Update...I SEE ELEPHANTS

I think I'm drunk???
from all the response of blogging heARTist!


I'm still in Klimt mode. Although, I haven't finished my Cabinet of C theme, Wonder. Hope to finish that tonight and show tomorrow.

I'm thrilled with all the response to the heART giveaway. I wanted to say thank you to all those playing.

Most of you thought it would be nice if I did a little more playing in the little board book before sending to the lucky heARTist.

I bet you didn't dream of elephants in the book. Well, let me tell you these little elephants were parading through the gesso right across the back page and I couldn't help myself. I'm thinking it was a Valentine Day Parade. Of course, it is unfinished and I couldn't get the whole spread in the scan but well we get to see some of Klimt's work unfinished..........
More later,
Sharon

Showing My Inspiration

Because you like it???

Ok, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Well maybe just maybe it is because I like showing.

Cabinet of Curiosities prompt # 4 is Wonder.

We are to wonder about who or what inspires us and then copy them or their style in our ART this week.

This was easy. If you have read my blog, you know I am in awe of Gustav Klimt (1862 - 1918). I have been inspired by his art on several projects. Another person that I am in awe of is my Granny (1898 - 1995). So there is my inspiration.

Here is my art-at-the-desk for today on my desk calendar. I'm just studying Klimt's Portrait of a Woman, 1917-18 (unfinished). I played using oil pastels, a new medium for me. I think studying his unfinished art is very helpful as you can see "stages" of the piece. I guess it is sort of like me showing you stages of my work. I wonder......

More later,
Sharon

Love That Mail Lady

Take A Look!!!!!!!!!

You'll have to click the photo to enlarge so you can take in all the wonders this little package had.

Do you believe what a lucky girl I am? One of my blogging buds surprised me with this wonderful assortment of Washi papers she collected in Japan, stamps from England and Rome and little German floral cutouts she found in an antique shop in Germany. She also included a little bit of her art right there on top of the note.

Oh yes, Sandy these are gorgeous little wonders and I know I will use them without hesitation. My brain is already churning with inspiration. You are one special lady and I'm blessed to you know in this world-wide. And I Thank You.
More later,
Sharon

You Make My Heart Sing

Be My Valentine

I want to give away my heART for Valentine's Day.

This little (unfinished) board book Valentine could be yours.

Sandy over at Art Tea Life has started something. And I'm going to play too.

Leave a comment with this post to get in the drawing. On February 2nd I will draw one name and mail this little Valentine Book to you.

One more thing, will you tell me in your comment if you like it just as it is with only my valentine on the front? Or would you like it with more inspiration inside? Tell me anything that comes to mind. As I'm not sure if I will do more or leave for you to alter.

x o x o x o x o x

Cabinet of Curiosities

ART CURIOSITIES
Self Portrait

My day dream is about being an artist.
I couldn't decide which to show. The only difference is the lighting of the photograph. So, I'm just showing both.
This is Challenge 3 and Bonnie posted the rubric for this one. If you followed along with me yesterday, you saw the very graphic layout that I was curious about trying and driven by my curiosity to paint a self portrait over a photograph. You should try it.

-+-+-+-+-+-+

Now I'm off to make valentines I think. Do check back because I'm going to have a surprise.

More later,
Sharon

Not Finished Yet

ART CURIOSITIES
Took a break to go to movie. So I didn't finish yet. Progress from bottom picture up.

Me closing in on Me.
More later,
Sharon

PLAYTIME

Art Curiosities

I'm not for sure where I'm going with this. I sort of have an idea because as you can see I have an inspiration layout just up there to the left of the keyboard. So just in case you stop by to check in on me, I thought I would give a quick look at the beginning process of my next page for Cabinet of Curiosities. Theme is DREAM.
More later,
Sharon

PS .....the can of Hummingbird attracting seed mixture has nothing to do with my page. I don't think it does anyway.

Cabinet of Curiosities

Art Curiosities
Challenge Theme by ArtsyMama is "Curiosity". The challenge also had specific instructions for creating a page. (Please check out her blog for that.) For this challenge I was inspired to try paper casting by a great tutorial that Michelle Ward posted here.

