Latest Bi-weekly Lotto entry

The latest ARTchix bi-weekly lotto is Spring/Easter Hats.

I used ARTchix Green World Collage Sheet and a french scrap piece for the background, Sassy Style Image Sheet for the woman and colored her in with Martha Stewart's Dye Ink Markers, Dress it up! Collage Sheet for the hat which I embellished with Smooch Accent Ink and stick on rhinestones, lastly I finished the whole thing off with a crown brad.

My first 4x4 collage swap!

You may already know I am pretty new to the ATC/small canvas world of art. In fact, I only discovered it a couple of months ago. Since then I have been stretching myself, stepping out of my comfort zone, and jumping in with both feet as much as I can.

I have created quite a few ATCs and have been fortunate to have traded for some really amazing art. I have tried one twinchie challege (the results of which have not yet been revealed) and now I am trying my first 4x4 swap.

I discovered that the wonderfully talented Lenna Andrews was hosting Roads + Paths: a 4" x 4" Collage Swap and once I read the theme I knew I had to sign up. You see one of my passions is taking photographs and I naturally have a tendency to shoot pathways of one sort or another so I felt this was a challenge I could definitely do.

I went through my albums, printed off several possibilities and finally selected 4 that inspired me. Each photo was taken by me personally in 2008 on a trip to New England. The quality of my photo leaves a little to be desired but hopefully you will get the idea.

 I printed them on card stock, cropped them to 3.5" x 3.5" then mounted them to 4"x4" water color paper.

Clockwise from top left:
Cog railroad tracks at Mount Washington, NH finished with pen and ink;
Sweetgrass Winery, Union, Maine finished with colored pencil;  
Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse, Maine finished with card stock collage;
Stream under railway at Mount Washington, NH finished with water colors.

Smooch Spritz, YAY!

I am ubber excited that one of my favorite online supply places Sky Blue Pink is now offering Smooch Spritz sprays.
I had recently heard some wonderful ideas using them but couldn't find them so I wrote to Queen Zena (the altar ego of Christina Gibbs, owner of SBP) and respectfully asked if she would be carrying them. Low and behold, two days later she is offering them. I love you Queen Zena! If you haven't ever been to her site you should absolutely check them out. Her prices are amazing and the are super cool people to deal with! Here is the link to the sprays if your are interested http://www.SkyBluePink.com/media.html#smoochspritz

I am hoping to get some new art created this week but my custom clothing is keeping me busy at the moment not to mention its Spring Break so the little one is home and bored.

Have a great week!

Made up words, art and news!

We are kind of know in my little clan for making up words. Yesterday evening as I lay in bed checking my email, my daughter looked at me and said why do you look snarfely? After we stopped laughing and caught our breath I asked her what the heck that meant? She proceeded to contort her face and make a sort of sneering, eye rolling, wacko face. I am not sure we ever fully defined it but it was funny none the less. Do you make up funny words too?

On an artistic note ...here are my 3 latest ATC creations.

I found out yesterday one of my yahoo groups is shutting down. I am disappointed but rebounded quickly by finding a couple of new groups to join... Art For The Creative Mind and Mixed Media Art Friends. I am very excited about finding more artsy people and having the opportunity to play with mixed media which is one of my favorite things to do.

Well, that all for now. Until next time......have an artistic week.

I made the homepage!!!!!

I am beyond humbled and honored to have my "Jade Cove" posted as the home page art on my yahoo group FineArtsOnetoOne. Thank you Sanna and the rest of the "family" for welcoming me, inspiring me, and pushing me to be a better artist. ~Marnie

Pacific Coast Cards

I received my Lyra Aquacolors in the mail today and just had to try them out. I created these little lovelies while resting in bed today. Each one was inspired from my original photography. I used a combination of water color pencils, pen & ink, dye ink markers, white pigment pen, and of course my new Aquacolors.

Bi-Weekly Lotto Entry - "Drama"

Here is my entry for the ARTchix bi-weekly lotto titled "Drama".

I started with bristol cardstock, I taped off the right side (where the film strip would be) then aged the rest of the paper with Tim Holtz's Distressed Ink Pad in Linen. I removed the tape and stamped the entire card with Tim Holtz's ATC stamp "Photograph" (part of the Creative Collages collection). I drew the theatre curtain freehand using Marth Stewart's dye ink markers in Lady Bug and Brick. The hollywood image is from the Glamour Girls collage sheet available at ARTchixstudio.com trimmed to tuck into the curtain. The final touch was to add some d r a m a letters into the filmstrip.

My 1st Twinchie Challenge

I have been promising myself ever since I joined the ARTchix yahoo group that I would participate in an inchie or twinchie challenge. So far every one that has come up I have managed to excuse myself out of it. Well not this time! Even though I am on my 7th day of a pretty bad upper respiratory infection and I only had a mere few hours to do 6 of them, I sat myself down and did it! Here they are....I hope your like them. Now I am going back to bed.

Taking a moment to brag....

about my daughter's first dance competition..... her trio placed platinum first place and first overall!! I am so very proud.

Sick in bed...

I hate this! I have been sick all week, in bed, with no energy. You would think the Gods would at least have mercy and give me a little energy to create while I do nothing buy lay here. But no! So here I sit propped up in bed with my laptop while the deadlines for all the lottos and swaps quickly approach. Bah!

La Chat et La Lune

I love having a husband that speaks French! Everything sounds so great. My latest collage piece is called The Cat and the Moon. I used an ATC canvas, acrylic paints, a recycled cup holder from Starbucks, a hand drawn cat, and a clip art moon from ARTchixstudio.com.

I also created two fine art ATCs: Crescent Tree and Spring Leaf. I am really ready for some warmer weather and that unequaled green of spring. How about you?

Crescent Tree is done on water color paper with a water color background. The tree was hand drawn with sepia pens and then filled in with acrylic paint.

 Spring Leaf is a combination of water colors, dye ink marker, and Micro pen on water color paper.

Avoidance creates Art!

Yep, I have spent the last few days doing anything to avoid work. Instead I would much rather play and be in my artist space doing what I love! Consequently, I have created 4 new zens. Check em out!

The first two were inspired by some cute cards I got at Michaels yesterday.

This one was inspired by a fish I saw on the old James Bond movie "Diamonds Are Forever".

This last one was an attempt at self therapy after my daughter didn't come home when she was supposed to. Need I say more?

From picture to paint..

Below is my latest project....Cemetary Path. The first photo is the acrylic on canvas ATC I painted (with some artistic liberties). The second photo is the original photograph I took of an old cemetary in Boston.

I decided to paint the ATC in a portrait fashion rather than landscape to give the viewer a stronger feeling of being in the scene.

I am on a roll today!!

I have posted a new collage piece that my daughter and I did together, and 3 new water colors. Check em out!

Dragonfly II

This one I created while my daughter practiced at the dance studio. Hey, its one way to kill three hours!

Olympic Inspired Zens

Last week while I was watching the Olympic Ice Dancing, the Original Dance portion where they dressed in traditional county costumes, I was inspired to translate that into zens. From top to bottom, Western, Cancan, Moldova.