7 Red Poppies

I finally had a chance to get back into the studio to complete my painting of Poppies that I began a couple of months ago. It's so difficult to find time for the studio when I'm working and taking graduate classes! But since I'm home for winter break I finally managed to get some creative time. And I finished my 7 Red Poppies painting!

This painting began with a black acrylic gesso background. Then I drew on my flowers and butterflies with white colored pencil, and then outlined those lines with a white paint marker. 

Next, I colored the poppy stems with colored pencils. I used some gray acrylic paint where the poppies would be, because gray makes it easier to get a brighter red paint color (this is especially true if you are painting with red on top of a white canvas or background!). Then I painted the poppies with a combination of watercolors and acrylics, and a touch of colored pencils too. The butterflies are also a combination of acrylics and colored pencils.

The next step was to paint over the black background. It looks light blue in the photo, but it's really more of a blue green (called Sea Foam, I believe). I left a little bit of the black around all of the imagery, then added a bit of teal colored pencil next to the black. I also re-outlined the white lines with my white paint marker, because they can get a bit dirty after all of the coloring and painting. 

The final step was to add some stenciled designs over the background, and I added some white dots over the stenciled areas for contrast and texture--and to help tie into the white outlines.

I really love how this turned out. I want to hang it in my home somewhere. I just need to figure out where!

More Time for Painting Art Meme

Just created another meme to add to my growing collection of Art Memes.

The cleaning can wait. Paint more, clean less!

Art Rules to Live By

Just a few Art Rules to live by...in case you need a reminder. :)

My Face When My Friends Asks Me to Go to The Art Supply Store

Time for another art meme!

Poppies and More Poppies

I started a new painting last month of one of my favorite flowers, Poppies. Life has been hectic and full of unexpected and not-so-fun surprises of late, so I haven't had a chance to finish it. But I wanted to share at least a peek of that work in progress.

This so far is a combination of acrylics and colored pencils. The background won't remain black, so this will look a lot different once it's completed. But I like the look of it so far! I'm hoping to get back in the studio soon to get it finished. 

It Is Not Hoarding If It's Art Supplies

Funny. Because it's true.

You can  never have too many art supplies. Just sayin.

The Good Markers

You know it's true.

Just Breathe--At My Society6 Shoppe

I just realized this week that I never posted one of my latest mixed media girl paintings, Just Breathe, in my Society6 shoppe. So I did that this evening, because there is currently a Free Shipping sale going on at Society6, along with 10% off many items. Here's just a sampling of the products you can find my art on in my shoppe, including prints, of course.

The sale lasts until Sunday, September 25, at 11:59pm (PT). As I said, many items are 10% off. Combined with free shipping, that is a really great way to save money and get some art and/or products at the same time. 

I love the blank stationery cards--great to have on hand when you need a card for any occasion. You can also frame them so that you can have some small artworks around your home, at great savings. The cards are on good, heavy cardstock and the color reproduction is wonderful. 

I have several of the totes myself and they are a really good quality. I carry them to and from work with all my must-haves for the school day inside. And I swap them out when I feel like a change. I like the 16" size the best; the 13" is too small for my school stuff, and the 18" one is just a bit big--but it's great for taking on long car trips or as a tote to the beach or something. 

I get the 15oz mugs quite a bit (not pictured here) because they are a great size and the art photo fills almost all of the cup. I have a nice little collection of my favorite mixed media girls on the mugs and I use them every day!

The quality of the prints is wonderful, and I own one of the clocks too (also not pictured), which is in my studio. I always want to order a pillow because they look great--but I can never decide which one I like the best so I haven't ordered any of those yet. I will one day though. :) The phone cases are quite durable and very pretty. Oh, and I have one of the large carryall pouches--very handy for make up, or would even be great for art supplies on the go. There are too many products in the shoppe to show you here. Just hop on over to my shoppe and have a peek.

Art Chick Studio Society6 Shoppe

Christmas will be here before you know it, gang. So now is a good time to start your shopping!

Trumpet Flower Fairy

As I was out in the garden watering this morning I saw that my Trumpet Flowers were still open. They open up at night time and they are often closed by the time I'm out watering. But it was quite cool over night so they must have been responding to the cooler weather. So I decided to snap a few photos while I was out there.

