My Girly Guide . . . .

"I think every person has their own identity and beauty. 

Everyone being different is what is really beautiful. If we were all the same, it would be boring."

-- Tila Tequila

If you've seen some of these girls on Instagram, then you know I've been trying my best to keep the creativity flowing by creating quick sofa sketches (new term; I kinda like it ;) whenever I can. Some of them I've completed in 10 minutes and some have taken much longer. But either way, each are in pencil, with my only other tools being an eraser and blending stumps.

Along the way, I have amassed quite a few sketches. I know that there are several that will eventually turn into completed, painted pieces but in the meantime, I wanted a way to store the ones I like to be used for future reference. I decided to take my favorites and turn them into a visual deck of cards (of sorts). I selected 9 sketches that I have deemed, "My Girly Guide" and went to work cutting them out and adding them to pieces of decorative cardboard I cut from a storage box for wine. To keep them together, I punched holes in the corner of each and attached them with a chain. I can now have them all in one place, all at a glance. Wanna see?

Tidy, right? It was fun to make and if I'm lucky, the deck will continue to grow and grow. All I need now is to find a longer chain. . . .

Thanks for taking a peek,
Kristin xo

10 Little Girls All Lined Up in a Row . . .

# 11

(irregular shapes inspired by this Love)

Still working on my 29 Faces . . . and as of today, I only have 8 left to go (eeee) . . . .

It's been quite a challenge; not only in finding the time to sketch on a daily basis, but also in finding a variety of expressions, techniques and hair styles to play with. I'm trying to learn as much as I can throughout the process, and am really trying to stretch myself along the way. At this point, I'm working less on copying the masters (as I did in this post) and more on finding new ways to express "my style" of whimsical girls. 

Here's what I've done thus far (all of which has been posted daily on Instagram):

# 12, 13 & 14

(Catching up)

#15

Going for a loose hand, hash marks and whimsey

#16

(Inspired by a piece I did last year following this Beauty 

which BTW, I dislike very much, but for the sake of Bravery am still posting ;)

#17

(It was my Birthday)

#18

Little Alien Girl

#19

Playing with different hair styles here. 

#20

(It was a hard day ;)

#21

Another girl from my "Just be You" series

That's me. Caught up. And since it's Sunday, I'll link to the lovelies at Sunday Sketches as well. 

Thanks for taking a peek,

Kristin xo

Paint Party Friday: Art Journaling

"Hide Me"

Strathmore Visual Journal

Happy PPF!

I hope this finds you happy and well. 

I had a go at art journaling this week and wanted to share my progress with you here. Not sure if I'm really done with these pages as I often wonder how much of my art journals are complete without much, um, journaling, but nevertheless, this is what I've come up with:

Vintage Bingo card serves as a hidden flap

Glittered girl underneath

And this page features a fabulous picture of my Grandma (printed on a transparency) back in the day:

"The house the Grandma built"

Thanks for looking! I look forward to seeing all of your pretty pieces at the Party . . . .

Kristin xo

Week Two: Mint Chocolate Chip!

"U"

8 x 8 Canvas Flag

It's week Two of The Summer of Color 2: Ice Cream Inspirations and our second prompt is to create anything we'd like using the "Flavor" of the week, Mint Chocolate Chip . . . .

This little girl was created in the same manner as the week before, with a piece of primed canvas material, watercolor and acrylic paints and this time, a sparkling bow encrusted with fine glitter and pale blue Swarovski crystals.

Hungry for more? Check out the next delicious inspiration found directly above . . . .

Ice Cream Kisses,

Kristin xo

Paint Party Friday: Week 12

Happy PPF!

Can't wait to show you what I've been working on . . . .

Okay, so if you read this post about "A Boy & His Guitar," then you know I've been working on some annual Birthday Gifts that I give to my little friends Camden and Ashton, a brother and sister who were born on the same day exactly seven years apart.

