In Her Garden....

I have had this girlie in my sketchbook for about a month. I finally collaged her onto wood today. She was drawn with graphite and colored pencils. I also used acrylics, water soluble crayons, oil pastels, crackle paste, rubons and beeswax. I am really happy with how she came out!

Have a great weekend!

"Shirin" - New Piece on Wood

This is a new piece I have been slowly putting together for a couple of weeks now. I first drew her in my sketch book and then used colored pencils for shading. I also drew the flowers behind her head. Then I used Matt Medium to glue everything down on the wood. I used acrylic paint to fill in her eyes, hair and lips and also to color the flowers. Then I dripped paint everywhere I could on the wood. I sanded the drips and it gave a really cool peeled paint look that I liked. I added molding paste over a sequin waste stencil and then crackle paste in various areas. Then I finished off the piece with more acrylics, Neocolor II and oil pastels. I might still add a little more blush to her face (I think she needs a little more color in those cheeks).

I was watching "Project Runway" and trying to decide what to name the piece, so I decided to name her "Shirin" after one of the designers. Shirin won this weeks challenge (just in case you missed the show).

Thanks for visiting...

Shonna

Works In Progress

I have 3 commissions I am working on right now. Here is one of them. I rarely show works in progress, so I thought I would start doing it more often.

Also, my addiction to online classes continues. I am taking one of Monica Zuniga's online classes. This one is called "In My Garden." I have been a long time admirer of Monica's work and have always been curious as to her process, so I was delighted to find out that she was offering online classes. The only problem? She has FIVE of them!! It was very hard to choose one and I am scrambling to try and figure out how I can gather enough money to pay for ALL of them (LOL!!). The really cool thing is she shows you how to alter a book and then each class will be painted on the pages in the book. I really love this concept. I took one of my son's old "Blue's Clues" Board books (shhhhh don't tell him) and am using that for the classes. You have to check her NING site out; it is super cool (and so is she).

Here is my work in progress for the Garden class

SHOP UPDATE!!

I have just added some hand painted laminated ACEO cards to my Etsy shop. ACEO's are artist cards that measure 3.5X2.5 in size. These cards are great if you are not in the market for more expensive original artwork, but would like something original from an artist. These cards will not be duplicated and are one of a kind.

Please stop by and take a looksy!!

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!!

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Trying New Techniqes and the Worries of a Woman!

NEW TECHNIQUES...

I have been wanting to try a few different techniques for awhile and decided to combine them in this piece. The wonderfully talented and beautiful Jane DesRosier of GrittyArts has been doing a lot of abstract art lately that I have been really enjoying. She recently posted a YouTube video showing how to collage with beeswax, so I gave it a shot. I love the texture this process creates...yummy! Her focal element was a collaged woman, but I decided to draw one of my girlies on a vintage book page instead. Drawing on a book page is the other technique I have been wanting to try. It seems that several mixed media artists are trying this right now, but there is something unique and interesting about it that I really love.

A WOMAN AND HER THOUGHTS...

This piece has a lot of meaning for me. There is so much worry and guilt associated with being a woman and a mother for me. I am always beating myself up about not being the best wife, mother, step-mother, homemaker, artist (and the list goes on). So many thoughts are jumbled up in my head that sometimes it is hard for me to breathe. I am constantly comparing myself to other women and worrying that I am screwing up the lives around me. Am I alone, do you ever feel like no matter what you do, it just isn't good enough... Why do we put such pressure on ourselves? Maybe I will never know the answer...

xoxo

Shonna

Work in Progress--Trio

Here are some paintings I am working on. I really love it when other artists show their process, so I thought I would share a little about mine.

First I sketch the girlie in my sketchbook so I can get a feel for what I want. Once I work out the details in my book, I sketch my image onto wood. For the most part I re-draw my girlie instead of using transfer paper, so the girlie in my sketchbook will often look a bit different from the final product.

In the case of this trio, I was so pleased with the way they came out in my sketchbook, that I did use transfer paper to transfer them all on the wood.

After I do the sketch on wood, I woodburn the image into the wood. This part is very therapeutic for me and I love the smell of the wood burning.

Then I use colored pencils for shading on the faces and for using a base on the hair and clothes. I haven't decided what colors I want for the two girlies on the left so I haven't colored their dresses yet.

This is where I am at this point. I will try to post more as I go.

I hope you are enjoying your weekend!!

Shadow Box "Christmas Morning"

Here is what I have been working on the past few days. I am adding it to my shop tonight.

Completed Painting "Flowergirl"

I woodburned this little painting last night and then painted it and finished the layers today. I was going to add more layers, but the painting is so small that I decided that I like it the way it is.

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT "FREEDOM"

Here is a completed homework assignment from the class I am taking with Suzi Blu. We had to draw a girlie on watercolor paper and practice the shading techniques she taught us. Then she showed us how to add a paper doll dress and layers to the piece. The watercolor paper is 10 1/2 X 14 1/2. I also used stamps, stencils, masks and a little jewel piece for her dress. This was so fun. I really like water coloring in this way and I finally found some watercolor paper that I like. The pack I bought is from Strathmore and it is a paper sampler, so it has 2 pages of several different grades of watercolor paper. This one is called Gemini 140lb Cold press. It is just enough roughness to add some texture, but not too much that it is hard to shade. I hope you enjoy looking at it as much as I did making it.

DUTCHIE GIRL COMPLETED!!

Awhile back I posted a sketch of a Dutch Girl. Well I finally painted her. She is painted on a 12X12 canvas and finished off with hot beeswax. She took a long time for me to paint but I am very happy with her. I hope you like her as well...

Butterfly Fairy Commission

I completed this one in less than four hours (record time for me). I am getting a little faster especially when I have a vision on what I want from a piece. The customer wanted a fairy and the colors to be gray and pinks. I put a layer of beeswax to finish it off and I'm quite happy with the way it turned out.

New 6X6 painting

Here is a little painting I did over the weekend. I wanted to paint something a little different from my normal style. I like the warm colors and her eyes are a little closer together. It was a lot of fun and I like this small size canvas. Oh by the way her name is Tori and I am going to list her in my Etsy shop this week.

Princess Sophie is almost complete!

My mom has been in town visiting since my husband is away on business and I have been slackin' on my painting. Well last night I got most of it done. I just need to paint the sides, add some more elements to the front and glitter, glitter, glitter! The little girl who is getting this painting is turning 3 years old and her room has been re-decorated in all pinks, purples and Fairies. Her mother informed me that she thinks she is a fairy princess and that I have to make sure she has wings! So I made her some huge wings and I am going to cover them with iridescent glitter! This has been a really fun project. I love little girls, fairies, princesses and glitter...

BUSY PAINTING COMMISSIONS!!

I have been really busy with commissions, but it has been very fun painting until 1 am in the morning (not so fun the next day though). This painting is a modification of another painting I did. The other girl has black hair and her dress is purple. I have to do another one of these for someone and then a fairy princess for someone else. I will post the progress of the paintings! Have a great weekend!!