I took these pics with my iPhone. The pics are always better on my digital camera, but I thought these came out pretty well. I got as close as I could to these flowers, which are quite large.

There is something really beautiful about trumpet flowers. I love how the petals curl up at the ends.

Every once in awhile it's nice to see a black and white photo too.

For this one I think I spy a friendly little fairy visitor enjoying the trumpet flowers as well. ;)

Destiny Fairy Mixed Media

With so much to do before the start of my first week of my return to teaching upon me, I'm surprised I let myself spend the day in my studio yesterday. But I really felt the need to get in there and be creative. I wasn't sure what I was going to create (I seldom am), but I ended up creating this Destiny Fairy in mixed media painting.

I used a combination of acrylics, Neocolor II crayons, and colored pencils. And the stars were stenciled on. I found the quote online, and it seems to be attributed to Shakespeare. I liked it so I added it to my painting. And hey, I didn't do pink hair this time. LOL. She seemed to need blue hair for a change. 

It is not in the stars to hold our destiny, but in ourselves.

Hey Girl Male Figure Drawing

Just created this Hey, Girl meme. I couldn't help myself.

Sunnyflowers

One of the things I love best about summer (since I don't like the heat--or the fact that my A/C has been on for a month and a half!) is the beautiful flowers I see all the time. I saw this beautiful sunflower outside of a restaurant recently.

You have to find the beauty in the little things all around you every day. Am I right?!

Hope you find some beauty in your day too.

Sparkle and Shine Digital Art

I'm supposed to be doing prep work for my new Title 1 Reading teaching job that starts in a couple of weeks. But I needed a little bit of a creative break, and since I don't have time to go into my studio all day, I thought I'd create some digital art instead. So this is what I created.

Maude Fealy was my muse once again for this creation. She was so lovely and I always sense a bit of sparkle and shine about her anyway. So this seemed perfect.

Now I'd better get back to work! 

Claire Returns to Lallybroch Outlander Digital Art

I was in the mood for some digital art today. And since I'm missing Outlander, I decided to create some art about the moment Claire returns to Lallybroch and remembers being there with Jamie. Such a bittersweet moment full of feels.

I really hate that we have to wait for April to see Claire go back through the stones to Jamie! Thank goodness for streaming so I can return to Scotland whenever I feel like it. But I'm really excited for season 3 of Outlander and it can't come soon enough for me.

Just Breathe Mixed Media Girl

I can't believe I got to spend two Sundays in a row in my studio! That is not the norm of late, since I always seem to be busy with school work or something else. But I made the most of my Sunday studio time yesterday to create this new Mixed Media Girl I'm calling, Just Breathe.

I covered the background canvas with 4-5 different scrapbook papers. Then I added some acrylic paints and stenciling here and there. Then as that dried I drew my mixed media girl onto some drawing paper, and then transferred her onto my canvas. Sometimes I draw straight on the canvas, but sometimes it's just easier to draw it and transfer it. Once I transferred the drawing (which smears easily from the transfer paper) I put a layer of clear gesso over the drawing so that it won't get messy and smeared. Then I could paint my girl with acrylics and add all the little embellishments. And once I was happy with her I added the little quote at the bottom--a little reminder that sometimes what's best is to slow down and...just breathe.

Hey Girl Creative Passion

I love a good 'Hey, Girl' meme about art. :)

Fairy Lanterns

Recently my daughter sent me a link to a video about a Fairy Lantern project. She thought I might like to do the project with my granddaughter, and she knows I love fairies. So my granddaughter, Destiny and I made our Fairy Lanterns last week. 

We didn't create our fairy lanterns exactly like what we saw in the video. We looked at several Fairy Lantern videos on YouTube to get lots of inspiration and then we just did our own thing. But you'll see in this video that they used paint on the inside of the glass to give it a frosted look. That is what Destiny did with hers. In other videos, most people used tissue paper that they Mod Podged to the outside of the jar to create the frosted look. That is how I created mine, so that we'd have experience creating them both ways. 

Here is Miss Destiny with her finished Fairy Lantern, which she loves.

