Where am I?

I know it has been a while since I posted on this blog. That's because I haven't been creating. I thought moving my creative space to the garage was such a brilliant idea at the time, but now it's so hot that I can't stand to be out there for long at the time. I was opening the garage door and enjoying a nice breeze for a while, but that came to an abrupt change once the snakes started to show up and it started raining every day. Not just any old rain.....no....not here in Florida! It's the "sideways" rain like on Forrest Gump! (Btw, you have to say "sideways rain" just like Forrest if you're gonna say it) That just makes it more likely for the snakes, spiders, roaches, etc.... to look for shelter under the garage door. So no creative time for me any more. Not until we can figure something else out. I would move into our spare room, but that's the bird room. I'd move to the screen room, but it's friggin' hot and humid out there, too. Not good for my wood projects...or anything else I'd like to keep from getting moldy. Yuck!

I do have my sewing machine inside still, though, so I've been thinking of coming up with my own pattern for the cloth and clay dolls so I can sell those on Etsy. I can make them all day long for myself using Jane DeRosiere's pattern, but when it comes to selling them I really need my own pattern. The thing is, her pattern is so simple and efficient that anything I have thought up so far is too close to hers. It's harder than I thought to come up with something that is different enough to not be copyright. So you may be seeing more C&C Dollies here soon. I have to get something going or I'll just go nuts. Joel has been working way more than usual. Maybe it just seems that way because of the oddball hours. Plus, Kolby is in GA and has been for a while. So I'm all alone with no creating. Seriously......I can't do this much longer! If I do I'll continue to focus on the not-so-great things. (Health stuff....trust me you don't want to hear about it)

Since I don't like to post a blog entry without posting some eye candy to go along with the boring old words, here's something I don't think I've shown on this blog before...

Since that photo she has been sealed and she's ready to be listed on Etsy.

Here's another one I don't recall posting here....

As you can see I made her into a card for Earth Day since she's supposed to be Mother Earth. I was too lazy to watermark her....DON'T steal her! ;-)

Oh, one other thing. I think I'll be revamping my blog pretty soon. I have a lot of links over there to the right. That clutters things up quite a bit. I think I'll create a post with all of my links and have a small link on the side bar that links to that post. I won't be listing blogs that don't have me listed on theirs, though, so if you see your blog disappear that's why. I've noticed a lot of the more successful blogs and Etsy sellers only link by exchange, so that's what I'm doin', too.

I'll be back soon with more images. I have tons of creations or even just drawings that have yet to be featured on the ol' bloggeroony.

XXOO ~Rischa

www.Rischa.Etsy.com

Blog Award

As mentioned in my previous post, I've been given an award (and a very cool looking one I might add) by the lovely and talented Vania. To be given an award by such a wonderful artist and all around cool person is quite an honor. Run, don't walk, to check out her BLOG so you can scroll through and check out her gorgeous artwork! Thanks again, Vania!

Apparently the Renee award was created by Bella and Ces in honor of their friend Renee.

So now it's my turn to choose 8 people to receive this award.

My chosen 8 in random order (except Mom is always first, of course) are:

1. Mom @ http://www.boggledbloggle.blogspot.com/
2. My crafty cousin Katie @ http://www.katie-anderson.blogspot.com/
3. Liese Martin @ http://deadpanalleyillustrations.blogspot.com/
4. Heather @ http://reverieart.blogspot.com/
5. Janine @ http://justplainbeans.blogspot.com/
6. JoMo @ http://pistudio.blogspot.com/
7. Jennifer @ http://www.blueskysunburn.com/
8. Thelma @ http://paintingsbythelma.blogspot.com/

XXOO ~Rischa

Kolby's Paintings

Kolby and I have been in the studio all week working on art. Mostly his art as I've been his lovely assistant while he learns new things. I managed to work on a little bit of my own, but not much. Anyway, he got interested in doing modern, abstract kind of art after viewing Gary Reef's vids on YouTube. Kolby likes his style and said it looked like fun the way he works on his masterpieces. He said he wanted to try it. This, of course, made my day. I had a ball this week working on these two pieces with him. Since Kolby is done with Math early for the entire year (yay) I let him work on art all week.

So without further ado, here is his first one, which he named, "Rush Hour". It's very large (I'd have to measure) and done on 3/4 inch stretched canvas.

