Later today...

We had a pretty quiet day today. Bill is recuperating from jet lag after his homecoming last night from China, but he still managed to mow the lawn today! He has tremendous stamina, but will crash tonight!
Our daughter Kate is working on a project in Toronto, but we had a nice chat this morning.

So, this afternoon I had a little fun with acrylic paints, seeing how they would work on different surfaces!

I took these pictures on our sunny porch and I think the shadows add a design element!

In the photo above, I painted with diluted acrylic paints on some lace paper from my stash. The upper right example is painting on a used fabric softener sheet.

This is another painted used fabric softener sheet.

That's it - a little fun with paint! I'm going to use these painted surfaces in a new collage tomorrow.

Hope you've had a pleasant day!!

Happy Mom's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

Sending you very best wishes for the day -

whether you are a mom, have a mom, feel like a mom,

know a mom or love a mom...

These flowers were delivered to me while my hubby

was in the air flying home from China!

What a guy!

And Angus is solemnly sending his best wishes, too!

That is his version of a smile!

Have a great day, whatever you do!!

Another May Painting

In my effort to do a painting every day in May,

as proposed by Dana on her blog,

I've come through six days out of eleven!

Here's today's effort:

This is an orchid I brought as a house gift to a friend a couple of years ago.

It was so pretty I took a photo, and just now pulled it out.

I dug out this little set of Windsor Newton watercolors

 I got  about forty years ago. I think it was called a "field" set, easy to carry when painting outside. 

It's interesting to me that I used to draw and paint frequently as a young woman,

but when my daughter was born, I became intrigued with fabric used as an art medium.

Also, my 'alone time' was lessened by the business of motherhood 

and my concentration definitely shifted. 

It's a bit of synchronicity that I responded to Dana's challenge 

when I saw it on Anne's blog. I'm enjoying making these little paintings and am thinking 

of doing more - definitely, at least, for the rest of May!! 

Hope your week has been a good one!!

Thanks for stopping by!

A Little Painting

I did a bit of painting this morning -

took out my gouache paints, very messy from past years of use,

did a small drawing  and painted at the kitchen counter!

It's still gloomy and rainy out, so I decided to use bright colors.

Something to brighten the day!!

Wish I hadn't outlined the elements with my black Micron pen -

A habit I want to get out of!!

Hope you are having a very good day!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Angus on the Porch

This afternoon I did a little gouache painting inspired by a photo of Angus as a kitten.

I was a bit careless about the background, eager to finish up and wanting to get it on my blog.

I've been inspired by Dana to attempt to paint every day in May. If you look at her blog you will see her joyful colors and spirited paintings. It feels good to be creative with a different medium than I usually use.

For some reason, I'm not really as concerned about perfection as I usually am. Letting the paint flow a bit and doing the best I can seems to satisfy me, and I look upon it as a process. Perhaps I'll try to complete one finished painting by the end of the month!

Hope your Monday has been productive and creative!

It was beautiful and sunny here - much appreciated!!

A Creative Gala

Yesterday was such a fun and busy day as Kidcasso held its Golden Paintbrush Gala.

This was a true celebration of children's art, and Laura-Marie and her family and helpers set up beautiful

displays to showcase work children have done in classes over the past year. 

Laura-Marie Small, owner and educator

During the event, children, parents, grandparents and great-grandparents, 

as well as families and friends came to see the exhibits and enjoy the artwork. 

There were a few tables of adult artists, and both children, as well as adults, stopped to look.

 This was my display 

I had finished and framed a few more pieces during the week,

                                       

including this heavily beaded flower that had been left unfinished for a long time!

This abstract sold! I was happy about that.

It was terrific being part of this wonderful event and it was a very nice day!

Today I took it easy and cleaned up after all my framing and preparations.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any painting done, but I'm planning to get back into that tomorrow.

Hope you've had a great weekend!

Thanks for stopping by!

Painting on a Grey Day

Today was the kind of day when...

Angus buried himself in an afghan,

Rosie curled up on the sofa (see how dark it was?),

and I went to my laundry room/painting studio to paint fabric!!

I used my Setacolor transparent fabric paints and did some freeform flowers.

I knew that the color would be darker when wet, and that I would probably be

cutting this fabric up later to use for appliqué, but I like the whole garden effect also!

When it dried and I heat set the paint, it looked more like this:

I'll definitely be adding more details and color, but I'm off to a good start!

And, of course, Rosie roused herself from her nap to come downstairs to inspect

 every single move I made! 

We are promised sun tomorrow and it will be nice to see the gloomy weather lift!

Also, I'll be taking photos at the Kidcasso event and exhibit!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Thanks for stopping by!