The Daughter - finished!

Yesterday I've finished my mixed media painting "The Daughter" about whose "history" I wrote here.

I'm pretty happy with her, and she is now available in my Etsy shop.

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The Daughter

A few days ago I read some of the letters again that my mom wrote to me when I was 18 years old. Her letters are so beautiful and while I read them I remembered everything we did at that time - it was 1978. Although it brought tears to my eyes, it also painted a huge smile on my face.

My mom passed away four years ago, and those letters (I've kept them all) are the biggest treasure I have from her. I can hear her voice when I read them - she wrote the way she spoke, so completely her. She was a wonderful letter writer and I am forever thankful that I grew up in an era when people would still write letters - something you can keep.

It inspired me to create another girl - "The Daughter".

It is a 6x12 canvas, a size I have never worked with before. I discovered that I really like this size, it's perfect for the girls.

Beneath the acrylic paint you can see some written words peeking through - this is a copy of one of those letters from my mom that I adhered to the canvas first. It's a piece of my heart, so to speak, something very personal of myself that I worked into this painting. The words say "She kept her mom forever in her heart". It is still not quite finished, but very close. She will be available in my Etsy shop.

This is also my contribution to this week's Paint Party Friday and Sneak Peek Friday. Please come and visit these talented artists - there is so much inspiration you can get and just some real honest eye candy.

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The Redhead Girl

The Redhead Girl - another mixed media work that took forever.

I got the idea for her after I had sketched a girl's face with charcoal for the very first time that I later called "Girl with a crooked eye". I wanted a mixed media girl with that same haircut.

I adhered a book page, a part of a AAA map and a ticket to the canvas and painted it with acrylic paints. Outlined the girl, filled her in with Golden acrylics for face and hair, used India ink for more hair. Fabric for the shirt. Rub-ons, paper flowers, glitter.

Of course, like the charcoal girl, she is crooked - her face is slightly off. It took me forever to draw that mouth. I'm scared to do faces, and therefore I'm happy that I tried this one, even though it's crooked. I call this a girl with "lots of character".

I have to admit, I actually like her.

And since it's Friday, I'm linking this to Paint Party Friday and Studio JRU's Sneak Peek Friday.

Please have a peek at the work of all those talented artists.

WOYWW 109

Hello WOYWWers - yes, it's me. After not participating in WOYWW for three weeks due to that darn surgery, I'm finally back. I actually wanted to be back last week, but then I had a pretty bad day and didn't feel like blogging at all. But today I'm in good spirits, and it's just great to be back in the craziness that Julia at the Stamping Ground has started two years ago.

I never have had a chance to show you the PiF I got from Jennie at The Artistic Stamper - it's a little journal that she altered, and I think it is so beautiful. I love little journals, so this was exactly the right thing for me! Jennie did a really fabulous job.

 My PiF went to Helen - a tag with one of my girls. I enjoyed making this.

So, and talking of journals, this is on my table this week:

My daughter saw the little journals that I had made some time ago and asked me whether I could create two for her dolls who are obviously very active journalers. She loved the one that is lying to the left and wants one in blue and one in green. She was very specific in her "order".

These are some of the little journals I made; the base are the small composition books that you can buy at Staples and Office Depot (and probably many more other places as well). I sold them at a Christmas bazaar and these are the ones that are left.

Paint Party Friday and Update on Owls

My free time during this rather crazy week was mainly spent at the lake, watching the owls. Therefore, I didn't work a lot in the studio - but I finished the canvas that I had started last week. It's the girl who loved dogs.

Since I can't paint dogs, I used two of my (coyote) stamps, stamped the image, made a template and played around with some heavy body acrylics. I really love the texture of the paint in the dogs, especially the right one. I wasn't happy with the girl for quite some time - until I got the idea to put a hat on her head (cut from the stamped image of a Paperbag Studio stamp) and removed her eyebrows which had given her quite an angry look. She looks much nicer now I think.

I link this to Paint Party Friday - rather late, but it's still Friday! There are so many more highly talented artists to visit.

Update on the owls: The Bird Rescue Center called the ranger to let him know that the little owlet who fell out of the nest had eaten three mice (yummy) and is doing well. Its sibling was very high in the tree today, still close to Mom. Today I went to see them in the evening and there was a lot of hooting going on from the dad. All three owls looked well. The owlet is pretty daring, there were some close calls, and I just hope it stays up there in the tree and doesn't follow the way of its sibling.

If you want to read more about the owls, it's in the posts below.

WOYWW 100

Wow - WOYWW has three digits now!!! We are at 100!!! Only four more weeks to the anniversary and the PiF - I just finished mine today.

