Inspire Me Thursday - 'Push' and News!

10 x 10 x 1.5 , acrylics on gallery wrapped canvas, 'Time to Heal'

Finished, registered and ready to go - yay! So happy that I commited to this last week and pushed myself to finish it in such a short time. I'm not a huge fan of deadlines, but sometimes it's what I need to accomplish what I set out to do.



Now, I just need to add some hanging hardware to the back and drop it off for the Spring Juried Art show happening this Friday. Also I just found out that I'm going to be one of the featured artists at this particular gallery, the Firehouse (it was a real working firehouse at one time and converted into a gallery) later on this year in September! Excited about this next step... but I know that there is much to do between now and then.

Have a wonderfully creative week!

More on my latest piece...

12 x 12 gallery wrapped canvas, acrylics (title when complete)

Another peek at progress on my latest piece. I've finished shading her hair and worked in the raven....more details needed on the feathers and claw(s). This piece was actually inspired by a journal entry I had done awhile back for Inspire Me Thursday's prompt "healing" - do you remember this?

Now back to work and on to the sunflower, will be toning it down with lighter shades of yellow/gold, detailing the center and adding in the stalk & leaves - stay tuned for the finished piece...

Work in progress....

12x 12 gallery wrapped canvas, acrylics (title when completed)

Where has the time gotten to??? Just a quick post to say hello and give you a sneak peek at the latest piece on my work table. I started in on my focal point and did a quick underpainting for the rest of the canvas. I haven't had much time to spend on this, but I'm working at getting it finished this week and then enter it into a local juried art show coming up very soon....

Take care y'all and remember that life is precious. Don't wait another minute to hug those you love and tell them how much they mean to you :>

Laura
xo

Inspire Me Thursday - 'A Poem by Rumi...'

'Free Spirit' acrylic on 12x12 birch panel

I just finished this painting yesterday so this is a very timely prompt for me. I only came to know of this Mystic Poet's teachings a few years ago when I set out to 'find myself ' through art. It is said that his work transcends national and ethnic borders, I believe that is true. The first quote is my favorite (ok one of!) and the others seemed particularly fitting alongside this piece.
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Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.

You were born with wings. Why prefer to crawl through life?

We come spinning out of nothingness, scattering stars like dust.

Something opens our wings. Something makes boredom and hurt disappear. Someone fills the cup in front of us: We taste only sacredness.

Oh soul, you worry too much.
You have seen your own strength.
You have seen your own beauty.
You have seen your golden wings.
Of anything less, why do you worry?
You are in truth the soul, of the soul, of the soul.
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Thanks for taking the time to visit - have an illuminating weekend.

Illustration Friday - 'Enough'

How do we know when we've added enough to a body of work? When do we decide a piece has 'said' enough of what we set out to say, ie. what inspired us to create it? For this week's IF prompt, I thought I'd share a WIP - or rather a finished piece.....at least I think I'm done with it.

My inspiration came from my recent fascination with all things 'prairie' or 'ranch' themed and my love of contemporary folk art pieces. I've also been dreaming of living a simpler life, breathing fresh clean air, having more modest possessions, buying organic & earth friendly products, etc. I came across a wonderful magazine last week, "Mary Janes Farm" which focuses on organic lifestyles - I love it!!

Anyhow, I'm working on a small set of paintings, this is #1. I snapped pics along the way and decided to post them as I love seeing the progression of a piece and thoroughly enjoy it when other artist's do the same on their blogs.......

step 1 - foundation for bkgd and main subject

Step 2 & 3 - added a camisole and changed a lot at this point: softened her coloring, changed the sky tone, added some puffy clouds as well as a simple landscape w/Shaker-style house.

"A Simple Life", acrylic on stretched canvas, 10x10

Step 4 - brought her hair more in balance, added the branch and bird & added more rosy color to her cheeks.

If you've made it this far, thanks for taking the time. I hope you enjoyed seeing my creative process...which is sometimes, I remind myself, simply enough :>

Inspire Me Thursday & Illustration Friday

acrylics, canvas 8x10

Doubling up on challenges this week and both are slightly late getting in but as they say, better late than never! I've been swamped moving all my stuff into my new studio space these last few weeks and getting organized. It's great being organized but a bit stifling for creative flow at least for me - I need to make a mess when I'm working on something other than drawing or sketching.

Anyhow, both challenge words IMT: 'Hats' and IF: 'Extremes' fit for this piece and obviously Hallowe'en had a small part in it too. I feel like these theme words also apply to me and how I've felt all year - trying on many 'Hats' to see which ones fit and taking 'Extreme' steps out of my comfort zone!!

I don't think this is quite finished - I still want to add some more contrast overall, especially to the hat. I also planned on painting something dangling off the end of the hat and possibly adding some text. However, I do like how this piece has a bit of a double take to it - it can be either one witch standing with feet turned out or 2 witches in a standoff for the hat. I'll leave that up to you to decide - on the other hand you may be seeing something different altogether, hee!