purple pansies 33

Hi! It's been awhile. I'm writing this post with a heavy heart as I sit at the airport waiting to depart to Houston for several days to spend time with my sweet sister and her family. Last week Friday, I received horrible news that the breast cancer has metastasized to my sister's brain. She has several large tumors, one was debulked meaning the entire tumor can not be removed and the other is inoperable. I'm going to try to be strong for her husband and two children as my heartaches for all of them but my heart hurting as well. Please keep my sister and her family in your thoughts and prayers. She loves pansies and asked that I paint her some so here is my first attempt.

I'm joining along with Paint Party Friday:

Thanks so my for stopping by!
Be Sweet ;)

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luminescent pastel poppies 32

Hi! I hope you are having a wonderful weekend! I'm trying to paint everyday so the brush strokes and color combinations become second nature. I recently attended a costly art workshop at Scottsdale Artists' School. As I was trying to justify the cost in my mind, I realized I did learn valuable information even though I didn't walk away painting like Monet ;) Probably the most valuable pearl of wisdom I learned was that one may attend workshop after workshop from all the masters in art but you still have to put in the time and practice, practice, practice. I relate painting to nursing and think of how scared to death I was more than 20 years ago when I first graduated from nursing school and was responsible of taking care of multiple patients at a time. After all those years of experience behind me, it has become second nature and I'm really hoping painting will be the same, second nature that is. Hopefully it won't take 20 years before I can proudly hang a piece of art that I painted in my home :) 

Today I have a 12" x 12" gessoed art board to share featuring a couple of luminescent pastel poppies inspired by a lesson in The Beauty of Oil Painting book by Gary Jenkins.

The poppies were rather challenging for me. After the third attempt on each, I decided to call it a night and move on. 

I'm joining along with this month's Creative Carte Blanche creative art adventure where the theme is Winged Things.

I'm also linking to the current Paint Party Friday post:

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Be Sweet ;)

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Bright Poppies 24

Hi! I hope you all having a great week so far! Scott and I spent the weekend in Los Angeles watching Connor run in a track meet and to photograph all the beautiful roses that are in full bloom. Today I have an 11" x 14" gesso painted canvas art board featuring a couple of oil painted poppies which were inspired by a Gary Jenkins video tutorial:

I love experimenting with color and various backgrounds. A black background really seems to make the colors pop right off the canvas. I'm getting pretty brave and I think I'm going to attempt a bigger size canvas to hang in my home this week :)

I'm joining along with Paint Party Friday:

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Be Sweet ;)

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A sweet treat... 29

Hi! I had to take some time to catch up on some DT responsibilities so I had to put my paints and paintbrush aside until tonight! I'm currently taking an online oil painting workshop with one of my favorite artists Dreama Tolle Perry and this week's assignment was to paint cupcake :)

I'm learning so much about color values, contrast, transparent and opaque colors, etc...

I also took the time to create a Valentine's Day card using a fun banner die that I bought nearly a year ago and never used:

I'm linking my painting in the current Paint Party Friday linkup:

For card color inspiration, I joined along with the ColourQ colour challenge:

and for sketch inspiration, I joined along with the Freshly Made Sketches sketch challenge:

Thanks so much for stopping by ~ I hope you have a great weekend!
Be Sweet ;)

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A vase full of fresh cut blossoms 29

Hi! The weather is gorgeous here in Phoenix and I have a bad case of spring fever :) With the sun shining bright, pretty blue skies and warm 70 degree temperatures, it's hard not to when you love the great outdoors like I do. I took advantage of the beautiful day and went for a 6.5 mile run. Today I have a painting to share featuring my first canvas of fresh cut painted blossoms:

 Here's my source of inspiration:

Here's my interpretation:

I attended an art class at Krista Eaton's (a local talented artist's whom work I admire) home studio. After Krista gave us a painting demonstration, she set us free to paint our canvas. I applied various techniques that I learned from Nancy Medina's amazing painting videos that Scott gave me to me for a Christmas gift. Once we had some color on our canvas's Krista offered her expertise. I didn't get very far along in class, as I am a newbie and paint VERY slow but I was thrilled to receive Krista's input and learn some tips and tricks of the business. I finished the painting this morning which means the oil is still wet and will be for a few days! 

I'm entering this in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge: Day 21:

Thanks so much for visiting ~ I hope you have a great Friday!

Be Sweet ;)

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Abstract White Roses 25

Hi! Today I have a page to share that I painted in my canvas paper art journal featuring a trio of what are suppose to be abstract white roses. I combined painting techniques learned from: David Jansen and Nancy Medina, two talented artists whose art work I admire.

Roses are supposedly one of the more challenging flowers to paint and I completely understand why! I wanted to throw in the towel more than once while painting this page because I was getting frustrated with myself. My hands were not moving the paintbrush the way I had it planned in my mind! I continuously remind myself that it's going to take A LOT of practice before I have a finished product to proudly hang on the wall. 

The background was painted using acrylics including the metallic silver and the rest was painted using oils. I'm discovering that I prefer painting using oils. Since I'm just learning and I paint rather slowly, arylic paints dry rather quickly and oils take days. I've mixed retarders and extenders to the acrylics but the paint seems to get quite "tacky" making it challenging to work with.

I'm entering the painted page in the following challenges:

For color inspiration: the colourQ colour challenge:

Thirty Paintings in Thirty Days: Day 14:

Art Journal Every Day:

Thanks so much for visiting ~ I hope you have a great Thursday!
Be Sweet ;)

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