And the Winners Are...!

Drumroll Please....

Yeah! The winners of my giveaway are:

Kristin @ Twinkle Twinkle! If you haven't checked out Kristin's super cute and fun blog, be sure to head over there and say hi.

Millie @ the Laurel Hedge is a wonderfully intelligent and funny woman writing about life in the Adelaide Hills in Australia. Pop over and give her a big hello!

Elena @ Bicocacolors is an incredible artist from Spain that does really tremendous things with texture, embellishing, and lots of detail work. She often uses pieces from real life and pairs them in groupings with art that they inspire. Check out her wonderful blog!

Congratulations to all three of you! I will be getting these prints out to you by the end of the week. Please contact me via email with your mailing addresses. (you can find my email info on my profile page) I will be sure to keep your contact information private.

Smiles to all of you who entered and thanks for sharing so much inpiration and encouragement with me!

Progress on Moon Gazer

Here is stage two of 'MoonGazer'...I am still laying in color, but so far I really like how she is turning out. I couldn't get away from the mermaid so I decided to embrace it!

Hopefully finish and post her all done tomorrow or the next day.

Smiles

Moongazer

Good Monday Morning!

This is a new piece I started yesterday. I call it 'MOONGAZER'.

I am loving it in black and white, so I will preserve a copy at that stage, but I can't resist adding color, so that will be the next step.

This is done in indian ink with a .005 tip.

At first she sort of looked like a mermaid, but that is not what I was going for - we'll see if color changes that.

I always Love to hear what you think -

Smiles

If you haven't checked out my GIVEAWAY, be sure to take a look and enter! Good luck

Sunday Sketches

Happy Sunday Everyone!







This is a new gal I have just finished today. Her face came together fairly easily, but I really had a hard time with the rest of the picture. I finally put her on a blue background and added some flowers I had from an earlier craft project to finish her off. So she is mixed media as the flowers are not mine.

She is sort of a companion piece to 'Celeste' and I think they both look very Christmassy, so I could maybe add a Christmas sentiment and turn them into a card...Not really sure.



























And these are two of the sketches Amira did for this week.

We are both trying to explore different angles so she did this great profile shot of a cowgirl (which she is dying to be). To tell you the truth profiles are really hard for me, so I am really impressed with how this turned out.

This second one is inspired by some of the embellished gals I have done. I love to see her interpretation of my work. She definitely brings her own style to each piece.

We can't wait to hear what you all think!

For more great Sunday Sketches, head over to Sophia's and check out all of the great artists that participate in this fun art-co-op.



And don't forget to enter my GIVEAWAY which you can read about here!



Have a super Sunday one and all!


Smiles

Celebrating 50 Followers with a GIVEAWAY!!!

Yeah! I just looked at my followers and I finally reached 50! So...to celebrate I am offering my first giveaway!
To win just leave a comment here with which one of the following prints of my art you would like to win:






















If you put a link for this giveaway on your blog, (and let me know) I will put your name in twice.

I will choose three random winners on August 31st by putting all of the names in a hat and having my daughter pull three names out.

Yeah! I'm so excited!

Good luck!

Sunday Sketches

happy sunday everyone!

For more great sunday sketches head over to sophia's place and check out her wonderful blog.

This is a quick gal I did tonite - I can't help but think her name should be 'Skipper'. She just looks like a little snow bunny ready for the slopes to me.

And this is Amira's sketch for this week. I like how she is starting to embellish her gals and add more texture to the hair.

She looks fun!

Thanks for stopping by and sharing your comments with us! We love to hear from you!
Have a wonderful Sunday one and all!

Smiles

Shout out to Amalia K at 'Translucent Blue'

hi everyone ~ here is my latest piece. I cannot share this lovely lady without admitting to you all that I am guilty of blatant and ardent art envy and copying!

Thats right!

Amalia K, whom most of you know (and if you don't you must head over to her place and feast on her incredible art and wonderfully insightful posts) is the inspiration for this latest piece.

