"Evening Song", mixed media on wood, 11"x14", FOR SALE

I finished this piece this morning and I just felt so good after completing it.  

I have had the wood piece for this for a couple of years now and have been working on and off on it.  I was never really sure what the vision was going to be for this piece.  I loved the colors that evoked nature and the forest but nothing spoke to me as the main subject or how I was going to pull it off.

I came across an idea somewhere to use colored netting in mixed media pieces.  I have used cheesecloth before but never netting.  I went and bought a few colors and found that it was fun to drape and work with.  

I have been wanting to complete some titmice paintings for awhile now and these two birds just fit the whole feel of the piece.  They were created on mixed media paper and I used Prismacolor pencils to complete them.

This piece is now available to purchase through Daily Paintworks. Click here to take a look.

As always, thanks for stopping by my blog!

"Wild Dolphin", Mixed Media on gallery wrap canvas, 5"x5"-FOR SALE

I finished this piece up last week and I am really happy how it turned out. I have been wanting to paint a dolphin for long time. This canvas had been laying around my studio for awhile and I thought it was perfect to experiment with Liquitex Glass Beads. I LOVE the texture and how it came out. I used Pouring Medium to coat the front.

Piece is on gallery wrap canvas and is ready to hang.

FREE shipping to lower 48 addresses.

Thank you for looking!

"Merrily, Merrily", Mixed Media on Panel, 6"x6"

This is mixed media piece that is composed of a lot of different materials and has been well over a year in creation.  I know a year sounds like a long time but read below to give you details into my process.

The wren was drawn with Prismacolor art pencils on mixed media paper about a year and a half ago. I tend to keep a portfolio in my car with various art supplies.  I have 3 kids-17, 15 and 10 and I am driving around a lot.  I tend to be waiting for them in cars whether they are a sports practice, doctor's appointments or a music lesson.  I hated not using that time in a fulfilling way.  I was finding myself surfing social media on my iPhone or calling someone on the phone to take about nothing special.  Having my art supplies handy means that I am always creating and a few steps away from a completed painting.

This is how this piece started-in my car being drawn while waiting for my kids.  Just a single solitary wren looking for a home!

The brown background is on a wood panel.  I did something new that I am going to explore more in the future.  I used modeling paste that I colored with Liquitex gold acrylic paint and put it through a stencil.  I still had no idea what the end result was going to be.  I added the vintage sheet music and pieces of lace that I cut out.    Then I realized that this was a good surface place to put the wren that had been nesting in my studio.

This piece is available to purchase through Daily Paintworks.

Thanks for stopping by!

"Longing", Mixed Media on Wood, 4"x4", AVAILABLE

I finally finished this piece and it is now available for sale on Daily Paintworks.

It's a mixed media piece that started out as an ACEO trading card.  I liked it so much that I wanted to incorporate it into a painting.  The ACEO is drawn in Prismacolor pencils and put on an acrylic painted oil that I also used ink on.  I then put vintage lace on it before using Liquitex Pouring Medium on it.

I have it framed in a nice black frame.

FREE shipping to the lower 48 states.

Thanks for stopping by!

#30paintingsin30days Challenge- Painting #7

"Raven", Mixed Media on wood, 4"x4"

This is painting #7 that I skipped posting on.  

I painted the wood background in Liquitex acrylic gold paint and transferred on the wood the words to Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven".  Raven was created separately on mixed media paper and attached onto wood.

Thank you for looking!

#30paintingsin30days-Day 12 (Painting #8)

"Symphony #9", mixed media on canvas, 8"x8"

Okay.  2 things.  I know that I should be on painting number 12 since it's the 12th of January and I know that I skipped painting number 7.

I'll scan and upload painting 7 tomorrow.  I coated it with Liquitex pouring medium and had to wait for it to dry.

I'm trying my best to not feel guilty that I haven't done 12 paintings and that I am 8 short.  After all, it's my challenge and it's not like I am going to kicked out of the challenge.  I am still accomplishing something and starting the new year off on the right foot!

The canvas for this piece I have had hanging around my studio for like FOREVER.  I just couldn't figure out what to do with it.  I loved what I did with it.  I painted it and textured it with rice paper.  I also used gold ink to highlight the music sheet pieces and the high points of the rice paper.  I also stamped fern leaves using real fern leaves from the woods in the back of my house.  This is kind of tricky if you could imagine because one slip-up and I would ruin the canvas below and I would have to fix it somehow or start all over.

The inspiration for the bird came once again from our Virginia snowstorm last week.  We had some cute yellow-rumped warblers at our feeders.  I couldn't remember what their name was since they are more or less a winter resident down here.

I woke up at 4am in the morning and couldn't sleep so I ended up drawing the bird and then applying him to the prepared canvas later.

I am really happy how it turned our.

Thanks for stopping by!