I have the feeling that my work space looks the same every week, which mainly is due to me not cleaning up. A really bad habit, I know.

I'm working on the canvas on the right, "Girl who loves dogs". However, I can't draw dogs - I can draw pigs, but not dogs. I had first thought of using stickers, but this is kind of tacky (!); especially since all my dog stickers - and there are not many - are of puppies. I want grown dogs. So I stamped dogs ( well, actually coyotes, but that's close enough) and am going to cut them out and make templates. I have started to experiment with heavy body acrylics and discovered that I L-O-V-E them, so I'll use those for painting the dogs (aka coyotes). That will give them a nice texture.

If you want to see more desks of wonderful creative people all around the globe, then please hop over to Julia's blog to find a pretty long list of lovely participants.

Paint Party Friday

I wasn't that creative this week - at least not in my studio. I worked a lot in the garden - something I thoroughly enjoy and that usually puts me in an excellent mood. Neighbor's cat kept me company, sniffing at the paydirt and new plants that were supposed to go in the ground.

However, I started a new canvas; it will be another girl, one who loves dogs. I have no idea how to paint dogs, but since this is mixed media anyway I will probably get help in form of stickers etc. It will work out somehow.

I think I need to tone down the colors a little bit, it looks too busy to me, but perhaps that will already be different when I will have finished the girl figure. She is still pretty raw and very "innocent".

This is my entry for the wonderful Paint Party Friday and I also link this to Jennifer's Studio Sneak Peek.

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WOYWW 99

One more week and we'll have the 100th WOYWW - thanks to our wonderful Julia who every Wednesday motivates people to show their desk to the world and let each other find inspiration by visiting work desks around the globe.

Nothing much on my desk. I have started a new canvas for a girl, this one will be a dog lover - at least that's the plan. I never know where it will take me the further I get along with the work. I actually should work on tags since I'm teaching a tag-making class next week and it's still not completely designed. I have sort of lost my energy for these classes... I am so much enjoying teaching the German class at the moment that there doesn't seem to be much room left for the other classes. Perhaps it's also getting "old" and I'm looking for something new to teach. The problem is that I have to give in my class proposals extremely early, when I really don't know what I would love to teach six to nine month in the future. Or perhaps I'm just a bit burned out and simply need a break. I know that in the end I will enjoy teaching this class just as I did all the others.

Enjoy hopping around the world and visiting so many different desks. Until next Wednesday.

Girlfriends

It's Kaefer's birthday on Easter, and a day later she will have four of her girlfriends over - so convenient that there is no school this Monday (one of those darn furlough days the State of California has ordered for the current school year). It will be a pretty low key "party" - there will be a scavenger hunter, cake and just time for the girls to hang out and do whatever they like. A good start for the teenage years!

There won't be "goodie bags" or anything like that, but the girls each will get a "girl tag" as a party favor to take home. I've tried to represent each girl in her tag by the color of her shirt and her hair. I liked painting their hair the best, and I mainly used Golden fluid acrylics for that. And of course, those of you who are regular visitors to my blog certainly recognize some She Art here!

And since it's Friday, I'm linking this to Paint Party Friday and Sneak Peek Friday. These are all wonderful artists, and you can find some amazing art work on their blogs. Go and take a peek!
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WOYWW 98

Hello WOYWWers, how are you all doing? I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday, hopping from one creative desk to the next, thanks to our wonderful Julia, the Queen of Snoop. I'm currently having a hard time getting around the desks, there is so much going on here, and on top of that it's my daughter's birthday this Easter, she'll be 13, oh my. A teenager!

And it's her birthday I'm working on, or better say little girls that her friends will receive who will come over on Monday afternoon. She has invited four friends, so there will be five girls, that's manageable. Each of the "tag girls" represents one of her friends and I'm glad that she could recognize each single girl when I showed her the tags. She also wants to do a scavenger hunt, this time about the Olympic Games. Oh boy. She was very enthusiastic about the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver - I mainly remember Apolo Ohno, and just a few others (the German bobsled team and the German female speed skaters). Nothing is left in my memory about Beijing. But hey, ask me about the Summer Olympic Games back in 1972 in Munich - I remember those very well. I was 12 years old and a fan of Mark Spitz!

The Girl in the Garden

Yesterday, I finished Girl #3 that I attempted as a result of the She Art Workshop - you know, that wonderful online class I rambled about all the time. I've finally finished watching all the videos and just love to play around - I have several ideas for different girls in my mind and I hope I get over my lazyness and create a little bit more. Well, I just need to kick my butt and keep all the other things out of my mind.