My page spread was already painted. The techniques that I used were: paint, text that I found in a junk mail subscription offer received yesterday, paper, writing, sand, stamp, 3-d, surprise, and charcoal. The surprise element was the piece of acetate that I had used as a paint pallet and had also punched out a butterfly for some other project. It is under the paper casting.
For my paper casting I used one of my original doll molds.
This is one of the porcelain dolls made from the mold. She is dollhouse size and is a bridesmaid. I want to tell you more about all of that as I feel I may have gone full circle now. But I am way past bed-time and just must tell you goodnight and....
More later,
Sharon

Flesh True Colors Journal....Red

you make my heart sing

I have had a great weekend playing ART. I really am learning and enjoying the process. I guess you wouldn't know if I didn't tell you but I did this one backwards. That is to say I usually start with the face sketch and then do the background first. For this one I painted the sketch of the face first and then worked on the background. I found it to be a little difficult and do believe that I prefer the background first.

Sometimes the Norah takes over. I wanted so bad to make paper roses in her hair, though I don't know what paper roses would look like. I thought about it all week. Had other inspiration to maybe use bleeding hearts somewhere on the piece too. Well Norah didn't seem to know what paper roses looked like or how to make them either so.....we didn't. And do you see the wings? I was just following Norah'S lead and using the piece of ribbon to stencil through to get some white flowing through the page. Minutes later I leaned it up and stepped back. Melissa was in the room and I said, "hey look she has wings". So I gave a little definition at the edges so you would know they were wings. Now we all know. I guess Norah knew first.

OK, dh (dear husband) would say I am "certified". But I would just tell you that today I realized the Norah is my muse.

More later,

Sharon

Playing with Board Books

I Love to Play ART.
Bonnie, one of the co-host of the Cabinet of Curiosities challenge ask if I would share with her the preparation steps for playing art in board books. It is really quite simple and I could tell her in a few short sentences but...well, you know me. I love showing how and telling so here is a little tutorial for Bonnie. This way I can add a few of my little tips.

So here is where I'm about to play. I think it is fun to see other artist studio play space so I'm giving a little glimpse of mine. See how all the fun stuff is closing in on me and yes, I haven't put away anything from last night's art party.
Do you see the shiny on the book? Well just use a little piece of fine sandpaper and rub away. Now here is a tip. Notice that I have put a wash cloth under the book. This is to grab or catch the sand dust as it comes off. There will be more than you think.
Notice here that I did not try to sand the image away, just the shine. In some cases you may want to see a bit of image or words in the background. The little board books are so fun because they are so sturdy and come in different shapes and sizes.
Any gesso will do. I happen to use Golden and I really like. This step is to just paint a coat of gesso over the whole book. A thin coat will dry pretty fast and because the pages are "boards", you can pretty much keep going with the gesso until done. But here is another tip: if you work on more than one book at a time, just switch back and forth. This will give a little dry time and will keep your brush busy so it doesn't dry out.
Let it stand to finish drying. If you are impatient, use a heat gun to speed up the drying but it really doesn't take very long.
Bonnie wanted to know what paints or products I use. That would be Golden but I guess you can see that. I'm sure any acrylic will do just fine but I do think the tube or heavy body acrylic is best simply because they will dry fast. Now here is another tip: paint right out of tube and you lose none of the precious pigment on a pallet.

Painting is the fun part for me. Painting right out of the tube I just keep adding colors and building depth with the paint layers. And here is another tip: notice how dry my brush is. I usually go from tube to tube and page to page without washing the brush. Saving paint. In other words each page will have a color from the one before. Like green follows this yellow page and what makes green? Right. A little bit of yellow with blue.
This last picture is just to give you the Tip of the day: I keep an old book handy right beside me to use when it is time to clean the brush. I first wipe the brush on a page until no pigment comes off and then I dip (I don't swish) it into my water jar and paint a page with the wash of color. Very little paint gets wasted. Then I swish to clean the brush. You never know, on another day, I will need just such a piece of paper for a collage or whatever.

