German Mill - posterized

German Mill - posterized
Originally uploaded by hastingshall2

I used the Photoshop Elements software to make a digital picture of one of my oil paintings. My original painting was made from a photo we took on a trip to Germany a number of years ago and was shown on my 360 Yahoo blog for September 18, 2007.

http://tinyurl.com/26895y

First Grade Art

Long ago and far away back in the dark ages first graders were taught not only to read, write and do numbers they were also taught important skills such as sewing. One of the projects required of my class was to make by hand a doll and something else. Here is some of my first school artwork. I suspect I had a little help but most of the hand sewing on these lovely pieces was done by a six year old.

Colored Doodle

This wild bit of art is the result of a phone call I got night before last. My talky friend kept me tied to the kitchen phone for over an hour. As usual, I began to doodle. Then I realized my brand new set of 30 Sharpies was within reach. I found a photo that was not a good image in the desk and started covering up the image with Sharpie colors. This is the result. I would say that it is very close to being a colored Zentangle

Uncle Robert and Leslie

This greetings card is made up of an alcohol ink/magazine page background. The reversed image in the foreground is a transfer I made of a photo - vintage 1930. My Uncle Robert is standing in front of his car, parked by the old home place's porch. He is holding his baby brother Leslie. Just a few years later Robert got to travel. He was in the U. S. Navy stationed on Yerba Buena Island in San Francisco Bay during World War II. Leslie didn't travel much as he died at age 13, but he was a very unusual young man. Leslie had many talents including building a crystal radio from scratch. I also remember that he could play the Jew's Harp and do puzzles. He was a hard worker and assisted his parents in maintaining their stall at the Farmer's Market on weekends. Here is the picture I did the transfer from.

Easter Sunday

My mother's grandfather's sister, Eliza Belle Weir, a Canadian born in 1855, married John Reid, a Scot. Auntie Belle was a character, a society lady, a poet, a Robert Burns fan, and an artist. She held Bobbie Burns teas and sent out hand-drawn and -inscribed invitations. Every holiday and every important family event was an occasion for one of her hand-painted cards. I am fortunate to have a number of her cards. Here is one entitled Easter Thoughts. The shape of the card is the pansy. I put a blue card behind it to make it show up better.

Jesus said in Luke 19:10: "The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost."
Have a wonderful day!

My Sisters

Happy Easter to my sisters! Wish you were here.

Time Flies

This is a greetings card I made. I can make it into a birthday card or a missing you card or a thinking of you card, depending on who I decide to send it to. Some of my cards are made especially and only for a certain person. Some of them are made to be adapted to a suitable person later on.

Backgrounds

Here are some backgrounds I made today using acrylic paints, luminiere paints, gold buff-n-rub wax, and some Pearl-Ex mica powders. The scans don't do justice to the sheen and the iridescence of the luminiere paints and the Pearl-Ex. I'll probably them for greetings card backgrounds.

Random Act of Kindness

Martina from Germany has sent me these exquisitely done ATCs as an RAK. Even the reverse sides are finished beautifully as well as the edges. Thanks so much, Martina, for the beautiful works of art.

Digital Art

This is a piece of digital art I made using an image of the ATC below that I had created with a travel brochure.

Ode to Strauss

One of the Yahoo groups is having a Green and Gold Challenge. I have busied myself with all sorts of combinations of green and gold. Here is an ATC I made honoring Strauss, using one of the travel brochures we received in the mail.

Tinted Lady

Several days ago I used Sheer Heaven® to transfer some images of women to watercolor paper. This was fairly rough textured paper instead of the smooth surface recommended by the makers of SH. After transferring the images, I noticed that a good bit of ink was still on the SH. I decided to use it instead of throwing it away. This ATC is made with one of those spent SH images, which I later colored with pencils on the rough side. I placed the rough, painted side against the background so that the smooth side was up. The background behind the figure has been embossed with gold powders. In the upper left corner is a small experiment. I used Golden soft gel over a printed picture and let dry overnight. Yesterday, I peeled off the paper and then rubbed the residual paper off the back. This little corner is but a small piece of my gel transfer material.

Volunteering

Today I started a new job. I'm going to be spending one morning a week volunteering at a local nursing home helping with activities. When I filled out the application, I had in my mind that I would be helping with arts and crafts. Today I wrote letters, chatted with some of the residents, met a lot of the staff, and helped pass out lunch plates and juice. One of the residents has the same interest in women mystery writers as I do, and we have read lots of the same books. That was fun. Another one, a man, has taken up sketching since he has been a resident. His works look a lot like colorful Zentangles. I have some black and white ones on my Wordpress blog. I told him about mine and plan to take them in next week. I think he'd enjoy doing that. I'm looking forward to next week to see what's been planned for activities then.

ATC for Swap

This ATC was made using Sheer Heaven® to transfer the image to the watercolor paper. I threaded yarn through her hands to show her working with wool to fit the scripture shown. This ATC is for a swap with the Christian Paper Artists Yahoo group. I love that Sheer Heaven for transferring images. See what I did with the used SH on my 360 blog (see link in my blogroll).

Iris

Here is a watercolor that I made a few months ago.

Background for Card

Well, thankfully we escaped any damage from the storms that came through in the night. The lights flickered off and on for a short time, but everything is sunny and clear today. DH has gone off to play golf (in this wind!) and I am delighted that my computer is still working. This is a background I made on a piece of double-sided card stock. The green side is the back. I put down blobs and streaks of gesso on the yellow side and let it dry overnight. Then I took some golden yellow and some yellowish green acrylic paints and lightly dabbed across the surface. I will probably use this for a greetings card although the width is 2.5 inches so I could get 2 ATCs out of it. I'll just have to see what it says to me later on. I wish you could feel the texture on this. Really neat.

Storms

I hear thunder and I know that we often lose our electric power around here. If no new posts appear for a few days, think of us here in the dark and cold and without water (we have a well).

Barn

This is one of my older oil paintings. I used to do a lot of barns and old wood paintings.

Fun New Art Supplies

I am so excited! My order from Create For Less arrived and I am having so much fun experimenting with the new Paper Accents® papers. I got glossy white, which I have used in making this card, and a variety pack with several grays, blacks, and whites of different finishes. I also got Rubber Stampede® mini ink pads in some gorgeous colors and some Urchida Wet Looks® clear embossing pens. The card was first misted with some alcohol inks. Then I used rubber stamps and my new inks. I love the high gloss finish to this card.