Fear of Flowers

I, definitely, need a different camera.  It doesn't matter whether I use one of my digital cameras or my Iphone 6 camera.  They all seem to be blurry.  I do realize that my eyesight is not what it used to be, but this is ridiculous.  If anyone has any suggestions, I would welcome them.  Oh well.

I finished my bouquet this morning.  I painted the background and vase 2 days ago.  I developed a fear of flowers and couldn't finish it until today.  I watched tons of videos on painting flowers, but was afraid to actually paint them on the canvas.  I, finally, decided to cut the flowers out of paper, attached them to the canvas, then painted them.  I don't know why that was less scary.....but it was.  I need to, immediately do another one.  Face the fear!!!!!!

Have a wonderful day.

Peace.

Cyndi

Six Degrees of Separation

I have always been intrigued by the theory of "Six Degrees of Separation".  Yes, it was a movie, but even before that I was aware of the idea.


According to Wikipedia, it goes like this:

Six degrees of separation is the theory that everyone and everything is six or fewer steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person in the world, so that a chain of "a friend of a friend" statements can be made to connect any two people in a maximum of six steps. It was originally set out by Frigyes Karinthy in 1929 and popularized by a 1990 play written by John Guare.

The game "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon"^[22] was invented as a play on the concept: the goal is to link any actor to Kevin Bacon through no more than six connections, where two actors are connected if they have appeared in a movie or commercial together. It was created by three students at Albright College in Pennsylvania,^[23] who came up with the concept while watching Footloose. On September 13, 2012, Google made it possible to search for any given actor's 'Bacon Number' through their search engine.

Of course, the internet has made this concept easier, but I prefer to only count actual, physical, contact to qualify as a "degree".

So.......while driving down the road a few weeks ago, I started thinking about it and decided to create a piece of art.  I had this, kind of wack piece that had been sitting around for a few months.  I stamped the circles and hearts on tracing paper, then cut them out and attached them to the canvas with Golden's Matte Medium.  I carved the circle stamps out of rubber several years ago, but never used them. (you just never know when you might find a use for something).  I used a paint pen to draw the lines.  You know how I like to add words to everything, so I was going to put "Six Degrees" on it somewhere, then changed my mind.  People will just have to figure it out for themselves.

By the way, I am two degrees from Elvis Presley,two degrees from Madonna, three degrees from President Obama, three degrees from the Dalai Llama, and three degrees from Kevin Bacon.

You may be thinking....."Wow, Cyndi must have a lot of time on her hands".....and you would be right!

Peace!

Cyndi


PS.  just listed on Etsy:  https://www.etsy.com/listing/253741502/original-mixed-media-painting-six?ref=shop_home_active_1

Trust, Grace, Beauty and Home

Last night I worked on this set of four, little paintings.  I used the same background technique that I used for the "Love" painting a few days ago.

This time I applied the DecoArt Media Crackle Glaze directly on top of the background, before adding the flowers and words.  I didn't brush it over the entire canvas.  I just, randomly, applied it in small patches.  I like the look.  I'll probably be crackling everything for awhile.

Due to my neurotic fear of stamping directly onto an, almost, finished piece (I really need to get a grip on this), I stamped the words on tracing paper, then applied them to the canvas with Goldens Matte Medium.  The transfer paper becomes invisible.  Most people use deli paper to do this, but..........we have a deli paper shortage here in north Florida so Cyndi has to use tablets of tracing paper.  If I ever find some deli paper, I'm going to buy a truckload of it.  I'm not embarrassed to admit that I once coerced about 30 sheets from my local convenience store.  Ok.....enough about my deli paper issues.

Here's a close up of the crackling.  The photos are kind of blurry, but trust me, it looks fabulous!

After I added the crackles, I brushed Umber paint over the entire canvas and rubbed it off with a Wet Wipe, so the dark paint stayed in all of the cracks.

I'm going to list these on Etsy now.

