The CREATIVE side of YOU!

Artsy Journeys is the ultimate Art Adventure! There are no rules, no judgments, no special applications and no previous experiences necessary to create amazingly beautiful art drawn from your experiences and imagination.

Become one with your thoughts, ideas, dreams, memories and your goals through random applications of color, embellishments and how you happen to feel that day!

Join me and together we will explore and embrace that Art Adventure and walk that path of beauty.

Sunday, March 22, 2015

Wiz kid artist stuns my art class! :-)

Wet into wet painting techniques and the results!

The first class ever using the wet into wet oil painting technique was March 21 at the Vance Granville Community College!   Under the category of Personal Enrichment, 
The 5 intrepid painters created some amazing art.
I brought along my assistant-10 year old Alex who embraced the Bob Ross techniques last year by recording hours of video after his mother took away his Electronic time-what a great move by mom! And then he began to paint!
Alex with a few of his many beautiful paintings!

Children will naturally turn to creativity when the TV, electronic games and cell phones are removed-all to everyone's benefit!

From 12-5, the class stayed in the art zone and we had a great time! We practice wet into wet with acrylics as well but you have to paint faster. It was easy to take a snack break in the middle of the workshop as oil will not dry for days.
I'll let the photos do the talking!
collage of the finished paintings

This class introduced the use of a palette knife, letting wet paint blend into wet to create particular effects...and of course the sky is the limit when it comes to taking what they have learned and use the same techniques on a myriad of subjects!


Next similar class is April 17 from 12-5.


I encourage photographing the steps

Learning to use the palette knife

Laying in the background

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Going to the Dogs. My artistic journey!

Going to the dogs...artistically!

After finishing up 2 weekends...long weekends..... of shows, I found myself going to the dogs. On my easel.
I already live with 5 dogs and with a background that once encompassed dog shows, dog training and pet boarding (with a 100 run kennel no less!) I find it as easy to return to a life with dogs as I do with horses :-) 

Our pets occupy a special place in our hearts and it's easy to see why my collectors love to have  portraits of these special families members created. And I have created hundreds...perhaps thousands, over the years! 
At these last two shows I created Jack Russell Terriers and a Corgi puppy. Both are two of the most popular pups at the horse shows although I am seeing more and more mixed breeds-a nod to the efforts of  dog and horse rescue groups that work hard and diligent to place their charges in the best homes possible!   The "Tiny Urls" take you to my Etsy store where you can see these much larger!

All 3 are available as originals, for purchase :-)

http://tinyurl.com/nueldyg

http://tinyurl.com/oznpjqf

http://tinyurl.com/o5m5rcn


































Going to the Dogs is a special place I think. When it comes to your canine companions, every day is a good day! And that is a nice place to be :-)




Friday, March 13, 2015

Artsy Duplication

Since I am heading out the door I am unabashedly copying my blog from "MTheresaBrown" so that I can keep you updated! It's just Artsy Duplication!


Art studios, landscaping and chickens...

Finally! Warmer weather! My poor ponies have a sea of dried mud around their run-in shed that will again turn to mush with the upcoming expected rains but MAYBE there will be a week with no rain, snow or mix after that! 



So the renovation on the small studio is drawing to a foreseeable end...at least the walls are painted-white. I cannot bear the thought of anymore interior darkness! Hubby Steve is putting in the work counter...same height as a bar-that could be nice too!


I have been doing some raking and semi-landscaping. What that really means is that there was wire  along the edges of the pasture fence that the pretty vinca flower vines had grown through and covered so I have actually had to use a pick ax, short and long handled pruning clippers to get up...a lot of it. I guess I noticed it but then did nothing about it...just ran the lawnmower around that nice long clump of dark green vines with their purple summer violets.   After I finally spent 2 days yanking, digging and chopping at it all, the wire is up....followed by curious chickens who went to work digging in dirt I had conveniently already "undug" for them.  


We are at a show right now so other than popping up an image of a recently completed and now shipped painting, I am off to make some sales today (always a good thought-heck it's the goal!)


Follow my journey with me and see how I set up the inside of a 12 x 20 studio!


Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Silk screening on silk techniques

Silk screening is one of those things that bypassed me in college. I don't know why or how exactly. I can etch on zinc plates covered with asphaltum  and sunk into acid baths. I can pick up a linoluem block and hand carve it to print on. But I never learned to use a silk screen.
Then of course everything changed with the computer and silk screen seemed to be going the way of the dark room for photographers.....but oh my, now I've had a taste of it!

So with just the barest of equipment I have begun to screen on my silk scarves. It is the layering that really attracts me! Just like my layers in my abstract paintings, I can form layers on the silk.

Once I figured out how to burn an original image onto a transparency (courtesy of a friend and my hubby !) I saw the possibilities open up!


The collage is from a day with a girlfriend who has done this awhile.
The photos below it are the scarves I just completed using the method. Enjoy the beautifully colored layers! Some were done with Lumiere dye that adds a cool shimmer to the colors.

adding layers on already dyed scarf and my friend cleaning a film




My teal layers

Add caption

Eggplant with dragonflies

Abstract flower layers

My abstract horses