pinterest recognition: floral art

Continuing my exploration of my own Pinterest boards, this time I thought I'd share from my Art: Flowers board.... I absolutely adore a gorgeous flower.  I was a florist for 5-6 years and I found joy and pleasure working with the colors and textures of flowers and greens through the various seasons.  I'm somewhat stunted in my ability to draw more than a simple daisy-type shape, but I can sure admire those who do it so beautifully......


What exploration of floral art wouldn't start off with Georgia O'Keefe?  A genius!


Don Rankin


Nebo Peklo on Flickr


Exploded flower from Focus on Fiber


Poppies on Redbubble    OR


Poppies on Blue by Patty Baker


Dina Wakley


great collage/paint flowers by Elizabeth St Hilaire Nelson

Thanks for browsing - hope you found something inspirational.  You can visit my boards on Pinterest here.

week 31 for 365/2 (part 2)

July 28 - Aug 3

I loved participating in ICAD again this year (my 3rd year) and though I fell behind a couple times, I really wanted to finish so made the time to catch up.  The other sort of on-going project I started this year is Documented Life Project (DLP) and that one I have a bit more trouble staying on top of.  I've just never been much for daily journal writing so I've been trying to simplify it and just follow the prompts....it kinda works but I quickly and easily fall behind.

I think the last time I showed you a DLP page was week 28 so here's 29.  The theme for the week was "wish" - I have a couple of wishes scribbled in my circles - the main wish around this house is for Dan to find work.....he's been unemployed for over 2 years and though we'd love to retire, the funds just aren't there yet.  So - we need a job......if you hear of something, let me know! :)  I kinda like my circle theme (we're goin' round in circles!) and my date buttons turned out pretty cool. Colored in with inktense pencils.

Here's DLP for week 30 - theme here is to make a smash page of items gathered from the week.  Well I kinda sorta know what a smash book page is - basically a collage.  So I hung onto receipts and miscellaneous stuff and made a quick and messy collage:

I have receipts from Barnes & Noble and Chico's where I found a great bargain, we were camping at the beginning of the week so bits from the park brochure and price stickers from my yard sale the following weekend.......

I liked working in the ICAD format quite a bit for quick experimenting - my cards were 4x6 (plus that's the perfect postcard size when done!), so I've come up with a plan to work on my lettering.  I'm going to continue to use the index cards and see how many ways I can write "art". I hesitate to put a timeframe on it - that's a bit restrictive with my other commitments so it'll just be an ongoing project.......  First efforts:

Hope you're having a dynamite week and just enjoying the hell out of your summer (or whatever season you're in).

week 31 for 365/2 (part 1)

July 28 - Aug 1

Wrapping up ICAD - I have actually finished a few other things so they'll start to show up soon but I wanted to finish out this 61 day challenge.

#209, 210 - ICAD 56, 57

#211 - ICAD 58, 59

#212 - Final ICAD cards #60, 61

This last card is made with new washi tape that came in the mail today - Yay! These all came from Pretty Tape on ETSY - she has a great selection and reasonable shipping.

And here's all 61 ICAD cards spread out......I made some in there that I really like and need to go back and explore on a bigger format - let's see, I'll just add that to my to-do list, shall I????  :)

week 29 & 30 for 365/2 (part2)

July 14-20 and July 21-27

This will be a picture heavy one to catch up on my ICAD posting.  I've been keeping up with the making, just not the posting.....same for my 365 project - skim through and see if any catch your eye......

#198 - ICAD 44, 45 - a collage of cardboard, gelli, deli and table scraps; bottom is a doodle - like how it turned out.....

#199, 200 - ICAD 46, 47

one staple collage

#201, 202 - ICAD 48, 49

#203, 204 - ICAD 50, 51

#205, 206 - ICAD 52, 53

#207, 208 - ICAD 54, 55

That's a wrap for now....I'll share the final few next time.

pinterest love: dimensional art

As a self-admitted pinterest addict, here's a peek at some of the pins I've accumulated.  Here are a few from my Dimensional Art board.


Ines Seidel - made from 15 stitched together plastic bags.  Her blog is filled with delightful stitched paper constructions.

I've been a long time fan of Donna Watson's wonderful style.


Stitching, fabric, felt stones, etc. by Sharon McCartney.


