This is the painting I did last night. I'm a little pleased with it, but not much, lol. I had no clue what I was painting pretty much the entire time, but, hey........I was painting more for release than anything else. Too much damn stress and a paintbrush does my body good.

Ho, Ho, Ho Everyone!

Dumpy DOOS

Progress.......oh, how I hate that word. They say Taurus (the zodiac sign that I am) hates change and I don't know if every Taurus is like that, but I am a walking billboard for the sign. I'm an unwavering friend, I'm very earthy and can dig my heels in like there's no tomorrow when arguing. And I HATE change. My loathing for the process of change might stem from moving every single year while growing up.

Making friends was never a problem, it was keeping them. And, last night feeling particularly down in the dumpy-doos, I realized I had nobody to call. Except for my fiance, of course, who is always supportive and does what he can, but for some reason, I longed for a female voice. And as I pondered which female friends I had in my life, I realized that none of them were the type that I could cry to, or give a hug to. Most of the females in my life are acquaintances and when I talk, they interrupt or just plain don't give a damn about what I have to say.

I did get some painting done last night, though......creating is always the best therapy. I think I might go out today and get some supplies to try out the idea that's been bumping around in my head.......shrink plastic jewelry! Instead of metal frame and metal wiring....I thought that since the shrink plastic makes paper hard as wood....I could make charms and things and maybe use some sort of classy vintage ribbon????!!! Worth a try.....any idea always is!

Jezebel Funnies!

I found this awesome boutique while perusing through one of my favorite artist's links..... Daphne's Cottage. Too awesome, then I visited the blog and laughed so hard my sides still hurt. I think I might have found me a gem in the form of southern humor and sass. Visit the BLOG and hear Elizabeth tell her hilarious stories!

Best Quote

"Women are meant to be loved, not to be understood."

~Oscar Wilde

Teaching....Who would've ever thought?

I hated school. Well, high school to be exact. I think i was okay until I hit that dreaded freshman year. On the day I graduated, I had never been more happy, the only moment in my life that rivals walking across that platform was the birth of my son.

So, I never thought I'd be a good teacher. But, I'm starting to teach my clay classes at the local Micheal's store and I love it, every bit of it. I especially love working with the kids and seeing their eyes light up when they make something they thought they didn't have the talent for.

After a while, I'm going to approach the idea for an assemblage class and see where that takes me, the ideas for that are endless! I'm feeling good today, I think I might have found a perfect job that enables me to create and make $$$$. LOL

Cobwebs

This is my first attempt at the Encaustic technique. I loved how it turned out.....and I loved working with the beeswax. I used to make candles and it felt good again to smell the familiar scents in the air of the wax heating and then to incorporate my love of both the wax and collage into one. Next time, I just hope I can find my Creative VersaTool to use for a mini iron, because I don't think I'll ever use a regular iron again.......ROFL!

Am I Pretty?

This is a collage that I made on a whimsy one day last week. I had an old issue of Vogue that I had been using for inspiration for some of my illustration sitting out and for some reason, had the overwhelming urge to cut it all up, lol. Fueled by my frustration of looking at women who have the waists of five year olds, I cut out anything that would make me feel better about my body. Hence, "Natural Tastes Better"......could be misconstrued into something vulgar, but, hey....who cares?

"Chic" Whimsy Collection

Here is my latest and I should say first polymer clay collection. I've never done this many sculptures with one theme in mind. I was aiming for a bit of chic thrown in with whimsy and folk art, lol. I have no idea how I did, but I know that my favs are the "WinterGreen" (the green girl with wavy metal arms and gloves) and the witch. I had fun making them. They took me about a week to complete and tonight, I sent pics of them off to ESC Trading Company........fingers crossed. I think the only thing they have going for themselves is that they are different, lol.

From here to there....

I've often wondered what made an artist an ARTIST. Back when I used to hide my art from people for fear of not being "good enough" or being viewed as crazy for wasting time on something so not "usual", I thought that the difference between me and an ARTIST was ....



1.) Schooling. Who knew that the majority of ARTISTS never took a class until they began sharing their art with the world?



2.) An innate ability to believe in themselves and to truly know deep within their souls that they weren't being "greedy" or selfish to want to create art, to carve time for it everyday.



3.) Effort. Creating art takes effort. For some artists it's an uncontrollable almost inconsolable NEED to create something. But it's still effort. I've always made the effort, but still thought my art wasn't good enough, creative enough........

I'm learning how to get from here to there....it's quite a journey.

Patricia Dibona of Dibona Designs

Patricia DiBona of Dibona Designs will be joining us shortly to give us some insight into her thriving and mystical business. Patricia is not only an artist, but a spiritual speaker as well. I can't wait to hear what she has to say and am humbled by her willingness to grace my blog with her techniques. We might get a sneak peek into Patricia's "Pollage" workshops!!!

It was a another wonderful weekend at Branson. We took the boat out and went to Silver Dollar City, which is always a family favorite! I didn't bring any supplies with me, so when i got back home, I was ready to create!

Here are a few new paintings I've done in the past few weeks. I'm playing with a new style and loving every minute of it. My aim is to combine both my love for contemporary and whimsical into my love for folk art (dirty, heavily shaded areas). I think I'm doing pretty good! I'm also half done with my piece for the Valentine show at darklight. I really like this one and I think Amanda (the gallery owner) will too.