Mandala Canvas Art

I have been wanting to try my hand at a mixed media mandala and I finally had my chance this past weekend. I know, I know. We're moving and there's stuff to pack and sort and...well...I have to feed my soul somewhere in the mix too. :o)

 

I've made my share of mixed media canvases. I love the process of adding layers of color and texture to a canvas and seeing how the final piece emerges over the course of the project. It's just so fun and gratifying.

I actually started this canvas a couple of months ago by adhering some thrift store sheet music to a 12" x 12" canvas. Then I drew a loose mandala that I didn't care for right from the beginning. The layers of paper caught my pen as I drew, making the lines jagged and not pleasing to my eye. At the time I decided to step away from it for a while, vowing to come back to it at some point when I had the gumption to take it in a different direction.

Then I found myself in Louise Gale's online Mixed Media Mandala Class and this happened:

I added layers of acrylic paint, watered down a bit. I finally used an empty paper roll as a stamp and that was fun - will definitely do that again. The next photo is what my canvas looked like after about 30 minutes last Saturday morning. The word "REFRESHED" was placed on the canvas for photographic purposes only. I kind of liked it there...

I almost didn't want to cover this background with anything! It was just fun to look at imagine the possibilities, you know? But I am so glad I did cover it, because this just might be my favorite mandala ever!

I used watercolor paper to paint strips of paper and then cut the petals you see glued on my canvas. I love that the thick paper stands out and gives this piece more dimension. I used a fine black Sharpie sparingly, and a gold Uniball pen for pop. The rest of the lines and dots were added with acrylic paint.

This piece will hang in my new craft room some day, along with all the other mandala canvases that are surely in my future. As I type this morning, there's a partially completed pink/orange/white canvas to my right...

A girl's gotta' feed her soul, you know.

♥

This weekend's canvas art party

Hey there, blog friends.

Happy Monday morning to you!

♥

Now you might be thinking, "Wow, that's a very cheery greeting for a Monday morning, Deb!" and I would agree. But this past Saturday was the best kind of Saturday ever. I'm still basking in that happy feeling you get when you spend some time doing what you love with people that you love. I'm so excited to show you...

When I created and posted the circus themed canvas art that I'd made for Carrie back in 2011, my friend Jenn started in on me. At first she wanted to pay me to make her that canvas, but Jenn is a crafter like me. "You can totally make a canvas like that," I encouraged her.

 

This past Saturday Jenn hosted a crafting party in her home, and I led some of our friends in the process of creating canvas art. I love the process of this art anyway - seeing the piece come together and kind of morph into something amazing is just so cool. It was so much fun for me to see my friends creating their own canvases, and to see their own unique personalities in each piece of art. This one is the beginning of Barbara's:

 

And this next piece is the beginning of Corri's. Corri has an amazing eye for color combinations, and I just love the colors she chose. She wasn't able to finish her canvas on Saturday because she had other obligations, but I just love the beginning of her canvas. She's making this to hang in her baby girl's room:

Oooh, and then there's Carrie's canvas. There are so many things I love about Carrie's piece. She used a gold stamp pad on her canvas, and she cut that guitar freehand. And! She loved the process so much that she wants to make another canvas soon. Happy Momfriend! :o)

My canvas in the beginning...big surprise...sunflower...

 

Here's Carrie's finished piece - complete with a quote from Jason Mraz. Another big surprise if you know my girl C.

Let me tell you about my friend, Jennifer. She is an elementary school teacher, and she has three little boys and a beautiful home and a heart of gold. And this girl is one creative spirit! I loved being in her home and seeing all of her sweet touches. Her artistic spirit and love for her family is so well represented there. This girl was determined to make this circus canvas, and she wore her 3-month old baby boy for a good part of the time.

 

We all agreed that Jett was the cutest wardrobe accessory we'd ever seen. This was Jenn's view of her canvas for a good part of the day: {PS: I held Jett a lot too, and we became very good friends. :o)}

Jenn's canvas in progress:

And then there's my artist friend Barbara. Barbara is one of the most creative and artistic people I have the pleasure of knowing. I knew her piece would be amazing! {Some of my Instagram friends know her as @mimrpic.}

And here are a few people-photos...

Jenn, Carrie, me, Jett, Corri and Morah. Still bummed we didn't get a group shot so Barbara could be in this photo!

 

:o) I loved creating this recap of our Saturday together, creating canvas art and holding sweet little babies. See why I'm in such a good mood this Monday morning? Love.

 

Wishing you a wonderful week, dear friends.

♥

Summer Solstice 2014 ~ Sunshine Art

Carrie and I were resting on our mats last Saturday when our yoga teacher entered the room and cooed, "Happy Solstice, yogis." In my mind I searched for "What date is this..." and was like, "Hey yeah! Summer solstice...totally forgot about that..."