We added some twine and roses to the outside of our jars, and a little glitter here and there. And we used flameless battery-operated votives for our lights on the inside. We also added a few star stickers on the inside. 

Here's a pic of my Fairy Lantern--the one with tissue paper on the outside.

By the way, the fairies we used were pre-cut cardstock fairies that I purchased from a shoppe on Etsy. You can find those by clicking here: MentalEpisodes

I really love how both of the lanterns turned out. They both have a different look. If you want a smooth finish then I'd suggest that you use the paint option on the inside of the jar. We just used regular acrylic craft paint. I like how the tissue looks on the outside though too.

If you need more inspiration, just have a look around YouTube; there are tons of videos on how to make your own Fairy Lanterns.

Red Poppies in Mixed Media

I've loved poppies for a long time. It may have to do with growing up on the west coast--there were lots of poppies in California where I lived. Whatever the reason, I've always loved them. So yesterday, as I was looking at a stained glass project of poppies that I made for my mom in high school, I decided I'd paint some poppies while in my studio. 

I did these on watercolor paper instead of a canvas because I was in the mood for a bit of watercolors. So I created these using Neocolor II crayons, some colored pencils, and a Stabilo All pencil in black. I added some music stenciling in the background too--because I wasn't feeling like it needed solid color. But it needed something, so I settled on the stencil. And a little butterfly never hurts. :)

Believe Piggy

I've been doing the One Little Word project this year (by Ali Edwards) and my word is 'Believe.' At the start of the year when I began the album for this project, I also decided that I needed a logo or symbol for my word, so I chose a flying pig. So when I was in the studio yesterday--for the first time in almost two months (thanks to an abundance of grad work and busy life in general)--I decided that I was going to create my own mixed media version of a flying pig. And this is what I created.

It's difficult to tell, but I added glitter to the tips of my piggy's wings, to give them a little sparkle. He's just a cute little flying pig, created on a background of torn scrapbook papers. He's mostly painted with acrylics, but there is also some stenciling added and some little embellishments here and there. This little guy is going to hang in my studio, to remind me that I need to believe that anything is possible. I think we all need to believe that sometimes. :)

Outlander Back Through the Stones Digital Art

I'm rather obsessed with Outlander, and I'm feeling a bit blue now that the season has ended. I've just started to binge-watch all of the series episodes to try to fend off the Droughtlander blues for awhile. And I also created this digital art to spotlight the emotional goodbye between Jamie and Claire near the end of the show--when Claire gets ready to travel back through the stones to her own time.

Sigh. That was a tissue moment for sure. I hate when I love a show so much...it makes it so difficult to wait for the next season to begin. But alas, I'll wait as long as it takes for Outlander to return. I can't wait to see Claire travel back in time once again to find Jamie twenty years after the Battle of Culloden! But if Claire can wait twenty years, I guess I can wait until next year when the series returns.

Frida Kahlo Digital Art

Since today is Frida Kahlo's birthday, I created some digital art in honor of the occasion.

Happy Birthday, Frida, who was born on this date in 1907. One hundred and nine years later and she is still an inspiration.

My Pink-Haired Muse

I don't know why, but for some reason I have this thing about drawing and painting pink-haired ladies. I love pink or blue hair in artwork and I have no idea why, but I do! :). So today, when this pink-haired muse asked me if she could come out to play, of course I said, yes.

So now she lives in my art journal in all her pink-haired glory. When the muse strikes...you gotta go with it!

Outside Art Journaling

I had planned to go into my studio on Sunday, but since it was such a nice day I decided to grab some supplies and an art journal and just go get creative on the porch. There was a nice breeze blowing and the Hubs was working in the yard. And since I was surrounded by flowers I guess that inspired my first bit of journaling. 

I just used some watercolor pencils and water, and a black pen, and just drew what came to my mind. Pink and blue flowers, in this case. :) After that I started working on a fairy. She's not finished yet, but at least it's a start.

So I didn't accomplish a whole lot out there on the porch, but at least I got to be creative. And since I don't have a lot of time for that right now with my grad courses going on, I took advantage of the little bit of time that I had. And that was enough.

