The Journey of the Mixed Media Mini

Yes! The journey of the mini book. I call it a journey because it has taken me a bazillion years to get it put together. (well, maybe not quite that much...but you get the picture) I initially painted these cute girls like a mad woman on a mission. One page right after the other. I was inspired. Then they just sat...and sat...and sat. Does that ever happen to you? I mean, I guess I know inspiration can hit like a tornado and create intense focus. BUT, I didn't want to loose steam on my little whimsy girl book!

SO, today I wanted to share some of the pages. Each page is made from some recycled food boxes like cereal or crackers. I busted out a ton of backgrounds, having a blast playing with different mediums. Then I would sketch and work on the girl. Finally I added a quote, scripture, or words. 

When I started the book, it had been awhile since I had my hands messy with paint. It felt SOOOOOOO good to sling some paint again. :) Seriously... my art table is my Happy Place. 

Grace Girl
I love her pink hair. I love the words too. Don't you? True love never really works without giving other people grace. It's hard for sure. Sometimes they don't deserve it. Sometimes I really have to dig deep in order to give someone else grace. AND...they have to do the same for me. Thank goodness I have such amazing friends and family. :)

Truth Girl
Hmmm, more pink hair. Maybe it's the secret desire that I want cotton candy pink hair? I don't know. It always shows up on my girls. Hmmm, maybe a pink wig for Halloween. 

Believe Girl
This sweetie is a bit different than the others. I just went with it. I was feeling something quirky. The great thing about doing a book like this - all faces - I really got a chance to play, try things, and enjoy my creative time. 

Dream Girl
Her dreams were BIG. Oh, yes! Don't you love that? I am no stranger to massive self doubt. SO the thought of BIG, monstrous, scary dreams makes my stomach quiver. In a good way though. You know the "loose sleep because I am so excited" kinda way...Or the "shout from the mountain tops" kinda way...the scary good way. :)

Loved Girl
She is my favorite. I love the way she turned out. She gets simple words. But, words that are so important. I have to remind myself all the time. That despite my faults & numerous imperfections - I am enough & I am loved. 

And, so are you...
Enjoy your weekend Lovelies!

Happy Creating,

A Whimsy Girl Mixed Media Mini Book

Oh, how I have missed painting whimsical mixed media girls! It has been months. Months! I was feeling super inspired after seeing so many lovely faces on my Instagram and Pinterest feeds (I have SO many artsy, creative friends) that I just needed to sit and paint.

I started painting and just couldn't stop. :) I guess that is what happens when inspiration hits. I decided that I would make a mini book filled with all the girls. I grabbed my bin of cut down pieces of thin cardboard from food boxes. Like I have mentioned before, I like to break down old food boxes like crackers, cereal, and pasta. I put them in a bin close to my studio table. I throw junk mail in there too. It is great for grabbing easily and painting on. 

To help my creative flow move along easily, I like to create several backgrounds all at once. I like to do this especially if I am making a mini book. I work on a bunch of backgrounds all at one time and then I can pull one out at any time to finish. I use the shapes in the backgrounds to inspire the figures I sketch out. It always amazes me to see the different pictures that can be found. 

Along with each mixed media girl, I am using a quote and adding it to the pages also. Happy words...inspiring words...positive phrases...scriptures - just whatever I am feeling at that moment.

I will be back soon when my mixed media mini book is all finished and show you how it turned out! If you want lots of little peeks along the way, please come follow me on Instagram @sadieinspired

Happy Creating!

New Art Journal Pages

Happy Sunday Friends! How are you all doing? I am trying  my best to not melt in this heat wave we are having. I love a little sunshine for sure, but uncomfortable heat - NO thank you! :) But... it does give me some time for creating which is a definite plus in my book. I am so close to finishing up my 9x12 Strathmore Visual Journal!! I am determined to complete it this summer!! No excuses. I just need to keep my artsy mojo flowing and get to my studio table a bit every day. My creative focus this month: happy canvases for my shop, finishing my journal and keeping up with Project Life.

This last week I finished this little cutie. I had already glued down a bunch of extra little bits I had laying around onto the page. I like doing that because I have an immediate jumping off point. I open up my journal and I already have a page started. I threw down some gesso, got out a bunch of bright, cheerful acrylic paint, and I was off. Her face came out of the background after several layers. I didn't really plan to do a portrait (I can't seem to stop!), but she happened. :)

I love the swirly textured card on the right side of her dress. It was a piece of a small note card I had been given. The texture of the card really looks beautiful and the gesso I used lightly over top picked up the edges. SO cool! Of course I felt that my girl needed some words. "She found beauty anyway" fit the way I was feeling perfectly. This phrase was from an old print out from The Brave Girls Club Soul Restoration class I took a couple of years ago.