I hope this helps, Bonnie. As you can see, it is very easy. Hey, if anybody has some tips...leave us comment. Thanks.

More later,
Sharon

Art Curiosities

Art Curiosities

Cover
3 3/8" square board book

The overall theme for this challenge co-hosted by ArtsyMama and Bonnie is Cabinet of Curiosities. You can check out what that means over at their site. The first day challenge theme is 'Explore'. My book will be about my Art Curiosities. So, today I used acrylic paint and painted some book pages to print some of my images on. The girl image was on a large print page and the wing was on a small print page. I was curious about how that would work and I really like to results. The photo doesn't show the small print very well. I was also exploring altered board books for the first time and the muse took over and here I am in the challenge and I haven't even told ArtsyMama that I want to play ART with her again. So now I'm gonna go do that.
More later,
Sharon

Hey Look

at this.
It's Friday. A little time for Art- At-The- Desk. Well, I didn't have time, I just took time. I picked up a couple of these little board books at the dollar store that is closing in our little town. I have never worked on a board book and have always wanted to. Well, nothing ever happens before it is time. You know that is my motto.
So, I Did the prep for this one last night and today brought my Goldens in my little art-to-go-bag. I figured I could put a little color on each page in between a little work. Then it would be all ready for something. I know not what.

So much fun. These are 3 3/8inch square. Tiny.

I Went back for more this morning. Today they are $00.20. Yes, twenty cents.
Could you resist that?
No, I didnt' think so.
Me either.
I didn't leave many at the store and I won't tell you how many I got. But won't they be fun?

Now what. OK, ArtsyMama is into another challenge that I was going to resist. But heck, I think I will use this little bitty square book to follow along. It just started yesterday and I can catch up this weekend. Click on over to Artsymama's or I will tell you more about it...
Later,
Sharon

HUGE Fight with my muse...

...over hot pink and orange.
You remember her? Sure you do, she came to the True Colors party uninvited. I let her stay. Called her Miss Piggy. Big mistake. So this page of my Flesh True Colors Journal is the Hot Pink and Orange. I don't guess I needed to tell you that. Anyway, we had a humonguous fight, the muse and I. And to tell you the truth, I don't know who was on what side. There was just huge conflict that I couldn't deal with. Couldn't go on. She was too young, too fat, I couldn't love her in this journal.
Yep, I just brushed her away. I can do that you know, I'm the one with the power and the paint.

Funny thing is, I couldn't send her away without getting a shot.

She is history.


And that's all I've got to say.

More later,
Sharon

Forest Floor...True Color Journal

FOREST FLOOR

I wandered into the forest while in my dream.

Just to see what the floor would bring.

Leaves and feathers and pods I found.

Perfect treasures for a fairy's crown.

Sketch from my desk you saw earlier this week.
It changed before coming home with me Friday. When the hair turned to leaves, I knew she was the forest floor fairy.
This morning, I woke up with the poem in my head. Had to get up and start.
The tree in the foreground is from an over painted paper left from when I was preparing the gift journals.
I'm thinking I will add the poem as an overlay on vellum. No vellum on hand today though so...
More later,
Sharon

Warm and fuzzy feeling

This little package just arrived and gave me such a warm and fuzzy feeling because it came all the way from across the ocean.

Fiona, you are the greatest and I am so touched.

She sent me some bits of Christmas wrap that I was begging for back in December. But Fiona does this art-on-the-sofa thing kinda like I do art-at-the-desk and she has sent the Most Artful Little Journal that she has filled with her inspiration just for me to play art in. I'm sure I will share the pages with you as I work on them. Oh and also, notice the little ATC and the bluish paper with leaves under the journal. So special.

Well here we are, another Friday. Guess what, I'm getting a 3-day weekend. So excited!
More later,
Sharon

Another Purse

Another purse design from last weekend and I thought you would love to see it.

The second photo from the top is the fused piece that I showed on September 28th. I just wanted to group it with the finished purse here again.

This is taking me too long to get posted so...
More later,
Sharon

Are you in the Zone?

