Sunday Sketches

I had an art block this week. A lot is going on in my life so I just doodled a little face and then of course I saw the colored pencils on the desk and it grew from there.....so I call her the Doodle Girl.

I keep looking at her thinking I know that face. Not sure who she looks like but it's familiar. So meet Doodle Girl.

Enjoy the Sunday Sketch and for more awesome art visit http://bluechairdiary.blogspot.com/

Paint Party Friday

So I decided to put up 2 this week. Both are ACEO's. I like both of them and couldn't decide. I went to Michael's Craft Store yesterday. Big mistake. I always end up spending tooooo much money there.  I was poking around and saw some water soluable crayon pastels...who knew. And of course the moment I got home I had to play with them  and here's what I ended up with. It's the water soluable pastels & ink. It's what I call "happy art".  I needed some happy art today.

I also bought a set of new soft pastel pencils. A little pricey but I had a 40% off coupon. These are much thinner than the old ones I have so they are easier to work smaller. It's the Archangel Raphael.  He's one of the 7 archangels. Healing powers are attributed to Raphael. In the book of Tobit he was sent by the Lord to heal Tobit of his blindness.  He is considered the patron saint of medical workers and travellers.

Check out some awesome Paint Party Friday art visit this link: http://paintpartyfriday.blogspot.com/
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I just listed these in my Etsy shop-ArtfulPurpose (where art turns into charity). Here's the links:
Daisy: http://www.etsy.com/listing/70751402/mixed-media-aceo-original-daisy

Angel: http://www.etsy.com/listing/70751182/pastel-aceo-original-archangel-raphael

Don't Like the Weather? Wait a Minute.

I was thinking yesterday that Easter is right around the corner. I need to get up into the attic today and pull out those Easter decorations. 

But this morning the weather lady said there is 60% chance of snow on Sunday. How can that be? Wasn't it just 80 degrees last week? Well you know what they say about Maryland weather? "Don't like it? Wait a minute it will change."  So maybe by Sunday the chance of snow will go away. I sure hope so.

There are daffodils all over my front yard! I would hate to see them covered in snow. They are so pretty, the other day I picked one for my grandson. He was so tickled when I gave it to him. He loves flowers because they have green on them. It's his favorite color. He is the President of the Green Club. I'm in the club of course. Not that I'm a big green fan but he thinks I am! LOL
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Easter Egg Salt & Pepper Shakers pictured above are in my Etsy shop. Here's the link: http://www.etsy.com/listing/70391626/easter-egg-salt-pepper-shakers-hand

Sunday Sketches

Well as luck would have it, I was scurrying to do a Sunday Sketch and I was having a time getting started. First off I had the kids for the first half of the week and then the last half I've had a stomach virus while trying to get my porcelain together for Saturday's Craft Show.  It's been kind of a crazy time for me.

What to do? What do do? I followed the girls (my 2 cats) around. They'd lay down in cute poses and they I'd get them 1/2 sketched and they moved. Good grief. I gave up. Then I remembered I have bunches of travel photos I've taken over the years with the intention of doing some sort of art with them.  I was looking at my last cruise which was to Bermuda and I had taken a photo of this clock tower. Now I'm not crazy about painting & drawing buildings because of their stiffness but for some reason the lines always speak to me and I have to photograph them. So I thought what the heck, I'll do an ACEO sketch of it.  Looking at it scanned, I think I need to use a straight edge for some of those lines but I'm pressed for time so here it is.

One of these days I hope to return to Bermuda and shop in the little shops just below this clock tower.

Enjoy the Sunday Sketch and for more awesome art visit http://bluechairdiary.blogspot.com/

Paint Party Friday

So now I have 2 blog posts to write every Friday...my usual Friday Feature...below and also something new Paint Party Friday. I almost forgot about it. But better late than never! LOL

Here's my first Paint Party Friday post!  It is a pastel ACEO. I love to do pastels but find it more difficult smaller for some reason so I don't do as many of them as ACEO's. But I was very pleased with the way this one turned out. I love lemons and that old saying "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade". I try to do that as much as possible sometimes I am not so successful.