His second piece isn't named yet. He isn't as happy with it, but I think it's because it's small and on a canvas board rather than a large, stretched, mounted canvas like the first one. It was the only larger canvas I had. I made a mounted wooden box frame for him, but he wanted canvas. He said he likes the texture. So a canvas board it was. Anyway, I love it. He signed it with a "K" stamp underneath that clear thing in the center. I don't know what those are called, but I'll show a close-up of it so you can see it better.

...and the close-up:

They both still need to be sealed. That last painting he used lots of 3D elements such as Hemp Rope, the Glass thinger, and wall texture. I used "Beachy" when naming those files because he said he wanted colors that were "beachy".

I have several other things that I want and need to blog about. One of them being that a really awesome fellow artist honored me with a blog award! Yay!!! I'll compose that post when I've chosen 8 people to pass the blog along to. Plus, right now I'm feeling rather cruddy and just want to go to bed. Nyquil is calling my name....along with my pillow.

Good night everyone!!

Artful Spaces; DIY wall art for the home

Look what finally came in the mail today!

Artful Spaces!!

Remember me talking about wanting this book in THIS & THIS post? The author of the book contacted me via my blog comments and let me know it was available on Amazon.com for the United States as a pre-order, I posted about it, and Mom sent me a message saying for me to not order it so she could get it for me. Sooooo.....here it is!!

I thumbed through it and I'm loving it so far. It has some great ideas to get you inspired!! I won't give any of them away...I'm thinking that would be a copyright issue. (notice the blurred words in the photo above?) I can say that anyone would be able to produce cool artwork with the help of this book's prompts. I'm super excited to get started on it! Thanks, Mom!!

Embroidery

I thought I would post a few pics of the newest thing that I've picked up. I've recently learned to embroider. It's all Katie's fault. LOL J/K Katie! I just started "doodling" with the threads and here are a few things that came from that.

I know I didn't do the start/end of the felty one right. I need to work on my blanket stitch. I've really enjoyed embroidery so far. I bought this book called Doodle Embroidery and it's SO COOL! I took photos of these and sent them to Candice and she'll be using them in her scrapbook designs. I can't wait to see them. She sells at ScrapDish.com if you want to check her designs out. They're very nice. I'm working on some embroidered things that will go in my Etsy shop, too....if I can ever get the courage to open it!

I've also been working on my WOW class. That's the class that Willowing/Tam teaches. You'll see her links in my sidebar if you're interested.

Happy April Fool's Day everyone! And Happy Birthday to my Uncle Jeff and my friend Christa's daughter. Wouldn't it be cool to be born on April Fool's Day? I bet sometimes people don't believe them when they say, "It's my Birthday today". LOL

A Painting & Excuses

First the excuses.... I know I've been gone a while from this blog. I haven't had a lot of time to be creative for various reasons. Sick, busy, new feathered additions to the family, doc appointments, shopping, & etc...

With the excuses behind me I'll go ahead and post the fun stuff. Here's one thing I did manage to finish.

The Blue Guitar:

The colors didn't turn out as pretty as they are in real life, but that's what I get for taking quicky shots with a point and shoot. No light box, no outside light, no nothing to help my photos look pretty. You get the idea, though.

FYI The guitar string is actually sewing thread dipped in Mod Podge. The musical notes are from a Ukrainian Hymnal and have a color wash of antique yellow over the top. The yellow color you see in the painting is really more of an antique yellow, as well, but the colors turned out kind of mustard-esk. This will be in my shop very soon. Opening is coming up! Yay!

Featured Artist

Today, Refuge Pour les Artistes will be featuring the work of a talented young artist named Kolby. Yup, folks.....my kiddo can paint! He doesn't enjoy it like his mom and both of his grandmothers, but he sure is good at it. He painted these two AWESOME birds for me when he went to visit my parents in GA back in 2005. He was around 12 years old then. Mom guided him through it, but he did the actual painting himself; or so they tell me. I'm so proud of these paintings.

There's a bit of a glare on the pink bird's pic. You get the idea, though. I should have taken it out of the frame and scanned, but I didn't. I wish he enjoyed painting. He thinks it's a girl thing, even though we've all told him otherwise. I guess because he sees so many females doing it around him? lol Maybe he'll change his mind some day. These are acrylic on 8x10 canvas board and mounted in wooden, painted frames.

Becky Kelly’s Watercolor 101

I’m really posting to test my new blog editor, Windows Live Writer 2009, but since I’m blogging I might as well post relevant content. Since I do not have any photos uploaded of my recent work, I’ll talk about a great web site I happened to find recently.

