Forest Magic, Movies, Sunrises and Giraffes

Hello my friends!
I am still recovering from the flu but feeling better everyday. I can't wait until I am 100% and can get out and about again in the world of the living, although if anyone gets me sick again I will be very ticked off. ;-)
This week I found out my sprinkler system has not been coming on for two months! Thus, not only is everything dead in my yard but the stuff that is living has a white-fly infestation. Let me tell you, those buggers are voracious and not easy to get rid of. I was very depressed about the whole thing for a day or so until I realized this is a perfect opportunity to replace the dead stuff with native plants that will attract even more birds and butterflies to my yard. So, I'm trying to look at the bright side of the buggy situation. Maybe by next summer, I will have a lush garden again and new flowers to take pictures of!

So, what have I been doing since being stuck inside with the flu? I've worked on art of course! I finally finished my first illustration done completely in Photoshop. It was a learning experience for sure. I used all my own textures except for one from Distressed Textures for an overlay on the background. Picking out the textures was quite the fun part as I didn't know after making it into a pattern stamp what it would look like on the page until I started painting it on.

Forest Magic

I first drew a rough draft by hand and scanned it into Photoshop. I realized two things at this point: that I drew her two elbows (haha, talk about double-jointed!) and that drawing this directly into Photoshop would have been much easier as I had to go over all the lines anyways to create the "piece" look I was going for.

Rough Draft

I then began to paint in the textures. I ended up with a total of 40 layers! I used textures I made by running ink off of old Nat Geo pages. I then scanned them into Photoshop and created textures from them. Using the Pattern Stamp, I then created a paintbrush effect and added them to my selected areas, one at a time. Yes, that took forever!

As I began to redraw it in Photoshop, some things got erased and some things got added to improve the overall composition. Finally, background textures where added and some of the line drawing layers deleted. I used an old map texture to create the ground. I loved how it looked!

When I finished, I printed it out on my printer on high quality paper and let me tell you, it's gorgeously rich and delightful! I'm going to giveaway the print so if you comment on this post, telling me your favorite part of the piece, I will put your name into a hat and will draw a winner on Sunday. I will send the print matted, signed and ready for framing! What a fun project! I can't wait to attempt another!

I continued the Sunrise shots this week...somehow that has turned into an iPhoneography series and I just hope I can keep up with it. I really only meant to shoot the first sunrise of the year but I've been up everyday in time for the rest of them. Probably not a good thing since I go to bed late and really need rest right now but honestly, who could resist seeing this:

Sunrise 1.9.2013

And wanna know what else has cheered me up this week? One of my goals each year that I put on my dream/visualization board is "continued learning". Last year I did this with gusto and took way too many online classes that I ended up not being able to finish because of all the traveling I did. I have the same kind of adventurous year ahead of me again but I didn't want to give up on the idea of an online class because I really enjoy learning and being pushed out of my comfort zone. So, I chose one that my friend Constance told me about. It's Carla Sonheim's Year of the Giraffe! It's a year-long art project all about Giraffes! OMG. I love Giraffes. How fun is this going to be? I love Carla's drawing. I would love to be more silly and free. I'm too technical with my drawing. I hope to loosen up quite a bit by the time the year and the project is over. And I can't wait to see what kind of giraffes end up being my companions. ;-)

If you would like to read about the Year of the Giraffe or sign up for the course, click here

And finally...I wanted to share a Kickstarter Project with you and hope you will help this talented group of students complete their film, The Furnished Room. The leading lady is my friend Constance's daughter. You can see the video and learn how you can help get this movie made by clicking here. I donated to the project and it feels good to not only give, but to support the arts. Every little bit will help them so don't be shy! You know you always wanted to see your name in the credits of a film. ;-)

I hope everyone has a great upcoming weekend and don't forget to leave your comment regarding the "Forest Magic" piece to be entered in to win the print!

A Flower Faerie & A Rainbow

Flower Pot Faerie

I made this Flower Pot Faerie for Lita for Christmas. She and I both love Faeries and butterflies. Purple is her favorite color. We are full of promise for living an artful and creative life for 2011 so I thought it was a perfect combination of all those components. Here is a short little tutorial on how you can make your own one of a kind Flower Pot Faerie. She will inspire you all year long!

Materials: 1 small terracotta pot

                Various decorative papers in your favorite colors, torn into small pieces

                Matching decorative ribbon and fabric flowers

                Mod Podge

                Gel Medium

                Fabric Glue

                Stamp pad in matching colors

                Twine

                Fabric Butterflies or Butterfly Stickers

                Faerie Ornament

                Small silk flowers

                Acrylic Paint, matching paper colors 

                Spanish Moss

                Floral Foam

                Pot Critter 

                Printer

Using Mod Podge, adhere paper pieces to the pot, overlapping as you go. Let dry. 