This little piece for some reason when I look at it makes me smile. I hope it does the same for you.
It's available in my etsy shop - Artful Purpose (where art turns to charity) listing: http://www.etsy.com/listing/66688127/pastel-aceo-flowers-and-lemons-original

For checking out some awesome Paint Party Friday art visit this link: http://paintpartyfriday.blogspot.com/

Friday Feature

So this week to find my Friday Feature I had St Patty's Day on my mind so I searched for Green, Art and picked the first thing that appealed to me. Here it is....He is donating 100% of this purchase to the Japanese Red Cross.

It's from MantaWave Here's the link.  http://www.etsy.com/people/MantaWave?ref=ls_profile

Gregory Bryant is from Norfolk, VA.
He got his name, "MantaWave" from mantarays and ocean waves -- two things he finds very inspiring. 

He indicates in his profile that he is "very interested the the spiral -- especially the spiral as it exists in Nature. It is omnipresent, from the tiniest (dna) to the grandest (spiral galaxies) and this fascinates me."  Gregory also is influenced by music (underground post punk & indie) and sea creatures (such as jellyfish and octopi), ancient maps, compass roses, fractals and crop circles/mazes as an art form.

He graduated with degree in Geography and traveled to Europe. During this trip he realized his desire to create

His shop is full of beautiful jewelry. He uses porcelain, a very durable clay. His glazes do not resemble a glazed clay but natural surfaces like stone, wood, metal, bone, etc.

So go check out his work. It's pretty awesome and so is his photography too!

Here's the link to that beautiful green piece of art. http://www.etsy.com/listing/70172073/earthquake-relief-in-the-zen-garden-all?ref=pr_shop

A Bit About St. Patrick.....

Everyone knows about St. Patrick's Day...green beer and corn beef and cabbage but how many of you know the man? Did you know he was not Irish?

He is not someone of legend. St. Patrick was the Bishop of Ireland!
But he was  born in 387 in Scotland. His father belong to a  Roman  famly of high ranking.   When Patrick was 16 he was kidnapped, taken to Ireland  as a slave. For 6 years he tended his master's flocks and during that time developed a life of prayer.

He became fluent  the Celtic language which would one day help him preach the Word of God. His master Milchu was a druid high priest. Through him he became familiar with  Druidism so that later he could  liberate the Irish race from it.

Upon proding from an angel, he escaped, found a ship out of there to Britan. St. Germane came into his life and finally Patrick went into the priesthood.   After a period of time, in summer 433 he was sent as a missionary to Ireland. He first went to his master to pay his ransom...some guy huh? I don't think I'd have been so nice!  He spent years travelling Ireland touching the hearts of the Irish, turning them from Druidism and baptizing many into Christianity and establishing churches. Many miracles were attributed to him.  

St. Patrick wrote two documents. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia: "The "Confessio" and the "Epistola ad Coroticum" are recognized by all modern critical writers as of unquestionable genuineness."

In March 493, he received last rights and died. He was wrapped in a shroud made by the hands of St. Bridgit. People came from all parts to pay their respects. It is said that for several days the light of heaven shone on his coffin. His remains were interred at the chieftan's Dun or Fort two miles from Saul, later to be the cathedral of Down.


So I hope you learned something today!  I leave you with a prayer from Saint Patrick's Breastplate . I would hope we would all be so Christ Centered! Happy St. Patricks Day.

Christ be with me
Christ before me
Christ behind me
Christ in me
Christ beneath me
Christ above me
Christ on my right
Christ on my left
Christ where I lie
Christ where I sit
Christ where I arise
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me
Christ in every eye that sees me
Christ in every ear that hears me
Salvation is of the Lord.
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The plate of St. Patrick is not for sale. It was painted for a priest.

An Art Break

Please watch this video and support them either financially or in prayer. God bless.

http://littlesistersofthepoorbaltimore.org/

I Could Use a Cup of Tea!

Well I really have been having fun with the 3 kids I'm babysitting for a week. Tomorrow their Mom returns and it's back to normalcy. But I have missed making art. I just can't do it with 2 preschoolers who want my undivided attention.

Like right now I have a 3 year old about to perch on my laptop. I really need a cup of tea right now!  LOL

Saturday is a craft show that I have to prepare for. I guess all the procelain I'm gonna take is already painted because I won't have time to make anymore. I have a number of new items I need to upload to my shop but again just haven't had time to do it. The little tea pot shaped hinged box is one of the items I managed to get up online before the kids came to visit.  It's so cute. I love tulips and I'm longing for spring!

