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

Time Not Wasted!

Isn't that the truth!!  I wanted to use my new clock stencil, so I "googled" some quotes on Time.  I liked this one.  No matter what you are doing, as long as it's not hurting anyone and it's fun, how could it be a waste of time.  We all need to remember to live in the moment.

Peace!

Cyndi

Little Wooden Houses

A few weeks ago, I started making little wooden houses.  I made one and I just couldn't stop.

I used my own handpainted papers, some scrapbooking paper, acrylic paint, pens and little doo dads. I sealed them with polycrylic.   I bought a long board at Lowes.  They actually cut the board into 10 inch sections for me (no charge!).  Then, my husband cut the angles to make them "house-like". Since I had one taller piece, I made an apartment building.

A friend asked me if they could be put outside in a flower bed.  I suppose they could, but I'd probably suggest a couple more coats of sealer.

Right now, I have them lined up on my fireplace mantel, but I plan to list them for sale on Etsy.

Peace!

Cyndi

Thank you Shawn Petite

As I've mentioned many, many times here.....I love watching other artists make their art.

In a couple weeks, my husband and I are travelling to Colorado to visit his mother and brother.  My mother-in-law has suffered with Alsheimers for several years.  I was thinking about making a small piece of art that we could hang in her room.  Because we like to pack light I needed something that I could slip into a small suitcase. Then....Voila....I watched a video by Shawn Petite on the very morning that I was trying to come up with something to make, and it was perfect.

These three little hanging pieces are made using cardboard as the substrate.  Shawn attached a piece of ribbon as a hanger on hers.  I didn't have any ribbon that I liked, but I did have some copper wire and it worked fine.  I used different stencils and I didn't have any alphabet stamps that were large enough. I printed out the words in the size that I needed on the printer, then transferred them to the substrate with carbon paper, then painted them with a paint pen (and outlined with charcoal pencil).

I might make some more of these, except smaller, as they would make great little tags for gifts, etc. They were super easy and super fast to make.  So, if you need a quick handmade gift for someone....give it a try.

Again, thank you Shawn!

Peace!

Cyndi