Still had some more dogs in mind.  Just haven't had much time to paint.  Plus, I've been doing Mary Ann Moss's Remains of the Day Journal class (http://dispatchfromla.typepad.com/dispatch_from_la/rotdoci.html)  which is very time consuming and SLOW for me.  While it is VERY cool, I think I will only do one journal.  My studio is small and I cannot store tons of paper (beyond what I already have leftover from scrapbooking days). 

I found (I shouldn't say found because she's been around for a while and is very prolific) an artist whose work I totally am in love with and her name is Jennifer Mercede.  A couple of her pieces can be found in the Land of Nod catalog.  Her work is very FUN to look at and has childlike qualities without being childish.  It's very charming and I would love to have one of her pieces.

Another artist I'm eyeing lately is Dan Casado.  I found him through a friend and I always look for his work to post on his Flickr site (http://www.flickr.com/photos/dan-casado/)  His work is amazing and very fresh.  I love how he leaves a lot of his background collage work showing through.  I need to do more of that since I really do put a lot of effort into my backgrounds.  I end up covering most of my layers with more solid color and I'm trying to refrain!  It's hard to know when to stop, you know? 

Well, I hope all of you are having a very artful morning and if not, MAKE IT SO!!

Smiles!

Homemade Doll

My oldest daughter, Abby, had an environmental project to do for school.  She decided to see if she could make a doll out of materials found around the house.  This is the end result. 

The arms and legs are toilet paper cores sliced vertically and curled to make them skinnier (her idea).  The are attached with duct tape to the body which is made from part of an empty plastic water bottle.  We "stuffed" her with plastic bags and attached a plastic egg (small) with masking tape to the top of the water bottle to form her head.  Then I suggested covering her completely with masking tape to solidify and "sturdify" her body.  The stockings are made from an old sock and the top and skirt are made from flannel receiving blankets.  The design on the front of her shirt is from a kleenex box.  Her hair is an old sock and her hat is an old mismatched baby sock.  My daughter did all of the painting and decorating of the face.  Facial features are scraps of paper cut up. 

I'm so proud of her.  She's only 9 and she did most of the work (minus the sewing of the clothes).  Her project was well received by her teacher and although no grades were given on these, I give it an A++!!

Good job Abby!  I love you hun!

Here's a picture of Abby (and her friend Udani) with her doll:

This photo was from the "Academy Awards" night where all of the projects (movies and science projects) were shared...hence the dressy attire.  They had a great time! 

Lastly, here's a cute shot of Abby getting out of the limo they staged outside of the school for photo ops.  The organizers of the evening did so much work and many of the kids dressed to the 9s.  Abby played along and threw her head back as if she were a famous person...well, she is to me anyway!

 

Hope you all are enjoying life...I'm enjoying the many blessings in mine!

Blue

Blue
Originally uploaded by meganhoover

Blue

This mixed media painting on watercolor paper was a donation to Renee Troy who is putting together an art book for charity. Proceeds from the final bid on Ebay will go to A Place to Bark www.aplacetobark.com/index.html and the winner gets to enjoy a homemade book comprised of original art from a variety of talented folks. To see more about the project, visit Renee's blog ... www.reneetroyartonline.com/

Swimmer

Swimmer
Originally uploaded by meganhoover

Got this one finished during Jack's nap...life is ultra slow artistically when you have little ones so I'm always thrilled to FINISH something!!! Yahoo! One of my secrets to finishing is by doing a lot of backgrounds that will be ready to go when I get a chance like today. I can do backgrounds in short bursts by just scraping some paint or playing with stamps for a few minutes...even while Jack's awake. Then I've got half the job done for the next time I when I might have longer to work.

More Floral Exploring...say that 5 times fast!

These are small (5x7) and it seems that's all I can get done these days.  I worked on them at the same time so even though the colors may not look like it in these eh photos, they do tie together nicely. 

I've been thinking of all the things I do to be more efficient with my art.  I have only bits of time so I try to have all of my supplies ready.  It does help...when I remember to do that!! 

