DECK THE HALLS

Not much time to make art this Holiday Season....

with all the Christmas shopping, decorating the house, making 

Christmas cards and cookies.  Oh my!!!!  I was hoping to play with 

my Gelli printing plate but right now I have no idea where I put it.  

I know that it's buried somewhere under the chaos in my art studio 

and will show up after a good cleaning.  

You know how that is!

Anyway, I thought that I would share some pictures of my Christmas decorations.

My sweet Jaspurr!  So photogenic! 

One of my favorite paintings of Santa

An ornament made in "Bling It On"

Another ornament made in "Bling It On"

Oh Christmas Tree....Oh Christmas Tree!

Must have an Angel!

Love these little guys and my bottle brush trees.  Sweet faces!!!

Antique celluloïd donkey from the Nativity.

Lots of faux Poinsettias!

Now.....I need to get started on making my Christmas Cards!!!  I'll try to post my progress.

Hugs!

Ginny

GIVING THANKS

I am thankful for everything that life has given me and 

even for those things for which I have not been given. 

It shaped me into the person that I am today!

WISHING YOU AND YOUR LOVED ONES A VERY BLESSED THANKSGIVING!!!

JODI OHL ON-LINE CLASS

I signed up for another on-line class, "Painterly In Pink" by the very talented artist, Jodi Ohl.  I really wasn't prepared to take another class since I haven't finished all of Joanne Sharpe's classes but this one offered $30 worth of Luminarte paints and I also needed the paints for Joanne's "Bling It On."  So....I couldn't pass up a bargain like that...now could I?  Plus, I have one year in which to complete the course.  This seemed doable!

"Painterly In Pink" is about drawing and painting faces using Luminarte Silk glazes.  Jodi taught us how to draw the faces first in pencil and then glaze them with color.  We could be as realistic as we wanted or make them whimsical.  This is a class for all artistic levels and is a great one if you wish to learn how to draw faces.  To see Jodi's beautiful art or to learn more about her classes, visit her blog, Sweet Repeats.

Anyway, I was off to a great start....I drew my girl in pencil, painted the background of my canvas, glued the pencil drawing to the canvas and then it happened....the painting looked finished without the face glazed.  To add color by glazing the face would only fade it into the background where it would be lost.  At first I thought that I would go ahead and add the glaze and see what happens and maybe make adjustments as I go along but the very first brush stoke of paint on her face told me that I was making a BIG MISTAKE!  What to do???  I posted my canvas on the class Facebook site to get feedback from my classmates where my suspicions were confirmed....DON'T PAINT THE FACE!  Jodi was very kind and said "that sometimes happens" and that I may have found my style.  I definitely will explore this further as I love to draw faces in pencil and I also love to do collage.  It just may become my style.

Made some of my own collage papers

Finished canvas

I guess that part of being an artist is knowing when to stop.  At least I feel pretty good about that but now I still need to paint a face with glazes.  Back to square one!!!

I'll keep you all posted on where this takes me!

Hugs!
Ginny

ON-LINE CLASSES BY JOANNE SHARPE

I know that if you have read any of my past blog posts, you are probably
scratching your heads by now and asking; what in the heck is "Color Love 101?"  

Well.... "Color Love 101" is a super fantabulously fun on-line art class given
by the very talented and most generous mixed media artist, Joanne Sharpe.  

If you are not familiar with Joanne's art, you should mosey over to her blog, 

Whimspirations, and take a look.  I promise that you will not be disappointed. 

In her work, Joanne uses lots of bright delicious colors and artistically creative 

hand lettered words that speak from the heart.  (Something that I am not 

very good at.  Sigh!) You may have even seen her work before...she is 

licensed in the craft and giftware industry and is best known for 

her colorful and whimsical art work.

Journal made in "Color Love 101"

I have taken all five of Joanne's classes:  " Letter Love 101, Artful Alphabets, Color Love 101, Magical Marker Mystery Tour and Bling It On." I loved them all!!! 

Joanne's classes are the first classes (that I took) to use Facebook for creating a community of other artists taking the class.  This has been a valuable tool for students to share artwork, tips, techniques and even "shopping alerts." And boy... do we ever love to shop for art supplies.!!!  Since taking these classes, I think that I now own every conceivable type of watercolor paint, marker, spray paints, inks and dyes, as well as any blingy metallic paints on the market....and I use them all!! Including many that I already had that sat for years because I didn't know what to do with them.  Thanks to Joanne...all that has changed.

I would highly recommend that anyone wishing to take an on-line class for the first time to find one that is self paced (Joanne's classes are open forever which gives you lots of time to complete the course or to go back at a later date to revisit a lesson) and one that allows for interaction with other students. You can learn LOTS from your fellow classmates.

