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Picasso-style Painting by Alisa Burke

Had to share this post by Alisa Burke.  She shares a video of her doing a painting and does it with her baby girl, Lucy, in a back carrier.  It's adorable.  She's a great example of how one can be a mom AND an artist.

 Video Here

Abstract Painting 2

German artist, Isabelle Zacher-Finet  This is absolutely amazing to me!  I am in awe . . .

 

Abstract Art Painting

So many of the things this man, Jonas Gerard, talks about are very in-line with the concepts that Flora Bowley talks about.  They both speak of quieting your mind with mediation, painting from intuition and internal energy.  Letting go.  

 

Floating Paint or Dyes on Water

Ahmet Sahin demonstrates a very interesting painting style called Ebru, a Turkish art technique. Watch the transfer at the ending too.

 

Art Inspiration

Inspiring song and illustrations by Andrea Dorfman

 

Artist Profile: Eric Carle

Eric Carle, a famous children's book author and illustrator, has a new book out named The Artist who Painted a Blue Horse.  It's about doing things your own way, coloring outside the lines, and encouraging kids to just play.

 

Minis: Go Play & Live Simply

I made a couple of smaller canvases recently and loved the fun sizes.  The mini one above that says "Live Simply" is 3x3" size with it's only little easel and the "Go Play" canvas is 8x8".  

For the mini one, it literally took about 5 min.  I spray painted the easel, addes some paint around the edges, stamped a leaf and two words, and it was done.

For the 8x8, I wanted to create lots of warm colors by dripping paint, so I did it in stages.  I knew I would use the words GO PLAY in white when it was done.  I instantly fell in love with these words when I saw them on Pinterest and quickly pinned them to my Words To Live By board

I let the paint dry in between each layer.

Drippage, drippage, and more drippage!

(as Donna Downey would say).

I doodled on some white chipboard letters (not sure if I like it, but it'll do) and attached them to the canvas.  

This little canvas sits in my foyer and I walk by it about 25 times per day.  It's my little reminder to not take life too seriously and to sometimes ignore the to-do list and just do something totally fun - GO PLAY!

 

We Are Part of Something Bigger

 This was my second painting for the Montessori school auction.  You can read more about that and see my first painting on this post.  

Again, I started with the sketch and color palette.

Then I was off to play on the background.  I began with very watery paint, blended them together, and finally added texture designs with stamps and stencils.

Since this was my second painting, I changed my plan a little based on what I learned in the first painting.  On the sketch, you'll notice lots of swirls and tattoo designs.  As much as I like these, they'll just have to visit us in another painting.  I learned that for this painting technique, the images need to be bigger, even huge!  So I let the birds take up majority of the space, leaving just enough room for the sun & moon in the upper corner.

So I sketched my images with pencil before painting them.

Then the painting process began.  I'll let the progression of photos speak for themselves.  Basically, I chose a color for each area and did some dripping and gradual darkening as the color got closer to the bird.  I even added black to these areas at the very end.

On the image below, you can see the added black paint (very watered down)-

I sprayed on several colors of Glimmer Mists, but had to be careful with the clear "Dazzinling Diamonds" color.  It almost dulled the brightness of the acrylic paint colors.  I grabbed a wet rag and wiped it some of the areas.  I liked the shimmer look it added in certain places, just not all over.

Here are the two canvases, side by side.  The backgrounds and then the finished pieces.

The finished painting:

The title is "We Are Part of Something Bigger".  The attached description reads:

There is a strong need to teach our children that they really are part of something bigger.  Our world is about relationships and discovering how we are all connected and help one another.  This painting was created with this thought in mind, along with one of my favorite quotes from Maria Montessori in The Absorbent Mind:

“So in the child, besides the vital impulse to create himself or herself, there must be yet another purpose, a duty to fulfill in harmony with the universe, something to do in the service of the united whole.”

Butterfly Canvas

I enjoy reading the blog of artist, Kelly Rae Roberts.  She is brave in many things, writes with an open heart, and is a new mommy.  Her artwork, her story, and her style is inspiring to me.

I've had her book, Taking Flight, for over a year and have flipped through it so many times I can't count them.

 I finally decided to try making a piece in the same steps that she uses.

I painted the background, cut up some fabric and paper squares, and adhered them all to the canvas.

I used my fingers to add paint on and around the background.  Messy fun!

The paint continued until I felt like it was time to stop.  I wanted parts of it to be hidden, while parts were visible.  Next came some butterfly stamps (formerly sold by Spellbinders Paper Arts Co.).

I knew I wanted to use this large butterfly from Tattered Angels, but I only wanted to shape of it.  I needed the inside to put my word strips of song lyrics.  

So I stamped it onto copy paper, cut it out, and traced around it on my canvas - basically using as a mask/stencil.

I used a stencil and butterscotch Color Wash by Ranger to add more detail.  About this time, I was wondering why I fretted so much about what pattern papers and/or fabric squares I should use at the beginning.

I printed out song lyrics from Live to Learn by Darius Rucker and laid them out to see how I wanted to arrange them.

I adhered the lyrics stips, rubbed on some brown paint to tone them down, and it was done.  I enjoyed experimenting with Kelly Rae's style.  

T-shirt Skirt

 
I often get inspiration from Emily Falconbridge.  She's a free-spirited Aussie that is so tree-hugger-like, I just love her.  She does crafty, nature-inspired projects with her kids and also works with wool, paints, and teaches classes.  Uuugggh, the talent!

One of her many talents is fabric arts.  She sews clothing for her children and they are adorable!  I loved THIS blog post about making skirts out of t-shirts.  Free, recycled fabric - what is better than that?

So I found a pattern online, took some measurements, and cut a pattern from brown paper.

 

Then I gathered some old t-shirts

I cut enough panels to go around me.  Some were a single, solid piece, while others were pieced together.

 

 I then sewed the pieces together.  Some panels were stitched together with right-sides together (usual way) and some I left the stitching show on the outside.

I really like how it turned out and I wear it every time I travel on an airplane.  It's that comfy!