I met Jason Mraz!!!

One of my favorite musicians of all time is Jason Mraz. In fact, I have several songs of his on my blog here. I have all of his CD's and have been to two of his concerts. He is sort of a native of San Diego. He moved out here when he began his music career and played in small coffee shops and music venues and he now considers this his home. Back in October of 2007, San Diego experienced one of the worst wildfires in its history. Many people lost their homes and a lot of the county was evacuated. The smoke was so bad at my house that we evacuated ourselves. We just couldn't handle the smoke any longer, so we packed up some of our valuables and went to a hotel in Palm Springs for the night. Jason along with several other musicians from San Diego collaborated and made a CD called "Fire Relief" to help the victims of the wildfires. This past Sunday he was at the Best Buy near my town signing copies of the CD. My daughter and I waited in line for 2 hours and it was worth every minute of the wait. He was so generous to everyone. He didn't just sit there behind the table, sign and move on to the next person. He actually stood the whole time, took pictures and had conversations with each one of us. I told him that even though it probably sounded corny, his music was an inspiration to me. He told me that he didn't think it was corny at all and that was what he played music for...to inspire. He also thought my stepdaughter and I looked like sisters, not mother and daughter...tee hee (that was so cool). Anyway, so I thought I would post a few of the pictures we took with him along with his autograph to me.

New Painting

Here is a new painting. I haven't named her yet, but I really like the background a lot. The painting is on a wood board I got in the Michaels $1 bin. It had painted flowers on it and said something about spring. So I just sanded it and painted over it. I love trying to find different inexpensive surfaces to paint on. I have also been experimenting with different kinds of backgrounds and trying to learn as much as I can about different techniques. I signed up for another class. This time it is with the "Altered Diva" and she is going to teach about whimsical landscapes. That class starts mid April and I can't wait. I am also getting ready for Paulette Insall's next class called "Painting Faces." I love they way she shades her faces and up to this point, I have been "winging" it as far as shadowing goes. It will be nice to actually learn how to shade faces correctly. That class starts this coming Monday and I just can't wait to learn and see what the other women in the class come up with.

Peace.

CUPCAKE FAIRY....YUMMY!!!

Here is a new little girly. She was inspired in part by my daughter Reeana. The girl loves her some sweets. She has even been known to dream about cake...seriously!

My little artist!

Jordan has been asking to paint a lot lately. It's kind of nice to see him play with paints and create because all he usually wants to do is play baseball.

Week 4 Organic Deminsions Class

I finished one canvas for week four of Paulette's Organic Dimension class. I still have to complete the second canvas I made. I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet. I am not really that much into using collage pictures as the focal element so I will probably paint another girly!

My Inner Rock Chick

You Are Gwen Stefani!

All guys dream about you And all the girls want to be you "Sappy pathetic little me That was the girl I used to be"

Who's" Your Inner Rock Chick?

Shadows of her Mind

Here is the finished painting...

Playing with Backgrounds/The Other Boleyn Girl

Here is a painting that I am working on. I made the background using the techniques I have learned in the online class I am taking. I saw the movie "The Other Boleyn Girl" and was inspired to paint this girlie. I love the costumes in the movie especially the beautiful head pieces they wore. I really loved Natalie Portman in this movie. She was totally captivating and I think she is such a talented actor. The funny thing is, I ended up painting the girl to look more like Scarlett Johansen (very loosely). Funny how the creative process ends up sometimes. I am still going to add tree branches flowing over her head. When I do, I will post the final product.

Peace.

Natasha (Inspired by Kelly Rae Roberts)

I really love the Mixed Media artist Kelly Rae Roberts. She has a very unique technique. I think it is called patchwork collage and she paints the most beautiful girls on top of the collage. Her blog is http://www.kellyraeroberts.blogspot.com/. These are two paintings I did with the same girl (thank you graphite paper) and they were definately inspired by Kelly.

Captured Fairy/Pirate Jars

Here are some things I have been playing around with...

First Post

Well here is goes...I'm not quite sure I know what I'm doing but I'm definitely going to give it my best shot.

I have been scrapbooking off and on for about 6 years or so and once my son was born I decided to do his "First Year." Needless to say he is now almost 2 and 1/2 and I still have one more page to do. After his book, I have decided to start doing "mini" books instead of big 12X12 albums. They are just too daunting and make me feel overwhelmed. I have talked to many women in my mom's group (Escondido Mom's Group) and a lot of them either feel like they aren't creative enough (which I think is so not true; we are all creative and just need a little instruction & inspiration) or they just feel like they don't have the time. Mini albums are perfect for both of those obstacles. They are quick and easy because the pages are smaller and easier to work with. Another thing is you do not have to scrapbook EVERY singe picture. This something that took me awhile to figure out. Now I pick one or two of my favorite pictures to scrapbook and the rest will (emphasis on WILL) go into regular photo albums.

Now for the reason I decided to start this blog. In the past 3 months or so, I have been getting back into drawing. When I was younger, I would sit down with a TV tray in the living room and just draw. My dad is a cartoonist and that must be where I get it from. I was also been a big coloring freak and I still love to color in my son's books. I don't remember what the circumstances were, but about 3 months ago I just started drawing and then I did the unthinkable....I picked up a paint brush!!! I wanted to learn all I could about art supplies, techniques, paint etc. So I started to look for blogs on the web. Wow what inspiration and talent I found! I have been practicing and feeling out what MY style is and I feel like I was meant to do this. It makes me feel so complete. All my life I have always felt "average" at everything I do. I have "average" looks, I was "average" in school, I am an "average" singer. Right now I may still be an average painter and mixed media artist, but I feel like I can be more with a little instruction. So I signed up for an online class (Organic Dimension) by the talented Paulette Insall. I have been learning so much about how to add texture to canvas and I feel so grateful that she is sharing what she knows. Out of all the blogs I have been perusing, it seems that too often than not very few artists are willing to give up the goods! What I mean by that is share their knowledge. Some are great like Paulette, Suzi Blu, Wyanne and Time with Tascha. They actually spend the time to make You Tube Videos to demonstrate their techniques. I think they are Awesome and will be sharing their blog addresses at the end of my post. I admire so many other artists but am dying to know what their "process" is. So I tend to obsess over the artists mentioned above and check their blogs many times a day to see if their are any new video's or posts about how they make their art. I just feel like I am at a stage where I am a sponge and want to soak it all in. All the while, the dishes are stacking up and the toys are scattered all over the living room floor.

(The pictures are my week 1, 2 and 3 class assignments from Paulette's class)

Peace

My favorite Blog Queens!

Paulette Insall http://pauletteinsall.typepad.com/

Suzi Blu http://suziblu.blogspot.com/

Wyanne http://wyartjewels.blogspot.com/

Tascha http://timewithtascha.blogspot.com/