I was checking out one of Etsy’s Treasuries yesterday and noticed Becky Kelly was featured. I have heard of this artist before and I’ve seen her work, but didn’t know she was on Etsy. I admired her beautiful watercolor pieces for a while and then did a Google search. I thought she might have a web site with watercolor tips. She did! Her site is www.BeckyKelly.com. I’m really interested in Watercolor lately, so THIS part of her site really tickled my art fancy.

I love it when talented artists share their knowledge with those of us eager to learn! If you think about it, they really have nothing to gain by doing this except for our gratitude. It’s very generous, don’t you think? Like those artists on YouTube who show their techniques and ask nothing in return. Sure, it gets their name out there, but it also is giving away their secrets for other Artists to use. Pretty darn cool of them if ya ask me! But…..nobody did, so I’ll shut up now. lol

Digital Art & New Art Space

Joel and I have been busy this weekend working to get the garage cleared out. We're making a space for me in the garage to work on my art projects. I also built my light box, but I haven't got it set up to take photos quite yet. Tomorrow I will find a spot for it and take some photos. In two weeks I'll have a new work bench, too! Yay! Joel found a man that builds them to your specs for a very decent price. Here's what they look like:

Mine will be 8' wide, 2' deep, and 3' tall. I can't wait to get it!! The man that builds them is 88 years young. He said, "It keeps him off the streets". lol He had a really cute ad. Apparently he sold 4 of them yesterday. He must be pretty popular. Once I get this I will use this for most everything, but still use my old desk for sewing. It is a sewing desk, after all, so I might as well use it. I love that little desk anyway. I've always thought it was pretty since I first saw it at a yard sale. It's even better with paint splatters on it. More personality!

I've been quite busy, as I mentioned, so I haven't painted or made any dolls over the weekend. I did have a little Photoshop playtime last night, though. I thought I'd see what my latest painting would look like with a few filters applied. So here are some of the standard Photoshop filters used on my painting photo:

Dark Strokes Crackelure

Sumi-E...and my favorite, Stained Glass...

There you have it; Digital Art Play

Oh, I also picked up a few supplies at Wally World today. Just a few things like craft paint, a miter saw, an exacto knife, and another watercolor paper pad. Oh, and the white muslin for the light box. It was on sale for about a buck a yard!! Beat that!

Oh When The Saints....

....come marching in


Oh when the saints come marching in


Lord I want to be in that number...

Hehe....is that song stuck in your head yet? It is mine! I used to play that on the piano a lot when I was taking lessons. Probably because it was an easy tune to play and it's so catchy.

Anyway, she's done now with the exception of the sealer. I'll put some Golden Matte Gel Medium on her. She looks different from last night's post, obviously. I added more hair so it would look like some of it was coming around in front of her neck, I fixed her face a bit around the nose, I added the turquoise background, added some musical note stamps with white paint, and I then made her "Vintage" by rubbing on Walnut Ink with a T-Shirt. She doesn't look as simple or dull now. Still a bit on the simple side, but not simple to the point of boring. She told me she was done, so I'm not touching up anything else.....just the sealer.

Look for her in my Etsy Shop soon!

Thanks for stopping by! ♥

Saint Painting WIP

This will be quick. I'm so tired and it's way past my bed time. I wanted to show what I painted today, though. Sometimes, if I don't put them up right away I never do, so....

She'll be in my shop soon. I still have some touching up to do on her. I probably will do something else with the background, as well. She's pretty close to being done, though. I really liked using black gesso on this one. I think I'll buy black from now on. I love how it peaks through the paint.....if you let it, that is. I'm thinking it's part of my style. You know how they say artists all have their own style? I think I'm slowly finding mine. Anyway, I'll post more tomorrow. I took lots of pictures of the process that went into painting this one, so I may make a little slide show of her coming together. It all depends on time and motivation. Thanks for stopping by!

More photos of my work

....time for more photos.

Here's something I'm working on now.

That's what she looked like about an hour ago before I applied the Crackle Medium. I typed the words in Photoshop and printed them. Then cut them out and applied with Mod Podge Matte. The background I painted with "mud" colored paint and blotted with an old T-shirt. This is what she looks like right now as she's drying and waiting to be finished.

This is what I use for crackling.

Here is something I forgot to post that has been done for a while now. It's Andrew's matching painting that goes with the one I showed a couple of weeks ago.

Here's what they look like together.

And now that you're good and tired of seeing photos.....that's all folks! Thanks for stopping by!

