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

Paint Party Friday- July 22, 2011

For this week's PPF, I have two WIP's to show.  The first is a portrait of a Chocolate lab named Miles....he's almost done, just a little tweaking to do.  I like to include a combination of shading and line work in my pencil drawings.

So I'll do a little shading on his ears and just a touch on his hind foot and then call him done!  I love working in pencil- it's funny but lately I spend so much time painting, that I forget how much I enjoy working in other mediums.....

For my other WIP, I started a new painting for this week's challenge at Inspiration Avenue- the theme is "Wings" so I chose to do a butterfly surrounded by zinnias.  I'm planning to work to the edges of the tape, then re tape along the painted edges and finish the composition in a paler palette creating a "frame" of sorts...I've never done this before, but I'm really excited about seeing how it turns out.
Here's what I have so far:

Be sure to stop by Paint Party Friday to see what everyone else has been up to- it's always an amazing collection of work!
Cheers,
Stephanie

My July Entry for Andrea's Sketchbook

Yay, I finally finished my entry for Andrea's sketchbook....I had so much fun doing this and truthfully, half the fun was when I thought I'd messed it up and had to brainstorm until I'd figured it out.
Here it is finished:

And for those of you who didn't see it on Friday; this is what I started with, but it didn't work with the background I'd made for it, so I cut it up and "made some lemonade"........

For the first page, I always loved the background, just not with my painting, so here is my picasso inspired painting in pop up format- which I must admit, I'm realllly happy with!

And to update from yesterday....I never did see my dragonflies- I wonder if they're hiding from me knowing I want to take a picture?  But, I did get a picture of our little froggie (Emmie has named him Toadie) and our Swallowtail butterflies that have just started coming through....

That's all for now, folks- I need to get back to work on my canine portrait and start sketching for my IA challenge....
Have a great day!
x
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

Paint Party Friday: July 15, 2011

Yay- it's Paint Party Friday and I'm finally able to participate again!  Between vacation and lots of doctor's appointments, I haven't had a chance to be part of the party for several weeks now- I've really missed it!
I've been working on Andrea of Falling Ladies sketchbook this week and I based my design on several themes.  I wanted to do something that acknowledged Independence Day without being too cliche- so I decided to use stars.  Also, Andrea is famous for her wonderful paintings of falling ladies and I wanted to do something that was a nod to her, and her style.  SO after playing around with various words and quotes and sketches, I came across the words "Cloudy with a Chance of Stars"...and everything fell into place after that- or so I thought!

this is the background of my central spread- and I never had a problem with it....

however

my plan had been to do a painting of two women flying with umbrella scanning agross the page with a fold out of the canvas....and I was happy with the painting; just not with the background AND the painting together- they clashed and fought!

 the colors just refused to work together!

but

I also had the Inspiration Avenue challenge to contend with- the theme was Picasso and I do like this painting with the background!

 I'm not finished installing it- I'm planning to glue it in as a pop up- which I think will be really cool!

but what about the first painting?

since I'm never one for throwing things away, I've already cut up the painting and am planning to use it for my other two pages along with my description of what I did and why.

more on that later :)

Be sure to stop by Paint Party Friday- there are always so many wonderful artists to visit!

Happy Paint Party Friday!

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