Here is my daytime zone. Work and play all muddled together. She changes each day as I pick up the pencil and aimlessly draw and erase while multitasking with phone calls, and paper pushing as I like to call it.

Last year when I began to rediscover and focus on my art, I had to give up something for times sake. It is sad to say that what I gave up was the balance of housework, yardwork and the rest of my daily chores.

Before blogging and arting I checked into Flylady every morning to see what the day's chore was.

Do any of you know about Flylady? Of all the blogs I read I don't think I have ever seen her mentioned. I now realize that the way I kept our home in order and somewhat clean all the time was staying in the Zone. All I did was check in each morning to see what Kelly's Mission was and if I was not able to do the daily missions, then on the weekend I got it done. No more no less.

You can check out the site to see what the zones are but I can tell you this week's zone is the kitchen and that is where I will focus my house cleaning efforts this week. I will also involve the rest of the family in the zone with Sharon's missions for them.

There you have it. One of my ways of finding balance and focus...
More later,
Sharon
PS I think I will add the Flylady link to the top of my list on the sidebar.

To My Friend Susan

Happy Birthday best friend.

I Hope you have many more.

I'm showing the world-wide your little present and card. I started out to make a wristlet to go with the Christmas purse. Heck, it turned out to be a little coin purse....I guess. So I didn't put a wrist strap on it. Also, I printed Lady Susan on to muslin and fused it onto the fabric. "dream" is a new stamp that I used on muslin too. Well you know me, I have to splash a little paint somewhere so I did. It's on the "dream" square. Also, a little bit of freestyle stitching to finish it up. See you with...

More later,

Sharon

Great Weekend!

Remember me? We should never have tried to escape.
Showing what was and then what it became is for my benefit. I like to be able to look back and see the results together.
Oh yes, I miscalculated the placement on the purse. I was really trying to get Ann Kristen's head up under the flap. Thought that would be cool. There is always something that doesn't pan out just so.So this is one project that I finished this weekend. I have more to show but I will wait on that. I have been very flattered with the question of whether I planned to sell my bags. I do hope to be in a position to do that eventually. The fact is they take me too long to make and I don't know where I will find the time to construct enough to think about selling. Right now I really want to focus on the ART and enjoy the process while I balance ....

Have you been thinking about focus and balance? Pretty neat huh? Do we focus on things (family, freinds, art, etc) so we can balance our life. Or do we balance our life so we can focus on things?

Ok, more later,

Sharon

Let the New Year Begin...please

This will be new. I'm having difficultly getting this new year started. I suggested to my friend yesterday that maybe it was because I just didn't get the old one finished. You know, late Christmas presents, a few cards still not mailed, stuff at the office out of wack because I wasn't there the last week of the old year. Just stuff like that.

But most of all I think it is because I haven't said out loud, not to mention written down, my new year resolutions...as they are called. I always do this. In fact I start thinking about it early in December and when the time comes I have mulled it over enough to proclaim.

This year is just different. I have been mulling a lot of stuff over but I just don't want to proclaim anything. So, here is what I have come up with: I JUST WANT TO KEEP DOING IN THIS NEW YEAR WHAT I HAVE BEEN DOING IN THE UNFINISHED OLD YEAR. There, I have proclaimed my resolution. It is what it is.

So while I was mulling a lot of stuff over, two words kept banging around in the attic. The first is focus and the second is balance. They are pretty self explanatory and I dare say all of you out there struggle with these aspects in your life just as I do. So, this year I will be mindful of focusing on my family, friends, home, yard, work, and ART while I try to balance them all into the best year ever.

I'm off to finish a purse so...
More later,
Sharon

My Brother's Gate

Here is my baby brother and family that received the Gift Journals for Christmas. Except Andrew who is behind the camera instead of in front of it.
They were inspired by my Gustav Klimt benches when they were here this past summer and decided to try it on their gate. Don't you love it? I'm sure no one else in Arizona has one.
Now you see why I was sure these kids would know exactly what to do with their gift journals. I haven't seen any of their pages but they have all told me about them.

Getting caught up here at my desk has been a challenge. But I will get there and when I do, I will tell you about my New Year's plans.
More later,
Sharon