Working away in the studio!

I've been really trying to whittle down my "stash" up in the studio, which includes lots of odds and ends...furniture pieces, canvases, decorative bobbles, and a strange assortment of mannequin ladies.  I love and HOARD mannequin ladies....it's an illness....I'm not kidding.

I'm still painting hearts on things...haven't stopped since before Valentine's Day! 

This is a little bench that I finished up today!

Bosco spent the day with Mama in the studio.  He is a good helper....and he kisses my toes, which makes me giggle.

This is one of my "painted ladies."  These peony-like flowers are a blast for me to paint.  Easy and free.
And it almost looks like they have little faces smiling back at me.

Check out the glorious light filtering in through my windows!  Love it!

And here is her sister....a work in progress.....with candlesticks looking on.  I don't think blue peonies exist....except here.  :-)

Happy April to you!

I received all of my postcards!

Hi again!  As of yesterday, I received all ten of the postcards sent to me for the annual iHanna postcard swap!  Thought you might enjoy a little peek!  Aren't they pretty?  I have enjoyed gazing at them over and over again, and love thinking about the far off (and not so far off) places they came from.  Cheers to you, stay creative!!!

Postcard Swap 2012!

Howdy!  I've had a blast (yet again) participating in iHanna's annual postcard swap!  This year, I made the theme "It is within you." This is the message I included on each card, with some wild paper collage faces.  I used mostly my own hand painted papers, but included just a couple of scrapbooking papers too.  WHAT FUN! 

I used posterboard as the base....and after creating the art, glued another piece of posterboard to the back, for sturdiness.  Their long noses and crooked lips make me smile.  This one looks like he is sneering....but he's much nicer than he looks.  :)

These little darlins are going out to places like California, Arkansas, Sweden, Canada, South Africa and North Carolina!  And one is going to a fellow artist right here in Iowa!  How did that happen?!  Love it!

I highly recommend doing a swap like this, if you've never tried it before.  It really does help to get the creative juices flowing, and it's so nice to reach out to other creative souls.  I love the thought of the postman catching a glimpse of one of these little guys in his mailbag, and wondering....hmmmmm......

Soon, I'll be back to show you what I received from my fellow participants.  They are still coming in from around the globe!  A big THANK YOU to iHanna for organizing the swap! 

Happy Spring!

Yippee!  It's spring!  Shine your light.  Free your soul.  Unburden your heart.  Let your flag fly.

Art Rocks is Rockin' Again!

Last Friday, we were visited by the cool kids from Prairiewood Transition Center!  They were such a fun, joyful group of artists!  Each student painted a wooden hand cutout that we provided for them.  We discussed briefly how important our hands are, and the many things we can do with them, such as eating, painting, waving at our friends, and picking things up.
 

Here are some pics of the artists at work.....almost always with a smile on their face....simply delightful!

Sarah was really fast, so I had to provide some paper and markers to keep her busy while everyone else finished up!  :)

When asked whether they preferred listening to music while they painted, they wholeheartedly agreed that music is a MUST when creating...so we rocked out to a little Rolling Stones and Tom Petty.  Does it get any better than that?  I think not.

They were really happy to be here with us in the studio....and we were happy to see them.





I have to give their creations a nice shiny coat to protect them, and the hands will be going up on display in the store by this weekend.  If there's one that tickles your fancy, come in and purchase it!  All "Art Rocks" purchases made allow us to reinvest in more projects for these lovely souls to work on!  Next meeting is mid April, and I can't wait!

AWAKEN.

Here's a recent canvas I've completed....inspired by thoughts of spring, renewal, and shaking off the gray of winter.  YES!

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?