint Party Friday again and I'm so happy to say I'm almost done with my rose!  It's getting to that point where I'm REALLY ready to move on to something new, but I know myself, and I know if I don't finish it before starting something else, it will stay unfinished!
So, here it is:

Really I just want to do a little tightening here and there and touch up the yellows on the petal- it doesn't quite GLOW like I want it to......all in good time :)

I included this image just because I thought the reflection was kind of cool....
I hope you all have a wonderful Friday and be sure to stop by Paint Party Friday to see what everyone else has been up to- I'm always amazed and inspired by all the incredible work there!
Stephanie

Weekly Challenge at Inspiration Avenue: "Tropical"

This week's challenge at Inspiration Avenue is "Tropical" and since I don't have anything new along those lines to show, I'm going to share a picture of cat Spiderman that I took while we were living in the Virgin Islands.  This was the view from our balcony- and yes, it was a WONDERFUL place to live!

This picture inspired my very first (tho' not very good ;)) altered book

 Funny looking at old work, I see all kinds of mistakes- this one was never finished and I was so excited about starting my first altered book, I didn't do a very good job of prepping it.  My son saw it was a painting of HIS cat and claimed it for his wall.....and it's been there ever since. 
Be sure to stop by Inspiration Avenue- there are sure to be tons of tropical beauties to admire.  And, hey; if you have time, submit one of your own!
Cheers,
Stephanie

Last Two Weeks of Art Class.......

With Blogger's down days last week, I never posted updates on my art class.  So today, I'm sharing two classes instead of one!  Lot's of photos here....just so you're warned :)
When  I last wrote about my classes, we were just beginning "If you're afraid of the dark, add another star to the night" and at the beginning of last week, they finished them and here are the final works of art:

 

 

 For the second half of week 5, the students drew and painted flowers- the most beautiful flowers they could imagine Mom and Dad liking!  Then they did a painting of colors and or patterns to be made into a vase.  I drew a profile of each child and cut them into optical illusion vases......

 And here they are completed!

To finish up the six week session we did a light project with concentric circles and oil pastel resist.  They were free to use any colors they liked, the only guideline were where to use pastels and paint.....this is a good example of the crazy places I get ideas for my projects; this one was inspired by a gift bag.....

That wraps up my first session of art classes.  I can't wait to start the next one.....stay tuned for details!
Stephanie
P.S. Anyone who want to she more pictures from class, click HERE!

HUGE Etsy Sale- Buy One Painting, Get One FREE!

I am having a HUGE BOGO sale at Etsy- ALL of my paintings are priced Buy One- Get One Free, so if you like any of paintings together, now's the time to jump on it!  Here are a couple of examples that I like together:

AND 

Or How About.....

 

That's just a few of my personal favorite combinations, check out my Etsy shop for more ideas!

And just FYI, the REASON I'm having such a huge sale is I'm still trying to change my style and I find that the longer I keep my babies, the less likely I'm able to move beyond them- if that makes any sense!

Hope to see you there!

Stephanie

Sisterhood of the Traveling Sketch Books- May

Hopefully, this will end up being my Paint Party Friday post, but with Blogger being down for so long, their weekly check in isn't up yet.....
Anyway, this week I started working on the first traveling sketchbook I've received- Jennifer Pride's.  This one was a struggle for me, I'm not sure why, but it was!  It went from being one thing to another and finally, I gave up sketching and just started painting with gesso, water color and acrylics.  I was trying to do a take on Botticelli's dancing ladies in La Primavera but I kept having trouble with the spirals and how to have the design transition for me- this is a real learning process for me, which funnily enough, allowed me to just play and be loose.

I'm loving the white ladies especially because I was able to stay loose instead of over worrying the proportions

This is also my entry for this week's challenge at Inspiration Avenue- where the theme is Signs and Symbols which I mixed into my background imagery.

I wanted to have a suggestion of a Maypole.....lots of words and color

I painted the figures with gesso and once the whole spread had been painted, I spritzed it all with water....sometimes I like that effect in water color paintings, but not so much here (remember a learning experience:))  anyway, I will be going back over the white- just a little 'cause I really like the way the watercolor bled through the gesso.

Oh and in case anyone's wondering, here's what I got done on my rose this week- just a little more detail:

That's about it for me this week, we've been wrapping up the end of the school year, and things have been crazy hectic in my family!

Have a great weekend!
Stephanie
Be sure to stop by my Etsy shop to check out my BOGO sale!

Art me in the garden....Divide and Conquer!

I love a plant that gives and gives and then gives just a little more.  My garden is mostly made up of perennials and shrubs.  I use some annuals- but mostly in the Fall when they'll give me 9 months of pleasure.  I HATE spending money on flowers!  So whenever it's a birthday or anniversary or some occasion that it's traditional to receive a gift, I always ask for plants :)  Hey, it never hurts to ask right?

