WIP Tuesday ~ Swirls!

I finished covering my cabinet doors yesterday evening before running off to Target to take advantage of their curtain sale for our closet (yeah I finally got sick of looking at it).

Today I have been getting my swirl on, literally. For Whimsical Workspace over at Willowing.com, this week is about artwork for our spaces. I originally thought to make some smaller artwork. I guess my ambition and my creative side bested my logical side (if you ask my hubby that’s not hard to do).

I’ve been drawing my swirls since high school, on notebooks, book covers, my guitar case, but this is the first time I’ve drawn them on such a large piece.

I am starting to wonder what had come over me to take on such an ambitious art project. But so far it’s looking pretty cool. I wish I was further along, but I find taking frequent breaks keeps my hand from cramping up on me and my eyes from going all buggy! HA! I can honestly say I will probably keep Sharpie in business single handed.

I am no where near done. This is just what I accomplished today. All 4 doors took 1 roll of contact paper. Which leaves me a whole roll left to change it out if I so choose to do so. Not anytime soon after all this work that’s for sure!

What are you working on this week??

Work in Progress Tuesday

 

This past weekend, hubby and I found ourselves in Corning. He came home Thursday telling me I have to pack Friday because we are leaving early Saturday morning. He surprised me with a trip to the Corning Museum of Glass. He signed us up for a weekend beginner glass blowing class. A dream come true for me because I love glass and have always wanted to learn how to glass blow.

It was such an awesome weekend! 12 hours over 2 days of working with hot glass and using it to create something to be proud of. It gives you a new appreciation to how something is created.

Over the 2 days, we created a paperweight, blown glass ornament, glass flowers and the ultimate..taking everything we learned and creating a tumbler. I can’t say it enough..it was a ton of fun! I was able to get a group shot of everything that we made, except my husband’s paperweight and tumbler. They made their way to work and are probably on his desk right now.

    

For Work in Progress Tuesday, I am hard at work getting my creative space cleaned out and organized a bit. Of course my cats aren’t making it any easier, but then again they never do. I’ll be posting pictures of that at a later date.

Hope everyone had a great weekend and is having a good week!!

WIP ~ Tuesday

Let me just tell you that it feels good to have some of my creative mojo back!

I’ve actually have a few things in the works at the moment. Ok I take that back, I have A LOT of things in various stages that I’m working on. But I have 2 things that I am currently working on and hope to finish in the next few days.

I have a few more digital pieces that are in various stages of completion. I’m starting to wonder if I have an OCD or something because I just can’t seem to focus on one thing at a time, I have to have my hands in all kinds of projects all at once! Haha that’s probably why all the projects around the house are in various stages of completion (hubby’s going to help me finish them off one by one though). Anyway, I digress.

You remember my Water Altar that I created last year? Well I finally got around to getting a piece of wood for the other 3! They are still in the painting process, but I look forward to adding all the details and hanging them up when they are finished right next to the other. It’ll be nice to have a finished set.

I’ve been seeing a lot of art dolls lately and have always wanted to create my own but never found a pattern that I liked and that I didn’t have to pay for. It never dawned on me to create my own until I was working on one of my digital pieces. We’ll call it my DUH moment! So I’ve spent an afternoon drawing up a design. This is actually the second run at my pattern. The first run at it I’ve decided the parts were too small and so I drew them a bit bigger. So far it’s working out pretty well. It might need some more tweaking though, we’ll see.

So I am off for more painting and hand sewing. Hopefully my doll will be ready for a face and details tomorrow.  Hope everyone has a productive day!

WIP Tuesday: More Digi Art

I'm having a lot of fun playing in Photoshop lately, when my tablet and software are on speaking terms of course. I am just in awe of what sort of effects you can get from a few tools and layers. I am really, really glad I am taking the Digital Dreams course. I am learning tons!

After completing my 3rd week's lesson, I decided to play a bit. We haven't worked with shading yet in the class, but I thought I'd try my hand at it a little bit. I am thrilled with how her eyes turned out. They almost look like glass. I have a bit of work still to do on her as well as deciding on a background. But I am really loving her right now.

WIP Tuesday

Getting back into the swing of things...here's this weeks work in progress.

