Gee's Bend Quilts and a Painting

The first stage of painting


The completed painting inspired by a quilt from Gee's Bend

Today was the first day of Get Your Paint On with Mati McDonough and Lisa Congdon.  They had the clever idea of having us look at images of the quilts from Gee's Bend for inspiration.  Boy did I have fun!  I love color and shapes, so this was a perfect exercise for me.  And guess what?  I DID get my paint on, and it felt awesome!

Collage Day

 Can you tell the difference between these two images?

Oh, the Universe has been speaking to me about butterflies again!  I hope my butterfly comes to me soon!

More S T R E T C H I N G W I T H I N

 loca, loca, loca

Just in case you weren't sure, I was playing around with my iphone camera apps again.  ToonPAINT is always fun to use!

Note:  Even if your studio is messy and crowded, you can still make art in it.  I proved that today!

Banana Painting for Stretching Within Class

This is the first time I've ever painted a banana.  At least, I think that is true if my
memory serves me correctly.  It was really an interesting experience.  I had to push
myself not to stop after the first layer or two of paint was on the paper.  I knew
from watching Misty Mawn's videos that she uses a lot of layers of paint, and
that makes her work really come alive.  I decided I'd give that approach a try.
I am happy with my painting.  I can still see my own (sloppy) style, which I like.
I also added a little thing of my own, which was splattering the brown paint on top to
create some of the spots.  I remember seeing my mom do this on her decorative
painting projects she worked on when I was a child.  By the way, this banana
is way to brown for me to eat now.  Anyone else prefer the semi-green kind?

Visual Journal Collective Portrait Party

 Roz 

Theresa's Art Friend 

The binding needles and thread on top of Roz's in depth instruction sheet. 

 I drew Suzanne.  Hey, we only had 10 minutes!

 Suzanne drew me.  (Suzanne's an art teacher). 

We waited in line to turn in our originals and sign the list of participants for the Portrait Party 2011 book, of which we all received a copy.  :)

It takes a lot of organization to create a project like this.  Roz is really good at making sure we all do what are supposed to do.  I am so grateful to be a part of this book.  Thank you Roz and MCBA!

Painting No. 1 for Stretching Within (Misty Mawn's Class)

So the amount of photos I am sharing of this one painting might be over-
kill, but there are a couple of reasons I am posting so many:
One-I am practicing transferring html code from flickr to the blog post.
Two-There are several close-ups.
Three-I am too tired to discern a good photo from a bad one.
There it is.  
Thank you for stopping by!
By the way, I love Misty Mawn!  She's sooooo cool and talented.  

Everything's Gonna Be Alright

Everything's Gonna Be Alright
Originally uploaded by BrianaCreates

Here's another page I created last night in my visual journal. Again, I am being influenced by Juliana Coles. I love how she outlines things in black sharpie and uses white gel pens inside text. I tried a Uniball white gel pen, but had the best luck with a bottle of white out.
I also adore using tape. Yellow transparent tape is my favorite because it adds color, yet allows you to see what is underneath.
I painted with "cheapy craft paint", as Juliana calls it. I also applied some of LK Ludwig's techniques when I scraped the acrylic paint with an old credit card. I used water and a paint brush over the acrylic to make some shape designs. Oh, I just love art supplies and good teachers! Thank you for taking a peek!

New Artwork from Today

This piece was inspired by Juliana Coles.  I was watching some of her 
videos over for the third or fourth time on YouTube.  I have been thinking about her 
lately, as she stated on the YahooGroup that she is having a difficult
time right now.  Send her some healing vibes!

The sketches below are for Stretching Within with Misty Mawn.  It feels 

so good to be drawing and using my art supplies again!  I pulled out so

many things that I hadn't touched in years, like 15 years!!!!  Also, I love how

Juliana Coles says, "touch your stuff".  She is of course talking about 

art supplies.  It is so important.  I am feeling a huge freedom to just make

art and not WORRY about what happens.  I love online classes.  Thank

you wonderful teachers!  You are inspiring me to work!

Just doodling here.

And I Feel (Like I Just Got Home)

Madonna's Ray of Light Video

So, it took me 3 hours to drive home from work this afternoon.  Can you say, WOW! with me, please?
I am safe, alive, my car worked well, etc.  I am happy.  Please click on the above link to Madonna's "Ray of Light" video to see how I felt when I finally got home!!!

Self-Portrait Drawing

I'm going to be doing a lot more drawing in the next week, for the Stretching Within Class (with Misty Mawn).

Tonight I drew an apple, my cat, and myself.  Here's a quick photo of me with me!  Don't I look so happy????  Goes to show you that looks can be deceiving.  Tired, yes, Unhappy, no.

Mish Mash Monday (in Photos)