Weekly Challenge at Inspiration Avenue: "Harlequin"

The weekly challenge at Inspiration Avenue was "Harlequin" (I should know this, since I was the one who set the challenge this week;))  Anyway, here's my Harlequin:

 It's another one of my little journals, in progress- I just need to glaze it, glue the inside cover in, drill the holes and bind it all together and it'll be done!  I have a show coming up the first weekend in December and I'm trying to get a nice little pile of these finished by then!
Be sure to stop by Inspiration Avenue this Sunday to see what everyone else came up with; it's sure to be a quite festive collection!

I'm also linking this with Tracey Potter  who just started a weekly blog party called Paint & Palette or P & P- great fun, you just share a photo of your palette and a painting if you like......FUN!

I used to buy disposable palettes but then came up with the idea of making my own as I go, so this is a piece of canvas and I wrap it with fresh plastic wrap each time I paint.  A little tacky, but quite economical!
See ya'll tomorrow for Paint Party Friday- I'll be sharing updates for on my new painting....
Stephanie

Weekly Challenge at Inspiration Aveue: "Needlework"

The challenge at Inspiration Avenue was "Needlework" and at first, I didn't think I would have anything to share.  I'm definitely not talented when it comes to needle and thread!  But, then I remembered my journals and the fact that they are woven together or rather sewn together with a length of ribbon!  So here's my entry for this week's challenge:

These little books are so much fun to mke, and the sewing potion's so easy anyone could do it- even me!
Be sure to stop by Inspiration Avenue to see what everyone has has created- I can't wait!
Cheers,
Stephanie

Weekly Challenge at Inspiration Avenue: "Art Nouveau"

Here's my finished painting inspired by one of my favorite artists; Mucha- I love how he combined two of my favorite subject matters; women and flowers and stylized their surroundings into pattern.  I had so much fun with this!

 Please excuse the glare; I didn't think to photograph this before I'd glazed it.  I just have to attach the inside papers. drill the holes and weave it together and then it will be my newest journal.  I'm really enjoying doing these little paintings- it feels so GOOD to be able to finish a painting in a few hours- definitely not a normal occurrence for me ;)
Be sure to stop by to see the gorgeous gallery of art at Inspiration Avenue- as always, it will be an amazing experience- I promise!
Stephanie

Paint Party Friday- Week 34

Yay, it's Paint Party Friday- can you believe it's been 34 weeks?  I can't, but I'm so grateful to Eva and Kristin for starting this group.  It's always an amazing collection of artists and their art along with a huge motivation to get work done each week!
For this week, I'm sharing a WIP I'm almost finished with for this week's challenge at Inspiration Avenue- the theme is Art Nouveau, one of my favorite styles of art and it's another cover for the journals I've been making.

Be sure to stop by Paint Party Friday- or better yet, submit some of your own work!  You have all day today!
Have a blessed Friday!
Stephanie

Weekly Challenge at Inspiration Avenue, "Masquerade"

For the weekly challenge at Inspiration Avenue, Shel chose the theme to be "At the Masquerade Ball".  I've found myself drawn to harlequin references lately- as a teen they used to be one of my favorite things to paint- in fact I collected  Sylvestri dolls to use as references and sold my paintings of them to friends!  Anyway, I had fun going down memory lane with this- be warned, you may see more soon!:

 I've painted it on canvas paper and mounted it onto a book cover to be used in one of my journals.  I want to do a few more touch ups on her face but mostly I like the painterly quality of this and am happy with it.  I'm also linking this to Paint Party Friday a place filled with wonderful art and artists- go check them out!  Also don't forget to stop by Inspiration Avenue to see who else is at the Masquerade Ball........

Happy Friday!
Stephanie

Weekly Challenge- "On the Wings of Inspiration"

In honor of our now 500+ followers; my team and I are having a blog party!  I've been with Inspiration Avenue just over two years now, and I've loved every minute of it!  I initially joined because I wanted to be on an Etsy team that would help me stretch and grow creatively and inspire me to create regularly- I'd just started painting again the year before.....so where I'd been painting only flowers, I found the inspiration to stretch my imagination and from that; to GROW.....

So as far as where I get inspiration from, I'd have to say from my team Inspiration Avenue and all the lovely people I've met through them- what an amazing experience this has been!  I am so very proud to be part of this incredible group!

What inspires you?  There's still time to write a post about it and submit a link on our challenge post to be eligible for one of our wonderful giveaways........you have until noon Sunday!

