Art Chickadee's Reflections

Getting in the Christmas mood

This is part of my sister-in-law, Stephanie's tree.  I loved her color scheme - lime and red and took some close-ups.  Then I played with them in Paintshop:

Kaleidoscope effect...

and I think this was neon or something...

Journal pages

Poor little Frank, my male parakeet, broke his leg somehow and has been wearing a bandage for two weeks now (it is hard to keep one on a bird; had to replace it yesterday as he had gotten the one the vet put on there nearly off).  He's coming along.  

Little artist girl.  

Quick sketch girls for some ideas.

Another journal page...sharing holiday cheer.

 

Journal Page, Painting and Clay bird

A bit of practice on cherry blossoms, bamboo and a peony before putting them on the painting for Susan Beth.  I hope she'll like it.  I'm pleased so far.  Just a tiny bit of detailing left, but need to think about it before it actually do it.

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This little Chinese girl represents Elizabeth, Susan's adopted baby from China.  She has a stuffed panda toy that she takes with her everywhere so of course one has to be in the painting with her.  :)

Then I got paper clay happy the other day and made a LOT of birds.  It was fun.  I have made two ornaments and this pull toy bird so far.  

Frida finished

One day while thinking about Frida Kahlo's life, I imagined the kind of frame that would be fitting for my painting of her.  She lived with so much pain for most of her adult life and because of it, it inspired her to make art.  I took a frame, and drilled some holes in the side.  Then, I put different sized screws and nails around the frame...some of which came from my dad's stash of miscellaneous hardware on his workbench.  I think he'd like that.  I painted bands of red, turquoise, white, black and yellow along the shank of the screws.  Seemed to evoke Mexico.

 

You know, I just realize I worked on this frame mostly this summer while recovering from shoulder surgery.  I literally was in pain as I was putting them in there and it was one of the first things I attempted after surgery.  Kind of fitting, huh?

Kimono girl journal page I did last night. :)

It's October!

My basket needed a re-do.  Same old arrangement in it forever so I pulled everything out and put some new things in there.  Looks like autumn!

Lil' pumpkin girl that I did while taking a drawing class with Tascha Parkinson.  Her classes are good...give you enough information at a time to work on successfully and good .pdfs to refer to.  You don't have to paint them or anything but I just went on and put in details.

New addition this fall...the jewel of a pumpkin from Belle Cottage.  Adds a bit of sparkle to a dark area and suited our living room, too.

 

Having fun with Tascha Parkinson

Well, I'm not actually in her presence having fun, but taking an online drawing class.  I've done two lessons so far, some sketches and one that inspired a painting.

I painted the side but then came back and stamped some script on just to add some interest.

I like Tascha's classes...they're fairly short but thorough and the .pdf's she provides are great illustrative drawings for the lessons.

New painting and a zentangle

Here's the painting I've been working on.  This scan isn't the greatest as the background is a darker green than this appears.  I added the dog bones, shadows, and the heart on the dog's keester.

Then while sitting outside with the Princess Pig this afternoon, I got inspired by fall and made this leaf zentangle.

A trip back to Squashapenny Junction

My son felt like doing some trainspotting so we found ourselves back at Squashapenny on a Sunday afternoon. Being a Sunday afternoon, I was a bit concerned that few trains would come through, but he wasn't disappointed...3 CSX trains and an Amtrak rolled through.  Meanwhile, Mom visited the good folks at Squashapenny.

That's one of the owners and she refused to let me get an unobstructed picture of her.  She's so cute, I don't know why she hides, but this was a fun shot anyway.  She was sitting on the porch pricing things and just generally waiting for customers.  

This birdcage is one of her displays of items.  She loves to put unexpected things together.  The picture doesn't do it justice.  You can't really see all the things inside...I told her it was a bit creepy as some looked like they were trying to get out!  lol

Above is another glimpse of the amazing amount of things to be found in the store. One word of advice if you visit, bring a flashlight and dress casually...it's a bit dusty in some spots and dark in others and you won't want to miss a thing!

Studio Time Saturday! Painting and Collage

This journal page started off simple with some paint, a few paper scraps and some writing.  Next thing I know, I've stamped with styrofoam peanuts and stenciled some dots, then drizzled paint and fly-specked some paint.

 

Then for a totally different palette, I went to the tropics for another page...

And lastly, finished a small collage that I started a few days ago. Lots of layers on this one, too.  Vintage paper with writing, old cigar label piece, scrap from inside an envelope, and a vintage flower (feels like maybe celluloid) from an old, old scrap book. Then a not-so-vintage fortune from a cookie. :)

This one is not a journal page but done on a square of masonite.