Winter Whites

New Year's Eve 2013, quiet evening in Chicago with husband, daughter and granddaughter. The snow is heavily falling, we peek out the frosty windows to the street lights, checking, wondering: will the soft white flakes continue through the New Year's Night?   For a southern gal this is quite an experience....Slowly I breathe memories on the panes: I am a small child, on a farm, running in snow up to my knees, falling, plopping, sinking into soft white pillows forming snow angels.

This silence gives pause for a moment's reflection....

Tomorrow will be a snow-white Day, a New Day in my blank white day-calendar. 

What will the pages hold?

PAINTING GIFT--Lemonade Daisies

So excited to Gift a Painting

to one of you, my friends, who visit my blog.

It will be very simple to enter...has to be or I might mess it up!!

You may leave a comment today, February 6, 7 or 8th.

Three opportunities to win. You may leave a comment on all three days.  A simple hello will do or share something fun.

On Monday I will post the name of the winner from a drawing of all of the names. You will need to check back to this blog to see the name of the winner. 

The photo is slightly darker than the original oil painting.

Lemonade Daisies is 8 x 8 in a 9 x 9 walnut frame. Ready to hang and dream of spring.

Just leave a comment today, 6th, 7, 8.

(Sorry no anonymous postings)

Petite Painting: The Secret Corner

 We were cocooned in an idyllic setting in Aix en-Provence. Our home was expansive, inviting, light filled and slightly quaint. The landscaping was our favorite part of the home with its towering shade-sharing trees, untamed wild gray-green foliage, rough hewed rock walls and uneven sandstone patio with the prerequisite large table for alfresco dining. This was a vacation made in heaven!

It was difficult to pull ourselves away from our charming Provence home, but we had come for adventure: following the footsteps of van Gogh, Cezanne, visiting quaint villages, ancient ruins, wandering winding paths looking for the most charming patisserie with the best croissants. 

One day we explored a small hill top village not found on the Ten Best Things to See and Do in Aix en-Provence list. Today I can't recall the name of the village, but I will never forget the impression it had on me.

 Nestled high on a red sandstone hillside was a quaint village-sleepy and quiet; complete with steep winding stairways, open cemetery with a vista of the valley below; crooked alleys filled with charming homes with their cubby hole patios. 

Walking around a tallish building, we happened upon a  charming secluded nook: window boxes over flowing, ancient stone walls, table draped in a turquoise Provencal print cloth with fresh flowers in a clay vase.The seclusion was defined by the thick tree vines, topped with lacy leaves, light peeking through the foliage, falling upon the rough stone walls and uneven brick floor. A secret wooden door was more than tempting to open. 

I photographed it as discretely as possible. Since returning to the states I have painted it several times. The original painting was a watercolor. It was with delight to paint this new version in oil. The process brought back such beautiful memories.

Front to Back--what's on TOP of an Art Journal

JOURNALS come in every shape, size, paper, color, texture, store-bought or handmade. Journals are loads of fun! Especially the cover and back. So why not start on top, right at the very beginning and have fun being creative without little "sensors" telling  you what you should or shouldn't do. 

A store bought hardcover journal was covered with various fabrics adhered with gel medium. Fabric photo transfers, buttons, beads and applique fabric heart completed the look.

 For a long time I have wanted to share with you some pages from my many Art Journals. Some pages, are yucky, some are genius, some pure frustration but all were a learning experience and opportunity to be creative without pressure.  And fun! You can sit down to do them, not stand at an easel all day.

This 'in charge' school "marm" has an attitude that was applied with oil paint straight onto the cover of a store bought journal.

Have a favorite artist you love? Why not try their style in a journal...it isn't for sell...just a learning experience!  Great practice!



 Want to try a new medium.....you can always reuse the page or tear it out. Yikes, not that please--recycle. Want to challenge yourself and see if you make progress, journal art is the way to go.

 This large album was a multi-layered experiment. Acrylics, papers, photos, stamps, glazes, scribbles, texture medium...everything but the kitchen sink on this one.

I have filled many a journal all shapes and sizes. But for today I want to share with you the Front and Back of journals that are store purchased.

 

Tantalizing commercial papers glued with gel medium, prints from favorite artists and glazing finish the look. This is the fastest journal cover I have ever done. The back is very similar.

Recycle is the name of the game these days. I had a painting that was done on paper canvas..not the best painting by a landslide, just messing around. I cropped and cut to fit the blue painted cover, then hand decorated with flowers.  Canvas painting oil, flowers acrylic.

We were eating breakfast in New York City in a tiny, little bakery/restaurant. I would have eaten jalapeno peppers I was so excited about the decor....all pink and black. Yes all PINK and BLACK. Charming, oozing charm.  Immediately reminded me of animal crackers with frosting and a big mug of milk....and there you have it, the backside of a journal.

 

This is a regular painting executed in oil applied straight to the cover. The view is a busy street in Aix, Provence...all dining alfresco!

My favorite large journals are made by Canson, at least 190# weight paper. Stronger if possible. Because I paint in my journals it is important to have really good paper. There are many journals available for the art journalist! 

Another time I will share with you handmade/homemade journals. But for now, the store ones are fast and easy. You can decorate the spines when you are all done by hanging ribbons, bells, whistles, horns...well just kidding about the horns.