"Calendar" by Diane L Wright


Gwendolyn Plunkett


I love the idea of adding rocks and sticks and natural elements to a canvas.  Brian Somers.


Wrapped sticks - LOVE this idea.... Bridget Hoff


A really fun idea - collaged weaving....will have to give it a try.  Laugh, Paint, Create

You can see more things on my Pinterest board......so much fun to be had!

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth

My goodness, how time flies when I'm not blogging! I went camping for 4 days, came back and got totally lazy about posting.  I'm still making art - well, making little creative things - some ICAD, some other stuff, but just haven't been motivated to scan/photo and post.

I'll get back to it soon, I promise.......

Here's a couple camping pics..... we go every year with 2 other couples and go somewhere new every year - usually in WA, but sometimes down to Oregon.  This year we headed to Penrose State Park on the Kitsap peninsula.

Our campsite was nestled in the trees, away from the hustle and bustle and kids in the other part of the campground.

Playing cards and drinks all around - til the ranger came and asked us to pay attention to the 10pm quiet time....were we really THAT loud????

Sunny and hot - we played croquet down by the beach.

We invented a game...think we named it bottle-kay.  We had 2 beer bottles about 40' apart and we had to hit the bottle, get down the 'field' and knock the other one over - repeat, to win. Of course, hitting another ball along the way gave you an extra shot. I had the dubious honor of being the only one to actually break a bottle.... We played about a million games of that!

I found hearts on our hike.....

There's an 'asemic writing' theme for MMSA postcards, so I was explaining what it meant to everyone.  During our hike, Dan noticed this tree stump and called me over and proudly said, "look at this example of asemic writing"!  That's my guy!

What fun thing have you done this summer?

week 29 for 365/2 (part 1)

July 14-20

#195 - ICAD #40, 41 - acrylics, stamps; inktense "stitches", lettering

#196 - ICAD #42, 43 simple do-in-front-of-the-TV cards.....micron & watercolor pencils

#197 - MMSA favorite city postcards- I cut up a visitor map for Barcelona as my base and added one of my photos for the sightseeing place on the map.  Top one is Parc Guell designed by Gaudi, well known for his architecture and love of mosaic.  This is a mosaic bench back in the park - so very cool!  Next one lower is Sagrada Familia, the famous church he designed that's STILL under construction and is an amazing vision.  Next down is another Gaudi designed building and finally a closeup of some tile on a museum column.

Though I live in Seattle and absolutely love it and would recommend you all come visit it, as a traveler, Barcelona is far and away my favorite city - I love the striking architecture, the food, the colors, the vibrancy of the city and the ease of finding your way around.  If you ever get a chance to go, GO!

A few of my pics from our visits (we've been twice) and unfortunately, photos before we owned a digital camera, so these are scanned in.

I'm on the mosaic wavy benches in Parc Guell, designed by Gaudi.  It's an amazing park, full of surprises and color.  (my hair wasn't always white! :)

A couple of the spires from Sagrada Familia.  It's the most unusual church design....odd and kind of creepy in some ways, but amazing for it's originality and design vision.....

Barcelona architecture.....

I'll be interested to see what other cities get chosen for this MMSA theme.....be sure and check out the upcoming themes - Karen keeps us challenged and it's always so much fun to get the postcards in the mail.

week 28 for 365/2 (part 2)

July 7-13

#191 - I started a new mixed media painting.....abstracting a piece of one of my photos....this is definitely a work in progress but I'm liking the start.  The orangey/golden color is painted over modeling paste for some fabulous texture.  It's the first time I've used modeling paste and I'm a fan.  I love the little peaks and points I was able to get and the visual texture is just fabulous.  I want to use it on everything! :)

Here's the picture I'm abstracting - a fender and panel from an old, rusty car.

#192 - This week's Documented Life pages: use a small (or Instagram) photo. I used 3 - one of me, one of
gelli prints and a rose....all pics I took.  I'm recording the temp and as you can see, we're pretty warm for Seattle.....and lovin' it.  Summer is finally here!

#193 - I've been keeping up with ICAD too, so here's the recap..... #36, 37 inktense & lettering, acrylics & bingo stamper

#194 - ICAD # 38, 39 - collage, washi, stamps

That wraps it for this week..... Hope you're enjoying your summer AND finding time to be creative now and then!