Creative Heart Monday - Gelli Print Houses

Happy Monday to all of you Creative Hearts out there!

I love to do little houses with my gelli print papers.  I've created and sold several of these....but, I've never filmed the process....until now.  The possibilities are endless, once you get going.  You can make them funky (my personal preference), or realistic.  You can do a quaint little street, one house, or a cityscape.

List of Supplies:

10" X 10" canvas

Bob Ross Black Gesso

Dylusions Alcohol Ink Sprays - Bubblegum Pink, Squeezed Orange, Pure Sunshine, Vibrant Turquoise, London Blue, Cut Grass, Crushed Grape

Liquitex White Gesso

Liquitex Matte Medium

Golden Fluid Acrylics - Green Gold, Quinacridone Magenta

Americana - Carousel Pink

Apple Barrel craft paint - Neon Purple

Liquitex Basics - Cadmium Orange Hue

Black Pigma Micron Pen

White Gellyroll Pen

Black Charcoal Pencil

Ranger Archival Ink Pad - Black

Various stamps and stencils (some of the stamps for background were handmade)

Grumbacher Final Fixative (sprayed at end to seal in charcoal pencil)

Another thing that I meant to mention in the video is that, even though I made this one on a regular canvas (because that's all I had available at the time), I, actually, prefer to use a wooden panel.  The canvas worked fine.  However, a wooden panel makes it much easier for stamping.  The canvas has a little "give" in it, making it difficult to use larger stamps.  Of course, you could also do the same thing on a good quality piece of paper or in your art journal.  Or, as I did a few months ago, you can use the same process to make a 3D house.

Here are links to some of my other gelli print houses:

Pair of Mixed Media Houses

Wintery Town

Mixed Media Wooden House

Little Wooden Houses

Gelli Print House Series

If you have a question about this video or, absolutely, anything else, feel free to ask in the comments or send me an email.  This piece is For Sale on Etsy!

I hope that all of you have a wonderful Monday.......and, if you haven't already, SUBSCRIBE to Creative Heart Monday!

Peace!

Cyndi

Mixed-Media Dancing Girl

I do a lot of faces, but I've always been afraid of whole bodies.  Well, not anymore.  I threw caution to the wind and painted this dancing girl.  I have to admit, I'm pretty pleased with myself.

Yes, I know that I cheated with the long dress.....but, she does have bare arms.

I figured the safest way to go with my first whole person, was to create a very textured and colorful background, using that for the dress and hair.  It was a confidence builder.  Soon, I'll venture into, completely, painting the clothes too.

So this is what we have.

This painting is for sale on Etsy!

Peace!

Cyndi

P.S.  Remember to subscribe to Creative Heart Monday!  Every Monday morning you will receive a new video, creating a new piece of art, start to finish.  It's FREE!

Pair of Mixed-Media Collage Houses

I became inspired by the "Wintery Town" piece that I created for the DecoArt Media Winter Wonderland Challenge.  So, I worked on a couple more.

As I've mentioned in the past, I have lots and lots of painted papers.  They make great little houses and roofs.  Sometimes, I use the original papers.  However, this time, I made copies of the originals. As long as they are good quality copies, they work wonderfully.

I started with a black, gessoed background, sprayed some alcohol ink thru stencils, added some additional stencilling with gesso and acrylic paint.  I love the way the ink bleeds thru the gesso, creating beautiful colors.  Then I just adhered the papers with matte medium, doodled and stamped around and we're finished.

My camera never, really, captures the true colors.  They are, actually, brighter and cheerier.

These are for sale on Etsy.

Peace!

Cyndi

Creative Heart Monday "Determination"

Happy Monday!

A couple weeks ago, a very close friend of mine suffered a severe stroke.  Friends and family
were taken aback because he was the "picture of health"....non-smoker, non-drinker, non-drugger,
extremely active...the list goes on.  At first, his prognosis, honestly, didn't look that great.  But......he looks better everyday and is making miraculous progress.

It reminds one that:  1.  Life is fragile.  2.  There aren't any guarantees, and 3.  Determination is everything.