I really like the way my other page turned out too. It was another page in my journal that already had some color on it. I had used this page to wipe off excess paint as I worked on other things. As I was adding gesso and my favorite acrylic colors like pinks, aquas, and yellow...a bunch of interesting house shapes began to show up. I love that they were going every which way and had different shapes to them.

To add a bit more texture I used some modeling paste through a stencil and just wiped some on the page using a popsicle stick. I had some chipboard pieces that I painted with gesso and silver paint. I used some gray Staz On to bring out the raised design on each piece. I attached them to the houses using E6000. Finally I added the words...my home sweet home. I absolutely LOVE being at home with my family. It is such my happy place. My wonderful kids, amazing Hubby, and sweet dog make all things right in the world. This page reflects exactly what my heart feels. :)

I am looking forward to tackling my creative goals this next month. 

Can you believe it is already July! Yikes! (Grab hold because time is flying!!)  

What creative goals are you working on lately?

Summer of Color 3 - Orange and Hot Pink

Hello Friends! I hope you are having a fabulous weekend. We have been busy bees around here with my daughter performing in her 4th dance recital last night. (She was amazingly beautiful and we are SO incredibly proud of her hard work and dedication. Wow! Is that girl a little performer!) This last week has been all about dance, but I did find some time to work on this week's color challenge from Summer of Color 3. This week's color were orange and hot pink. Last week I worked on a black sharpie doodle, so this week I thought I would change it up and paint a whimsical girl. 

I wanted to use this sketch I did last week while my daughter was giving me a drawing lesson. :) Look how cute my little dancer's girl is. She told me what to do and I followed. I am ALWAYS learning new things from her!!

I cut out the sketched face and added her with Mod Podge to a journal page I created earlier in the week. I love how bright and cheerful this color combo looks. Isn't it fun!?

I used a paint chip that I picked up at Lowe's as her dress. I always keep my paint chips! They make for great collage goodies. There is such a wide variety of color too! I added the words SHINE ON that I had in my stash.

I had a lot of fun working on this journal page this week. I am looking forward to visiting some other Summer of Color 3 artists. Come take a look!!

10,000 Hours & A Journal Page

My daughter is a dancer. She has been dancing since she was four...just an itty bitty thing then. Now, she tells me that her dancing will help her when she is an actress and singer. She is 7. Watch out Hollywood! ;) It is an amazing thing to witness the seed of a dream. You know what I mean? The first time someone starts to really speak of what they want. Of course over time things can change - but, the beginning is truly breathtaking. 

We recently switched to a new dance studio, and my little performer is having to work her little tail off to "catch up" and train differently.  We have had many talks about dedication, time, and effort. I think the key to it all is finding what makes your heart soar... your passion. Then it doesn't all seem like a chore. You should have seen her little determined face as she practiced turning over and over again last night down our hall. As she worked and worked, I could slowly begin to see her face fill with joy. Not because she was doing the turn "right" or "perfectly", but because she was trying her hardest and getting better. It was joy sprinkled with pride and accomplishment. 

 Recently my hubby said that in the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, he states that is takes 10,000 hours of practice to master a skill. 10,000 hours! Seems like a ton of time and it is. That's a lot of dancing or painting, gardening, singing, cooking, snowboarding...or whatever it may be. It reminded me that I need to show up at my studio table. Just get there and paint. I need to make time...every day. If I am going to get those 10,000 hours in I need to get busy. Lol. I surely don't want to become a master of blog surfing or pinning. Ha! I am not really serious about that, but you get what I mean. Time management! :)

With all this dance on the brain, I painted this sweet little dancer last week. Obviously inspired by my very own darling twirler made it very fun for me. Just a quick sketch, a layer of gesso, and some acrylic paint. I used watercolor crayons too as usual.

 I found these word/phrase stickers that I thought would be fun for my journal. They have a very artsy, creative theme. Super fun! The company that made them is Cosmo Cricket and I spotted them in the scrapbook section at Joanns.

I added the words, "follow your heart" along the side of her dress. 

That's what I want for my little Sugarbean - you and me too...

No matter what it is or where it may take you...follow.

AND dream...dream BIG! 

The journey will be worth it! :) 

Alice Journal Page

I love Alice in Wonderland. Don't you? I  have always loved the Disney version and the book. When my daughter was younger with her long blonde hair...I always thought she looked like Alice. Plus, with a total obsession with all things Disney as a little girl, she had the CUTEST Alice costume. The other night Alice in Wonderland was on TV, so I snuggled up with my kiddies and watched it. So much color and interesting shapes in that movie!

