Wow! Big Color!

I have been lusting after Dr PH Martins ink for years.  One of my darling  step daughters  gave me a gift certificate to Dick Blick for Christmas, and my goodies came in a few days ago.   Along with the Dr. Martins, I received encaustic paints, pan pastels, and Golden mediums.

 I'm taking the Strathmore online class from Traci Bautista, and am having fun making some very colorful backgrounds using watercolors, stains, spray inks, stencils, and markers.   I can't wait to try these inks in the backgrounds I am making for Traci's class.

Happy New Year

Welcome 2012! 

 I am really ready for a new year and new art experiences.  Not one for resolutions, but I do pray for peace, good health,  and happiness for us all in the coming year.

Seasons Greetings

I haven't posted for a while, but I have been doing quite a bit of art, Encaustic art specifically. I wanted to share a bit of it and wish you all a Happy Holiday season.

What I've Been Up To....

Haven't posted here since the spring, when my Muse took a VERY long vacation.  Spent the summer relaxing and enjoying family, friends, and the beautiful weather.  As fall approached I got the urge to do a bit of visual journaling, so I made a few hand-sewn journals ('a la Julie Pritchard at the Land of Lost Luggage) and set to playing.  My initial plan was to sell the journals on Etsy, but decided I wanted to enjoy them myself.  The journals have four signatures of three sheets of Fabriano paper.  Love this paper!

Here are a few of the journal pages from the journals....

I have taken quite a few online classes during the Muse vacation.  Two of my favorites were taught by Judy Wise.  A plaster class with Judy and Stephanie Lee, and an Encaustic Wax class that just ended with Judy.  Both Awesome classes.  Here are two Encaustic wax pieces I finished....

The first piece was a work in plaster, that wasn't going too well, so I decided to use some of the techniques learned from the Encaustic class and it turned much better.  The second piece may be a no-no, but I tried it anyway.  The piece was done on a wood cradle, collages and painted with acrylic paint.  (Acrylic paint is a no-no).  I added wax and a leaf from our backyard along with some charms and I like it.  We'll have to see if it stands the test of time.

Happy Easter

I haven't blogged since January...WOW!! Haven't done much art so nothing to share.  Just dropped in to wish everyone a blessed Easter.

The New Year has found me a bit scattered art wise.  I received "The Cinch" machine for Christmas as well as having purchased the Bind-It-All just before the holidays.  I made a couple of journals using the Bind-It-All and gave up in frustration after ruining a couple of book boards.  I am so thankful for receiving "The Cinch" for Christmas because it was a life saver!  It is so easy to use and takes all of the guess work out of binding projects.  I have placed these three journals for sale in my Etsy shop.  The journals are filled with Fabriano and/or cold press watercolor paper.  Don't know about you, but I LOVE Fabriano paper!

Now on to the scattered part... You ever have so many things you want to do that you feel overwelmed and don't get much of anything done?  That is my current art state.  This has happened several times before and when it does, I retreat to my "go to" project...quilting.  I can relax and let the hum of my sewing machine take away the stress.  I fall in love with my hugh fabric stash again, and start on a new quilt.  This seems to always happen at the beginning of a new year.....
So I am content for now, binding a quilt I made last year and just got back from the wonderful machine quilter that takes care of my larger quilts, as I await my art muse.

I am currently taking an awesome online class from Misty Mawn, but have yet to start my drawings, don't know why.....I am also anxiously waiting to start another great class from Julie and Chris in the Land of Lost Luggage network.  I am hoping that class will inspire me to get back to painting.   So aside from my art muse taking another snooze, all is well.....

Happy New Year! Welcome 2011!!

 Here's hoping your holidays were everything you wanted them to be.  Ours was very enjoyable, and we have one more visit to make tomorrow to complete the holiday celebration.

Very little art work has been done during the holidays, but I did manage to make two small journals, which I used my Rubicoil machine to bind .  The cover paper is made with paste paper and one is adorned with beads and charms.

 

I gifted myself with a Pink Bind It All Zutter machine for the new journals I want to make.  I like the idea of the professional looking binding, and I don't want to do any sewing of signatures.  I've made quite a few covers with some really pretty papers I found at the Paper Source, but am still a bit timid to use the machine.   Hope to give it a try next week.

Happy Holidays!

We are enjoying the holiday season and hope you and yours are as well.  No school planned for next semester, so the intention is to have more studio time.   I took this year off from my business to learn new techniques and take as many classes as possible, and I have learned a lot.  So I plan to be back in the business mode in 2011 with lots of new things to share and sell to my wonderful customers.

Have a safe and happy holiday season!

