Creative Dare: Music is in the Air

This month Tracy challenged us to incorporate a song into a mixed media painting. "I believe" she said it should be a song that means something to us.

So, naturally I wanted to do a painting about my favorite song....

Suite Judy Blue Eyes by CSN or is it, Forever in Blue Jeans by Neil Diamond, or September Morn by Neil Diamond,  or EXODUS or ...

That's when I realized, I have too many favorites :)

There is a song, however, that has always meant a lot to me. Whenever I falter, I remember this song...

I Believe....

There are many renditions, but Elvis' is the one that gets me teary eyed
everytime :)

I believe for every drop of rain that falls a flower grows...

So, this is my creative dare painting.

I believe.

T

Card Number Four

I finally had a minute to digitally enhance the fourth left over card from the card swap. I love her and her message is sooooo true.

These four cards ( the 3 from my previous post plus this one) will be proof printed tomorrow and if they are good to go, they will be in my Etsy Shop soon!

Hugs,
     T

Easter Fun

It is the end of the day and I hope everyone  was able to enjoy their's as much as I did mine.

Though Easter is the day we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we also hold to some non religious traditions in our house.

Last night, my grandkids colored eggs and this morning they awoke to baskets of candy (they love the Skittles Sour Jelly Beans).

After the kids returned from church, we had a wonderful ham dinner and the fixings to go with it. Because it was not my day to do dishes, the fun started then, for me.

Last week, I mailed off my cards for the card swap hosted by Tracy Weinzapfel (www.tracyweinzapfelstudios.com). When I was done, I had a few paintings left but they had not been completed into cards. Though the cards I sent off in the swap were totally illustrated and painted by hand, I decided to try something different with the illustrations I had left. 

This afternoon, I was able to combine the two things I love most these days. I scanned the left over paintings (actually illustrations as they were created with Copic Markers) and then added a background and text in Photoshop. Then, I created cards out of them in InDesign. 

 

I love how they came out. I have a couple more girls illustrated, so I will work on them when I get a chance. 

Do you have a special inspirational quote you'd like to see on a card? I would love for you to leave me a comment and maybe I can use them when I create the others. 

Always, thank you to everyone who has supported my art journey and helped me along as I stumble through real life, too. 

A special thank you to my real life Ya Ya Sisterhood and partners in coffee consumption (Sharee, in particular), who gave me some insight yesterday that helped tremendously in my communication with my grandson.

Goodnight and Godspeed,

T

Artistic Updates

If you read my last post, you are aware of my artistic journey. One of my first paintings was inspired by my love of coffee and ideas I had seen of other artists.

Original Painting

My sister, Tracy, said she loved it, so I sent it to her for her birthday. I have never given away or sold an original, but it was Tracy, so I didn't give it a second thought.

She had it beautifully framed!

She turned it into an awesome painting by having it framed. I kept looking at the picture of it framed and I just fell in love with it. So, today, I created another one. It's not exactly like hers, but similar, and I love it!!!!

 Created today

On another note, my International Girlz Collection is doing well in my Etsy Shop. The newest addition to the collection (India) was added to the shop just a few days ago and two prints have already sold. 

Fourth Painting in the International Girlz Collection

Check out the whole collection at:  www.etsy.com/shop/yayascrapandprint

Next, I have recently signed up for a card swap hosted by Tracy Weinzapfel, a wonderfully sweet artist from California. I have never participated in anything like this before and believe me, I thought about the commitment and my level of artistry for a long time before agreeing. After I committed, I tried hard to think of what I could create that other artists would want to have and what would be considered worthy for this group. I was lost... that little negativity angel was trying to convince me that I was not up to this at all. 

I realized that it was just me all along, sabotaging myself. I was trying to think of what to paint instead of just knowing that I should paint what I do best.

I haven't even been given the details of this card swap yet and in 3 days I have created 12 cards! Ha! Whether I can use them or not, this has been so much fun that all I can think about is making more. I'll post pics when the swap is over, so come back at the end of April to see some of them :)

And lastly, the other day I was asked if I would consider painting a commissioned piece!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow... Now is the time for my word "Courage" to kick in. I, of course said I would think about it, then, when I was alone, I screamed inside. 

The very next time I was online, I saw that Tracy had painted in her journal and the quote said, "Someday you Will." I felt at that moment that "I DID."

I have always understood that an artist's work is subjective, but this validates that my insecurities need to flee. I need to call on that courageous girl inside and get her to come forward. She walks so slowly sometimes that I just wanna smack her! :)

 Have an awesome day everyone!!!

T