Peace!

Cyndi

Another "Love" Painting

Yeah, yeah, yeah.....I know......another heart.....another touching sentiment, but I can't help myself.  I found this heart stencil buried in a pile of stencils that I haven't used in a while and just had to do something with it.

I watched Shawn Petite's Sunday Inspiration and I loved her background, so I wanted to give it a try. First, I painted an 8"X 8" wooden panel with black Liquitex paint.

Then, using an old gift card, I dragged white paint, randomly across the piece.

Next, I used Golden Matte Medium to adhere various book pages, sheet music, and number stickers.

Using the gift card again, I dragged blue craft paint across and dried it with the heat gun,

After the blue, I forgot to keep taking pictures, but this is what I did:

• dragged green paint across
• dried with heat gun
• dragged off white paint across
• dried with heat gun
• painted entire piece with raw umber
• wiped most of umber paint off with a wet wipe, creating an aged look.
• Mixed a tiny bit of black into the raw umber paint and stenciled the heart
• Dried it.
• Painted over the stenciled heart with Quinacridone Magenta and Quinacridone Red.
• Dried it.
• Brushed DecoArt Media Crackle Glaze over the heart.
• Let it dry naturally, creating a crackle effect.
• Stamped words on book pages, cut them out, rubbed edges with Ranger Archival Ink pad.
• Adhered words with Matte Medium
• Used charcoal pencil to outline and shade the heart, words, and edges of canvas.

This is the first time that I've ever used the DecoArt Media Crackle Glaze.  I loved it!  I think that I will be crackling a great deal in the future.  Here's a close up.

So, remember "a loving heart is the truest wisdom"!!!!!

Peace.

Cyndi

Supporting Bernie Sanders with my Art

I made a few Bernie Sanders shirts, using my painted paper backgrounds.  They are for sale on Zazzle!

Bernie Sanders for President 2016 Tshirt by CeeZeeCee
Look at Berniesanders T-Shirts online at Zazzle.com

BE in the MOMENT!!

I was talking with my sister the other day.  We were speaking about how important it is to live life "in the moment".  Everyone tends to worry about what's going to happen or lament about what has already happened.  It's important to truly experience what's happening NOW.....but it can be freaking hard.  We all know that life is fragile, volatile, and that there aren't any guarantees, but we still can't stop that little voice in our heads.  Oh, how I hate that little voice sometimes.

Here's how I made my "Be In The Moment" piece.

I started with a gessoed wood panel, then added some scrap pieces of book pages, music, etc.

Then I added some gesso to back up the papers into the board.

Stamped some circles with black paint, using jar lids and toilet paper rolls.

I used my fingers to rub some Dina Wakeley paint, randomly around the canvas.

I used stickers for the "be in the" and rubber stamps for the "Moment".  I also shaded the circles with charcoal pencil and rubbed some charcoal pencil around the edges.  Sprayed with fixative so that the charcoal pencil would stay.

The colors and circles in this piece were inspired by Denise Alloca.  You can visit her art journal page tutorial at:  https://youtu.be/leOrwP0WOLw

This was one of Donna Downey's Artist Gang Teusday videos.  You know that I love these....along with my Shawn Petite's Sunday Inpiration.....can't get enough!!

Peace!

Cyndi

Beautiful Faces.....Again!

I just re-watched the Jane Davenport video on drawing faces.  I, originally, watched it a couple years ago.  In the mood to try faces again, I figured that I needed to "brush up".

Here's my most recent.

This is the first one that I tried a couple years ago.  My backgrounds needed a lot of work at that time.

One that I'm working on now. (kind of looks like an alien)

And, a couple pencil drawings that I did on the plane a few weeks ago.

That's it.  My favorite things to use for a face are the Prismacolor Pencils.  They have beautiful colors, blend well, and can make, even a neophyte artist (like myself) look like they know what they are doing.

Peace!

Cyndi