It's the second painting in my Triple Goddess painting set that I've started a month or so ago with the Maiden

Triple Goddess Mother

There's still quite a bit of work left to do on this painting before moving onto the next. Once all three paintings are finished, I'll be posting pictures of the finished pieces. Until then, stay tuned!

WIP Tuesday ~ Artwork for the Soul

The snow has melted and it's slowly getting warmer. The tulips and daffodils are starting to pop out of the ground, as are the tiger lilies in the back yard. Plans are in the works as to what flowers, herbs, shrubs we want to plant this year (I'm rooting for a blackberry bush because I do love me my blackberries!).

Blackberries

As the Earth awakens, I find my creative energies beginning to renew. I used some of my goodies that I picked up a weekend or so ago and created some artwork for our bathroom. The wall above our toilet needed something other than a shelf and a few candle holders. It's the first thing you see really when you walk downstairs and the first thing you see when you enter the bathroom. 

I originally had planned a larger piece, but was really inspired by my goodies to create something different. And it still is within the garden meadow theme that is going on in there. I realize my pictures don't do them any justice (new photos can be found here), but I am really pleased with how they turned out. These were so much fun to make, I might just have to explore and create some different ones.

Nurture Mind, Body, Spirit

Nurture Mind, Body, Spirit close up

I've also finished my Maiden painting and currently am working on the other 2 in the set. I haven't decided yet if I am going to list them separately or as a set yet. As soon as these paintings are finished I might switch back to polymer clay and work on an idea for some more figures, we'll see though. I might just decide to work on something totally different all together.

Here's to the creative juices flowing. I hope your creative juices are flowing as well!

WIP Tuesday ~ Some deep thought...

I enjoy reading. However, I am not one of those avid readers who knows what books are coming out or what books are topping the list for the year. Half the time I don't know a book comes out until they have made a movie of it. Sad? Yes, very.

A lot of times I end up watching a movie before reading the book. It happened when I watched The Mysts of Avalon. I bought the book and read it, fell in love with the book. The movie was ok, but I prefer the book. Of course there are times where I see something then read the book and love both just as much. That happened when I saw Wicked and then read the book. I adore both.

I just watched Eat Pray Love with Julia Roberts. It's one that I've wanted to see I saw the movie trailer for. 

from Amazon.com

I finally got to see it while the kiddo was at school and the hubby was at work (I'm sure hubby will thank me for that one later). I do have to say that I was touched by it. I was surprised by how much I related to the main character Liz.

I left college early because I couldn't afford it. I was a cashier at Wal Mart when I met Chris. We got had a long distance relationship for 8 months before moving in together. Got married 5 months after that. We both struggled with who we were and what we really wanted to do in life. He's discovered what he's wanted to do, and me? Well...

"Maybe you're a woman in search of a word."

I am still searching for my word. Don't get me wrong. We're doing great, we have a wonderful little boy, a roof over our heads, food on our plates. But somewhere I lost my word and who I really was. I'm not sure where I've lost myself. Was it when I left home for college? Leaving college? Was it after getting married? Was it after my son was born? 

I don't think anyone is able to pin point the exact moment that they loose who they are. I often wonder when I lost myself. I struggle on a day to day basis to figure out who I am now. But somewhere down the line, I've learned to care more for other people than I have myself. And the sad thing, it shows. Boy does it show.

  I can honestly say I am in search of my word. That spark that is buried deep inside somewhere. The spark that makes life worth while and not just about going through the motions. The spark that has long since been lost.

I'll find my word. Just wait.

WIP Tuesday ~ New Paintings!

After a whirl wind of activity over the weekend, both inside and out, it's nice to sit down and work on a few new pieces that I've started. Especially since it's dreary and cold outside today. 

And of course, I've had help. I always have help!

Orion

I'm curious as to how he thinks laying on my craft table is helping me? Ah well, guess he decided I was working too hard.

After a bit of Orion therapy, it was back to work with me. I've started a Triple Goddess set of paintings. I originally had planned to create them similar in style to my Elemental Goddess and Elementals paintings, but they begged for faces.

Maiden WIP

Maiden, Mother and Crone are all sketched out and ready for painting. Here's hoping Orion doesn't decide I need more therapy and I end up with painted paw prints on my floor.

Hope you all have a creative week!

2 finished pieces!

