The Art Journey & Making Art

It seems like forever since I have posted or painted! Am just getting back into my studio and there seems to be a lot of sitting and 'thinking' and not a lot of painting. Missed almost three weeks of painting this month - for a variety of reason - some out of my control. Have also been spending time looking at artwork on Pinterest and this has me taking a step back and wondering about my painting and where I am going with this 'journey of art making'. I have so many ideas right now, not enough time to try even half of them. Does anyone else go through this? In the meantime I am sticking to things that are simple and doable and trying to squeeze in any time I can experimenting. So I have no artwork to share today, but I do have a lovely altered road sign that I hope you will enjoy as much as I do. The rural community I live in celebrates a Scarecrow festival during the month of October and each year the scarecrows become more and more creative (ie. the benchmark is set higher and higher). I need to get around and take pictures of them and will share with you in the next few days. In the meantime this little gem is one I see whenever I drive to the village to pick up mail or have a coffee with friends - is so creative and always brings a smile to my face!

Altered 'deer crossing' sign!
West Bragg Creek Road, Alberta, Canada

New Art Supplies!

I have some new art supplies! Now, these aren't any you will find at your local art supply. These are from Mother Nature. Many of the plants in our area have flowered and are now producing seed. The leaves have been gathered in the fall, the pansies from my garden all summer and most of the tulips are from fresh bouquets (the deer are much too fond of tulips I have tried to grow and I finally waved the surrender flag!) I have used these beautiful 'art supplies' to make cards and larger artworks. First I dry the plant material using Lee Valley's microwave flower press - worth every penny - is fast and preserves the colours of the petals and leaves. I then use beeswax and encaustic wax medium to embed these natural objects into the substrate. Gathering and drying this material does take a lot of time and effort but when I open the container the sight and smell of of these beautiful petals is a special reward in itself.

Tulips, Pansies & Poplar leaves

Stinkweed seed pods (not the loveliest of names!) Latin Name: Thlaspi arvense I think these will look amazing embedded in wax!

Notecards
Leaves, flower petals, beeswax, on card stock
Watercolour backgrounds that are stamped and
drawn on.

'Flowers for Grace'
(5"X7")
Tulip petals in wax medium on birch plywood
These petals were not pressed,
but dried naturally. They soaked up the
wax and by pressing gently were
easy to embed into the wax.