Weekly Challenge at Inspiration Avenue: "Fear"

The theme this week at Inspiration Avenue is "Fear" and truth be told, I'm scared of a LOT of things....but I wanted to keep this basic and throw a little whimsey in there.  So I decided not to do spiders or the dark (yep, I'm a little scared of the dark) or any of the other things I'm afraid of and play with my fear of birds.  Mostly I LOVE birds, at least the ones at my feeder.  The ones I don't like are the ones that attack you sometimes; like hawks or falcons.  SO, that's what I played with- here's my take on "Fear"

Also, I wanted to start something for the October journal of the Traveling Sketchbooks; even tho I don't have the journal with me, I feel like working on it, so I'm doing it tip in style!  I'm not done with her yet, but I feel like I'm headed in the right direction for my October entry with the Sistahs....
I'm also linking with Paint Party Friday - check them and Inspiration Avenue out if you get a chance; there's always tons of beautiful art at both places to admire!  There where I'll be hanging out the next few days!  
Happy Friday!
Stephanie 

Paint Party Friday- Week 28

Wow, I don't think I've ever been so late to Paint Party Friday before- but I did make it!  My entry this week was inspired by several people.  

1. When I was doing my blog rounds this week, I came across a gratitude journal by Terri of Pringle Hill Studio and fell in love with the idea of making my own.

2. A couple weeks ago, Amy shared the idea of painted on recycled book covers- I've been dying to try it!

3. Hettienne, our newest team member of Inspiration Avenue set our theme this week to be "Keys" and I knew I wanted to incorporate it into my journal.....

Finally, I've been wanting to find a base design for creating books that I could use to make garden journals, recipe files; really anything I can think of!  Here's the link that I'm going to use to finish this with: Make a Book

Anyway, I was so excited that this combined all these sources of inspiration- AND I'll finally have something pretty for sketching and journaling!  I'm going to fill it with a combination of card stock, canvas paper and watercolor papers so I can fill it with a variety of things....SO excited about this!

 Here's what it looks like now- I haven't decided how I want to finish the square, maybe one of my joie de vivre figures or a quote, definitely something simple...I don't know- any ideas?

And here's my take on keys for the IA theme of the week.  I'll probably do a little more tweaking but this part is mostly done- I strongly encourage you all to hop over to Inspiration Avenue tomorrow afternoon to see what everyone has done for "keys"- I love how different each entry is!
Be sure to stop by Paint Party Friday to see what everyone else has been up to!
Have a great weekend!
Stephanie

Inspiration Avenue Weekly Challenge_ "Autumn's Splendor"

I finished my September page for Brandy's journal just in time to use for this week's challenge at Inspiration Avenue.  The theme was "Autumn's Splendor".   I ended up using a quote by e. e. cummings instead of Robert Frost and added a few more details into the leaves and mask.

Be sure to stop by Inspiration Avenue on Sunday to see what everyone else submitted- there's always a gorgeous variety of art to see!
Cheers,
Stephanie

Weekly Challenge at Inspiration Avenue: "Sunflowers"

Here's my entry for this week's challenge at Inspiration Avenue- the theme was "Sunflowers" which I love.  I had fun flinging paint onto this canvas trying to keep it loose and free flowing.  I'm not sure it's finished and would welcome any suggestions that would make it complete :)

 I'm also using this as my entry for this weeks Paint Party Friday.  If you get a chance, be sure to visit both blogs- there's so much eye candy on these sites, you'll be sure to have a blast!
Happy Friday!
Stephanie

Paint Party Friday- August 19, 2011

Yay, I'm back on a roll; haven't missed a PPF since getting back from vacation!  It's really good for me to have weekly challenges like PPF and Inspiration Avenue- I'm one of those people who NEED deadlines!  So here's my WIP for this week's challenge at IA- the theme was "Icy" and I'm calling it "Beginning to Thaw"....

 I'm hoping to get the impression of ice crystals in her eyelashes, but don't know if I can pull it off or if it would be one thing to much and mess it up!
Update: .I ended up not doing anything else to this- I can't decide if it's finished or not, so I'm going to leave it for a few days until I decide.  And I didn't say before that the inspiration behind this was my quitting smoking and how the process feels- "Preparing to Thaw" represents the good things that come after the hard part.

And  here's what I ended up doing to finish my August page for my Creative Sistah; Priti Lisa:

Thanks for all the suggestions; and I'm really happy with how it turned out.  Now that sketchbooks have had several months of travel; they're getting even  more and more beautiful I am so loving this project and thanks again for ya'lls input!  Be sure to check out Inspiration Avenue and  Paint Party Friday to see what everyone else has been working on this week, it's always an incredibly inspiring trip!
Have a great day,
Stephanie

More on my August page for the sistahs.....

