Playing with Paints

While waiting for paint to dry, glue to stick, mod podge to cure, and other assorted projects to be ready for the next step, I've been playing around with some paintings.

I don't really have a style, nor do I usually have an idea of what the painting will be before I sit down...sometimes  it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Here are some of my recent paintings - hope you enjoy!

Just a little aqua chickadee :)

I have a bit of an obsession with dots :)

Kinda oriental looking, right? Hope that symbol is appropriate for a PG audience!

This is my favorite! 

 There were a few others that were the 'didn't-work-outs'...they'll get painted over to start again. I'm thinking I might try something new and add some other media or textures...so many projects, so little time!

Thanks for stopping by :)

I'm Giving it Up...

The blogging world is full of creative types changing their worlds in their own unique ways. Some have kept their full time jobs and are blogging part time, some are stay at home moms doing amazing DIY projects in their homes, others like me have made the leap into this full time.

While I've been having fun selling/upcycling vintage pieces in my Etsy shop, my bigger dream is to be an artist and create art that others will actually buy. However, the title of the post is just a tease... the thing I'm giving up is not the blog, the art, the junk, or the shop! Take a look at this:

Isn't it adorable?? It's become one of my favorite pieces, but anyone who owns a shop knows not to fall in love with their creations.  I'm giving it up for a giveaway at Ashley's blog.

Ashley of Illuminated He{art} is one of the artists/bloggers I've met virtually who is actually creating and selling her art. She's one brave lady and has jumped in with both feet. She's creating amazing art and realizing her dreams. You have to see her paintings!

We decided to have some fun and host a giveaway of each other's pieces on our blogs. She's hosting a giveaway of the one-of-a-kind Junky Vagabond vintage frame on her blog, and I'll be hosting a giveaway next week of one of her original art pieces.

Go check out Ashley's blog, enter the giveaway, and show her some love. I can't wait to host the giveaway of her art - you could win an original piece of art of a new artist...how exciting is that??!!

What are you waiting for? It's a giveaway!!

Clouds are Forming

In an earlier post, I gave you a sneak peek of my painting. I had been struggling with this part of my reinvention, mostly due to that pesky voice in my head telling me I would never be good enough to paint anything (other than a wall or four). Through daily affirmations - yes, I go through the 'You are good enough' and 'You can do it' ritual. Don't knock it until you've tried it. If you don't need it, I'm jealous, but it helps me.

[Psychology session over]

Here's what I was starting with:

The canvas had been painted weeks ago...and then it sat. This is a theme with me - when I'm uncertain, I do nothing. I do a lot of nothing ;)

There are all kinds of techniques out there for painting, and since there is no formal art training here, I knew a Van Gogh was out of my league. I really just want to create something with color, and love the paintings in the impasto style. Basically impasto is a heavy-textured and almost 3-D painting.

I saw an artist actually paint this way while on vacation on Mackinac Island a few years ago. She took a painting of a red tulip and made it a yellow sunflower on my request, while I watched - fascinating! Her name is Noel Skiba - check her out. I spoke with her on the phone recently and she is very encouraging of me in my artist infancy. She paints all over the world and is currently in Key West, but comes back to Michigan for the summer art season. She paints commissioned paintings and has the most beautiful art...I just can't say enough about what an impression she's made on me. Here are the paintings I bought her while on Mackinac Island:

GORGEOUS.

Ok, back to me ;)

I was hooked and researched the technique a bit and wonder of wonders...it's a great technique for beginners. And guess what? Van Gogh painted in this style - can we all say serendipity?

So after looking at this little green canvas in my project to-do pile for awhile, it was time. I added a heavy gel medium to the paint to get the chunky effect, and then took a palette knife and spread it on my canvas

and duh. I didn't take any in-progress pics. Too excited and kept going and completely forgot about photos. But basically I put the same type of blobs (artists everywhere are cringing...good thing they don't read my blog) in purple, yellow and aqua in the penciled-in circle.

I took the palette knife and drew the tip back and forth through the paint, creating a striated effect.

See how the peaks in the paint hold? That's the medium. Love that stuff and I actually love the look of the colors all mixed in, but still standing out. Now for the second thoughts...

Should I do more around my 'cloud'? The rest of the canvas looks bare, but I'm afraid to mess with it. Honest opinions please, even if you hate it. It's not everyone's style, but for me, the impasto technique is the coolest look. My hubs likes it, but he says he likes everything I create :)

One last look at it outside in the sun

What do you think? Leave it alone, or continue the paint around the cloud? Or paint another and another and another and stop worrying about it? ;)

Thanks for looking!

Linking up with:

Silence The Voices (and Make Something)

I recently clicked on a link to BlogFrog and found (yet) another way to spend lots and lots of time. What's nice about BlogFrog is that there are communities of like-minded individuals there, and they are active on their blogs. It's an easier way to find new blogs to follow than lurking on the blogs I've found by reading other blogs. Sometimes that works, but having the communities seems to be easier for me.