Today the sun is shining and it's slowly warming up. I finished up my faery this morning and snapped pictures of both her and another mixed media piece I had finished a bit ago. And since I had to clean off my craft table in order to take pictures, it's the cleanest it's been in months lol. I can't wait to start work on another piece that I have kicking around in my head. But that will have to wait until after taking the dogs for a walk and doing some laundry. Both are going to be available through my Etsy. But in the mean time on to the pictures!

This is another mixed media piece that I created. It's an 8"x10" watercolor and acrylic paints on hot press watercolor paper.

And because I know you all have been dying to see how the faery turned out...

Here she is!!

She is perched among some oak moss and lavender on her base. I used Angelina film to create her wings and am really thrilled how they turned out as it was my first time working with it. I really couldn't be happier with how she turned out.

WIP Tuesday ~ Sculpture!

The last few days I've been taking a break from the numerous drawings I have in various stages and working on a polymer clay figurine. It's going to be listed in my Etsy shop when she's finished. 

She's coming along. The head took me the longest to sculpt. I knew I wanted a sculpted head, but my fingers weren't working right lol. Took me 2 days to get the head to the point I was happy with it. I've been working on her a little every night since I started. I didn't get to work on her much last night because I was dealing with a migraine. I hope to work some more on her today after I make a new tote bag for swim lessons (our current one isn't big enough and it's falling apart).

There is a bit more work to be done on her, but I am looking forward to the point I can bake her.

WIP Tuesday ~ Getting Better

I don't have much for my WIP Tuesday. I honestly haven't worked on much. We went north to visit family for the kiddo's birthday and any work that I had planned on doing while there vanished. The kid spent his birthday sick so we celebrated Saturday. He also took his first trip down a hill in a sled (yes the kid turned 6 and had never been sledding before, he hasn't shown any interest in it until now). 

He loved the first trip down the hill. The second trip he and daddy wiped out and he was done. So much for the sledding trip.

Sunday Daddy and I started not feeling well. Monday the kid stayed home from school with a fever, so he and mommy hung on the couch together drinking water and playing video games. Today, we're kind of feeling better, tummys are still kind of icky, but we're slowly getting back into the swing of things, even if we aren't 100% better. 

So here's to a small bit of productivity today. I'm hoping to get more work done on my second tutorial for February Fairies. Here's a sneak preview!

WIP ~ Tuesday on Friday

Goodness! I missed WIP Tuesday but with good reasons. This has been such a busy week. And it all started last Friday with my birthday. Tuesday was birthday present arrival day, well the start to it anyway. The portable photo studio hubby had bought me was delivered. I love it! It came with a light tent, 2 lamps and a mini tripod for my camera. And here I was going to make my own and buy some lamps lol. The nice thing about it, everything folds right up and stores in its own little bag. So you can imagine all work was set aside to take pictures, upload pictures, edit pictures, rinse and repeat.

But in the middle of all that, I did get some work done on 2 tutorials for February Fairies Event over at The Whimsical Cottage. I also was able to complete 1 of the WIP from last week. I really excited. It’ll be my first listing on my Etsy shop and hopefully won’t be the last.

What do you think? I’m excited because the photo is pretty true to color in real life. This piece remains untitled at the moment. I’ll have to think of something before I list her.

So what’s on the agenda for this weekend? Putting the final touches on a tutorial and see what I can do about finishing up another WIP from last week. I have some new Caran d’Ache watercolor crayons (also for my birthday) that I am just dying to work with.

WIP Tuesday - 3 mixed media pieces

I thought I would start something new for myself. I am the type of person who will start a task, put it down and pick something else up to work on. Hopefully my own Work in Progress day each week will help me stay on task. 

For this week, I want to share a couple of mixed media pieces that I am working on. A few of them are for my new Etsy shop (it's only been in the plans for 5 years now) and one is a memorial for my grandmother. Sunday was her birthday and the memorial piece will be the start of our ancestor altar.

First up, Moon Goddess

Moon Goddess WIP

This piece isn't titled yet, but it was something I was inspired to create while laying in bed in the wee morning hours.

Mermaid WIP

And the memorial angel.

Memorial Angel WIP

 The kiddo has school today (he had a snow day yesterday because it was so cold) so I'm hoping to get a lot of work done on all 3 pieces and perhaps start a few other ideas that are floating around in my head.

What are you working on this week?