 One thing I like lately is my new water "system"...I have tons of see through plastic organizers (the kind you might put shoes in to stack in your closet).  I'm using one for my water bin!  It has a lid so my son doesn't turn it over (or the cat for that matter).  I love it because I can see the top of my water and I don't get the handles of my brushes all wet.  I read somewhere that you should use shallow water and replace it often.  Well, I don't know about replacing it often but I am liking the shallow thing.  I don't have as many "oops" with water dripping down my brush because I didn't dry it off enough.  It's a small thing but I thought it was cool.  Having a lid is great for my able-bodied-toddler situation, too.

Hope you are creating something wonderful...on a canvas, piece of paper, in a flowerbed,  in a baking dish, in a journal, or wherever.  Happy Spring!  Yay!!

Smiles!

First Flowers

Happy Easter all...this is my first floral in a looooong time...wasn't as whimsical as I had imagined.  I wanted the colors more funky and less realistic -- more funky shapes, etc.  I think if I do fewer flowers or even singles, then maybe I can get the effect I wanted.  It was fun not to do faces for a change.  This has more texture than you might imagine...Fabriano paper holds up so well to acrylic paint and other heavier media. 

Also, I am working on a list of tips for creative mothers of toddlers.  They are things that have been discussed before but I thought I'd lay them out all together in one post or maybe in a video.  As I learn more about myself and do art my way, I'm paying more attention to the hows and whys of what I do, when I do them, etc.  I love to hear about other people's processes so I'm going to gather that info to share with you also.  Some of the things I do have to do with the fact that I have a toddler who is in full discovery mode.  He can open things, climb, scoot, run, hit, ESCAPE, and now he's beginning to say everything was just "an accident".   So add manipulate to the growing list.  He is a very sweet boy and I'm thankful for that because he is running me ragged!!  Here's one site I've ventured over to occasionally...for moms:  http://www.studiomothers.com/.  It's not just for visual artists so if you are into writing or other things, check it out. 
Have a blessed Easter...don't eat too much candy!
Smiles!
M

She Wears a Flower

Experimenting with this style of mine still...I am always playing in my head with proportions, size of limbs, body parts in proportion to other body parts.  Then I think, hairstyle? clothing?  How DO these people dress or do their hair?  I'm trying to imagine all parts of this "world" I've created.  The possibilities are endless. 

My next project is for a charity in Los Angeles called "A Place to Bark".  I was approached on Flickr by a woman who is doing a book of paintings to be auctioned off on Ebay.  It's an animal rescue place in L.A. and I'm so excited to be a part of it.  I may be doing more than one painting but we'll see!

Have a great Tuesday everyone!

King Comb Over

King Comb Over
Originally uploaded by meganhoover

Trying to finish up some projects I thought I'd lost. Originally I had him in a striped t-shirt but it didn't look right...of course, he has green hair and maybe that doesn't look "right" either! HA! I don't care. Sometimes I make choices in my art that others would not even think to make and I'm getting more comfortable with that. I'm really focusing on what I think is fun and worrying less about outside influences. I love color, blending, shading, and the unexpected. Enjoy!

I FOUND HER!! I FOUND HER!

I thought that I had lost this little painting when I went out of town wayyyyy back in November.  I was almost finished when I went out of town.  When I got back, I could NOT find her.  She was stashed with all of my scraps of paper.  I'm so happy that I found her and was able to finish this today.  It's weird when you work on a painting at two very different times in your art progress....I was painting DAILY back then and now I'm lucky if I get to paint once or twice a week!  Daily is way better for your artistic flow.  I just can't do it right now.  Potty training my son is zapping all of my energy!!  Well, enjoy this little lady.  I used torn paper, acrylic paint, markers, pigment ink with some stamps, markers, gel pen and GRAPHITE!!
Woo hoo!! 

the making of "She Wears a Red Hat" parts 1 and 2

I posted these to youtube recently...I finally finished editing the darn things! Enjoy!