While reading through the discussions, I commented on a few and surprise! I received replies! One in particular got me thinking. It told me to silence the voices (in my own noggin) that told me my blog wasn't good enough. Just getting a little validation was enough for me to stop procrastinating on the one thing left in my 'reinvention' of me.

My original idea was to get my creativity going and start painting and writing. Well, I've got the writing thing down, but got side-tracked by opening an Etsy shop and then filling it with vintage things 'just for now'. My real plan was to sell stuff I upcycle or create from scratch, but well, procrastination is my middle name.

So, today I silenced the voices and upcycled something and started an actual painting! Ok, enough with the telling and onto the showing -

This ugly little 4th of July tote needed some loving:

First things first - take off the stars and stripes:

Prime and paint:

Stenciled with the french word for Spring:

And since it looked a little 'new', I glazed and lightly distressed it for a 'worn in' look. This was my first glazing project - what do you think? Do you glaze?

Look! There's actual life in my garden!!

This pic shows the glazing a little better. Still working on the photography skills...

*Update* Here's a real closeup of the glazing/distressing - YAY macro mode :)

Here's a sneak peek at the painting project I started:

It's a start,  which is actually very important as I seemed unable to start a painting until my new BlogFrog friends helped me realize I was the only one holding myself back.

I'm linking this project up to:

A good day for estate sale shopping

The day started out with rain, and since I was up early, it was a good day to check out some estate sales in the area. It turned out to be great!

Vintage tins...check out the health food - potato chips! Maxwell House tin with lid, vintage safety glasses, travel binoculars, lots of buttons, old Michigan license plates, Cub Scout pocket knife,  Royal manual typewriter in its case, frames, rulers...this was a good day to get up early and go take a look.

Here's a close up shot:

I took these shots in the kitchen, which has the most light in the house, and just can't get a decent indoor shot. Each of these will go in my lightbox to get the really good pics.

This is in great condition and I can't wait to research it:

Some of this will just get a cleaning and go right into my shop, and other stuff will be upcycled. I'm thinking of a cool idea for the frames that involves vintage book pages and colorful images...I'm feeling fancy-dancy :)

The new color for spring seems to be aqua/turquoise - what do you think? Are you feeling aqua or some other color for spring?

What is Art?

Over the weekend, I was challenged on my concept of art. Over the years, I’ve done many different types of DIY and crafty projects, but only just started putting paint on canvas in a traditional sense. An offhand remark was made that what I was creating was more ‘crafts’ than ‘art’. Although it was meant as helpful feedback, I have to tell you that conversation deflated me…for about a second. I might not be classically trained in anything (unless you count a college degree and 10 years as a networking goddess), but I feel like an artist when I take materials, put them together, and create something.

My Roses and Lilacs acrylic painting



A gift for my sister



How do you define art; is it defined in the narrow sense of the word and can only be produced by classically trained artists? Oil paintings or marble sculptures are the only things that count? If art is something of beauty and if beauty is in the eye of the beholder, art can be anything. Art is a child’s painted handprint on notebook paper, it’s shells hot-glued onto a framed picture of a beach wedding, it’s anything embellished, painted, or sewn. As long as it’s beautiful to you, it’s art.

Take a look at these crate stairs from Funky Junk Interiors…

Miss Mustard Seed creates beautiful pieces…

And who said art can’t be adorable? Check out this from Remodelaholic…

These might not be your style, but it’s art in my book. It inspires me.

I’m not comparing my work to what anyone else is producing. However I hope by making the attempt to follow my long-delayed dreams, I can inspire another person who’s been holding back, for whatever reason, to make that first step.

Best Laid Plans...

I tried, I really did. The plan was to get the office painted while my husband was out of town. There was going to be this great 'Before and After' moment and oh, the sense of accomplishment! Unfortunately, the Office Make Over turned into the office clean up. First rule of project management is to under-promise and over-deliver. Second rule is never forget first rule. 

What happened? Opportunity knocked, but Reality got to the door first. 

Seriously, I get distracted easily. Multi-tasking is an art form I am constantly striving to master. Getting an office painted doesn't seem all that hard, but there was a blog to configure, a Facebook page to set up, writing posts for said blog, editing photos, eating, sleeping…the list was endless. Did you read the kidding between those lines? I have it pretty easy, but I need a little perspective on this whole undertaking. 

So, here are the pictures of my office as it looks today. 


Update: I realized 'before' shots would be helpful instead of having to find the original pics in this post . Bear with me while I figure this out!

Office from doorway-before. Piles everywhere!

Desks and floor decluttered

Corner clutter

Look! There was a heat register behind all that!

My art supplies corner...and pegboard stand and paint can storage

Art supplies arranged

Wine crates make great display shelves, if you have enough of them

Wine crate shelving stocked (added 5 new crates)

Filing to be done, painting projects stacked up, tools, books, stuff not put away

Filing whittled down and projects nicely organized

Maybe getting distracted is all part of the process and I'm being a little impatient. This clean up is progress and having all my 'junk' visible makes it easier to see what's there to work with.


Maybe it won't take until my husband leaves town again to slap some paint on those crazy orange and blue walls! What I can promise you is that when that happens, I'll be posting those 'After' pics right away. 


Until then,