Tea Time

I was reading another artists blog and came across a lovely watercolor of a tea set she owned. It made me pause and think about why I love a tea party or even just a quiet time alone with my favorite tea pot and cup.

There is something special about having a cup of tea in a cup of fine china. I am partial to English fine china. It brings back memories of my great aunt Ava and my grandmother. When I was a young girl, these two lovely ladies, who were special in my life, would have a tea party using my aunt's beautiful china. She had a collection of cups and tea pots. I was fortunate enough to inherit her collection. Every time I pick up one of her cups I am reminded of the wonderful memories of spending time with them. It reminds me of how special I was to them and makes me feel pampered.

Years later, my family and I went on a missions trip to England. We stayed with families from the local church. My husband and I stayed with a lovely couple. Phil and Frances became quick lifelong friends. We were staying in the pottery district where most of the fine china in England is made. Frances was such a warm and loving lady. She came into my life at a time when I really needed her strength and understanding. I'd recently lost my mother. It wasn't until I met her that I was able to begin to heal from this insurmountable loss. I'll always be grateful to her for her kindness.

They gave us a Country Roses tea set from Royal Doulton, where their daughter-in-law worked. I was so excited that I could barely contain myself.
It was such a generous and loving gift. Every day I walk by that set placed lovely in my china cabinet. Whenever I use it, I am reminded of the love and kindness of strangers. The day the we met, we were strangers. The day we parted, we were friends for a lifetime.

They taught us how to brew a proper pot of English tea. We were introduced to teas we had never heard of, much less tasted. I learned how to make a cup of tea with cream and sugar that is absolutely wonderful from the first sip to the last. Whenever I sip tea now, memories begin to flood my soul. It brings up images of these special people that from early childhood into adulthood have had such a lasting influence on my life.

I know this has been a lengthy post and differs from my usual artistic posting. But just seeing the beautiful watercolor from a fellow artist, brought so many thoughts and memories of times past into my head. As I began to write, I began to realize why tea, tea pots and cups have such a significant meaning in my life. Funny how one thing leads to another. Even though it may seem odd, this all began to unravel in my head from the work of that unknown artist.
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For the love of Pigs

My grand-daughter loves pigs. So I did this for her on an 8x10 canvas. It was inspired by a Christy Tomlinson sketch. I showed it to her via FaceTime so she wouldn't have to wait until I see her next time. She was so excited and said she loved it. She said she already had a place to hang it in her room. She's so funny with her love of pigs. Said she wants a pot bellied pig to raise. My DD said "no way"! Anyway, she can add this one to her collection. I forgot to ask her what she wanted to name her. Hmmm?

So now I think I'll quit for today. I'm tired but have had so much fun. My fingers are all inky but my desk is clean. I got my gelli prints cut to size and have two paintings. I think I've had a productive day. Oh yeh, I even had some Cardinals come visit on my windowsill. Don't think I've ever been that close to one. They are such gorgeous birds!


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Rainy Day Fun

I liked the idea that Marianne had of using old calendar pages. I've saved a few that were very large, so I decided I'd give it a try. I love exploring new surfaces to paint on. I saw a picture that had an island caught in the middle of a wave. It inspired me to do this piece.

Yesterday I had taken the calendar page and gesso'd it. Then I took various stencils and spray inks to create an abstract background.

Next I used my Golden fluid acrylics and my fingers to begin painting the scene. I wanted a transparent paint so some background stencils would peak through. I just kept going until I liked the result. I really should have taken a picture of my fingers. I really like the feel of the final piece. It is very flexible, not stiff like a canvas. I think I'll find a frame and mat it. I love the beach, waves and sunsets. It makes me happy. So much fun on a rainy day.



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Mr. Cardinal

Mr. Cardinal came to visit my windowsill this morning. It is raining so I think he wanted to get somewhere it is dry. This is the first time they have ever gone to the windowsill feeder.



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More glittered glass and some faux cloisonné techniques

Glittered glass



Faux cloisonné


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Glittered Glass Flower

I used the glittered glass technique to make this flower using Tim Holtz's tattered flower die. I used the die to cut the flower out of cardboard. Painted it black, added a stamped background with versa mark and then perfect pearls. Sprayed with hair spray to set it. Then versa mark again and utee melted on it. You can add two layers of utee, which I did to make it thicker. Users a butterfly brad to attach together. Loved this process and am making more items using some of his other dies.




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Let it Snow!

It's snowing and the birds are having a feeding frenzy! If you look above the feeder you can see a Carolina Chickadee in flight. The Cardinal has snow on his head. At one point I had four female Cardinals on the tree. There were Yellow Finches, Red Bellied Woodpeckers, Cardinals, and several other type birds. They are emptying my feeders in less than 24 hours.

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February tag

I made two versions of the Tim Holtz February tag. I didn't have all the items he used so I made my version. I also made two different size tags. The first one is the smaller tag which I've opted to do for the 2013 tags. I actually like it the best. They're fun to do and don't take a long time to do.


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Snow 2010

January 29, 2010
It started snowing on Friday night
and continued for over 24 hours.
By the time it stopped, we had about
five inches. It was the largest snow
we had this season and stayed around
until the middle of the week.
It was a really pretty snow.


