Stiff Neck

Sunday morning I woke up with what I thought was a stiff neck. It gradually became more painful to the point I considered the hospital by Sunday night. First thing Monday, after a long, sleepless night, Joel took me to the doctor. She seems to think it's an RA (Rheumatoid Arthritis) flare up. I've had many of those, but never in my neck. Anyway, long story short, I've been taking muscle relaxers and anti-inflammatories all week. They're helping, but I've mostly just slept. Which means less creative time. I have managed to do at least a tiny bit each day. And I do mean tiny.



Hopefully I'll be back at it soon and will be able to show you something finished.

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Mixed Media Portrait WIP

Mixed Media Portrait Work In Progress - Golden & Liquitex acrylic paint, graphite, gel pen (so far)

Joel and I visited a great new art supply store in Eustis called Drawn To Art. It's in a beautiful new building downtown.



Across the brick paved street is a new park where the old hospital used to be. I snapped a photo of a sign that leads me to believe this could be a fun place to play!



Once we went into the store we met the owner, who was extremely friendly and down to earth. He didn't have an item I was looking for, so he offered me a few things to try instead. I left there with 6 4x4 canvas boards, a white gel pen, and some titanium white gouache paint, free of charge! I did offer to pay for everything, but he insisted. I plan to go back and offer to pay again. I'm one of those odd people that doesn't feel right about taking free stuff. I love bargaining, but free feels like stealing. I do love local service like that, though. He knows how to make a lifelong customer. Anyway, so as you can see I gave the wood blocks a bit of a break today in favor of one of those mini canvases, courtesy of Drawn To Art. Right now she looks like she's sucking in her cheeks. She'll get an anti-duckface surgery tomorrow.

PS. I'm still on my September creative streak!

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In The Works

I didn't have a large block of time to paint today, but I managed to get a bit further along on the orange/red block.




I colored her hair and hated it, so I went back to white and will decide what to do with it tomorrow.



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Miscellaneous Going Ons

This work in progress is what's on my work bench at the moment. I'll try to finish her details (hair, lips, eyes, clothing, etc...) tomorrow.

I did decide to paint the edges of the last girl.



I did a a few other details, too, even though I THOUGHT I was done.



I've continued my streak of creativity. I've been in my studio working on paintings, however short the time might have been some days, every day this month so far. I hope to continue this streak. Wish me luck!

In a totally separate subject, check out this visitor to our yard today.



He isn't a stranger. We see him, and his larger friend, a lot in our trees. It makes me nervous since we have two little dogs. He sure is beautiful, though.



This photo is from the back and may be harder to see, but his back feathers are so pretty!

I hope you all have had a nice weekend!

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Strong

I'm not quite finished, but I'm pretty close. Here's the progress for today.



...and a texture shot.



One more just for kicks.



I don't know if I'll paint the sides or leave the wood grain. I will more than likely separate her and the word from the background a bit with a dry brushed white halo. We'll see where she goes tomorrow. :)

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W-I-P Wednesday

Here's the progress on the greenish blue block. I had hoped to be posting a finished painting by today, but a doctors appointment yesterday didn't allow for a lot of creative time. I did sketch in the shape of her face yesterday, so I have kept up my streak of having creative time every day. Maybe I'll be able to finish her tomorrow.


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Vlog: Books, Pancakes, & WIP's

Another Vlog! In this one I ramble about current Works In Progress, books I'm reading, magazines, collage papers, and even pancakes. Sheldon also makes another appearance.

I hope you all had a Happy Easter! Or if you don't celebrate Easter, Happy Sunday!

My ATCs

For some reason it keeps slipping my mind to show the Artist Trading Cards that I've made and traded. Thank you for reminding me on Facebook, Candice! Sometimes I need a little push. It's funny, I seem to have surrounded myself with people that are willing to motivate me. Just this past week Christa got me all fired up to make some Frida Kahlo inspired ATCs for our next trade. We also trade art sites via email almost daily and talk about art even more than that! I call my friend, Sharon, my "Fairy Art Mother" because she's always prompting me to create. Which is EXACTLY what I need! Mom is right there with them, as well, with her motivational prompts. Thanks ladies! I really don't know what I'd do without you all!

Okay, so the first 3 ATCs that I made all looked pretty much like this:

I made the first one, the one above, to keep for myself. Call me sentimental, but I had never made an ATC and thought I should keep the first one. Plus, it was great practice at painting so small before I went on to make the two I made for Christa and Sharon. I'd rather mess up on mine than theirs.

For this one I basically just used Golden Acrylic paint and Matte Gel Medium to seal. For the back I simply adhered a pretty piece of scrapbook paper.

Here are a couple of Work In Progress Shots I took with my Cell of the Chickies being made. Sorry, the Blackberry didn't take very good photos.

After these I decided to try a Collaged ATC like Sharon did for the ones she sent me.

