Spring is in the Air...

Another crazy day in the household :)  Thankfully Missouri's been lucky enough to have some absolutely beautiful weather.  Doesn't the sun just seem to make everything better!! 
 
The art for today was created sometime last year for a swap that I did at my favourite LSS in St. Louis  "For Keepsakes".  There were 4 of us who decided to swap Chunky ATC's of the seasons. 

 I did spring. I'll have to take a picture of all 4 of them and post it because personally, I thought that they all turned out amazingly, I never could decide which one was my favourite season!

Lord please grant me more hours in my day..or more energy into this old body!!

Wow..I'm really terrible at this keeping resolution thing.  I think next years will be to work on my resolution keeping skills!   Anyway, life has an amazing way of twisting and turning and making things make sense, doesn't it?  I've recently started taking college classes so I can officially be called a graphic artist..well soon I will be anyway !  It was always one of my hang ups of not having any "official" background in art.  I'll finally have the education to back me up, I'm very excited !!!  Or at least I was until I started reading all of the work and remembering that I'm not 18 anymore!  Ah well, I'll get through it!

Oh, I also wanted to thank you guys for the encouraging emails, your opinions have been very helpful and are very appreciated.  I'm obviously new to this and definitely need all of the help that I can get :) 

I'll eventually get the hang of getting all of my more intelligent, entertaining babble down into blog form !

On to my newest artwork.  Sadly, one of my closest friends brother recently passed from a long illness.  He was in his early 40's and left a young family behind.  I was asked for an art piece to add to the auction.  I really did struggle with this one for awhile.  I definitely didn't want to make something happy and I wanted to make sure that I made something professional enough to be sold at auction, along with all of the other beautiful pieces.  I wanted to do whatever I could to help my girlfriends family :(  

This is what I came up with ..

I started with a huuuuuuge piece of pressboard from Home Depot...and did you know that they'll sweetly cut your board down into 12x12 slabs for you?  I didn't but look out..I do now ;) 
I just seemed to keep adding layer after layer and then layer after layer of flowers.  Some were from Prima and some where just strays from the wedding aisle in Hobby Lobby. 

I did love the way that this one turned out.  It was one of those pieces that you make that is very difficult to give away.  I keep saying I'm going to make myself one but I'm sure as a fellow artist you all know how well that one usually goes..I know, I'll add it to next years resolutions! 

Resolutions...

Well, one of my resolutions this year was to attempt to write regularly in my blog...only 2 months to start working on 2011 resolutions...I'm doing really well this year!!!! YAY Me!! 


Anyway...I just finished working on a very interesting swap for one of my yahoo groups.  It was something that I'd never attempted before, an altered paper doll.  Talk about the stroll down memory lane on this one.  I used to love paper dolls as a kid and figured this would be an easy swap for someone like me..who used to play with paper dolls constantly...ya right!  After a few stalled attempts and a few frantic calls to some creative friends, this is what I ended up with. 

I'll be sure to post pictures of the dolls I get back from my swap :)  This was a fun one!

Finally!

Life sure can throw some curveballs your way, can't it?? I think I'm finally in a place where I can continue this artful journey. I want to thank all of my friends who have stuck with me through this messy time in my life, I love you all dearly! Now...on to the art!





Isn't it amazing how some small idea in your brain..just a little spark that maybe like mine, hit while you were sleeping, can become a piece of reality that is treasured by others??? I'm having a tough time wrapping my brain around that one! Last year for my daughter's dance teachers, I made personalized shadow boxes of the dance studio. I was so touched that they actually kept them out until Easter and told every person who asked who had made it :) They have put them out again this year in the studio and I've had a few requests for them by both the young girls and their parents. I think it's so awesome that something I created has touched teenagers..they're definitely tough to impress!! Gotta love them!
I'm currently working on this years gift for them, the party's Tuesday! I'm such a great procrastinator.eh?? I think I hear a resolution in there somewhere...ah well, I'll get to it later ;)