I love that this particular yoga teacher will choose a theme to repeat throughout the course of our class. On that day she recited this piece from Rod Stryker, over and over: "In me there is a light that lights up the whole world. It radiates truth, boundless will, action and knowledge." She repeated it enough times that I committed it to memory, and as soon as class was over I jotted it down so I'd remember when I got home.

I knew that I'd be working on an art canvas later that day, and I was thinking of putting those words on it. I mentioned it to Carrie after class, thinking she'd say, "Oooh, I love that..." but she didn't respond quite like that. Ha. Daughters. Once she voiced her opinion I second guessed myself and the direction of my canvas art.

But, I'm glad I did. I went home and pulled up the file in my computer where I save quotes I like, and these lyrics written by John Lennon couldn't have felt more perfect. I love the song, "Across the Universe" anyway. This was meant to be!

The part about how I made it:

The art canvases I've made in the past have been done with acrylic paints, but this time I used watercolors and loved every bit of it! I used an 8" x 10" canvas, used mod podge to attach sheet music and then added a wash of blues and purples. And the suns rays got yellow and orange. Yes, the text is French - ooh la la. The half-circle for the sun is a piece of white fabric. I wet it with water first, then did a wash of yellow, orange, and a little red.

I ironed some freezer paper to the back of some unbleached muslin to keep it stable while I stamped my words, then I cut it into strips and peeled the paper off before attaching it to my canvas. I outlined all the pieces with a black Sharpie, stamped it randomly and called it good.

And there you have it ~ my little sunshine art to

commemorate Summer Solstice, 2014.

☀

The Man and The Mountains

I met Michael 10 years ago at a party hosted by a co-worker. We were standing at the food table and exchanged brief pleasantries as we unknowingly eyed the same bowl of dip. He and I went for the same dip at the same time, and as we pulled our respective chips out, Michael's dip dripped onto the back of my hand.

Each of us held a cold beer in one hand and a dripping chip in the other, with no napkins in sight. Michael didn't miss a beat. He calmly set his beer down, lifted my hand and licked off the dip he had dropped there.

Well. In that awkward moment we laughed. And in that moment I noticed the wedding band on his left hand. "Oh great," I thought, "I'm a single girl at a party with a bunch of married couples and someone's husband just licked my hand."

I was invited to this party under the premise of "meeting someone." My co-worker's boyfriend had a single friend and she thought we'd be perfect for each other. Ugh - I hated those situations. Though I'd been on a self-imposed dating hiatus, I succumbed to curiosity and went to the party that night. It might be different this time, I thought. And now a married man - who seemed like an innocent flirt - had licked my hand.

Looking around for a familiar face, I found a group of co-workers and proceeded to do what work friends do on a Saturday night when they find themselves at a party: we talked about work.

The evening wore on and I was enjoying being inconspicuous with my work friends when my co-worker, the hostess, grabbed me and said, "Come on, Deb. He's here..."

We stepped out to the patio and there he was.

"Deb, this is Doug," she said. "And Doug, this is Deb."

Oh you guys, he was so cute! He'd been out quad riding with a buddy that day, and his skin was freshly sun-kissed and tanned. He had an easy going way about him, and I was instantly drawn to his genuine personality and sweet smile. {Side note: He was wearing faded 501 jeans and a white button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up which I thought was really hot.}

My co-worker left us alone and there we stood, in the center of the patio exchanging those first few questions and answers that I can't even remember now. What I do remember is having the man that licked my hand join our conversation soon after we'd begun chatting. He and Doug obviously knew each other, and when the man acknowledged me Doug asked, "Oh, do you know my brother, Michael?"

"Haha. Yes," I said. "We've met."

Michael smiled and said, "Oh yeah, I licked dip off her hand earlier. She's a good sport!" and we had a good laugh. {I am smiling the entire time I'm typing this blog post, remembering this story...}

Fast forward 10 years and the history of my friendship with my brother-in-law, Michael, is one that is very special to me. He's the epitome of big-brother-ness, kind and protective and fun. Quick with a joke or a tidbit of random information, he is the life of the party.

Michael celebrated a milestone birthday this week, and his wife {my awesome SIL, Janet} asked me to make this canvas for him. It was so much fun to create a canvas with a masculine theme, and I loved thinking of Michael and the good times we've shared over the past 10 years while this artwork came together.

 

You'd love Michael too, but I'd suggest that you

steer clear of him around the dip bowl. ;o)

♥

 

PS: This canvas art was inspired by a class I took from Christy Tomlinson called "She Art Workshop."

PPS: You can see the canvas that I made for my SIL Janet by clicking here. :o)

She finds something good...

♥

I have three sisters-in-law on Doug's side of the family, and every year we draw names for Christmas gifts. This year I drew Janet's name and I immediately started thinking about what type of handmade gift I could give her.

