Rachel The Matriarch made a treasury!

Look! My Saint painting, Rachel The Matriarch, made a treasury!

Thank you lookonmytreasures for including me in your All Saints treasury!

Where am I?

I know it has been a while since I posted on this blog. That's because I haven't been creating. I thought moving my creative space to the garage was such a brilliant idea at the time, but now it's so hot that I can't stand to be out there for long at the time. I was opening the garage door and enjoying a nice breeze for a while, but that came to an abrupt change once the snakes started to show up and it started raining every day. Not just any old rain.....no....not here in Florida! It's the "sideways" rain like on Forrest Gump! (Btw, you have to say "sideways rain" just like Forrest if you're gonna say it) That just makes it more likely for the snakes, spiders, roaches, etc.... to look for shelter under the garage door. So no creative time for me any more. Not until we can figure something else out. I would move into our spare room, but that's the bird room. I'd move to the screen room, but it's friggin' hot and humid out there, too. Not good for my wood projects...or anything else I'd like to keep from getting moldy. Yuck!

I do have my sewing machine inside still, though, so I've been thinking of coming up with my own pattern for the cloth and clay dolls so I can sell those on Etsy. I can make them all day long for myself using Jane DeRosiere's pattern, but when it comes to selling them I really need my own pattern. The thing is, her pattern is so simple and efficient that anything I have thought up so far is too close to hers. It's harder than I thought to come up with something that is different enough to not be copyright. So you may be seeing more C&C Dollies here soon. I have to get something going or I'll just go nuts. Joel has been working way more than usual. Maybe it just seems that way because of the oddball hours. Plus, Kolby is in GA and has been for a while. So I'm all alone with no creating. Seriously......I can't do this much longer! If I do I'll continue to focus on the not-so-great things. (Health stuff....trust me you don't want to hear about it)

Since I don't like to post a blog entry without posting some eye candy to go along with the boring old words, here's something I don't think I've shown on this blog before...

Since that photo she has been sealed and she's ready to be listed on Etsy.

Here's another one I don't recall posting here....

As you can see I made her into a card for Earth Day since she's supposed to be Mother Earth. I was too lazy to watermark her....DON'T steal her! ;-)

Oh, one other thing. I think I'll be revamping my blog pretty soon. I have a lot of links over there to the right. That clutters things up quite a bit. I think I'll create a post with all of my links and have a small link on the side bar that links to that post. I won't be listing blogs that don't have me listed on theirs, though, so if you see your blog disappear that's why. I've noticed a lot of the more successful blogs and Etsy sellers only link by exchange, so that's what I'm doin', too.

I'll be back soon with more images. I have tons of creations or even just drawings that have yet to be featured on the ol' bloggeroony.

XXOO ~Rischa

www.Rischa.Etsy.com

Embroidery

I thought I would post a few pics of the newest thing that I've picked up. I've recently learned to embroider. It's all Katie's fault. LOL J/K Katie! I just started "doodling" with the threads and here are a few things that came from that.

I know I didn't do the start/end of the felty one right. I need to work on my blanket stitch. I've really enjoyed embroidery so far. I bought this book called Doodle Embroidery and it's SO COOL! I took photos of these and sent them to Candice and she'll be using them in her scrapbook designs. I can't wait to see them. She sells at ScrapDish.com if you want to check her designs out. They're very nice. I'm working on some embroidered things that will go in my Etsy shop, too....if I can ever get the courage to open it!

I've also been working on my WOW class. That's the class that Willowing/Tam teaches. You'll see her links in my sidebar if you're interested.

Happy April Fool's Day everyone! And Happy Birthday to my Uncle Jeff and my friend Christa's daughter. Wouldn't it be cool to be born on April Fool's Day? I bet sometimes people don't believe them when they say, "It's my Birthday today". LOL

A Painting & Excuses

First the excuses.... I know I've been gone a while from this blog. I haven't had a lot of time to be creative for various reasons. Sick, busy, new feathered additions to the family, doc appointments, shopping, & etc...

With the excuses behind me I'll go ahead and post the fun stuff. Here's one thing I did manage to finish.

The Blue Guitar:

The colors didn't turn out as pretty as they are in real life, but that's what I get for taking quicky shots with a point and shoot. No light box, no outside light, no nothing to help my photos look pretty. You get the idea, though.

FYI The guitar string is actually sewing thread dipped in Mod Podge. The musical notes are from a Ukrainian Hymnal and have a color wash of antique yellow over the top. The yellow color you see in the painting is really more of an antique yellow, as well, but the colors turned out kind of mustard-esk. This will be in my shop very soon. Opening is coming up! Yay!

Oh When The Saints....

....come marching in


Oh when the saints come marching in


Lord I want to be in that number...

Hehe....is that song stuck in your head yet? It is mine! I used to play that on the piano a lot when I was taking lessons. Probably because it was an easy tune to play and it's so catchy.

Anyway, she's done now with the exception of the sealer. I'll put some Golden Matte Gel Medium on her. She looks different from last night's post, obviously. I added more hair so it would look like some of it was coming around in front of her neck, I fixed her face a bit around the nose, I added the turquoise background, added some musical note stamps with white paint, and I then made her "Vintage" by rubbing on Walnut Ink with a T-Shirt. She doesn't look as simple or dull now. Still a bit on the simple side, but not simple to the point of boring. She told me she was done, so I'm not touching up anything else.....just the sealer.

Look for her in my Etsy Shop soon!

Thanks for stopping by! ♥

Saint Painting WIP

This will be quick. I'm so tired and it's way past my bed time. I wanted to show what I painted today, though. Sometimes, if I don't put them up right away I never do, so....

She'll be in my shop soon. I still have some touching up to do on her. I probably will do something else with the background, as well. She's pretty close to being done, though. I really liked using black gesso on this one. I think I'll buy black from now on. I love how it peaks through the paint.....if you let it, that is. I'm thinking it's part of my style. You know how they say artists all have their own style? I think I'm slowly finding mine. Anyway, I'll post more tomorrow. I took lots of pictures of the process that went into painting this one, so I may make a little slide show of her coming together. It all depends on time and motivation. Thanks for stopping by!

Some of my latest creations

One of my recent paintings that will soon be in my Etsy shop was inspired by Ms. Penny Longbelly. It's called, Polk-A-Doxie. Pink Polk-A-Doxie, to be specific, because I plan to do more in different colors. The colors are a bit off in the photos I'm sure as I'm using my laptop and the monitor needs calibrating severely bad! I can never tell how bad the colors are off till I see the posts on my desktop. I'm too lazy to do the photo editing on there tonight, though. So anyway, here are the photos...

One more:

And here's a photo of a dolly I made. She's in love. See the daisy that her love sent her?

She's a school teacher. Can't you tell by the outfit? Isn't she proper looking?

New (& empty) Etsy Shop

I finally did it! I opened an Etsy shop. I haven't filled it quite yet, but I have some things on the edge of being ready to be shipped out. I'm thinking this week will be the week I get my listings up. I named it Pigments of Imagination. Click the banner above to go check it out.