dance....

...the Melange Team has a weekly challenge...last week the prompt was INSPIRATION and this week the prompt was DANCE. I actually combined both words for one piece....now this is not a new piece of art but the story behind it has made me the artist i am today....10 years ago i was a mom to a 4 year old girl and a 5 year old boy ...i was teaching art 3 days a week...had no time for myself let alone my art....randomly i signed up for an encaustic painting class at the local museum, the class ran 3 or 4 days all day...i had not painted in YEARS! but i was starting to realize in my case a happy mom is a painting mom...after the four days of the class not only was my car filled to the roof with art but through this encaustic class i realized you could paint...layer...collage... and literally stick things in the painting/wax....you could also scratch words into the medium...(the words here were lyrics from a song my daughter sang)....that is literally the exact moment i became a mixed media artist!...what freedom! this piece was inspired 10 years ago by my daughter as a 4 year old ballerina! Flash ahead to the MAy/June Issue of Cloth Paper Scissors where my Playful PAintings feature is about my current day series of paintings with my daughter as a young dancer....so often with my art in one way or another it is all connected....so this is my challenge piece combining the words INSPIRATION and DANCE.

nest house..... old doll house discovery...

...my NEST house is another piece added to my house series...i am all about the polka dot a go-go....I "heart" the hunt... for me i remember finding the doll house at a yard sale that i used to create this piece...my eclectic house is full of yard sale and flea market finds...out with the new in with the old....

Beach ladies a go-go...

pink suit....purple suit...polka dots all around!

sold!

... new mixed media pieces...collaged with layers of paper& paint topped off with a layer of beeswax. i have been playing a bit with adding plaster to surfaces...using it for texture and to block out spaces...i use the gauze strips embedded with plaster...you dip them in warm water...as an elementary art teacher i use this medium for maskmaking...and a very cool shoe project i do with my fifth graders...can't wait to hit the beach...

stu-stu-STUDIO

i am most excited because i am heading to Brimfield on Thursday....Brimfield is in MA. and is a huge flea/antique market in open fields...there are literally hundreds of dealers and all kinds of characters buying and selling....it is a fun day...i am looking for vintage game pieces and bowling pins...let the hunt begin....so i am posting some pics of my studio so you can see how i totally need more STUFF!

....this dart board i picked up for 1$ at a yard sale...i use it as a bulletin board... more later....

MOM Cupcake

this is my challenge piece for this weeks Melange Team....the word was....MOM! it is a cupcake created with clay and many little bits and found objects. The base is a small terra cotta pot i picked up in a clearence bin somewhere..the little sign is made from a bingo card,a tinkertoy stick and a spool...hearts and lockets a go-go...my favorite thing is being a mom....my kids each day... make me simultaneously pull my hair out and laugh...a mom is only happiest as her saddest kid...think about that for a sec....xoxoxo to connor and harly from your mom! check out the Melange team blog for other fab. mom posts! http://melangeonetsy.blogspot.com/

New Blog banner....

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I am very excited about my blogger banner! I purchased this through etsy, Sandra was the designer and i think she did i great job....i love the snippets of my work she was able to use, including the snowmen, which oddly don't look so holidayish in mAy..here is Sandy's link she has a cool blog...and designs digitally as well as other treasures of art! thanks sandy!

http://sandy-sandyscreations.blogspot.com/

...i am slowly getting there with this blogging!

Beach Girl....

this piece is a mixed media painting on a 12"x12" canvas...she is indeed a bathing beauty...quite fabulous in her swim suit! I just listed her on my ETSY site....i have begun 6 smaller canvases inspired by this gal...for her i used paper mache for the figure...my smaller ones...nooooo....very painterly with a tad of abstract expressionism...