I decided right away that I wanted to make a She Art canvas for her, and I worried about how I'd pull it off. Janet has curly blonde hair, and I wasn't sure I could do it justice. I did a practice run before I tried it on the canvas, and I was happy with the end result. :o)

It took me a while to decide on the words to use for her canvas. Janet has been a nurse for 30+ years. She has a great big heart, and the energy level of a 5-year old. The woman goes and goes and goes. After thinking about this for a couple of weeks and still not coming up with something that felt right, I finally asked myself, "If I had to tell someone one thing about Janet, what would it be?" And then it was easy.

And Janet loved her gift.

:o) ♥

PS: I learned this canvas technique from an online workshop I took from Christy Tomlinson. I highly recommend it for fun and inspiration!

You Can't See the Angels ~ Art Canvas

Oh, friends, I'm having a tough time.

I miss my mom so much, and it's Christmas time!

I've been doing well, I think. My mom is on my mind a lot, but for the most part I'm going about my business and keeping busy with work and personal stuff. But when I put one of my mom's Christmas pins on my sweater yesterday, sadness hit me like a ton of bricks. I reached for the pin to remove it from my sweater, and that made me even more sad, so I wore it all day and carried my little gray cloud with me as I went.

When I saw this poem on Kathryn's blog "Life Today" I loved it immediately. It spoke to me in a way that was deep and meaningful, and I knew I wanted to use it for an art canvas! {I also used this in a mini-book I made for my mom earlier this year.} Thanks for the inspiration, Kathryn!

My niece Presley is 7 {almost 8} and this year for Christmas I wanted to give her a gift that was a bit more personal, a little more grown up, and something that she could keep always. Losing my mom in October was difficult for all of us, and it has been particularly sad for Mom's grandchildren. I hope this little poem speaks to Presley's heart the way it spoke to mine.

My mom's love is everywhere,

I just really miss it being HERE.

♥

Basically,

Right?

♥

Butterflies are free to fly.

Butterfly.

{my word for 2012}

♥

After living in my head for several months now, this idea finally made its way out and through my hands last weekend. I've wanted to use this line from Elton John's song because I just loved the sense of carefree, amazing freedom that it conjured up for me.

Before putting these words on my canvas, I looked up the lyrics and was a little disappointed when I read the rest of the words to this song. Turns out, it's a song about some crazy break up and really wanting OUT of a situation.

Hm.

Did I think twice about going ahead with it and using these words? Yep.

And even though I know better now, I still choose to hold on to my blissful ignorance.

Besides, it's too late to turn back now.

The glue is dry.

♥

For the Queen of Happy Mail

I have a blog friend who is the Queen of Happy Mail.

You may be one of the fortunate ones who knows her too.

♥

While I'm oh so grateful for the happy mail that she sends to me and to my girl C, the thing that touches my heart so deeply is the happy mail she sends to my mom.

My regular readers know that my mom is battling cancer, and I started Team Teal as a way to make sure she was getting little bits of happy mail here and there to lift her spirit on challenging days. All of Team Teal has been so lovely to her, but this particular friend shines bright in her consistency and never ending kindness.

{here's what the canvas looked like before all the layers went on}

♥

Thank you, Ruth, from the bottom of my heart, for all the lovely happy mail you send around the planet - not just to the members of my family, but to all of our blog friends near and far who have been fortunate enough to be the recipient of one of your sweet parcels.

Some angels have wings, Ruth.

You have envelopes and stamps.

♥

A home becomes a house.

I've known for several months that Doug and I would be selling our house and making a move. I've also known that at some point I would share that information on my blog, but wasn't really sure how to go about it.

If we were sharing a cup of coffee I might tell you the basics.

If we were sharing a glass of wine I'd probably give you all the details.

But since we're sharing this blog space, I'll just say, "We're moving"and spare you the details of why and what has led us to this point.

I will tell you that it was a difficult decision, but one that Doug and I are very comfortable with. My initial reaction was one of true sentiment about this house that has been our home for six years. It's a little tricky when you love a house so much...it makes you never want to let it go. A few months ago I was walking around this house, thinking to myself how much I loved this-and-that. And then I realized - "Wait. This-and-that are coming with us!"

And the bottom line is just that.

Wherever Doug and I are together will be home.
Oh, and our cats.
This house is just a house and we're
excited about our future home.

It's all good.

♥

It's a circus! {She Art canvas}

♥

Ok, I'm telling you, the She Art class I'm taking is the most fun thing ever. I have LOVED putting paper and paint and ink and stuff onto this canvas and seeing it come to life.

It started with my step-dad's old storybooks, and I wanted to use the circus themed book. The result isn't quite what I expected, but I just couldn't be happier with this fun little piece.

All of the paper used for this project {with the exception of my girl's face and arms} was taken from the old circus book {published 1954} and even though you aren't able to clearly see my base papers, I do love the way all of the colors work together! This inspires me to look at these old storybooks in a different way. I'll be using some of the "less desirable" books for future projects - solely based on the color scheme.

~sigh~

No photo shoot in my craft room is complete without Whiskers butting in.

♥

I have some more empty canvases and a 3-day weekend coming up...see ya' later...I'll be in my craft room...   :o)