Hello April! Hello Sweetness!

HELLO APRIL!  HELLO FRESH AIR!  HELLO 80 DEGREE WEATHER! HELLO SUMMER DRESS!  HELLO SUNSHINE!

Happy Easter!

Easter spells out beauty, the rare beauty of new life.  ~S.D. Gordon

HAVE A HAPPY EASTER!

P.S. a LITTLE humor for the holiday:

 Q: What did the rabbit say to the carrot?

A: It's been nice gnawing you.

TRUE FREE SPIRIT: March Inspiration Peeps

The prompt for March's class was very therapeutic.

I started with a monotone style background....followed with random blabberings or as I call it "Brain Dumping"  (anything that came to mind, I wrote down).  Then I altered the images several times before finishing each.  Honestly, I am not entirely happy with the final result, but as with art, you have to test out different techniques to grow.  Here are several pictures of my journal page process.  (still using the large scale Moleskin I got at Donna Downey's studio)

(his head was too big (as a friend said, "He looks like ET" lol....and I didn't want to turn him into a girl...so I winterized the scene & added a hat.  Still don't like the end result, but I have walked away and let him be)

Plus, the way the temps are going, March could be winter in some areas. Ugh.  Here's to a warm April & Spring season. 

TRUE FREE SPIRIT: February Collage Girls

My latest obsession has been making collage girls inspired by the True Free Spirit class prompt for February.  Plus, I finally found a use for all those "W" and "Vogue" magazines stockpiling in my house.

First step: Prime, collage, paint the background.  I used an old comic section of the newspaper.

Then added the basic face shape with some shading.

Next step...cutting out any and everything that inspires you.  I went with words, design patterns, various clothing pieces....and even various hair pieces, eyes, nose, mouths and animals.  (and it is a way to recycle).  I pasted random pieces together and mismatched elements as well.

I decided to do a WEST girl...and an EAST girl.

WEST girl with a bird.

EAST girl with an attitude.

WEST: added hair pieces to add texture + completed the face shading and hands + traced elements with a Sharpie paint pen. (technically, Mindy Lacefield creates a face before adding elements).  I was just too anxious to start, so I did it after the fact.  However, it worked out as the color was blended onto the pieces.  Only issue I had was the paint got on the paper at times (yet if the paper is sealed, it is easy to wipe clean)

EAST:  added face and drew in hair with paint and Sharpie.  Then added a headpiece. I traced the entire body in various Neon Sharpie paints.   

 After adding a few more elements (hair piece, purse, bow on dress), I toned down the background and blended in various elements with paint.

Final touch, added fluorescent oil pastels around the body.  It was my first time using these...and wow what a difference.  Mindy posted them on the supplies list, and for $5, 12 colors,..... it really makes a huge difference.  Love the brightness. 

Happy Collaging!!

TRUE FREE SPIRIT: January HEART girl

Mindy Lacefield is offering a year round class called True Free Spirit.  Each month a project is posted and I am loving it.  I signed up late so I am playing a bit of catch-up.  Here is my January girl.  Since my One Little Word for the year is HEART, I added a lot of symbols to the background.  I am using a large scale Moleskin which I got from Donna Downey Studios in Huntersville, NC.

The next step was completing a face.  Love the use of the neons and colors Mindy taught...and the hog hair dry brush technique is the icing on the cake.  Love the effects and blending it creates.

Add in some hair.

Create a body using the drippage of an ink blotter.  And then just add final touches, blending, stencils, more colors, etc.  I used Sharpie paint pens and Opalescent markers to highlight some areas...plus some stamps that had hearts incorporated.  Just have FUN with it!!

PROJECT LIFE: Vacation Sketched Insert

Decided to add a special element to my Project Life book for my Birthday -Vacation Getaway 

I escaped to the rainy, Isle of Palms, SC near Charleston. (only one day was sunny, but it was great to hear the ocean & rain).

To begin, I simply found a 12x12 scrapbook paper that had Polaroid type boxes...cut them up...added sketches of various daily scenes/sites.  I cut out paper to use in the background of the 8.5x11 baseball card holder as well. I plan on adding an element to the center transparency, but haven't found the perfect item yet.  Maybe a shell or something.  ENJOY!

MORE Rock Art

Just can't get enough of these lil guys......plan to put them all in a shadow box...hopefully hot glue will work!