Busy getting ready for the Holidays and getting close to the end of the fall semester.  I enjoyed the drawing class, but am not sad that it is coming to an end in a few weeks.
 I purchased the most recent copy of Cloth Paper Scissors' Studios a few days ago, and was inspired to rearrange the sewing part of my studio.  I threw out two large bags of fabric scraps accumulated over the past nine years of quilting.  I saved the larger pieces or small scraps of fabrics I loved, but it felt so good to get rid of a rather large basket full of scraps.  (When I first started quilting I saved all scraps thinking I would use them so day...obviously not, the basket's content just kept growing).

After all that work, I thought I would be inspired to rearrange/purge the mixed media part of the studio, but instead I did this.....

Happy Thanksgiving!

I promised to show more of my paintings, so here is another one...
Worked on this one quite a bit and wasn't sure how I felt about it until I added some Shiva sticks to give it more punch.

Okay Pat! Get with the program!!

It's as if I have forgotten that I have a blog.  I have been busy since school started in August, and this class has a lot of homework after each class each week.  Another month to go and Drawing 1 is over for me!  I have decided to take the winter session off so that I can paint.  I have enjoyed the class and am amazed at the talent of a lot of my young classmates.  Here is one of the drawings I have completed in class...  done with charcoal.

But I must say the most fun I have had over the past few weeks is painting in my studio.  I try to paint something or at least do something in the studio every day.  Here are a few things I've done....  There are quite a few other paintings to share later.

Cool Weather!

Wow, am I enjoying the cool weather that has arrived here in the DC area.  We have had a LOT of rain in the past few days, so it has been a great time to hunker down and create art.  I purchased a class from Paulette Insall (love her portraits) and have been working on making the back grounds for some new faces.  I also decided to work on some the pieces I started this summer and never finished.  Here's one of them.....
I never thought much of doing abstract painting, but I like the way this one turned out.  I worked on it for several days, layering a lot of color until I found what I like.  I think I will try this again soon.

Hey Y'all!

Thought I would blog today to show I am still around, just very busy.  I am taking a drawing class this semester at the community college.  I initially planned to take painting as well, but dropped it because I didn't want to buy all the huge tubes of oil paints.  I know cheapo Pat, but there it is.
Really enjoying the drawing class and interacting with the young adults in the class.  I was concerned about my drawing level, but it looks like my skill level fits right in..phew!
I am still painting,  taking Sharon and Deryn's online class, and the Chaos and Calm class with Chris Cozen and Julie Pritchard.  Sharon and Deryn's class is so fun, this picture is one of the collages I did for the class.  I haven't made my bezels yet (want to do that this weekend with my girlfriend) because I'm sort of nervous about the butane torch.   So I'm off again, hope to post again soon...

Forced to paint

This morning around 4am the motor on the central a/c unit for the second floor of our house died.  My DH and I both woke up about the same time and realized we were a lot warmer than usual.  Luckily for us, we were able to get a repair person out this morning and he was able to locate the part so the system can be repaired tomorrow.  Thankfully there is another system that cools the first floor and basement so we are not totally without relief from August in the DC area.   Since our master bedroom has cathedral ceilings, it gets hot in there rather fast, so by afternoon, I was forced to abandon my office on the second floor and retreat to the basement where it is cool.  Anyway, since I was down there, I decided to work on a piece I started a few weeks ago.  I am not sure if I am finished with it, but decided to share where it is so far....   I put in on an easel to take the picture, that is why you see the wrought iron at the bottom.  I love painting Angels!  Her wings are cut from textured wall paper, and her robe is a combination of a painted security envelope and a piece of decorator paper.  Still need to work on her face a bit, but I'm liking where she is going....

Wow, Where IS she?

Hi everyone,
Yep I'm still around, just took a break from blogging,  possibly one of many breaks when classes resume in two weeks.  Can't recall if I mentioned that I am taking painting and drawing in the fall semester.  Some say that drawing is the cornerstone of art, and if that is true, I need to learn the basics and learn more about proportion in my drawing.   We did a bit of drawing in the watercolor class, and I realized the need for proportion when painting the face and body.   I am a little intimidated to be taking a class with college kids who probably started drawing and painting in grade school , especially since my work will looks like a toddler did it. 8-)  Well not really, but you know what I mean....

In the down time until class starts, I am taking another online class from Julie Pritchard and Chris Cozen on The Land of Lost Luggage network.  I have only done two of the assignments so far, but it is an interesting class.

I don't have any art to share this time, but I have placed some art DVD's in my Etsy shop that may be of interest to acrylic painters, so check it out.   Link is on the right of this page.  The Ann Baldwin class/DVD is outstanding as is the one with Jacqueline Sullivan.