Some of my latest creations

One of my recent paintings that will soon be in my Etsy shop was inspired by Ms. Penny Longbelly. It's called, Polk-A-Doxie. Pink Polk-A-Doxie, to be specific, because I plan to do more in different colors. The colors are a bit off in the photos I'm sure as I'm using my laptop and the monitor needs calibrating severely bad! I can never tell how bad the colors are off till I see the posts on my desktop. I'm too lazy to do the photo editing on there tonight, though. So anyway, here are the photos...

One more:

And here's a photo of a dolly I made. She's in love. See the daisy that her love sent her?

She's a school teacher. Can't you tell by the outfit? Isn't she proper looking?

Creative Textures

I have tons of stuff to post about, but never enough time or motivation. I'm making this a short one because I really should be in bed already.

I joined a new class called Creative Textures by Jane DesRosier and Maureen White. I really enjoyed Jane's last class and always enjoy all of her YouTube Videos. Not to mention she has become a friend of mine. So I thought I would invite you all to join this new class with me. You WON'T regret it! Click the image below...

Mt Dora Art Festival

I had a great time this weekend at the Mt Dora Art Festival. They say the event grows each year with more than 250,000 attendees in recent years. I believe it! It was elbow to elbow downtown! I wouldn't have missed it, though. It was so inspiring! I collected cards from each of my favorites, with the exception of a couple that were out of them. Here they are:

• J2 Gallery
• Victoria Sexton
• Jeffrey Kennedy
• Milenko Katic
• Sandra de Nijs
• The Metal Quilt
• KoKo' Brandao
• Andi Helfant-Frye
• Barbara W. Doncaster
• L. Balombini
• Madison P Latimer
• Robert Griffis Rodenberger

That list isn't even a drop in the bucket of how many talented artists were in attendance. If you can make it to the annual Mt Dora Art Fest, don't miss it! It will be worth a drive. Sorry, I don't have any pictures. I would have taken some, but the place was packed so tight it was hard to even move, for one, and they ask you not to take photos of the work, for another. I didn't want to make any artists nervous. I did take a video with my cell as we were leaving. It's on 12 seconds.com Nothing really interesting, though. Just 12 seconds of us leaving the festival. I'm trying to catch up with Joel in the short clip. Visit my other blog to view it.

I will be posting another painting that I finished soon, and another CC Doll.

New (& empty) Etsy Shop

I finally did it! I opened an Etsy shop. I haven't filled it quite yet, but I have some things on the edge of being ready to be shipped out. I'm thinking this week will be the week I get my listings up. I named it Pigments of Imagination. Click the banner above to go check it out.

Quicky Pic Post

I thought I would post a quick blog entry before retiring for the night. Just a photo of a painting I did yesterday for Candice's newborn, Andrew. She said she "LOVES" it. :-) It will be on its way to Vancouver this week. I just have to let the varnish dry so I can ship.

The angle of the photo makes it look a bit lopsided, but it really isn't. It's centered. I just quickly resized a photo and didn't bother making sure the photo was worth posting. :-P

Night all!

Lemonade Award

Lookie here!

Denise, over at Mountain Laurel Folk Art Studio, was generous enough to offer me a Lemonade Blog Award. Denise is a very sweet, artistic friend that I met through the Cloth & Clay Dolls Workshop. I knew she was a really sweet person when she followed my link to Mom's new blog to help welcome Mom to the blogging world. She leaves the sweetest comments. She's also a very talented artist, so stop by her blog and check out her creations. I appreciate this award and her friendship. :-) Thanks, Denise!

Okay, now for the directions:

To pick up the award, (1) comment at this blog (2) clip and paste the Award logo and attach it to your own blog (3) list your own ten favorite blogs (4) comment on their blogs, to advise them (5) Link back to my blog (I'd appreciate it :-))

So now for #3, my 10 favorite blogs. Some of the people I'd have listed have already received the award, so that made my choice a bit easier. I still had to whittle the list down. I have my own way of doing it. As with anything, "Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Moe" works best.

Sharon
Candice
Deirdra
Ann
Kristin
Thelma
Suzan
Jennifer
Kathryn
Dar

These are all in no particular order. Just the order I copied and pasted the links. ;-)

Something to Inspire

I found this on one of my many Ning.com art communities and just had to share it with my blog readers. You'll love it! Before you watch the video, though, be sure to scroll ALL the way down to my music player and turn the music off so you can hear the video.





I will post photos of what I've been working on soon. I've been bombarded by holiday frenzy, but things will soon be back on track with my art related activities. ;-)