For this week's Paint Party Friday, I'm sharing a little more of my August journal page for the Traveling Sketchbooks.  I'm almost done but now, I need some input....
I found a quote I want to incorporate into the design:
"Whilst August yet wears her golden crown,
ripening fields lush- bright with promise;
Summer waxes long, then wanes, quietly passing
Her fading green glory onto rioutous Autumn
Michelle L. Thieme~ August's Crown

I'm definitely using the quote somewhere in here- but, this is where I need help!  I originally had planned on writing it in the solid areas- but, now, I like then the way they are....then I thought I could glue some ribbon in and tie a scroll onto the page with the quote or make an envelope be part of the page?
Which would you do?
I seriously need help here!

 Oh and, once again, I'm double dipping- this is my entry for this week's challenge at Inspiration Avenue!  Be sure to stop by both Paint Party Friday and IA- there is always so much great stuff to see!
Happy Friday,
Stephanie

Weekly Challenge at Inspiration Avenue: "Tea"

Here's my entry for this week's challenge at Inspiration Avenue- the theme was "tea" and I thought it was a perfect oppurtunity to experiment with the oil pastels I just got for my art class supplies.  I had been letting my students use my Caran D'ache pastels which worked great for a small group to use in my dining room- but this party that I'm teaching tomorrow has 10 young ladies coming, and there was no way I could stretch my own stock that far!

Anyway; I bought some sets of Sennelier oil pastels  (at about half the price of my others) and wanted to see if they were as good as advertised, and they ARE!  I love the way they layer- you can build color on top of color using either your finger or the actual pastels to blend them-I LOVE these pastels!
So here's my entry for this week's challenge:

I've been wanting to do a portrait of our kitten, Mojo, so I incorporated her into the challenge.....
And there you go!  Be sure to stop by IA to see what everyone else came up with- as always, there is sure to be a beautifully diverse collection of art!
Happy Sunday!
Stephanie

What's Up in the Studio- Progress....

Just popping to give a quick update on my two main WIP's
First off, I finished Miles the choco lab- I ended up adding more shading to emphasize how dark his coat is....
So, here's Miles:

As for my butterfly, I'm still adding layers of color, but to just to give you an idea of where I'm at.....

I'm really trying to keep it from looking too "sweet" or cliche.....and also I've been "browning up" the main background, because yesterday when the two backgrounds were alternating shades of dark and light greens (and since it's not St. Paddy's day), I decided it was TOO much green- I love green, but not at those levels!  And as always, when I'm working on a painting, I alternate between being happy with it and then not so much....right now, I'm on the not so much end of things which is usually a signal that it's about time to stop for the day!
So, I'll just do a couple more things and hopefully end on a good note!  Then it's time for TEA- that's the theme at Inspiration Avenue this week.  There's still time to enter a submission for the week- just hop over to Inspiration Avenue and leave a link in the comments section of the current challenge; tho' we promise not to tell if you choose an alternate cuppa ;) to feature.
TTFN,
Stephanie

Weekly Challenge at Inspiration Avenue: "Wings"

Since I didn't finish my butterfly painting, I modified my photo to submit instead.
Here it is:

I'm really excited about this painting, so you can be sure that I'll be giving updates throughout the week!
In the meantime, stop by Inspiration Avenue to see what everyone else came up with!
Have a great day!
Stephanie

Wings in the Garden.....

The challenge this week at Inspiration Avenue is "Wings" and since it's been a while since I've painted a new canvas, I've decided to use this theme as a starting point.  My first thought was to do something Dragonflies, since I LOVE them, collect them and have several hanging out in my garden lately.  I will try to get some pics of them when it's drier outside- they haven't come out yet today. 
But, I do have some garden art that relates to flying....which relates to wings
I have a flying fish:

 Here he is up close.....

 I couldn't resist sharing a shot of our baby Koi- they just got brave enough to feed while we're watching!

 Some of my Dragonfly garden art......which fits the theme better, since they have wings :D

This is a picture I took last year....and I'm thinking it's the one I want to use unless I get really lucky with the dragonflies today ;)

That's about all for today.  I also need to finish my journal spread in Andrea's sketchbook and start a dog portrait I've been commissioned to do....and there IS the never ending housework and chores.  Of course the kids are still home, but we've entered the teen phase where they'd rather be with their friends or on FB, reading, really anything other than playing around with me....I think that's called growing up ;)

Have a beautiful Tuesday!

Stephanie

Weekly Challenge at Inspiration Avenue: "Picasso"

The challenge this week at Inspiration Avenue was "Picasso" which thrilled me as he's is one of my favorites!  I love how free he was with his use of color and shapes, but his line art is truly my favorite of all his work.  So simple, yet sophisticated- and yet, so hard to emulate.  In my opinion, it's a lot harder to leave something out than to draw all the elements of something.  SO, since I have  Andrea's sketchbook sitting on my desk waiting for a July entry, I chose to do a take on Picasso's "The Face of Peace" and incorporate it into my design.  Instead of using a dove, I added stars (as a nod to Independence Day) into my drawing and used the words "Cloudy with a chance of Stars" as my theme.....
So, here's my lady:

I know, not nearly as elegant as Senor Picasso's work, but I had a LOT of fun with her!  Be sure to check out what everyone else came up with this week at Inspiration Avenue- or even better yet, make something of your own inspired by Picasso!  You have until noon Sunday to submit it!
Cheers,
Stephanie

What I would have done for last weeks challenge at IA....

