Bosco is here!

Hello friends!  Just popping in with a quick hello to introduce you to the newest member of The Dreaming Bear family!  His name is Bosco, a two year old chocolate lab.  We adopted him from the local city shelter, and he is just sweet as can be. 

Having loved Luke so much, and now, loving Elsie so much, we've often thought how great it would've been to have them both together.  We imagined all the funny things they would do together, and what a calming influence Luke would've been on Elsie.  We got serious about looking for a new companion on Friday, and found Bosco right away.  Perfect timing!

We've spent a few days acclimating him to the house...and this afternoon, we are going to try a couple of hours in the studio and at the store.  He is doing pretty well with his training...but his favorite thing is to jump up and lick...so we will have to work on that!  Not everyone wants a tongue bath from a lab!

As the weeks go on, you'll be seeing more and more of him around The Dreaming Bear...stop in and say hi!  He loves making new friends!!

Paper Painting Is Great FUN!!!



Howdy!  I'm sitting just inside the window here at The Dreaming Bear, watching the most gorgeous snowflakes falling all around!  It's beautiful!  It's a good day for a hot cocoa and some fuzzy socks!

It's also a good day for some paper painting!  For my birthday, my hubby gave me the latest video from Interweave:  All About Faces by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer.  (yes, he is THAT good at gift giving!!!  I'm a lucky girl!)  I watched this video over the weekend a couple of times...and it's great!  Julie is a fabulous teacher...very upbeat and fun to watch!  She shares all sorts of tips and techniques for incorporating faces into our artwork.  A certain project really caught my eye...and that was making a collage face out of all sorts of patterned fabrics.  In my case, I'm going to start with paper....so Angie and I have been making lots of different patterned papers using acrylics, watercolors, free hand drawing, and stamps.  FUN!! 

This is really free....no overthinking allowed.....just slapping colors and patterns together on a whim.  However it turns out is just fine, because these pieces will be cut up into smaller bits that will be used in a collage! 

We are off to a pretty good start....building up a stash.....but we still need more!!!

I love the zig zags that Angie made....

This one ended up being my favorite....it reminds me a little of a batik.

Soon, I'll get to work on those collages and share them with you.  What are you doing today?

Fun with faces!

I've recently completed a grouping of faces....something I've avoided over the years....intimidation, mostly.  (believing they needed to look a certain way) But when I started really paying attention to the faces in art that I responded to, those faces were the quirky ones.....the "not so perfect" faces were the ones I loved the most.  So one day, I said, "to heck with it" and just started painting these fun and lively girls with their giant eyes, and strange proportions. 

And you know what?

It was fun!  Yes, fun!!

Wishing you a day of fun!

Another Project Finished! Woo Hoo!

 I've been thinking about spring a lot these days....and it's starting to show up in my work...bumblebees....flowers......yes!

This is an old rocking chair that has been given a second chance at life.  A little rough around the edges, but with the top layer of colorful goodness, it's ready to rock again!

Happy Valentine's Day!

"Those who love deeply never grow old; they may die of old age, but they die young."
-Sir Arthur Wing Pinero

"When you love someone, you love the whole person, just as he or she is,
and not as you would like them to be."  -Leo Tolstoy

"Love is the true means by which the world is enjoyed: our love to others, and others' love to us."
-Thomas Trahern

Peeking Around the Store.

The Dreaming Bear is just brimmin' with all sorts of goodies that would make the perfect Valentine gift! 
Stop in and see us!!!  Or visit the art studio tomorrow between 10am-4pm, and make a special handmade goody!  See you soon!

Feeling the Love!

Today is my birthday.  And on my birthday this year, I'm going to take some of my own advice that I recently gave to a friend:  "Allow yourself to accept the love and support that your friends and family want to give you.  Let them surround you, hug you, kiss you,  and treat you well.  Don't be afraid of taking too much.  We all have times when we need to feel cherished." 

Thank you to all who are reaching out to me today...I am cherishing every minute of it!

I Heart Hearts.

Greetings, fellow earthlings!  Here's a little peek at what I've been up to lately!  I'm obsessed with hearts year round....but even more so in February!  These little lovelies get their texture from joint compound from the home improvement store!  So cheap (less than 4 dollars for a tub of it) and easy to use!  The only problem is my lack of patience...waiting for it to dry...this takes a few hours, depending on how thick you slap it on, and how dry the room is.  I had to wait until the next day to start painting on them....

but loving the outcome!  Who says Valentine's Day has to be just red and pink?  :-)

Lovin' Man and I are throwing a Valentine shin dig this weekend for our neighbors....I've had fun cutting and pasting, hanging decorations, and planning.....can't wait!  Stay tuned!

Happy February!

January and February are the months that we slow down, clean up, organize, think about future events, and I've been enjoying finishing up some lingering projects, such as this one....an old coffee table.  I started it months ago, and it didn't go the way I wanted to at first, so I set it aside and revisited it in January.

It started out with lots of colorful circles....and that's where it stopped.  But eventually, when I got back to it, I saw flowers....so I drew them over the top, exposing some of the circle patterns, and masking out the rest of the pattern.  As you can see in the bottom photo, I allowed some of the pattern to peek through the green, which gives me all kinds of fun shades, even better in person!

On Saturdays, we have been nice and busy back in the art studio too.  It's such a great way to keep the kids occupied on these dreary winter days.  This is a new project available in the studio....OWLS!  I don't know what took me so long to get these in our inventory...owls have been hot for some time now.  So thrilled to have them!  Two sizes are available....the large one is about 12 inches tall, and perfect for hanging on the wall...and the "baby" owls on stands are approx 7 inches tall, and would be sweet lined up on a shelf.  Don't you agree?

Have a fab Thursday, everyone!