I am not paid or compensated in any way to promote Joanne's classes.  I just think highly of her as artist and educator and would love for others to experience the artistic growth that I have from taking her classes.  If you are interested in learning more about her classes, there is a link located at the lower right column of my blog.

Here is a sample of some of fun things that I made in her classes:

Manda from Student Bonus lesson in "Color Love 101"

"Magical Marker Mystery Tour" Journal cover

Making Skinny Letters in "Magical Marker Mystery Tour."

"Color Love 101 Journal with "Bling It On " embellishment

"Bling It On" embellishment

Dimensional paint and Twinks embellishments made in "Bling It On"

Glass ornament painted in "Bling It On"

 Lesson for "Letter Love 101" made with letters learned in "Artfully Alphabets"

One final word....I am so glad that I took ALL of Joanne's classes because what I learned in one class, I was able to use in the next!  I am by no means finished with any of the classes but I know that I can take as long as I need to complete the lessons.  Besides....the art friends that I have made all seem to travel together and are so supportive of one another....it makes for an exciting and fun experience!!!  I know that we will stay connected for a long time!

Till next time!  xoxo

Ginny

I WON A PENDANT FROM VIOLETTE!!!

I am not what I would call a LUCKY person but I AM BLESSED!

I say I am not lucky because I have never won the lottery, 

Publisher's Clearing House or raffles of any kind!

But.....I am truly blessed to have my family,

friends, kitty cats (their family too) good health,

 a place to hang my hat and to make my art.  

I truly have so much to be grateful for.

I am also grateful for all the generous artists and bloggers out their 

who raffle their art or prizes to those who leave comments on their blogs.

One such artist is Violette Clark, artist and author of the book "Journal Bliss"
and the blog Violette's Creative Juice.

Recently, Violette gave away several prizes on her blog and

I WON!!!

Yes, I won one of her beautiful pendants featuring her art. 

This is especially meaningful to me because I took a class from

 her at 21 Secrets.  I love her whimsical art

 and now....I own a piece!!

Whoop Whoop!!!

FRONT OF PENDANT

BACK OF PENDANT

How cool is that????

xoxo

Ginny

GELLI PRINT - FLOWERS

This is the first Gelli monoprint that I made.  At first I thought that

I used way too much paint and mark making on it but after I added the

lettering, I really like it! 

The lettering was really a bear to add as none of my pens worked 

over the acrylic paint.  Even my white paint pen didn't want to work so I

ended up using a fine paint brush and Speedball Acrylic Ink.  Ughhhh!

There has got to be a better way.  I heard that the Posca pens work really

well.  I will have to look into that!

The flower mask is a Sizzix die.

I really have one of these bushes in a pot in my yard and everyone who sees

 it when it is in bloom can't believe that it is one plant.  It will have all

three color flowers on it at the SAME TIME!  It really is beautiful!

Can you see the resemblance between my Gelli print and the real plant?
Uncanny isn't it!  lol!

MAKING A MASK

What is a mask pray tell?

Well....a mask is a cover that is usually made of paper or plastic 

which is used to protect the surface beneath it from ink or paint that is

 either sprayed or brushed over the mask.  When the mask is removed it 

reveals an area untouched by the medium....creating 

an image in the negative space.

Before I started playing with the Gelli Printing plate, I knew 

that I was going to use...excuse me.....NEEDED many masks 

for the process.  I invisioned flowers, donuts, hearts, stars, birds, 

people, mermaids...the list goes on.  To do this I first turned to all the 

dies that I have for my Cuttlebug machine.  I cut flowers, swirls, scrolls, 

butterflies, leaves and trees from mylar.  I made many cuts from each

 die and saved both the positive and negative image because.....

YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU WILL NEED.  

Each die cut was then placed into an envelope that was 

labeled with it's name and a traced image.

I drew other shapes such as hearts, stars, donuts, letters, and numbers 

by hand.  For the birds, people, and mermaids, I placed the mylar 

over magazine images and traced them using a sharpie pen.  I cut them 

out and also placed them into an envelope with their image.

I used mylar instead of paper to make the masks because the mylar is 

transparent, making it easy to see when tracing objects, and it doesn't 

warp or tear.  I never wash them, although, I could if I wanted to but it is 

not necessary.  Just don't do what I did and peel the mask off the paint and 

place it paint side down on a paper covered desk. 

 Then I had to peel the paper off the mask!!  

Not an easy task!!

It's a lot of fun making masks and using them with the Gelli Printing Plate.  

Try it!!  You're gonna love it!

Gelli monoprint using three bird masks.

Till next time!  Hugs!

Ginny