Amalia has produced some incredible geisha pieces in the past couple of weeks, and I am IN LOVE with them!

I am especially amazed at how she renders hair (as you know, I love to get creative with my gals hair:-) ~ So for this piece I really studied how Amalia used shading to separate each strand of hair.

I love how my gal turned out, and hopefully you, Amalia, will see this for what it is:

My humble attempt to imitate and pay tribute to, even a little, your incredible art.

Please, if you have not aquainted yourselves with Amalia's breathtaking art, head over and let her know what you think. I just know you will become as attached to her blog and art as I am!

Smiles and hugs and do, please, let me know your thoughts, as I love to read your comments!

Sunday Sketches

Happy Sunday Sketches All!

For more great sketches head over to Sophia's lovely place.

This is an unfinished piece that I have been messing around with all week... I still have some more detailing to do, but had fun painting the background around her with acrylic pearl white paint. It really made the background shimmery and look much better than just a plain white paint.

This is also my first face with very little color on the skin. I left her mostly paper colored and I love how it turned out.

And this is my daughter Amira's sketch for this week!

Amira is 11 ~ She has been working on eyes and hair lately and it's amazing the progress from just 6 months ago. I am so proud of her and love watching her develop her own style.

Thanks to you all for stopping by and leaving such wonderful comments. I look forward to Sunday all week!

Smiles and hope you are having a splendiferous Sunday!!!

'Tiny Dancer' Completed

Hello Everyone,

This is the finished version of the little dancer I posted a while ago. I had done just the top half of her, but liked her so much I felt she needed to be completely finished. I love how dainty she turned out!

Just got her back from the printer who did a really good job of splicing the top and bottom halves, I think.

Let me know what you think ~ I love to get your feedback!

Smiles

SERENE

last night it rained

or i cried

i lifted my face and let the rain

mingle with my tears.

a storm is brewing.

you don't see

beneath the serene surface

the wind is whipping up ~

emotions

driven by tumultuous winds

wrap around my heart

and squeeze

until i can barely breathe

A new piece from my Daughter Amira

Hi Everyone,

This is a fabulous new piece by my daughter Amira who is 11 years old. She is a really talented artist in her own right, and does some great thing with colored pencils as you can see. She has been wanting to join me for Sunday sketches, so next Sunday I will be posting a piece from me and one from her!

I am so excited to share her amazing talent.

Let us know what you all think.

Smiles and hope you are having a great day!

Sunday Sketches ~ UPDATE!

A BIG THANK YOU TO LISA OVER AT http://all-the-wright-stuff.blogspot.com/!

She suggested I add patterns to the flowers and mentioned that she seemed to be showered with flowers.

Oh that got the creative juices flowing and back to the drawing board I went!

I patterned the leaves which instantly made them seem more like part of the picture. I love how they turned out.

Then I used a gold pen to add in some raindrops and vertical lines. I found a single hole punch and punched out little dots from various colors of cardstock and went to town.

This now seems like a really 'finished' piece and I have Lisa to thank for her wonderful suggestions.

I have to say again how much I appreciate all of your feedback on my art! I am exploring so many new sides of me artistically, and some major inspiration comes from all of you! Thanks so much!

Happy Sunday Sketches All!

You can find more wonderfully talented artists at http://bluechairdiary.blogspot.com/

Before I posted the final version I had written:

I've been working on this piece for a couple of weeks off and on - I love how vibrant she is! The flowers I added at the last minute and I am still pondering whether or not I like them....

Love to hear your feedback!

Hope you are all having a relaxing wonderful weekend. I'm off to an art festival with the idea of scoping things out for possibly participating next year...Hmmmmm!

Smiles to you all and Happy Sunday.

First attempt at mixed media

Hi Everyone! This is my first real attempt at mixed media. I posted these first two pics sometime ago for Sunday Sketches.

I have never felt like this was complete the way it is here.

