I had an absolute blast this weekend at the portrait and figure drawing and painting workshop with Brian Smith. He certainly left everyone wanting more. We had some great models too. Louis, the 70ish Italian ladies man was so disappointed that he didn't get to model his thong and show off his body builder body! Tracey was an absolutely wonderful and gorgeous young woman who is an artist herself. I'm thinking that I want to do more life drawing and painting so I'm going to check out some local groups to practice with live models.

IMT - Coffee Break

I love this topic! Maybe because I love coffee? Not sure how much time I'll have to paint something on this topic, but it's for a good reason! I get to spend all weekend painting with Brian Smith (http://www.drawn2life.com/). He is also "Mr. November" in American Artist. Can't wait!

Anyway, I did snap this photo of my coffee break...may even do a painting out of this....

Undercover

Here is one of my latest paintings. It's called "Undercover" and was inspired by a photo of my sister and I as children.

IMT - Carve

Print from carving a styrofoam meat tray:
















This print was made from carving into a sheet of children's craft foam, printing with acrylic paint and then colouring lightly with coloured pencils:

Raspberry Tea

A Little Bird Told me

IMT - Nervous Cat

The theme for this weeks Inspire Me Thursday is "nervous". Have you heard the expression..."as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs" ? Here is my interpretation. It didn't make me nervous to do this but it did make me laugh.

OK, so it's not exactly a hang on the wall piece of art, just a page in my sketchbook, but it was fun and I learned that I could quite easily paint and collage a room that looks like it has some depth.

What does make me nervous is putting my art out there for people to see, especially in a show or something. It's easy to second-guess yourself when you're surrounded by "real" artists. But, you know what...I'm starting to figure out that I am a "real" artist too. It took me months to finally jump in and create an ETSY shop, but I'm glad I did.




P.S. No cats or other animals were injured in the making of this image. :)

When the soul lies down in that grass

This week's Inspire Me Thursday is a poem by Rumi:

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I'll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language - even the phrase "each other" - doesn't make any sense.
- Rumi

These are my fields. I think my soul would like to lie down in this grass:

Shrink - Days 4 & 6

Heres buddy on day 4:

Here he is on day 6. Unfortunately he's starting to grow on the inside where I cored him out, so I don't think I'll be doing too much more with him. Say goodbye to Buddy!

Shrink - Day 2

Buddy's not looking quite as friendly today!

Shrink (Shrunken apple head)

OK, so you're going to have to use your imagination a little on this one because it's so early in the process, but my contribution to Inspire Me Thursday "Shrink" challenge is a shrunken apple head.

If it works out, then I can turn it into a doll.

This might take a week to really "shrink" but I'll take pictures each day and you can follow the progress if you're interested. I welcome any name suggestions...Bob?...Georgia?

"I Can't Sit", 4x4 in blue

This is a small piece (4x4) but I love it. I was trying a technique of making "fabric paper" and found this in it.

The Beach

Father/Son bonding on the beach in PEI:





















This image has insprired a painting that I'm still working on, my first oil painting, but the drying time is slowing my progress.

Collecting treasures:

Polka Dot

Here is my Polka Dot entry. This is actually a 2-piece object and I just need to join the front and back with hinges. When it's closed, you can see the little girl through the window. Too bad it doesn't scan well!

Outside front:



Inside Front:Inside back with door open:
Inside back with door closed:

Beauty in Everyday Things

I think the beauty in everyday things comes alive when you take the time to look a little closer. Who would have thought that coals in a fireplace could contain such a variety of textures:

Some see a beat up pair of shoes...a runner feels the freedom, the fresh air, blood pumping, life:

Sketchbook Doodles

I'm starting to think I need another blog, one for Inspire Me Thursday and one for all my other stuff I feel like posting. I had a great art class tonight. I FINALLY finished a painting that I started last spring and then didn't touch for months and months. Something was just bothering me about it and it eventually came to me what I needed to do. That painting will go up here one of these days. Here are some fun little doodles from my sketchbook.

Fleur-de-lis Wallpaper

Here is another Inspire Me Thursday posting for the "Wallpaper" prompt. This is a portion of a gesso and acrylic piece on watercolour paper. It was done a couple of months ago but I thought I would post it because of the "fleur-de-lis" stamp. Variations of fleur-de-lis are very commonly used in wallpaper patterns. The French symbol has a very rich history and represents (among other things) peace and purity. Having grown up in Quebec, the symbol holds a place in my heart. Check it out more information on the fleur-de-lis on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleur-de-lis

You can create wonderful textures by carving into a thick coat of wet gesso on paper or other support. It almost feels like leather when you use watercolour paper (after it dries). Rubbing acrylic paint onto it highlights the texture.

Wallpaper Over Winter and Welcome Spring

This week's Inspire Me Thursday assignment is "Wallpaper".

Here are some tulips on wallpaper (OK...so it's really scrapbooking paper but it looks like funky wallpaper). I'd like to use this to wallpaper over winter and welcome spring!



Here's a little something on paw-print wallpaper. I'm sure there are a few pets out there looking forward to stepping on some green grass like this.

I'm sure I'll add a few more before the week is out.

Circle of Friends Inkblot

One last inkblot for good measure! Here is just the inkblot:
Here is a quick sketch on it...Circle of Friends. My other thought on this one is that it could be 3 people sitting at a table playing cards.

Inkblots

I did a few inkblots before I had one I wanted to do something with. When I tried different colours in acrylics, everything looked like a butterfly. The black ink ones were so black it was hard to draw anything on them. I came to the conclusion that watercolours were the best thing to use (good thing I have an addiction to art materials, eh!). Anyway here are a few of mine:

Original Inkblot #1...every time I look at this one, I see new things. Some of the paint dried before I folded it over so it didn't come out exactly the same on both sides.
Here is what I found sketched in in pencil.
Original Inkblot #2:

Green Crocs today

Some green Crocs for St.Patty's day?

Even BBQ utensils can be fun! It's called Rustic Charm.