Determination to not let the very hardest of times get the better of you.  It's so, freaking, easy to give up....to complain....to feel sorry for ourselves.  Sometimes that "pity party" can really feel good, but it never lasts. The feeling that we get from doing something that everyone told us we couldn't do (or that we told ourselves we couldn't do) lasts a long, long, time.

I know that a lot of this sounds cliche, but, even though we've heard it a million times, it doesn't make it any less true.

So, this piece is for my friend and for anyone else out there going through a, really, difficult time - be DETERMINED!

List of Supplies:

11"X 14" wooden panel
Bob Ross Black Gesso
Miscellaneous papers
Liquitex White Gesso
Golden Titan Buff
Liquitex Light Blue Permanent
Liquitex Matte Medium
Charcoal pencil
Stazon Black Ink
Alphabet Stamps
Rub-on keys
Workable Fixative

Last minute thought - #10 on my List of Plans for 2016 - "Get My Mind Right".  Determination is an important part of getting your mind right.  Note to Self - Move #10 to #1.

Peace!

Cyndi

P.S.  Subscribe to Creative Heart Monday!

DecoArt Media Winter Challenge

           

                        



                         


DecoArt Media is having a "winter themed" challenge and offering the opportunity to win a prize pack valued at $120.00.

I just became a member of their Blogger Outreach Program.  I've been using their supplies for quite some time. This is the first time that I have entered a contest or challenge.  It's an opportunity for me to show you what you can do with some of their products.

So here's what I did.

Painted a 10" X 10" canvas with Americana Ultra Blue Deep paint and a tiny bit of gesso. 

I cut house shapes out of gelli prints and adhered them to the canvas using DecoArt Matte Medium.  The rooftops were from prints that I already had.  The houses were made using DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics in Cobalt Blue Hue, Ultramarine Blue, and Americana Paint (also by DecoArt) in Cool White, and Ebony Black.

I "white-washed" the houses with a very thin mixture of water and gesso.  Using, a fan brush, I also speckled the sky a bit.

I painted paper with Dazzling Metallics Emperor's Gold and Shimmering Silver and blue paint, then cut out and adhered windows and doors.  Using a black Pigma Micron pen, I outlined everything and drew the windowpanes.  I, also, added some plastic trim that looks like metal to some of the rooflines.

Added some snow using the DecoArt Modeling Paste.  Added highlighting, icicles, and candles with a white pen

 Started shading with a black charcoal pencil.

 Then, I added the DecoArt Media Crackle Glaze to each window.  It made them glow.  I was, extremely happy!

and.....the finished piece!

The DecoArt Media products are great.

Peace!......and Happy Winter to you......keep warm.

Cyndi

Butterfly Face Video

Still working on faces.  I remembered to turn the camera on for this one.

I love, love, love the Prismacolor pencils.  They are the wonderful for making a colorful, whimsical face.

Allright, I'm going to tell the truth......the flowers and butterflies were an after-thought.  The forehead was way too large....no worries....I covered them with flowers and butterflies!  Which reminds me of something that I learned a long time ago.  I managed real estate for years and our motto was:  "If you can fix it, fix it, if you can't fix it, replace it, if you can't replace it, paint it, and if you can't paint it, plant flowers around it".  If we want to get deep, we could probably use this in every aspect of our lives.

Supplies:

Prismacolor Pencils - various colors
Ranger Distress Stain - Broken China, Brushed Pewter, Antiqued Bronze, Dusty Concorde (for background and hair)
Liquitex White Gesso
Liquitex Matte Medium
Pigma Micron Black Pen
Montana Paint Pen - White
Tim Holtz Stencil - THS006 (for purple dots in background)
Flowers cut from scrapbook paper
Butterflies from a roll of decorative paper

Peace!

Cyndi

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Creative Heart Monday 1-11-16 "The Face"

Happy Monday Morning!!

It was a "Faces" weekend for me.  I couldn't stop drawing and painting them.  However, I had to deal with my nemesis "the hair".  I have issues with hair on paper and in real life. (for those of you that know me....you know what I'm talking about).