Some of you thought I'd been on an extended vacation when I was away for so long, and while it wasn't *extended*, I did go on a short trip to West Virginia last.  My hubby doesn't like for me to post online when we're out of town, so I didn't say anything until now....
Anyway, I had several great ideas for last week's "Poetry" theme at Inspiration Avenue.....but unfortunately, I left my camera cable at home, so I'm posting this belatedly.....
One idea I had was to post pictures of some graffiti I'd seen that spelled out "I FLY" across the top of a bridge.  I loved the possibilities of this, but unfortunately, we could never get a good shot of it.
I did find some other graffiti that I thought was interesting but a little negative in that it stated- "Welcome to Hell" paired with another sign suggesting to "Kiss it"- I'm not sure if these were meant to be seen together....but in any case I decided against posting it for my entry!

But my favorite find was this crumbling coal miners cemetery from the 1800's with just a few mossy tombstones remaining.

 this was the sign at the entrance- I think if you click on it, you can read it.....

 I doctored this picture until I could read some of the words and thanks to Google, here is "my" poem submitted on the behalf of those lost coal miners:

 "Peaceful in the grave so low.
     Thou will no more join our number
     Thou no more our song shall know."

I couldn't resist taking this picture- in my head, I was waving to my friend Cheryl of Healing Woman who lives in Roanoke- what a beautiful area you live in, Cheryl!

And for anyone who might have been curious about the "Welcome to Hell" graffiti, here it is.......

and one last picture...I promise not to bore you with too many ;)

This is the railroad bridge beyond the graffiti....

We saw so many incredible visas on this trip and some AMAZING bridges too.  And speaking of incredible things, please stop by Inspiration Avenue to see what people submitted who WERE on time!

Toodles,

Stephanie

Weekly Challenge at Inspiration Avenue- "So Romantic"

Here is the piece I did for this week's challenge at Inspiration Avenue- the theme was "So Romantic" and it's the painting I've been showing in progress the last few days.
Here she is, completed:

"Through the Eyes of a Peacock"

I just listed her in my Etsy shop- for more images and info, click HERE.

I also finished this painting I'd put aside for a while.  It's been staring at me accusingly so I finally finished it!

"Embracing the Possibilities"

And for more info on this one, you may click HERE
That's it for me!  Be sure to stop by Inspiration Avenue to see what everyone else came up with this week.
Cheers,
Stephanie

What's Up in the Studio?

I think I'm just about over the exhaustion left over from Summer camp extravaganza- it amazing how things that wouldn't give me a pause 15 years ago, now wipe my 43 year old butt out!  Could it be that I'm getting old?  Nah, I'll just mark it down to just a wee bit of overextending myself.  'Cause I'm definitely not going to slow down any time soon!
For this week, I'm doing two kinds of painting.  One; I'm working on a new canvas for Inspiration Avenue's weekly challenge and two; I'm painting my daughter Caroline's room while she's in California visiting our beloved Sidney!
Caroline's room started out as a deep purply-blue and she and her artsy friends took upon themselves to embellish the wall with whatever whim the muse called upon.  As an artist, I gave her the green light- I ALWAYS encourage creativity (or almost always- I DO draw the line at teen age paint wars in the house ;)) ......the end result very cool, but it went a little overboard to the point that she had trouble sleeping in such a vibrant room and here we are now, trying to "vanilla it down" a bit.
I took some close ups of the paintings by Caroline & Friends:

 Here is her room at the almost halfway point- I'm just shoving everything to one side and painting......then I'll shove it all to the other side and finish it up!

 This is the side I did yesterday- her plan is to use the cream colored wall for her collaborative painting and leave the other walls in their assorted shades of russet.....I still have some touch ups to do but this'll at least give you an idea......

For the other painting that I'm doing this week, I doing a new canvas inspired by the theme "So Romantic".  This is the first painting I've ever done without sketching at all first- I usually work things out in my sketchbook and then transfer it all to canvas.  This time, I wanted to just jump right in and let the muse offer guidance wherever she might!  I have a couple references that I'm using as guidelines- peacock feather (which mine will NOT be in the traditional colors ;)) and one of a face to reference the shadows I'm going for.....so here she is:

I'm hoping to finish her this morning and have her ready for PPF tomorrow.  Wish me luck!
TTFN,
Stephanie