So today....

I bought some fabric leaves in different sizes and colors and a crystal butterfly at the local craft store and went crazy with my glue gun. I definitely like this piece better. I like the 3 dimensional feel to it too as the leaves and butterfly are raised off of the drawing itself.

I was never completely satisfied with this piece so this was a fun experiment. I really like how it turned out.

Thanks for all the inspiration. Every week I see what all of you mixed media artists produce and I am in awe.

Have a great week!

Smiles

Raspberry Scones and a Delightful Scottish Giveaway!

I am really late in posting this thank you, but better late than never, I hope. Sometime in early June I won a fabulous giveaway from my dear friend Sophia over at Scotland for the Senses, a really well done, entertaining, funny, and extremely informative blog about every sensual part of Scotland. Sophia's is the first blog I ever visited, and I happened to do so the day she was recognized as a 'blogger of note'. There has never been a more deserving recipient of that fine distinction, of that I am sure.

(These are my raspberry scones...Yum! More about them in a bit!)

Back to the giveaway. I am a really enthusiastic and long-standing tea drinker. This is something that I have shared with each of my five children, mint tea, red rose, chamomile, you name it. We do the whole ritual, scones or biscuits or hot cinnamon toast, assorted colorful teapots and special cups and saucers that I have picked up at a variety of flea market, second hand store type places. I even have real teaspoons that are just perfect for chubby toddler hands. They all love it and get quite excited everytime we bring out the tea 'things'.

So I was understandably excited when Sophia offered a wonderful assortment of different Scottish teas from the Edinburgh Tea and Coffee Co. as a giveaway, including her particular favorite, Scottish Breakfast tea. She also included a bag of English breakfast tea to compare.

I couldn't believe it when she announced that I had won! Thank you so much Sophia! I have tried both the Scottish and English breakfast teas, and definitely think the Scottish variety is best! I have also tried the heather tea, which is quite mild and delightful too. I am slowly working my way through the box, and will be very sad when the last of this Scottish assortment is gone!

On to the scones...

In the summer, I take advantage of the bounty of local fruit and make scones several times a week for the boys and especially for my sweetie. The little boys and I deliver these tasty yummies to whichever boat Papa is working on that morning, fresh, usually with an iced mocha in tow. Just one way of showing how much we appreciate our Papa and how hard he works for us. (Summer is crazy busy in the Boat Repair business!!!) Don't you all think that is one of the most important things we can do for our lovely mates, let them know how much we appreciate them on a regular basis?

I have tried several different kinds of berries, but the general consensus seems to be that the raspberry scones are the very best. So that is what I usually make.



I have to agree ~ it is really difficult to eat just one of these yummy treats!

I use a wonderful scone mix called Fisher's Original Fair Scone Mix, roll it out into a rectangle shape about 1/2 an inch thick. I then load half of the rectangle with crushed fresh raspberries, lightly sugared, and then fold the

top half of the rectangle over the berried half. With fork tines I seal the edges all the way round.

I spoon more crushed raspberries on the top of the scones, sugar the whole rectangle with raw organic sugar, and finish by cutting them into triangles and baking them for just 13 minutes. They are a huge hit with the whole family!

A posting including pics would not be complete without at least one of the boys popping up...This is little Eamonn, with his cheeky grin and mischievious eyes... He has given us a run for our money this summer, but his exhuberence is just so contageous you have to scoop him up and hug and kiss all over him about 20 times a day!

Hope you are all making wonderful memories this summer too! Summery smiles and hugs to you all!

Sunday Sketches

Happy Sunday Sketches everyone! You can find more great artists at http://bluechairdiary.blogspot.com/

I was on vacation this week with the whole family at a huge water park resort so did not get any new work done! Not much relaxing either with 7 kids and water slides!!!

So here is an abstract piece I did about a year ago in colored pencils. I love the way it flows, and had a lot of fun detailing it.

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend and that you enjoy your Sunday!

Smiles!