 A friend pointed out that you can put tea bags in it. Who knew? I never thought about that before. So store your teabags in it (it will only hold a few) or you can deposite your used one's in it until you can toss them.

It's available in my shop:  http://www.etsy.com/listing/66149252/hand-painted-porcelain-tea-pot-shaped

Sunday Sketches

so since I've been posting photos of my art for Sunday Sketches, they've all be ACEO cards of one media or another.  I was going to do another one but I've been babysitting 2 toddlers and an 7 year old for a week while their Mom tends to her grandmother who had a stroke out of state.  So rather than just not do a Sunday Sketch I thought I'd post a piece of my porcelain art that started as a sketch! 

Inspiration Piece

Blank China

People always ask me how I do this.  Each piece of china is painted and fired in a kiln to a temperature of 1800 degrees multiple times. Here's some pictures of how it progresses:

Design Sketched in

I generally sketch the design I want on with a wax pencil.  The wax will burn off in the kiln, leaving just the paint behind. The paints used are powdered paint pigments, mixed with oil  into a consistency of tooth paste.Oil is also used as a painting medium.  Some people buy special mixtures of oils, however, you can use anything from mineral oil to motor oil!

Brushes used are very soft and they are oiled and then the oil pressed out on a paper towel prior to going into the paints.   Unlike other types of painting very little paint is loaded on the brush. Your brush "kisses" the porcelain as you paint.

The First Painting & Firing

Second Painting & Firing

Each piece is painted multiple times as you build up your color from light to dark. There is no white on the palette, the white seen is actually the porcelain showing through. At each firing the glaze opens up and the paint goes into the glaze. As it cools the glaze closes and the paints become permanent. They will never wash off. They are dishwasher & microwave safe.

Third Painting & Firing

The only exception to this is if the porcelain artist uses gold or lusters on the piece. Gold is actually 24kt. liquid gold. When fired it doesn't go into the glaze. It sits on top of the glaze. Lusters like mother of pearl also sit on the top of the glaze. For that reason should you have gold or lusters, handwashing is advised.  Gold should never be put into the microwave as it is a metal and might give you a fireworks show!

So, if you are interested in porcelain art (a gift to treasure for generations to come), please visit my Etsy shop: http://jywheeler.etsy.com

Hope you've enjoyed the work in progress...now back to chasing toddlers !

For more awesome Sunday Sketches visit: http://bluechairdiary.blogspot.com

Friday Feature

Another random pick from Etsy. This week I just searched on RAIN and then I narrowed it to art to find this fun piece of art. It seemed fitting to search rain with the deluge we've had lately.   This piece is from the shop RKDsign88. Here's the link to her lovely shop: http://rkdisgn88.etsy.com

The shop is full of whimsical designs available in prints, stationery, tags, you name it. You can't help but smile when you look at these adorable little faces! According to her profile the artist is "a  mom with a daughter & a wonderful husband." She used to live in Stevens Point, Wisconsin & Los Angeles for 8 years and now resides in Jakarta Indonesia. So check her shop out and if you love the print that I have shown as much as I do, go to this link: http://www.etsy.com/listing/64869088/rainy-day-blonde-whimsical-girl-with

So It Has a Name!

Last weekend when I put up my Sunday Sketch I put up a  doodle I did when my cable was out. I just did it with a couple of pens. No big deal. Just doodling.

After I posted my link to my Sunday Sketch, I had a couple of people tell me that it was a zentangle.....who knew? I had no idea what a zentangle was. Turns out it some sort of mediative drawing or doodling. According to zentangle.com  "Zentangle is an easy to learn method of creating beautiful images from repetitive patterns. It is a fascinating new art form that is fun and relaxing. It increases focus and creativity. Zentangle provides artistic satisfaction and an increased sense of personal well being"
 

 They also call it a "elegant metaphor for deliberate artistry in life" and also "mediative". You can buy kits and books...they've taken doodling to a whole new commercial thing. I was amazed people would pay money to doodle!