For this one I started with torn white tissue paper and pasted it using gel medium. Then I used watered down Golden Liquid Acrylic paint on top of the tissue paper in spots. I found the image shared on one of my Ning networks, I resized, printed, cut out, and pasted with more gel medium. I used clear embossing ink and powder to apply the letters D A N C E. I then realized it didn't show up very well, so I outlined it in waterproof ink. Then I wrote the words underneath and made a border with the same pen. I then sealed it and started working on the back. For the back of this one I just painted with a matching paint color and used gel medium again to adhere my biz card. Sharon said she wanted to see it, so I just stuck it right on there. I sealed it all with Golden Matte Medium.

I have a few more in the works. I'll show those when someone prompts me to do so. LOL I'm just kidding. I'll try to get them up as soon as they're done.

Thanks for stopping by!

xoxo,
Rischa

PS. Did you notice my new snaggable badges? Grab one for your blog, why don'tcha? They have a transparent background, so your blog's background will show around the scalloped edges. Just copy the code underneath and paste it into the sidebar. For Blogger blogs you'll just add a gadget, choose the HTML option, and paste my code into the large empty field. Save and you're done!

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!

Doll WIP

Just an updated photo of my Dolly work in progress. I just have to give her a crackle finish and rough her up a bit. She looks too perfect. She needs a vintage look.

....one more...

She needs more personality. I'm working on it. I'm pretty tired, so this is a short one. See ya!

Meet Cynthia May DoLolly

I haven't given her make-up (paint) yet, but here's Mrs. DoLolly's debut...

I really enjoy playing with this clay. I think I'd like to do it more often. I could maybe even make my own clay bowls and paint them? I don't know, but I do know I enjoy it. How do you like her name? Mrs. DoLolly is the matriarch of the DoLolly family. She will have many sons and daughters. Perhaps that's why she has a double chin? Ha!

Tomorrow she'll get a make-over, complete with arms, legs, and make-up. Then she'll get her Tea-stained skirt. Well, we can't have her running around without a skirt on, can we? She'd get a reputation!! I may have her holding something. A stuffed heart? Clay Bible? Cross? Puppy? I don't know yet. We'll see what she's in the mood for when I'm done.

A WIP and Play Time

I worked on that WIP from yesterday's post today. I decided to take Katie's suggestion of blue hair. I love the hair! I think from now on my girls will have CRAZY hair like this. Who says only old ladies and goth princess' have blue hair?

....and here is the result of some play time with Water Soluble Oil Pastels:

Okay, so it's not stunningly gorgeous, but it was fun. It was my first time using WSO Pastels. I enjoyed playing with them. I highly recommend you pick some up. I got them at an office supply store per Suzi Blu's suggestion to use them on our Mixed Media pieces for her class. SOOOOO fun! They look like crayons, but act more like watercolor pencils. You can use them wet or dry. You can also smudge them just like regular oil pastels. The brand name that I got is Portfolio. They're in a green package and cost about $10. If any of you happen to go buy them and use them I'd love to see what you create! Link to your image in my comments! I plan to use them in the background of the Blue Girl Birdie Love painting.

My Angel

She doesn't have wax on her yet, but here is my finished Angel Girl:

It's not my best attempt, but hey....it was fun and I like her anyway. I love using that Golden brand Gold Metallic paint. It's so perfect for things like this.

Here's a close-up:

I'm really tired of working on this cheap-ass wood. I wish I had got the Birch or just stuck with canvas. Even if it was those cheap Walmart canvases. For one thing it's harder to draw because the pencil wants to follow the grooves and cracks in the wood. It's not smooth wood like Birch. For another thing, I don't particularly love my girls to have cracks in their face....even if it does give them character. lol

I'm working on another girl already. I've drawn her, but no shading or color yet. I've also still got to draw the tree and birds. She'll be holding a bird up to a tree so she can be with her partner that's already waiting on her in a limb above. ;-)

Can you see her? It's hard to see when there's only pencil, I know. I think I'll give her pink hair. Or maybe purple or blue? Who knows, but it'll be a bit funkier than the other girls. Or maybe just black? I haven't tried a black-haired girl. Nah.....I'm going with funky colors. lol And maybe an oddball tree, too?? Don't know yet, but we'll see what my muse tells me. Wanna see my muse?

Here she is....

Hehe.....gotta have a sense of humor.

Bye all!

Another WIP

Just a shot or two of what I'm working on right now.

The owl is made of scrapbook paper. I added paint and antiqued it a bit, too. I haven't actually affixed it to the painting yet, but I will. I also have some other drawings on watercolor paper that I've cut out and will apply to the painting.

Here's a shot of my little work area:

It's a mess, isn't it? It gets the job done, though. Not the prettiest area to have in a living room, but....it's necessary.

Ok, I'm off for now. Check back soon as I have info on another class I'm taking. It's on how to make clay dolls. It should be fun! :-)