For the Birds

I've just been having so many great wildlife encounters this week, I feel like Snow White or Cinderella. Now if i could just get these little critters to do some housework for me. :)

This little bird was out by my door, chirping and chirping and chirping this morning. I opened the door to see him sitting there and chirping away. We had a nest in one of our trees so I'm thinking he may have come out of there. I hurried to get my camera so I could snap some pics.

He sat there and posed quite still for me, long enough for me to get a few digital photos. This one was the best. I went to get my phone to get a few pics on there too, but when I got back he got spooked and flew away. I'm glad I got this shot though. Such a pretty little bird. 

Here's to capturing even more nature over the summer. 

I Spy a Fox

The Hubs and I didn't just see Barns when we went on our Sunday drive over the weekend. We also saw something I've never seen in the 29 years that I've lived in northwest Ohio: a Fox! He was on my right, out in a field, when the Hubs and I both saw him at the same time. So we slowed down and then pulled off the road in order to get a better look. The fox was heading toward the road, seeming to want to cross the street. I took a few photos as he wandered along. Then he sat down in the field and just looked at me, with the sun setting behind him.

He sat there for a little bit just looking at me, until he finally got up the courage to cross the road. He sure was beautiful. And it was so neat to see a Fox that close up, and one that didn't seem to mind having his picture taken either. 

I wish I always had that kind of luck when I have my camera with me, especially considering that this part of Ohio is really not very scenic. But hey, I'll take what I can get. Hopefully I find even more wonderful things to photograph this summer.

For the Love of Barns Digital Photos

The Hubs and I went out for a drive over the weekend, and I decided to take along my camera. I tend to do that, even though there's not always a lot to see in northwest Ohio (it's kind of flat and boring here, folks). But I got lucky this time when we happened upon some old barns as the sun was going down, so I hopped out of the car and snapped a couple of digital photos.

There were two barns, both on the same property. I took the color photos but also decided to transform them into black and white too, to see how I liked them. I actually love them both ways, but I think the black and white has a slight lead for me. Though I love the sunset glow that hits both of the barns just right. :)

So tell me what you think. Which pictures are your favorites? The Color? Or the Black and White? I'd love to hear from you.

Life is a Beautiful Ride Mixed Media

Well I finally made it back into the studio again after almost a month of a busy life that prevented that from happening. The downside of being out of the studio for so long (other than creative withdrawal) is that it can be difficult to get my creative juices flowing again. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do when I got into the studio. I had totally planned to paint, but instead decided on something that didn't involve paint at all. Flying by the seat of my pants in my studio is kind of how I like to do things anyway. This mixed media work on wood panel is what I came up with.

I used three different pieces of scrapbook paper for the background, and then I added some shading with a dark umber colored pencil around the edges. Then I drew my butterfly, also with colored pencils, and added a stenciled trail below the butterfly.  I also stenciled on a doily design and added some fabric flowers to the center of that. And finally I added the faux stamps at the upper left, and the quote on the bottom right. 

After finishing it I wished I'd made the butterfly lower on the right side. It's not as visually balanced as it should be and that bugs me. But not everything can be a home run where art is concerned. And really, as with life, it's more about the journey than the destination. And we just have to remember that "Life is a Beautiful Ride." :)

Lilacs Fairy Dance

Well since my granddaughter and I attended the local Lilac Festival today, I was in the mood for Lilacs. So I created this digital art from a photo I took of my Lilacs. Nothing like a little fairy dance to bring some magic to May. 

Hoping to get into my studio tomorrow to have some messy creative fun, but in the mean time, a little digital art is always fun too. :)

(Fairy girl image by sussieM Designs)

May Flowers

Since it finally stopped raining, I decided to take a walk around outside in my yard today. It was a perfect Spring day. Sunny skies, upper sixties, and a gentle little breeze blowing too. I loved it. I was inspired to to do some photography today too, so I thought I'd share my pictures with you.

