OK, The Cats Out Of The Bag....

I went to the "Mermaid" workshop with Suzi Blu. It's hard to hide it when there is video evidence, right????? I had such a great time!!! I feel so rejuvenated and ready to take on the world; I really needed that little break from life!!! I met some FABULOUS and extremely talented women that will be lifelong friends now. And Suzi...what can I say about Suzi? She is so giving and kind! And such a wonderful teacher!!!!


Here is Suzi teaching us her mad skills!!

The real star of the party...Gigi Rainbow Sparkles! Even though I am allergic to dogs, I just couldn't stop trying to make friends with her. She was a little overwhelmed with all of the people there, but by the end of the weekend, she seemed to adjust just fine (she finally stopped growling at me...LOL!)

Suzi bought a package of mustaches. We had a lot of fun with them at the end of the day. I was impersonating my brother in law. He has a very thick mustache and always gives the thumbs up in pictures.

Patti was the life of the party!!! She and her daughter Casey were the most lovely women; I just fell in love with them!!!

Veronica and Kecia are so sweet and their mermaids are out of this world!!


Jennifer is from my hometown of San Bernardino (909 baby!!)

Becci (isn't her mermaid sweet?)

Stacy was soooo sweet!! She brought some great cupcakes with edible glitter on them...yummy! I love her mermaid....look at that cool hair!!!!

Katie Lynn is a total crack-up! I love her personality...not to mention, she is the original creator of glitter (inside joke).

Mara is so cool and very talented!!!! Look at her mermaid's face...WOW!!!

Here is my roommate Angelica...I don't know how I missed getting a picture of her mermaid it was fabulous!!! Look at her background....amazing!!

Here is my girlie. I wasn't really concerned about the final product (although I am quite happy with her). I just had so much fun with the process!

I WILL BE MIA FOR A FEW DAYS....

I am going away for a few days and when I come back, I will post LOTS of pictues...I'm so excited, but I am going to keep it a secret for now.

I will leave you with a little ATC I completed last night. I hope you all have a great weekend!!

Another Commission and Feature!

COMMISSION

My friend's daughter is having her first baby and she wanted me to re-create "I Knew You..." I actually like this painting better than the original. I am really enjoying working on watercolor paper. The shading technique I use comes out so pretty on watercolor paper. The photo doesn't do it justice.

FEATURE
Also, A few months back I had a giveaway and the winner was Helene. She has posted a really sweet feature of my work on her blog. I would love it if you could stop by and check it out.

Features, Blog Award and a Pineapple Princess

Two of my pieces have been featured. First, my "Flower Girl" piece was in an Etsy Treasury. You can take a look here. Second, my "Busy Bee" piece was featured on this really cool website:

I was also given a really special Blog Award from Micki of the Art Hermit. Her work is so sweet and I would highly recommend checking out her blog.




This Renee award was created by Bella and Ces in honour of their friend Renee.
In Bella's own words "this is a brand new award and I have the pleasure and honor of spreading the seed, watching it grow. I hope it finds it's way to those who are like Renee: the acorn, a small package becoming a tall and sturdy oak, giving more acorns, becoming tall and sturdy oaks, giving acorns..."





So now I am going to pass on this award to the following people, people who's blogs I love, who's art makes me smile and whom I will visit time and time again!





PBSArtStudio





Lisa Lectura Creations





Alison's Heart Sings





Creative Flutter





I also completed a commission today for a friend of mine. She wanted a girlie holding a pineapple for the entryway in her home. The pineapple means "Welcome" in Hawaii. I made the girlie resemble her 16 year old daughter.
I hope you all have a safe and artful weekend!
Shonna

SPRING CLEANING SALE!!!!!!!!!!

I am having a HUGE sale in my Etsy shop right now! I really want to clean out my shop of some of my older pieces. Most of the pieces are half off!! And ALL of the pieces are ORIGINALS!! I have added a "SALE" sub-category, so please stop by here and check it out!!!

Three Angels Complete!!

I finished the painting for my aunt. I hope she likes it. She gave me a picture of three statue angels she has in her house and they were wearing white robes. No color or anything. I tried to keep the colors neutral so I hope it goes with her decor. We will see...

I hope everyone has a great Easter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Three Angels (Work in Progress)

I am painting a commission for my aunt and she wanted it done on canvas. I haven't worked on canvas in awhile, so this has been a lot of fun so far. I am really loving the way it is coming along. I have been trying to achieve this color red for hair for a long time and I finally got the color combination down. Burnt Sienna with some burgundy mixed in. I am trying to use some of the techniques I have learned in the online class "Creative Textures" . Creating texture is not as easy as it seems, but I will keep experimenting.

Thanks for taking a look!
Shonna

Freedom

Here is the male counterpart to my last piece "Liberty." The person that bought Liberty wanted me to paint Uncle Sam. So here is my take on Uncle Sam; it is called "Freedom."

Liberty and some exciting news!!

Happy April Fools Day!! I hope you don't get too many tricks played on you. When I turned on my computer this morning, there was a message that said I was infected by the April Fool's Virus. My heart stopped for a second until I looked at my husband and he had a little smirk on his face. He isn't very good at "playing" things like that off. When I scrolled down, it said "April Fools" love your Hubby! I guess it could have been worse. I need to think of something to get him back though...any ideas?




Here is my latest piece "Liberty." I was going to go in a different direction with this piece. I was going to make it more of a "Rock n Roll" type piece, but I received an e-mail from a customer that said she wanted to purchase it when it was complete. She said it would go great in her "Americana" living room, so I changed my vision for it. She also wants a male counterpart, so I will be working on that. I am very happy with the way it turned out, so I will be making prints of it.



Now for some exciting news! I have been chosen to be a team member of the blog "Inspirational." I will be helping to feature different artists and their blogs. This is exciting for me because the blog mainly features scrapbook artists and card makers. I applied to be apart of the blog because I want to bring something different to the blog and bring more attention to mixed media artists. I will be selecting one artist per week to be featured and if you are chosen, I will send an e-mail asking your permission. I am really stoked about this!! There are over 400 subscribers of the blog and I think this is a great opportunity for your art to be seen by a different group of people. There is also so much inspiration on the blog that could be incorporated in mixed media, so it is great from that angle as well.

******UPDATE******* I have added prints of "Liberty" and "I Loved You" in my Etsy shop. The ORIGINAL of "I Loved You" is also available in the shop.