Also, it's a really good thing to have gardening friends.  My Mom has given me divisions of irises and swamp sunflowers that are now major players in the garden- one of the things I'm really excited about this year is my living fence of swamp sunflowers to create an entrance to the veggie garden.  Here they are just about 18" but by this August, they'll be more than 5 feet tall and bursting with brilliant sunny yellow color!

Also in this picture are some of the irises from my Mom and some of the Shasta Daisies that I did originally buy- three plants that are now everywhere in my garden, that I've divided over and over again- really I couldn't tell you how many I have!
Did you know that Hydrangeas are dividable?  I didn't until last year when I was moving some.  I started with four plants and ended with more than double that!

This is from last year- I have them mixed with elephant ears and Ginger Lilies that were both free to me.

Really this time of year, the only thing I buy is plants for my containers and and seeds for filler.  I have zinnia seeds scattered here and there throughout my daisies and impatiens (a birthday gift)

and some petunias from Home Depot for .50 cents each.....nicotiana....and if I'm REALLY lucky, my Snapdragons might hang around a while longer :)
I like my containers because I can move them around to add POPS of color...

 These black petunias are my favorite annual right now- they are SO fragrant in the evenings!

I've been admiring this fish in my Mother's garden for years- I was THRILLED when she gave it to me for part of my birthday pressie!

On my arbor (I was lucky enough to find a man that likes to build things for me ;)) I have two butterfly bushes with a New Dawn rose just starting to climb it's way up and a tulip(?) Clematis on the other side.....BTW, I try to stick to Heirloom roses, they are VERY disease and bug resistant and haven't had their fragrance bred out of them!

I just discovered the first bud on my Black Knight butterfly bush.....THRILLING!

Here's the yellow rose I showed you last week

And this is my "mailbox rose" Perle D'or that I'm featuring in my new painting.....still need to do a makeover on that mailbox :)

Oh, and looking this last picture reminds me of another good dividable perennial (tho' in this case is an herb ;)) BEE BALM- so beautiful and the hummingbirds LOVE it!  Thanks for letting me share my garden....I started out having a kind of bad morning- teenager induced drama, but now, I'm all better!

Have a beautiful day,

Stephanie

Paint Party Friday- May 6

Hooray- it's Friday and you know what that means- time for Paint Party Friday!  I know I said a few posts ago that I was going to work on a tulip next, but this rose got in my head and just would NOT leave!  So here is my current WIP- it's from a picture I took last year of Perle D'or, the rose on my mailbox.  This rose gives and gives and gives!  It is always the first to bloom and as long as I remove the spent flowers, it keeps blooming until the first freeze, usually in November!  I LOVE it!

The only drawback is that it isn't an especially good cut flower, as the blooms only last a couple of days.  BUT, just look at the shape of those petals! 

 And here is the reference I'm using: 

 Be sure to pop over to Paint Party Friday- there's always so much beautiful work to see!
Happy PPF,
Stephanie

Inspiration Avenue's Auction

IA Auction Table of Contents

Good morning all, I just wanted to give a quickie update on our auction at Inspiration Avenue.  We are just over halfway through, so there is still time to bid on one of these lovely items.  We've managed to provide a nice price range in order to meet all needs ;)  Go check it out and remember every penny earned goes to Angel Faces!
Cheers,Stephanie

And we're rockin our way through....Art Classes- Week 4

I saw this a couple of weeks ago at Paint Party Friday and was SO inspired to do a color theory lesson and 'prolly, I could have had my lil guys do it the way she does, but since we're just getting started on color theory, I thought we'd just stick to the really cool circles.  And of course, as I was doing the set up (i try to cram the equivalent of 3 lessons into 1 1/2 hours...) the word  DOTS stuck in my head...next thing I knew, I was outlining a "poem" for them the trace~ "We've got dots, lots and lots of dots..." around and around their papers for them to add color to add we mixed them.  It was an AWESOME lesson- THANK YOU Anne of My Giant Strawberry

Dots....

and MORE DOTS.....

 

We gots Lotsa DOTS..... of COLOR!

 And, next we started on ( like I said, we try to cram a LOT into an hour and a half!) finishing the backgrounds to the star painting and they turned out INCREDIBLE!!!!  Just like I knew they would...

Unfortunately, I only have the one photo for you this time, but there will be more next, I promise :)

In the meantime, they worked on self portraits to finish out their star paintings....

And finally, we made "ladders" for them to reach the sky with- you'll soon see what I mean-......but that's for next week!
and YES I know I'm so blessed to work with these new blooming talents!
TTFN,Stefny