This award was given to me by Janelle at Janelle's Color Journey , Thank you Janelle!! Janelle always has such great projects going on.  Please visit her blog and have a look around.

ABOUT THE AWARD 

This award was designed to be a blog award in the pay it forward fashion. Once you've been nominated, you award it to five blogs that you like that have fewer than 200 followers, to encourage new visitors to visit these blogs. 

RULES FOR ACCEPTANCE 

Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to their blog. Post the award onto your blog. Give the award to five bloggers who you appreciate that have fewer than 200 followers. Leave a comment on their blog letting them know that you have given them this awesome award!

Pay It Forward

 Heather atBlue Eyed Dragon Fly . She makes beautiful art and is very inspiring.

Kathy at Life is a Spectacular Mess  She has such beautiful jewelry.

Lynn atLynns Homespun and Country Design~ She has wonderful rag quilts and signs.

 Neiley Harris

Karen : Alaska Blue Moose Makes beautiful mixed-media art

Thank you again and check out these blogs.

Faye

Boudica

The weather here has turned wet and warm as of late.  Not to complain, especially after the past two years of drought.  I have always loved the rain, though taking care of the critters in it is a challenge.

Finished my picture of Boudica, and am get ready to begin Marie Laveau.  I have a pretty good idea of what I want her to look like--just have to get it down on canvas.

 

This is a steampunk skull that I created. 

 

It is a resin skull.  I added the components.

This was a foam skull that I added embellishents to.  I have a few other projects under way.  Just trying to get them done before the shows. I only have two weeks left until they begin.

Hope y'all have a great, creative day!
F.

Life............

I know that I have been an awful blogger here lately.  Life just gets in the way :).  It is spring time and the garden is waiting to be worked, I have been working in the flower beds and trying to get ready for several upcoming shows.  The picture above is my neighbor holding a baby rabbit.  We were out at my hubby's shop and Lenore, my border collie, decided to explore under the truck.  Baby rabbits went in all directions.  This is one that my husband rustled up.  He had gotten far way from his siblings, so we caught him and returned him safely to his family.  I had read that the mother would still take them back if you touch them.  I haven't seen them since--that was about a week ago.

This is a picture of a horse that I just finished (except for the hanger) It is on a piece of plywood with spackle applied for texture and about 3 layers of tar gel.

 

Friday morning, after Lewis had left for work, I decided to lay down for another hour or so.  About 8:30 I heard noises on the porch.  At first, I though Lewis had come back home because of the rain, but he never came in.  I continued to hear the noise, and upon investigation this is what I found. 

 

It was an opposum.  He came right up to the screen door and looked in................I think it was a female and she was either pregnant or had babies in her pouch.

This is my latest painting.  It is not finished yet, but getting closer.  I call it Bouddicca.  She was a warrior woman who fought the Romans in 400 AD. 

Hope that you all have a creative week.
F.

The finished Joplin.....

I finally finished the Joplin piece--I have to varnish it and frame it--I usually take the pictures of my art before I do either--it is hard to get a good picture after you varnish it--to many reflections and it is hard to center the shot up once it's framed.

I didn't usse my traditional face colors for her--she was flambouyant and phsycodelic and I wanted her colors to match her personality. 

I have another piece in the works and getting ready to start my
"Witch of November" I have to sketch it out first..........

The shows begin next month and between working, getting ready for them, the gardening ( I have planted lots of new bushes and trees this year), trying to lure in the butterflies and hummingbirds, and the critters, I have been busy.

Hope that you all have a great, creative week.
F.

Plants for the garden.

Here are the pictures of the plants that I bought for the garden this weekend at Tractor Supply.  Hopefully, I have a little success with them.  I love the hummingbirds and butterflies in the garden, hopefully, these will do the job and attract them!!

 

 

Janis Joplin-The beginning.......

I had a great weekend.  Stayed busy in the studio both Saturday and Sunday. I did finally finish (well almost) the paiting above.  I just have to varnish it and put the saw tooth hanger on it.

And........I finsihed my bird painting (almost).  I still have to put the hanger on the back. I love the layered effect.  I ended up putting two layers of tar gel on it.  If you have never tried it and you are a fan of mixed media, you should.  It is a "Golden" product.  I love it.

 

I finished this one also.  This is not a good picture of it.  It is a little blurry.  I ended up framing it in a a gold frame--still gotta put the hanger o this one also....

This is the second bird picture that I have done.  It is in the preliminary stages.  I covered the piece of wood with sheetrock mud, I marked up the sheetrock mud with a nail and other assorted sharp objects.  I put a light wash of acrylic paint on it --assorted colors.  Then I sanded it, repainted it with another wash, let it dry and cover with a gel medium to seal it.  Then, painted the bird.  I have added assorted ephemera on it, but it is not shown in this picture.

I will cover it with tar gel and continue layering........

This is the beginning of my Janis Joplin.  I still have alot of work to do on it, but I did get a good start on it.......

I decided to use unconventional colors for her face, I thought it fit.....

still have to work on the arms, bangels, rings, and touch up the feathers on her head,

I went to Tractor Supply this weekend and found some plants thats I think will go great in my garden.
I bought some Asparagus and rhubarb.  I have tried to plant it before but it didn't make it.  When I lived in England I grew rhubarb and gooseberries.  I had a great old lady living next to me.  Her name was Stella.  I could give her rhubarb and gooseberries and I would get a pie in return.  How great was that?  I also bought several vines and bushes- 2 Sweet Shrub, 1 hummingbird vine, and one Weigela.  They are all supposed to attact butterflies and hummingbirds.  I took pictures of them, I will post them.

Hope that you all have a creative week!
F.

Yet another layer......

This is a picture of a folk-art rose that I painted Tuesday.  I had the background painted black already waiting, when the piece I was working on needed drying time I worked on it.  It was a relatively simple painting and didn't take that long.

I love doing paintings on black backgrounds--it makes them "pop".  You first have to undercoat your picture with white.  Paint you image all white first, then come back and add layers of color. 

 

 

this is the second layer of the bird.  I had covered the entire piece with Golden Tar Gel and let it dry.

After the tar gel dried I came back and added more stamping and more flowers.

 

I wrote on the bottome of it with a sharpie...

Now I can build on it some more...

This picture is a little hard to see, but you can see enough to know where it's going......

Hope you all have a great, creative week!
F.

It is Monday morning and just getting in after helping my son's girlfriend take the critters to the vet--after one escape and one bitten-in-half leash.  Whew!! also went out looking for leather belts for my pursese, but was unsuccessful in finding what I wanted.  Another trip, I guess.
The picture above is one that I have been working on.  I painted the bird and birch limbs onto a board that had been covered with sheetrock mud, paint, and medium.  I plan on adding a layer of self-leveling gel (golden) and the adding more flowers.  The flowers are not painted on, they are decoupaged.  The outside border was drawn with a sharpie and filled in with acrylic paint.  I also added some text with a text stamp.

A close up.....

 

Really, that is all that I have completed this weekend.  I have about 5 pieces in the works and need to do some finishing up.  I hope to get out there some this week and at least finish 3 pieces.  I am at the varnishing stage on one piece.  One piece I want to do some beading on and this one.  I have 2 more pieces in progress and a Janis Joplin drawn out, but not begun painting yet.  I have so many plans and so little time..............

Hope you all have a great week!!
F.