April Showers really do bring May flowers. And I'm so glad. :)

Outlander The Red Dress

Are any of you Outlander fans? I'm a wee bit obsessed myself. I even have a Tumblr blog dedicated to the show. I just did some digital art for that blog last night, but thought I'd share it here too...in case any of you are Claire and JAMMF fans. :)

I've only read the first three books in the Outlander series so far. I'm planning to read more, and I especially want to stay ahead of the TV show. I can't watch a TV show or movie and THEN read the book it's based on. That totally ruins the book for me. I can only do it the other way around. :)

Anyway, I'm looking forward to episode 3 this weekend. Vive la France!

Kept Heart Kephart

I'm very into genealogy and sleuthing around in my family tree. I have a particular affection for one of my great, great grandparents, Susan Eleanor (Templeton) Kephart, who is in my maternal line. One day awhile back I was just playing around with some digital art and created this piece using a photograph of her holding my great grandfather. I don't think I ever posted it. I liked the meaning behind the quote, about how life is fleeting, and how it's in everything around us.

I never got to meet my great grandfather or his mother, but I keep their memory alive in my heart, and in my art. NAIH ♥

Dracula Digital Art

I was in the mood to play on my iPad Pro a couple of weeks ago. I need the practice in making digital art on that, since I'm so used to doing it on my PC. I have several great apps on the iPad that I'm still learning to use. So I decided to create some digital art for one of my former students, who has a real love of horror movies and characters from them. Dracula ended up being my theme--and I mean old school Dracula, because those are the only horror movies I ever really watched growing up. This was the result.

I used a combination of three apps: ProCreate, Stackables, and Brushstroke. And then also a couple of minor editing using Paint Shop Pro on my PC after I was finished using the apps. I really like how this turned out. And the bonus is that my former students seemed to really like it too. Win!

Stars Beauty Mixed Media Girl

Last year I created a post about the art journal spread I was doing after buying Jane Davenport's book called Beautiful Faces. After I had finished that spread last April, I had gone in a few months later and added some stars to my mixed media girl I'd created in the spread. And as I was flipping through some photos today, I realized I never shared the updated creation. So I'm gonna share that with you now.

I just thought that my background was a bit plain, especially considering that most of the time I add torn paper or something to the backgrounds of my paintings. I wasn't feeling like adding solid color, and I didn't want to distract from the face too much. So I decided that stars would be the way to go. It added a sense of texture and just a little something extra to make it feel more finished. I like her much better now. Sometimes you just have to step away from something you've done for awhile, and then come back and look at it again with fresh eyes. It can make all the difference.

Be Your Own Kind of Beautiful Mixed Media

After about a month of being so busy with school work that I couldn't manage to find creative time in my studio, I finally got a little bit of a break and spent my entire Sunday painting away. It was wonderful. And I felt like making a Mixed Media Girl, since I haven't painted one in quite awhile. I'd hope to do a page in my art journal as well. I got the page all gesso'd and prepped but didn't have enough time for a journal page. So I'll try to do that next time. But this painting--Be Your Own Kind of Beautiful--is the result of my studio time yesterday.

Hopefully I'll be back in the studio next weekend. I hate it when I can't get in there. My muse gets a little feisty when I can't let her out to play. ;)

Red Poppies Redux

Last year I did a painting of a Red Poppy. I liked it, but I didn't love it. So I decided to work a little digital magic and try to turn it into something that I love. Guess what? It worked. Behold, my Red Poppy Redux.

So now instead of this just being an acrylic painting, it's become a mixed media painting: a mixture of acrylics and digital art. I truly do love it now. There's just something about poppies I have always loved. :)

Dragonfly Stained Glass Painting

I watched another tutorial recently by Brandi Dayton where she did a painting to sort of look like stained glass. Since I like to create actual stained glass from time to time, I thought it would be fun to try a painting that looked like it. This is the result. 

This was fun to do and rather relaxing too. I will probably do more stained glass-style paintings in the future. I chose a dragonfly because my mom really loved dragonflies. I think she would have liked this one. :)

You Are Loved Mixed Media

I got a few projects going in the studio over the weekend, but this is the only one I managed to get finished. Another mixed media project with a heart theme. I couldn't help myself. 

I collaged a few types of scrapbook paper in the background, then added a few colors of acrylic paints...added some stenciling and stamping and the heart, then more stenciling and embellishing until it was complete. 

Next week I'll have a painting to share that isn't mixed media. Can't wait to share it once it's finished!