 (my hair, actually, looked like this in the '90s)

The interesting thing about painting faces is that you never, really, know what she's going to look like until you get into it.  It can be very intimidating and I have to keep reminding myself that I'm not performing life or death surgery....if it's a mess, I CAN paint over it.  The most difficult part for me is just getting started.  Once I commit, it's easy.

Supplies:

Strathmore Cold Press Watercolor Paper
White Liquitex Gesso
Golden Fluid Acrylics - Quinacridone Magenta,
Liquitex Basics - Cadmium Orange Hue, Alizarin Crimson Hue
Prismacolor Pencils - various violets, reds, pinks, blues, and black
Pigma Micron Pen - Black
Montana Paint Pens - White
Staedtler Watercolor Crayons - Black and Blue
Catalyst Scraper
Stencils - alphabet, circles, honeycomb
Makeup sponge
Skewer for mark making

Subscribe to Creative Heart Monday.

Have a wonderfully inspired and creative week!

Peace!

Cyndi

Ten Things I Plan to Do to Grow As An Artist in 2016

NO New Year's Resolutions for me.......I can't stand the pressure. HOWEVER, there are some things that I plan to do this year.  I want to grow as an artist and I don't think that just happens. Maybe it does for some people, but I think I'll have to put some effort forth to get to where I want to be. (don't you just hate that?)

Number One - Take some classes.

Just about everything that I have learned has come from an online class or from watching (addictively) the videos of other artists.  I learned a lot from Donna Downey, Jane Davenport, Shawn Petite, Suzi Blu, Pam Carriker, Nika Rouss, Denise Alloca and many more.  There are so many talented people that share their how-to's online.  FYI - Craftsy is a great place to find online classes!


Here are couple classes that I'm going to take:

Watercolor terrifies me, so I'm taking
Simple & Stunning Watercolor Techniques

Another issue is color.  This looks like a good one.
Painting With Color: A Contemporary Approach, with Joseph Dolderer

Number Two - Create my own videos

Hey, I've already started doing this......good for me!  I put a few videos on Youtube at the end of the year and started my new, weekly, Creative Heart Monday videos.  I love doing it and it really comes in handy.  I have made many pieces in the past, only to forget how I did it.  If I film everything I do, I can go back and look......brilliant.  (I would like a new camera, though)

Number Three - Learn more about color

This is my weakest area.  I tend to stress over colors.  I need a class.  As I mentioned, above, I'm going to take this one.
Painting With Color: A Contemporary Approach, with Joseph Dolderer

Number Four - Paint something HUGE

Most of my art is 16" X 20" or smaller.  I want to get one of those big 6 foot canvases and fill it with flowers. (I need the "color" class first)

Number Five - Be in an Art Show

We have several large art festivals in my area....I'm not ready for that.  I want to try a small art show. I need to build my inventory.

Number Six - Commune with other Artists

Online and in person.  I know that I could learn a great deal from other artists in my area.  We do have an artists guild and I plan to join ASAP.

Number Seven - Guest Blog

I would like to invite some other artists to share their work and thoughts on my blog....and I wouldn't mind doing the same on theirs, LOL.

Number Eight - Social Media

Take charge and expand my social media plan.  No one is going to see my art if I don't show it to them.

Number Nine - Try New Things

As an art supply junkie, I have lots of stuff that I've never used.  I HAVE to try them!

Number Ten - Get My Mind Right

Last but, probably, the most important, I'm going to keep going no matter what.  I spent the majority of my career in real estate.  When you deal with numbers, they are usually either right or wrong and I had confidence that mine were right (even when they were wrong).  Art is subjective.  Some people are going to like your art and some people aren't, and neither one of those people are wrong.  Everyone has their own tastes and we all perceive things differently.  I need to get that "everyone is more talented than me" monkey off my back.  I know that it's a common for us humans to knock ourselves down and get in our own way at every turn......but I'm really going to try to limit this as much as I can.

So, that's it.  Ten things, not necessarily in order of importance.  If you have some goals for 2016, I'd love to hear them.  Now I'm going to go pick up the paintbrush.

Peace!

Cyndi

P.S. This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a small percentage if you make a purchase using this link.