So feeling very Alice inspired, I painted this journal page. I thought it would be super fun to paint one of my girlies like Alice. I wanted it very whimsical and sweet. I started with a pencil sketch...very loose and quick. I work best that way. Quick, so I don't get carried away thinking too much. If only I could expend that thinking energy towards finding a way to make laundry disappear in this house. Ha!

After a thin layer of gesso, I worked on the background with watered down acrylic and inexpensive Artist Loft watercolors. I used more acrylic for her body and the groovy purple shape going vertically up the page. I used watercolor crayons and more gesso for her face. As usual I added detail with pen and my Faber Castell PITT pens. Finally the stamped words and some purple sparkle.

The rabbit makes me laugh. His expression is too funny. He is like, "Um, WHAT do you think you are doing?" I am hoping to find a little metal clock to glue to his belly. Don't think that would be cute? I think it would be a fun addition. I guess I will have to go hunt in the scrapbook aisles of Michaels. Oh Darn! :)

 

 Well, that's it. That is my whimsical, little page. I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you enjoy the coming weekend (TGIF!!). 

But, before I go... my heart is melting...

Happy Creating! :)

Give Love

Hello friends! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas!

It came and went in the blink of an eye, didn't it? It has been such a whirlwind of goodness around here. This thankful girl is typing this blog post from a new, little laptop. My darling Hubby surprised me with it Christmas morning (very sneaky that one).  I am beyond excited to have a computer that is all my own...and portable! :) I am still getting used to the Windows 8 format though! Total learning curve for me. I need to get some kind of skin and sleeve/case for it too...any suggestions!?

Last night, after all the holiday glitter had settled,  I was finally able to do some painting in my journal. It felt really fabulous to just sit and create. I plopped down on the couch, got out my pencil and water soluble crayons, then got my creative mojo flowing. I must have been in a sweet, whimsical mood because this is what I painted...

First, I sketched her out with my pencil. My mind is already thinking ahead to Valentine's Day so love and hearts appeared. :) The page already had some gesso here and there which gave it yummy texture. Remember, I do not waste a thing...so I use pages of my journal to wipe off excess stuff from other projects. I use A LOT of gesso, so heaven forbid if I don't use every last drop.

I used my Caran D'Ache crayons to add color, followed by my water brush to blend. I didn't use anything else. Just water and the crayons. I originally planned on adding some acrylic paint later, but I don't think I am going to. I like her just the way she is.  She's a little cutie.

Here she is in all her Instagram glory. :)

I keep thinking about how important it is to "give love"...even when you don't want to, even when you're tired, even when you are mad or hurt, even when you feel they don't deserve it...give it anyway. I know I need that reminder.

xoxo,

New Original Art - Faithful

I have been working on a lot of new original pieces this week. I guess you could say I am on "artistic fire" or that my creative mojo is on fire. ;) So many fun little projects all at once. Some pieces are headed to my shop, while others are coming with me...somewhere special...somewhere super exciting...BUT, I am going to tell you about that later. Hee hee! I always like a little suspense. More to come later. Look at this sweet new original angel...I love her.

She is a definate favorite for me. She is painted on a wood panel that is about 8 x 4.5 inches. I started out covering the wood with some vintage Christmas sheet music that was literally falling apart. This one was "O Come All Ye Faithful." I love the bits of music showing through and the words that I circled.  The sheets of music actually came from my childhood piano music. The red you see came from scribbled crayon. I think my sister or I must have been the culprits. ;)

I knew I wanted really transparent layers. So after a bit of gesso - I lightly added acrylic paint in Hauser Light Green, Spa Blue, Sea Glass, and white by scraping it on with an old credit card. Her wings have a Pearlizing Medium (Americana) applied over the white which make her wings shimmer. Squeal! So pretty, but hard to see in the pictures.

It is true that if you paint, paint, paint...and then paint some more - a "style" starts to emerge. I am starting to see a common thread weaving it's way through the whimsy girls I paint, the flowers that keep popping up (even in fall), certain colors continually, and a level of comfort. Not like a boring "comfortable" where nothing is tried or things remain the same...but a comfort with myself and what I do that make trying new things second nature. I hope that makes sense!

I also painted another canvas of a whimsy Christmas tree that I will share in another post. I loved painting these so much that I ran out to get more of these little wooden panels (the packaging calls them "trays"). I could only find two. Boo hoo! So I am on the hunt for more.

Are you in a "Christmas-y" kinda mood yet? 

Can you believe it's November 6th??

Still obsessing over Instagram! Come find me @sadieinspired