Then I did a search on Etsy. There are a lot of  zentangles on there. But for me, it's just a doodle. I do that when I'm bored. I always have. When I go to meetings my notes are filled with doodles.  So inspired by the beautiful doodles or zentangles in color, I decided to do another this time with the DAWG Team Ocean Quest in mind, and enhance it with watercolor and here it is. I


It is available in my Etsy Shop at this link: http://www.etsy.com/listing/69525379/mixed-media-aceo-original-sea-of-life

Sunday Sketches

My Sunday Sketch is actually an ink doodle on an ACEO card. I call it, "Cable's Out".  My cable TV was out for a couple of days. Not much to do. So I started doodling on a piece of paper and then thought, "Wait, I should just do an ACEO doodle" and I did. And here it is.


Visit BlueChairDiary Blog for some awesome other Sunday Sketches: http://bluechairdiary.blogspot.com/    Please keep Sophia's father & Sophia in your prayers!

The Sounds of Quiet

My cable has been out for a couple of days. The guy is supposed to come today to fix it. Yesterday I was just sitting  in the family room on the laptop, reading blogs, facebook, checking out my etsy shops, whatever. And then it hit me how quiet it was.

So I grabbed a cup of tea and listened to how my house sounded quiet. I decided it's pretty noisey for quiet. The furnance goes on and off and I was amazed how long it's on. There was a little drip in my kitchen faucet that I had not noticed until it was quiet. I could hear the clock tick and a small noise from the overhead kitchen ceiling fan.

Birds could be heard through the window. I could even hear the cats walking. There was the faint sound of a plane and I wondered where it was going. I have never heard a plane from inside my house before. It was an interested exercise/observation.
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The hand painted porcelain mug pictured above  is available in my Etsy shop. Here's the link:  http://www.etsy.com/listing/9959446/handpainted-porcelain-mug-cottage-style

Friday Feature

This Friday I thought I'd try something different. I decided to just plug in the word garden into the Etsy search and find something that appealed to me on the first page of the search.  This appealed to me. It's a photograph by artofsisters of New York http://artofsisters.etsy.com/

According to the shop profile,  the shop owner is mother, wife, creator, and dreamer. She  has two daughters who share her love for the Arts. They have taken photos since they were young.

Their work is lovely. I love photography. It speaks to me. So check out their shop and if you like the photograph pictured to the left, check it out at: http://www.etsy.com/listing/69251173/sunflower

Oh and while poking around their shop, I find that Etsy is a complete family affair.....her husband has a shop there with photography as well. It's called EveryThingHarley http://www.etsy.com/people/EveryThingHarley 

Things That Make Me Giggle

Okay so yesterday I had another episode that made me giggle. My daughter lives in Columbia, Md. It's a "planned community" and things look very uniform and it'sjust hard to find things there unless you are familiar with it.  So when I go I generally use a gps to get around.

I needed to go to find a Party City for some party supplies. So I typed in Party City and GO. Things were going fine until the end. With less than a mile to go, I pass a BIG shopping center but that wasn't it. So I kept going, into a neighborhood. Strange, I thought, no more shopping centers and then I hear. "Arriving at Party City on the Right." There was no mall or shopping center. Where was I?

LONG REACH HIGH SCHOOL.....I just giggled.

And it was born...........

So as you know I'm a china painter. I love porcelain art and spend hours everyday painting it. For many years I've painted spoon rests like the one pictured on the left.

I had painted one of them and it was already fired, finished and ready to be photographed. It was sitting beside my work table.  At the time I was in the middle of doing some decorative painting and was applying varnish. Now if you paint, you know if you put varnish on your pallette paper it will run...sometimes even to the edge of the paper and off. So I grabbed the spoon rest and put the varnish in the little well. It  was perfect for what I needed to hold my varnish.  And because it is porcelain clean up was a snap.

As I was cleaning it out, I thought, well I have to clean my brushes. Generally I put the brushes in brush soap and scrub in my hand but for some reason I just used the little spoon rest. The paint on the porcelain had enough "tooth" to clean but be gentle to my bristles!

and the Paint Buddy was born! 

I love my Paint Buddy. I use it all the time. One day I was thinking, I should share this with others. So  I made some paint buddies in put them in my Etsy shop.  You can purchase them at this link:  http://www.etsy.com/listing/66765859/handpainted-porcelain-paint-buddy

or if you prefer a spoon rest. Here's the link for the one pictured. http://www.etsy.com/listing/39694775/handpainted-porcelain-spoon-rest-ofg