Well, Ashton's is now complete, and this time around, I took step-by-step pictures of the gift - a 20 x 20 decorative canvas pillow - as it was being created. I've never painted a pillow before, but when I saw the canvas case online recently, I knew that I wanted to give it a try. Wanna see the process?  

Canvas case covered in Gesso and sketched in pencil

Adding color with Caran D'ache watercolor and acrylic paints

Finished with metallic and gel pens, additional pencil and polka dots

Oh! And a handmade fabric flower with a Swarovski crystal button for her hair

"Love Lives Here"

I know the colors will compliment her room (because I helped her Mom decorate it ;) and I hope that the (newly) 12-year-old will love it as much as I love her!

Thanks for your time and have fun at the Party . . . .

Kristin xo

Paint Party Friday: Week 11

"PPF" 

First let me say how excited I am to have been selected as this week's Featured Artist for Paint Party Friday! I'm amazed and inspired week after week by all the talent showcased through PPF, and am honored to share a bit about my painting journey this time around. Thank you Kristin and Eva for your hard work, care and support of us all. Blog Land would not be the same without you!

For my submission, I wanted to create something that was colorful, quirky and representative of my most recent work. Since I've been doing a lot of long-necked ladies lately, I thought PPF might like to live there too and and since it's for a Paint Party, I decided to play with the idea of multi-colored strands of hair. The funky, glittery stars (which I seem to pop in everywhere these days) are a nod to my blog, Twinkle, Twinkle.

Wanna see more?! Well, okay then:

9 x 12 Acrylics on Watercolor

A mix of matte and iridescent acrylics, acrylic ink and fine glitter

The smudging of PPF was a last minute "accident." 

I liked the look so much, that I went back and "messed it up" even more

Thanks again to Kristin, Eva and You! I so appreciate your time and support.

Kristin xo

Looking for The Summer of Color? Read all about it here!

Mind. Body. Soul. (Art Journaling)

Okay, so I guess I lied. I thought I was onto the next word in the series of journal prompts from sweet Leslie's Mind. Body. Soul. e-course, but for some reason, it seems that Renew was not done with me. . . 

Here are two more pages in the almost-complete journal:

"Renew"

Scrapbook materials enhanced with glitter gel pen and ink

Martha Stewart Glue pen and glitter on neck and lips

"Gave 'em all away"

Background of decorative paper, stamps and acrylic

Collage using pieces of Kendra's baby clothes

Page tab created with a baby label and accessory

That's it! Now I'm off to create the final pages for Anxiously Engaged . . . whew . . .

Kristin xo

Paint Party Friday (Week 7)

"I. Am. Yours."

9 x 12 Watercolor paper

It's PPF!

And I'm on a bit of a roll in that I actually completed the pieces I told myself I would two weeks in a row (she bows excitedly ;)  . . . Remember this one from last week?

"I. Am. Mommy"

(You can view the entire post here)

Well, the daughter version is now ready to be placed beside her. Here is the companion piece in it's entirety:

As you can see, I used the same colors in reverse and attempted to create a similar style and texture. I used a blue foil butterfly (cut in half) to mirror the bird above and created another house (this time only one, placed upside down) to tie the two together. 

Now here's the really interesting part: as most of you know, our daughter was adopted. As a result, most of my work focuses on the theme of adoption and mothering. Well, when I created the first page, I choose to include three houses on the bottom right corner. I do not know why I did that. I think it just felt "right," but at the time even I wondered what it meant, as we have only one daughter. It did not occur to me until I started photographing this second piece today that there was a reason why: we had three adoptions since Kendra was born six years ago that fell through. Each for a valid reason, each just not "meant to be," but each of which - understandably - left a little hole in my heart. However, as I see these two together - Mommy & Daughter - and read the title that I struggled to come up with (and wrote on her neck) it is very clear: 

"I. Am. Yours."

And look at that: it's "True Love!"

Thank you for your time! Check out all the art & inspiration at the party, I know I'll be there . . .

Kristin xo