Promise

New piece using graphite, acrylic, watercolor and colored pencils on watercolor paper.

Alice in Wonderland & Carmen's Give Away!

I did this piece for a challenge on Willowing's Ning site. The challenge was to paint a storybook character. I have been wanting to paint "Alice" for a long time, so this was the perfect opportunity. I used watercolor paper, watercolor pencils and artists crayons. I wanted to keep it simple, but I think I might spice it up with some stewart gill paints.

Also, Carmen Torbus (a very talented artist) is having a give away of one of her collage pieces. Check out her work, she is doing very beautiful things on canvas!!

How I Make a Shadowbox

Over Christmas, I experimented with making shadowboxes and found that they were a lot of fun. I have had some people ask me how I make them so I thought I would put together a quick tutorial.

I usually use unfinished wood shadowboxes from Michael's, but they were having a sale on the nicer ones in the framing section, so I will be using that in this example.

First, I added scrapbook paper to the sides and the inside back part of the box using gel medium. You will just have to measure to cover whatever size box you get. In this case, I cut the paper on the sides a little small, so you could see some of the black from the box. You could also sand, gesso and paint the box instead of using paper.

I also added some left over fake fur I had and lined the bottom with a heavy white glue.

Next, I took the elements I made for the box (a girl and tree I painted on heavy watercolor paper) and attached a heavy strip of paper (I used the same heavy watercolor paper) to the back of them with strong white glue. Before you glue, You will want to bend both ends of the paper to the length you want your element to stick out of the box. I just kind of keep folding the paper and place my element on the back until I like how far it sticks out. In this case, I wanted the girl to stand out more than the tree, so I cut the paper for the tree shorter.

After I attached the back piece to the inside of the box, I embellished the outside.

I added some flowers and a heart pick to the top with hot glue.


This is a sticker I have had in my stash for years (It feels so nice to use old embellishments).

I added some cute wooden hearts to either side of the box.

I also wrapped ribbon around the bottom.

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial. If you decide to make one, Let me know; I would love to see it.

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.

New Sketches!!

Here are some more sketches from my Suzi workshop. This time we sketched on watercolor paper and practiced shading with watercolor pencils. I also received another commission request through my Etsy shop and am working on that right now. I will show you the WIP on that starting tomorrow! Busy, Busy, Busy...

Suzi Blu "Party Girl" Kit Complete!

I actually have had this finished for awhile, but I have been taking an online class with Suzi and have been busy completing her assignments. I will post my assignments soon, but in the meantime, I hope you like the painting. It was a lot of fun to create.