This is my "Girl in the Garden" who turned out a little bit different than I had imagined. Some accidents happened that I worked around, and I still don't know how she got a nose - I didn't put it there! I can't draw noses, but somehow this perky little thing suddenly appeared in the middle of her face. Perhaps I tipped the pen or had paint on my fingers - whatever, it's there, and I like it. It makes her way younger though than I intended her to be which is just fine.

Yesterday I also started a 5x5 canvas for a friend and I'm quite surprised that I'm already done. Perhaps I'm getting more confident in what I'm doing. My difficulty is to get started - after that I can work myself "into the zone" very quickly when drying times become a real challenge for my impatience...

The butterfly didn't quite turn out the way I wanted it to be, but in the end I'm okay with it. Glimmer Mist might not have been my best choice here, however, I like the color and how it blends in.

As it is Friday, I'm linking this to Paint Party Friday and Sneak Peek Friday which this week is on the (in)courage site, as well as to Creative Every Day. There are many more brilliant artists to visit.


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WOYWW 96

Another Wednesday!!! This IS getting fast...

Hello WOYWWers, how are you today? Do you have spring feelings or does winter still have a strong grip in your area? I am happy to say that we have had some lovely weather, I've been working in the garden a lot and I even had my first few naps in the hammock. That clearly spells good times for me.

Thank you so much for all your wonderful comments last week. I am sorry that I can't get around to everyone, but I try to visit as many desks as possible. It's something I thoroughly enjoy and I always get my Wednesday inspiration.

So, on my table today - another girl. Now, what a surprise...

 I seem to be pretty addicted to making these girls. This one is almost done - the phrase has to go on there
(something along the lines of "she loved tending to her garden") and something else that I am still not sure of, and then it will be done. Before I said that I am a rather slow worker, but this canvas was done rather quickly; especially the background was completed fast. Needless to say that I enjoyed it very much again.

Please visit the Queen of snoop, Julia, to find a long list of other creative people who show their busy or messy or tidy desks. Have fun!

WOYWW 93 - Another Girl

Hello WOYWWers, thank you so much to all of you who visited my desk last week and left those super nice comments on my first Girl. You are such a sweet crowd! This really is the encouragement that I completely appreciate and each one of you really made my day!

Today I just finished my second Girl - she also is a result of the wonderful She Art Workshop with Christy Tomlinson. This time we added a scene to the background, and I totally loved it. This is already the last week of the class, I'm really sad that it will be over so soon. The good thing though is that the classroom is open for another two and a half months - until the end of May. This is exciting.

If any of you think about taking this class, I can highly recommend it. Registration for the next class is open, and all the information about it you can find here.

Now go and hop over to all those other desks - you can find a list at the lovely Julia's blog.

The Second Girl - WIP

I'm late this week for Sneak Peek Friday over at JRU Studio. All morning I was reading and trying to get more information about the enormous earthquake and devastating tsunami in Japan. Living in earthquake country myself, every earthquake hits home with me. Christchurch in New Zealand only a short time ago, and now Honshu. My heart goes out to the people in Japan, my thoughts are with them.

Therefore, I went to my blog only half-hearted and then decided to leave it all together. In the afternoon, my husband's company had an Open House for the families of the employees, there were tours and demonstrations about the products they are developing. Interesting enough, they talked about GPS that have the ability to measure along fault lines that can trigger earthquakes like the San Andreas fault. I wish there was a device that could give us an early enough warning of earthquakes, more than just a few seconds (although, if you get a signal for example through a special tone on your cell phone, 10 seconds would be enough to dug under a desk - an early warning system, by the way, that is already practised in Japan and unique in the world).

Compared to this disaster, my efforts of creating some art appear meaningless and small. I was struggling all day whether I should even blog about it and then decided to do it, against all odds.

This is my second girl I'm creating as a result of the She Art Workshop by Christy Tomlinson that I am currently taking and that gives me so much joy (you can find my first girl here). As you can see, this is a work in progress, the girl is not even glued down. I enjoyed making the background on a 10x10 canvas and getting my hands dirty again. I think what I really like about this work is how my hands are getting into the paint, how messy they get, it's downright dirty and incredible satisfactory. Honestly, I feel like a child who got permission to play in the mud to her heart's desire. I used some stamps (the houses, tree and flower heads) because I'm not good at drawing/painting (which would be the right word?), paper and acrylic paints. Next I'll work on the girl; I wonder how she will turn out in the end. I'm a slow worker, I really enjoy the process.

Actually - I'm really glad I blogged about this. Somehow I feel better now. Thank you for your patience.