I did this scrapbook spread for a challenge. We had to do a double page spread using a certain sketch, glazed glitter technique and make it monochromatic. I think I accomplished that is this layout. Best of all, I got two pages done.
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Gelli Art prints

Had some fun with backgrounds made with Gelli Arts Printing plate. I'll use these either for art journal pages or cut up for other projects. You never know what you'll end up with but they are pure fun.




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Friday Paint

This is in honor of our wonderful 78 degree weather this weekend!



16 x 20 acrylic painting
This is view from Carrot Island looking towards Shackleford Banks. I painted this Friday night. It was foggy that night but the rest of the weekend was sunny and in the 70's. Not really that unusual except that it is mid January.
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Monochromatic Triangles Challenge

The challenge this month was to do a project using three triangles of any size BUT you also had to make your item monochromatic.
So there are three triangles in the crown and the wings and crown form a triangle shape.
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January tag

I didn't have all the things necessary to make the January 2013 tag inspired by Tim Holtz. So I decided to make a tag substituting the things I had in my stash. I was well pleased with the result.
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2013

New Year's Eve

It's New Year's Eve!  It's a time to reflect on the year just passed and plan for the year to come.  It's a time to take down all the Christmas decorations and get ready for the new.  I didn't post my wreath or tree pictures before Christmas but will post now since they are coming down and being put away for another year.   Just as with the decorations, the new year puts away the old and rings in the new.  Wishing peace and prosperity for 2013!  Happy New Year.                

Birthday

Today's my birthday.  Comes but once a year so I intend to enjoy it.  Got a card from my youngest grandchildren which said " A bunch of birthday wishes for a day that's really neat to a fun-to-be-with GRANDma who's a special kind of sweet!"  Made my day.

                           

AJ page

This is an Art Journal page in my altered book journal.  The bird is a watercolor I did of the Painted Bunting.  I used inktense blocks, inks, stencil and molding paste and tags.  On the tag on the left, I did a distressed techniques to age the edges.  It was a lot of fun to make.

Post Card Swap

I was in a postcard swap at PAO.  We had to make a postcard without using cardstock.  I used watercolor paper and inktense paint for the background.  Added sunflower printed on bookpaper.  The two flowers were made from deli paper, inks and charcoal pencil with metal charms in the center.  I added beads on wire and sheer fabric that was sewn onto the piece.

Christmas Ornament

 

Had so much fun making this Christmas ornament at our fall PAO retreat.

Mixed Media

What constitutes mixed-media art?  It is a work of art that uses more than one visual medium.  You can't categorize mixed-media art because it is art that is outside the box.  The rules don't apply and it can be anything you want it to be.  Hense, your imagination at work.

A mixed-media artist doesn't limit themselves to one type of medium.  I use anything I can get my hands on whether it is the traditional art medium or not.  I love making something out of nothing and improvising when I don't have what I want to use.

It is the characteristics of the artist that will often determine what is mixed-media art more than the techniques or the materials used.  Here are some reasons why I love mixed-media art.

1. I love variety.  I get bored very easily and can't limit myself to just one form of art.  I love to play with all kinds of techniques and explore new (to me) mediums.
2. I have a willingness to get messy.  I love to get my hands messy and I always say "the messier the better."  I use my fingers to paint and apply gel mediums.  I clean my brushes and organize my supplies but when I am creating, I can create a mess.
3. My favorite part is that there are no rules.  Tell me I'm not supposed to do that and I'll do it every time.
4. I love the sensory.  As an artist I love to touch, to feel the textures I create.  I'll scratch, reveal layers of paint, tear and apply layers of paper,  apply texture with anything I can get my hands on.  If I don't have what I want to create texture, I'll make it.  Nothing is safe from art.
5. I strive to keep an open mind.  There's no one way to create art.  I love to learn from others and share what I do.

Golden Poppies

“Through the dancing poppies stole A breeze most softly  lulling to my soul.” 
-- John Keats

This was done with Derwent's Inktense Blocks.  They are a watersoluble ink block.  The color is so much more intense than watercolor.   Once they are dry, they become permanent.  I've wanted to try them and so finally broke down and purchased a set.  I love, love using them.

Joy and Peace

Collage of pictures taken of a beautiful sunset at Myrtle Beach this winter.  Played with them digitally to alter them.  I love to take original photos and just play with them.

Winter

Digital collage of some of my altered bird photos.

Doily and She Art

I'm always on the hunt for a new stencil.  I had this thick crocheted doily that was badly stained.  I decided to prep it for use as a stencil.  I had to put several layers of gel medium on it and then a layer of gesso.  As we all know if you spray paint or ink on the cotton it will only absorb and I needed it to become more plastic like.  Above her head is how it looks when I sprayed it with ink.  After spraying the background, I decided I'd make a She Art Angel.  I hadn't done one in awhile.  I wanted the colors to be light and airy.

Wings of Love

My friend Deb sent me a package with her She Art girl.  I loved her She Art girl and it inspired this art journal page.  She loves Paris so I thought that would be just the right theme to show off her art.

This was fun to do.  I used her girl, a tag I'd made with left over inks, an Eiffel Tower stencil, some stamps,  some rick rack I got last year at a retreat and some 3D butterflies.   I wanted to try melting wax over parts of the page using a technique I saw on a video. I used a small craft iron with no holes (that's very important - no holes) and wax pellets.  It was much easier to do than when I used the melting pot.