Beautiful Handmade Polymer Beads

Have a look at these gorgeous beads made by my very talented cousin, Janice!!!  They are exquisite and each one is unique and interesting.  She was kind enough to make them for me to use with my next set of mini art panels.  I am going to pair the beads with my images and see which look like they belong together.  I am so grateful as she sent me a bunch.  She makes many beautiful things like ornaments and cake toppers.  Look for them soon in my next set of Artful Box panels.

*Update- See Janice's beads in action on my new art panels .

Mini Art Panels

A colorful little collection of 4"x 4" mini art panels.  Woo hoo!  Who doesn't love a wee bit of art for their space?

Hopelink Calendar

Here is my illustration that was used in the 2014 calendar for Hopelink.  They do a wonderful job of helping those in need,in my community and "offer an integrated array of programs that enable families in crisis to make progress toward and achieve self-sufficiency"  I was very thrilled to be included in such a beautiful calendar for such an important organization. Can you guess what month it was?  If you said September, you'd be right!  The beautiful little girl is my niece.

No act of kindness

however small

is ever wasted.

           -Aesop

A New Direction

Taking a break from layout and using the computer. It's good to just play around again with painting and drawing.  A good time to get back to just holding a pencil.  

Some Time to Play

Finally some time to put the pieces together.  I love making each of the elements in a collage and then arranging them all for a final layout.  These little squares will go on small birch panels.

Weather Patterns

Happy that I got to do some art today!!  Here near Seattle, we have had some serious rain even by our standards.  It's been a rainy, drizzly spring.  Today I made collage paintings inspired by the science of weather and the hope of sunny days to come.

Colorful Squares

I love the shape of a square.  Compact, symmetrical and concise.  No wonder so many of my final prints end up this way.

May Day

Yesterday my kids and I were greeted with a lovely sight.  There was a scattering of  tiny white flowers that went up our driveway and to our stairs.  On each step was a flower bud.  We felt like we were following some sort of magical breadcrumb path.  On our door, tucked into the brass knocker was this beautiful little garden bouquet.  My daughter noticed that there was a tiny "A"nestled in the bouquet.  "A" was leaving a surprise?  No one in my family has an "A" name.  A charming mystery-  To be continued...

Royal Blue

I've been working on some new imagery for some cedar plank plaques.  Sometimes we visit the Chateau Ste. Michelle winery just to see the beautiful peacocks that live on the grounds.  I have yet to hear their loud cry but from what I understand, they can make quite a racket.

Handmade Polymer Beads

I've been really inspired by all the beautiful handmade beads I've been seeing on the web lately.  Some of the bird beads are pricey to buy so I thought I'd try making my own.    Well, as it turns out, it's really fun and fast and I'm thinking of projects to incorporate beads and more beads.  Here they are drying on bamboo sticks.   They look like yummy little candies.

Mixed Media Polymer Heart Valentines

What is more fun than being inspired by special friends on Valentine's Day?  Whoo hoo!  After baking some polymer hearts, I covered the sides with Washi tape.  I covered the fronts and back with images from my painting stash.  I added some cool numbers that were from an old TV set.  I coated everything in Triple Thick for sheen and dimension.  A few more embellishments were added such as gold leaf pen accents and a metal eyelet.  I strung them on colorful banana fiber and they were ready to go.

Art Beads

I found these lovely rubber coated beads that have such a sparkle to them that I wanted to add my own imagery on top by punching out some circles from other card designs.  I coated the images with Glossy Accents to give them some protection and a nice sheen.  The beads are double-sided and I can't wait to string them, perhaps on a bracelet.  When I hold them in my hand they are like shiny little candies.

Soaring Blue Bird

Blue birdy flying over a color field in blue.  The background was made with collage and pastels that I smeared with my finger.  I love how the colors changed and bled when I painted them with matte medium.  Looks like watercolor but isn't.

Red Garden Postcard

Bursting with energy, and bright color.  I made this postcard to be a backer to some Valentine heart pendants.  I started by dividing my art journal page into quadrants and then worked on all four corners at one time.  This was one of the quadrants and the bird above was another.  The other two didn't turn out as well so only these two made it to be actual postcards.