Spooky Self Therapy...

...Did I cure myself?
A gray day, drizzly & dank, the chill of Halloween looming, left over paint on my palette from an acrylic & alcohol experiment gone awry. I grabbed some ACEO canvas paper and left the outcome up to destiny. I felt happy, I didn't care if I wasted the paper. I just layered and layered the paint letting fate bring these fellows to life. You can see my freedom in my brush strokes. I didn't care if they are perfect. They didn't scare me. They made me free & happy. Each side of their faces show a different emotion and in the spirit of a Fun House, their eyes will follow you too. Yes I got my freak on! Happy Halloween!

A Big Shout Out & Thank you goes to Sharkbytes for the "Versitile Blog Award" I will be posting it with my responses in the next day or so! And to FruitsofTheBloom & HulaHoopVintage for including my art in their wonderful Etsy Treasuries!

"Funny Business"

A Big Shout Out goes to SewSewBecky & RedLadyArts for featuring my art in their awesome Etsy Treasuries! Thank you so much. Please click on their names to visit their shops.

A New "Happy Soul"

I hope you enjoy the new painting progression video. I had a load of fun making it. I actually did this one all by myself! A big shout out goes to Fashion Crochet Creations for including my painting in their wonderful Etsy Treasury!

On A Mission

It's a beautiful day by my standards. I even have a sweatshirt on! It's chilly & gray. I hope it rains. I've been working in the backyard every morning & getting a lot done. No plantings just clean up. I started a small rock retaining wall around the patio in the circle of trees. It's almost finished. Really it's not a big wall, more like a big rock edging. I've been doing a little bit at a time so that I don't throw my back out. It was a nice weekend. Hope yours was too.

Last night I had the house to myself. Hubby was working. Son had band practice. I curled up in my Hubby's chair & sketched on a new freshly prepared canvas while a previously recorded "Pawn Stars" show played. I am hooked on that show. After I had it sketched out, which is something I don't do when I paint my Angels, I headed up to my tiny studio. Forgetting to turn some lights on. As I finished putting the 1st coat of paint on my new piece "Drama Queen" the phone rang. I scrambled around in the dark to find the phone, my son tells me he is spending the night out, then I make my way back to the studio. When I walked in room, the "Drama Queen" was waiting for me. I'm not kidding. Working up close to the piece I thought it was fun, from afar it was scary. I actually got the heebie geebies. So I went back downstairs, flipping on lights & kind of looking over my shoulder all the way. I haven't gone in there again yet & it's already noon. haha So my mission for today is to sweet'n this "Drama Queen" up a bit without losing it's personality.

Finally Finished!

"Concessions"

I love this one. I wish I could get a better picture but it's too big for me to scan at home. This sweet one has sort of a double meaning for me. Concessions, as in Concession Stand, and concessions as in putting on a happy face when making concessions in our life that we don't always want to make. Hope you like it too!
Be happy!

I'm So Tempted...

...bury myself into this chair in front of the computer & feast my eyes on art, and some clown art, but I won't do it. I don't want to see anything that may influence the pieces that I have swirling around in my head. Do not fear, I will get back to painting angels but I am having so much fun right now. I'm loving what I'm doing. After many oil pastel pieces, I finally picked up my brushes to put some clowns on canvas. Funny, I don't feel like these are "clowns". To me they seem to be just odd whimsical colorful characters whose sole job is to make people happy & to delight. This piece took me 3 days to complete. It's on 12"x12"x1.5" gallery wrapped canvas. I started on another late last night which I am calling "Concessions". It may take 3 days as well. Do you ever start a piece then think to yourself; "is this going to be worth the time?" "should I quit now or keep going?" I do, however, this is not the case for these pieces. I love these characters & enjoyed every moment spent creating them.

"North Wind"
Following the wind without any plans... that's me & I have a wonderful time wherever I end up. There is a little sadness on one side of the face & happiness on the other, depicting the emotions you often feel when it's time to move on.

Only One Angel ?

Nope they aren't Angels but I think they are almost as sweet.
You know me & color... Well working with oil pastels I'm finding is a little challenging. I can't tell you how much paper I've wasted playing with them. Actually I don't feel it was wasted just the price of practice. I've gone through a bunch of it. I haven't really worked with them much so I've been having fun. If any of you have any tips on using oil pastels I'd love to hear them! I guess I am on a crayon/oil pastel kick for some reason. I listed these on Ebay today with a starting bid of only $0.99. They are soft & pretty. Look so much better in person. I think they would be really pretty framed, especially with a black mat. Click here to put your bid in! I have them listed for only 5 days because I will be out of town next Friday. I'm so excited, but not as excited as my Hubby is. We are going to Las Vegas to see the Circus Soliel LOVE Beatles show. He has wanted to see that since it opened. We are meeting friends there then driving to their house to visit for a day or so.

I went & played with my little JJ (the only Angel in this post) yesterday and had so much fun. His mom gave me a facial too so it was a really nice day. She got her license a few weeks ago. I'm very proud of her. I guess I was so relaxed that I could hardly keep my eyes open driving home. I hate that don't you? I got lots of slobbery kisses and loved every minute of it. He was playing the piano today at a friends house. I don't think there is any doubt that we are gonna have another musician in the house.

On The Easel...

This is a painting I am working on today. It's not finished, just thought I'd give you a peek! The Marco Fuoco Gallery has invited me to bring it with my other paintings for the Summer Color show on Saturday and I will if I get it finished! I was thinking about the circus/carnival out in the middle of the desert, in the middle of no where, that I saw on my drive back from South Carolina, and I grabbed a canvas. It's just silly and I've have a lot of fun painting this one.

"The Incorrigible Carnie"