Birds in the Byrd Street Studio

Thank you to Karen and Chris  for a fabulous and fun class. 

You two rocked those paintings!

Karen asked me to create a painting  that was similar to a pillow she had purchased. So here is the pillow and my interpretation (considering copyrights). 

Thank you for stopping by and sharing in my art and life journeys.

Tommy Jo

Byrd Street Studio Business

Hi everyone...

Just a little update of what I have been working on in the studio.

Since my last Life Book update, I have completed only two pieces as I did not have all the supplies to even begin one of the lessons. I have since made a haul at Jo Ann's and will try to get caught up after I finish the current lesson.

These are the two that I hadn't posted as of yet:

We have a class coming up on Wednesday at the Byrd Street Studio. Looks like just a couple of students, but being new to Florida, I don't have a huge following as of yet. This is the painting they will be creating.

This next painting I created using a leftover background from one of my life Book lessons. I really enjoyed adding the collage elements and the 'more than you'll ever know' truth behind its conception.

As some of you already know, I found a couple pieces of furniture in my son's neighborhood marked for trash (Actually, "I" was driving and my girlfriend spotted them). We picked them up and brought them home. One of them was an end table that just needed a little cleaning.

The other was a lonely wooden chair. It was sturdy, but looked like the kitty had no other toys.

I've begun sanding it and am excited to repurpose it. I took a poll on Face Book and had so many suggestions for color and such. Stay tuned to see how it evolves.

While my girlfriend was here for a short visit, she created the cutest inspirational painting. And, yep... we did this in our jammies!

Next Monday, I will be flying back to Utah to gather up the rest of my things. Kirk and I will be bringing a small U-Haul truck back to Florida and will be towing my camper behind it. I only have a week to pack and load everything and also do coffee and lunch with 'my girls' and my great nephew :)

Kirk is going to stay for a about a week before returning to Utah. I am hoping that he will be able to enjoy some pool time this visit.

I'm excited to art with a friend on June 17th. I'll post pictures if she'll let me.

Another house project is supposed to begin the second week of June. This time its a total redo of the back of the house. After this, there will hopefully be a new driveway poured and that should take care of the major repairs to the house. I will be excited to have it all done and then just work on the medium to small stuff.

Then FINALLY MY SISTER IS COMING!!!!!! She came to Florida with me last year when I saw my new home for the first time. She will be here this year during the same week. 

Well... I probably won't get a chance to blog for a while, but I will update when I get back.

Thank you all for stopping by and supporting me in my art and life journeys.

Tommy Jo

Step By Step Collage

This was a Life Book lesson, taught by Roxanne Coble,  that I so thoroughly enjoyed that I am contemplating doing another painting using most of the same techniques.

Roxanne challenged us in many areas of this piece with planning, choosing collage pieces, color choices and personal reflection. In the end,  the painting was much more than I thought it was going to be when I began.

The following images were taken at various steps of my piece. With each step, I was a fraid to mess up all that I loved of the previous step. As I saw each layer become 'more', I seemed to get more involved myself in the culmination of a finished painting.

Needless to say, the process of this piece made this one of my favorite lessons so far.

Choosing the collage pieces

Laying down the first 3 of only 5 paint colors 

4th paint color and adding marks

Adding  the last paint color

Finished piece... I LOVE it!

The collage pieces added and areas defined

Thank you for stopping by and sharing in my art journey.

Tommy Jo

Mixed Media Class - Hot Air Balloons

Last month  we had two classes in the Byrd Street Studio. The second class was small, but loads of fun. These ladies created a mixed media canvas of  Hot Air Balloons.

They each picked papers and although there was a large selection, two of them actually picked the same papers for one of their ballons.

Sometimes a smaller class allows me to get to know the artists a little better and I really enjoy that.

One of the ladies had to rush to another commitment, so she had her friend finish hers. Hence, Karen is holding two paintings for our final class photograph.

I was very impressed with the finished paintings and I think the students were also.  Awesome job, ladies!!!!

Tommy Jo