Once the papers are dry, add some watered down acrylic paint over the paper in various areas. Wipe off lightly with wet paper towel. This leaves some of the paint behind but still allows the paper to show through.

Once dry, apply a light layer of Gel Medium. Print out inspiring words on the computer using the font of your choice. I used the words inspire, dream, wish, create. Using a sponge, apply some rubber stamp ink to the words to age them a bit. Apply them to the papered pot with Mod Podge. When dry, coat the entire papered area with one more layer of Gel Medium and add a few fabric flowers or bows to finish it off.

Paint the lip of the pot with acrylic paint. When dry, glue decorative ribbon around the lip of the pot and tie twine right underneath. Push Floral Foam into the bottom of the pot. Position your Faerie Ornament into the foam and top with Spanish Moss. Add a pot critter (in this piece I added a frog) and some small silk flowers to one side. Tie thin wire around a paper or fabric butterfly and stick into the foam to fly above the faerie. 

Viola! You're very own Flower Pot Faerie!

After dropping off the Faerie to her new home yesterday, Lita and I took a trip to a New Age store, a Scrapbbook store and of course to Barnes & Noble as well as Borders. It rained all day long but at the end of the day, as we were driving back home, we saw a rainbow next to a church. While waiting at a stoplight, I snapped a picture of it out the rain splattered car window. A great way to end a wonderful day with such a great friend. 

Art & Faeries...Do YOU Believe?

It was a good week for finding time for art! I finished two more pages for the Sketchbook Project 2011 my theme is "Below the Surface".

Rooted

The inspiration for this page came from the genealogy research I have done this year.  It's been a wonderful process discovering just who and where I come from. The tree, in it's earliest stages of bloom is a Spring tree and represents my birth on the Spring Equinox. There are female shapes to the tree. My name symbolizes the emergence of the true self, carved from the tough exterior. My roots go deep and far. English is the culture I am most comfortable with so it is held close, comforted by a strong root. The materials used on this one were pen, ink, colored pencils and watercolor.

This week my tendinitis has been flaring up so I've had to limit my computer time, thus very little time for digital art or photo processing. I did manage to create an abstract image this week which will be featured on note cards and mouse pads and will be up for sale on Zazzle, with or without text:

The Well of Lost Colors

This image was created by laying in colors in order of the color wheel on textured canvas. Then it was taken into Photoshop to create the abstract whirlpool. The inspiration is from one of my favorite books "The Well of Lost Plots" by Jasper Fforde. Since it's been a week of playing with paint and color, I imagined being sucked into a world where all the colors live. :)

I posted two photos on Flickr this week, both which I think would make great art subjects:

Carmyle Cottage, Scottish Highlands

Enchanted Sunflowers

With the tendinitis limiting my time on the computer, more time was available for art. It doesn't bother my wrist or elbow to paint or draw. But, holding my camera and being on the computer...ah, painful! So, this week I worked mostly on sketching and watercolor:

Book Fae

From my watercolor journal

Tuscan Door

This was a lesson done from Karlyn Holman's book "Watercolor, the Spirit of Spontaneity".

This book is amazing. Watercolor is the medium I have had the most trouble with but her tips and techniques have made me much more comfortable with it. I still have the same issues (control and patience) but am definitely improving with the help of this book. I highly recommend it!

Taking what I learned from this one lesson, I began a series on Water Sprites. The first one, shown here "in progress" is the Blue-Ringed Water Fairy. I'm hoping to finish her this week. I still must paint her body and wings, add in the sea details such as a coral reef and some tiny fishies. ;)

Blue-Ringed Water Fairy (In Progress)

Speaking of faeries...I have begun to notice faerie activity in my Butterfly Garden. So, I decided to build them a faerie house and today took a walk through the neighborhood to gather natural supplies for their new home. I'm sure I spotted two little faeries following me. I haven't had faeries in my yard since Hurricane Wilma but prior to that, I did manage to see a few and even caught some in this image of mushrooms growing in my garden, taken in 2007:

Click on it to enlarge it. Do you see them? Do YOU believe in Faeries??

I will keep you all posted with updates and pictures of the faerie house. Hopefully, they will be so grateful they will let me take a few pictures of them...stay tuned. :)

There will be little time for art this first week in October. It will be a week of photography outings. I'll be taking a lot of Aleve with me. :)