#30paintingsin30days Challenge-Day 9(Painting #6)

"Morning Song", Mixed Media on Wood, 8"x10"

I was happy to finally finish the painting above for the 30 day painting challenge.  The canvas has been sitting around my studio for a long time waiting for some sort of inspiration.  I had already painting it blue and added the music sheet on it named "Morning Song".  I know I wanted to put a bird on it but didn't know what kind and how it should look.

With the snowfall this weekend, I have spent a lot of time looking out of my kitchen windows watching all the birds at the feeders.  One bluebird in the yard tended to the thug of the yard and was chasing everyone off of the feeders.

The bluebird "thug" is the one on the left!  LOL!

At that point, I got inspired to draw a bluebird for the piece.  I worked on the drawing yesterday.

After I finished the drawing, I made a decision to only include one bird on the canvas although it seemed like I should have more than one.  I then decided to cut out different color lace pieces and add them over a piece of cheesecloth that I applied with Liquitex Gloss Heavy Gel.  Now that it is done, I think I am going to either use Art Resin for the top coating or Liquitex Pouring Medium.

Thank you for looking today!

"Small Trio", Acrylic on Gallery Wrap Canvas 5"x7"

I was busy last week finishing up a couple of paintings for a recent show.  I decided to do a smaller painting of peppers using a trio of peppers I bought from Trader Joe's.  Once again, I am using the Liquitex Slo-Blending Medium. Wondering where this product has been all my life!  It really has been helping me.  I can't wait to get in the studio and finish up some paintings using this medium.

This painting is currently for sale at Daily Paintworks.

Thank you for looking!

"Yellow Tulips", Acrylic on Gessobord, 16"x20"

I just recently finished this painting that I had been working on for a long time.  It took a while for me to figure out how I wanted to lay the colors.  I have been using Liquitex Slo-Blending Medium for the last couple of paintings and it has been helping me with the blending of the colors.

This painting is for sale through Daily Paintworks.

Thank you for looking and always comments and critiques are appreciated.

"Bowl of Cherries", Acrylic on Canvas, 8"x8"-SOLD!

I just finished up this painting this week.  I used a photo from a Facebook friend for the reference photo.  I have never painted cherries before so I was excited to have a new subject to try.  I have been using Liquitex Slow-Dri Blending Medium on the last couple of paintings.  I am enjoying experimenting with it.  It gives longer drying times for the acrylic paints in order to blend better.

Thank you for stopping by!

My 2 pieces for the On the Hill Gallery "Salvaged for a Purpose" Members Show

I am dropping off two pieces at for the Members show at On the Hill Gallery in Yorktown.  The first piece I call "Blue Ridge Mountains Majesty".  It is composed entirely of wallpaper from discard wallpaper sample books that were donated to me from a local company.  I affixed the torn pieces onto a 9"x12" canvas panel with Liquitex Gloss Gel.  I ended up coated the piece with Liquitex Pouring Medium before I framed it.

My 2nd piece is a magazine bowl made from vintage National Geographic magazines that I purchased from my local Habitat for Humanity Restore.

I did both of these projects with my middle school homeschool art class.  I hope to be able to post in the future their pieces because I am so proud of the job that they did.

Show opens May 4th and runs until May 31st.

Thanks for stopping by to take a look at my blog!

"Morning Is Come", Mixed Media on Wood, 6"x6"

I have been posting lightly lately although I have been really busy!

This piece is a mixed media piece.  It is created on acrylic painted wood panel.  I drew the bluebird on Stratmore Mixed Media paper with Prismacolor pencils.  I also included floral lace pieces and some vintage sheet music with a nice title.

The whole piece is coated with Liquitex Pouring Medium which gives the piece a resin varnish finish.  The pieces that I use Pouring Medium with give the art a really cool 3-D feeling which can't really be depicted when I photograph it.

This piece is up for auction at Daily Paintworks.  Click here to bid.

Thanks for looking!

Deep In The Forest, Mixed Media, 6"x6"

I finished this piece about a week and a half ago.  I'm a little behind in updating my blog.

I enjoyed working on this one.  Used more colors of lace i the background and incorporated some purple in the goldfinch.  I have been consulting my color wheel when working on pieces lately trying to see what works well together.  I used Liquitex Pouring Medium on the top of this which gives the piece a real nice resin-like finish.

If you are interested in purchasing, please click the PayPal button below:

Thanks for checking out today's piece!

"Poe's Raven", Mixed Media on Canvas, 8"x8"

Click here to bid(8"x8")

Day 9 of the 30 day painting challenge!  I had the background on the canvas done for a while. I have been playing with image transfer a little this year and I am still perfecting the process.  There is a lot to learn and there are a lot of websites on Pinterest devoted to this.  The background color is mostly painted in Liquitex gold paint.  The raven was created on mixed media paper with Prismacolors and applied onto the canvas.  I will be coating the whole canvas with Liquitex Pouring Medium later on today to give it a shiny resin-like coat.

I have been learning a lot about the physical differences between ravens and crows and this picture is kind of my "final exam".

Piece up for auction at Daily Paintworks.

Thanks for looking!