red hat

red hat
Originally uploaded by meganhoover

This is so weird but I had to share what I did. I use the little Crystal Light individual drink packets to flavor bottled water sometimes. The box they come in is so cute and tiny and when I went to toss it in the recycling, I thought, "What if this could be turned into a little painting?" Like many of us artsy types, I've painted on cardboard before, but not like this. I stuffed 3 plastic grocery bags in it to fill it up (I figure that's 3 fewer bags in the landfill), sanded the outside, taped off the ends (masking tape) and gessoed the whole thing (except the back). Then I painted a quick face and now I've got a little painting that can stand on a shelf. I thought this was so cool (it's probably nothing new but it's new to me!) I love the upcycling aspect of this more than anything.  What do you think?

This week's Illustration Friday submission for "propagate"

Watering Can    mixed media on watercolor paper

Don't Follow the Yellow Brick Road

Don't Follow the Yellow Brick Road
Originally uploaded by meganhoover

This came from one of my sketches when I was so into drawing all of these bizarre faces. I think I was drawing most freely and consistently during that time (November?) To get my "head" back into it, I dove back into my sketchbook and found something to paint. This is an 8x10 piece of 300 lb Fabriano watercolor paper...I've strictly used quality paint on this one and I think it makes a difference. The better paint covers more with fewer coats and also stays wet a little longer. Plus, you cannot believe the strength of the colors...pure pigment! I don't think I need to use 300 lb. paper so next I'll be buying 140 lb. I did do a random, layered, textured background first. I think I need to start with darker backgrounds...it's working better for me. My new obsession is watercolor pencils...wetting them in some places, blending with paint in some places and letting them be in other places. I've had these for a long, long time but it's so fun to pull out supplies that you either haven't used in a while or have simply forgotten about. I needed to shake things up a bit. My family still thinks these are "weird"...I just can't stop painting them!

Ride Like No One Is Watching

Ride like no one's watching
Originally uploaded by meganhoover

I'm trying to soften my colors and also experiment with other sky colors. I was tired of such cool colors and felt I needed to warm everything up a bit. I love playing with color! Anyway, this has a lot of texture and was easy to get a somewhat messy look. This time I dragged watercolor pencils around ON TOP of the texture when the painting was just about done. THAT WAS SO FUN AND EASY!!! It gave just the right amount of ???? to the background for me. LOVE it. I'll be doing some more like this!

"Follow Your Heart" (IF submission for ADRIFT)

This was a mixed media painting I did recently that fits the theme this week.  She's ADRIFT but she's following her heart!  This was done on watercolor paper with lots and lots of layers of acrylic paint, gel medium, and graphite.  It measures 11x14 and smaller sized prints are available in my etsy shop: 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/MegansMixedMedia

Thanks for looking!

muddy

muddy
Originally uploaded by meganhoover

Trying Illustration Friday again after several years.

This was an attempt at a watercolor but turned into mixed media...can't stay away from mixing up watercolor pencils, graphite and such. Anyway, it was just a quick little experiment...300 lb. Fabriano paper, Holbein wcs, Derwent watercolor pencils, graphite and gel pen.

untitled

untitled
Originally uploaded by meganhoover

This was one I'd started a few weeks ago...she was tough to finish because I just couldn't decide on the balloon. I painted the barn pink with polka dots because I've never seen one like it. I'm feeling a little lost with my painting since I don't seem to be able to get into my studio and get dirty lately. Too much effort goes into set up and clean up and then BOOM, Jack's awake from his nap. After this summer, I'll have 2 mornings to myself or to volunteer at the girls' school occasionally.

quote

Dwell in possibility.  ~Emily Dickinson

New Painting

Here is a new painting.  I've been out of the practice of daily painting and so I feel like my groove has been interrupted somehow. I had gotten out of the habit of putting down collaged paper to dictate the face shapes. I was just "drawing" what could have been a torn paper shape or only using one piece of torn paper in select areas. This was an attempt to get back to painting what was there. I collaged scrapbook paper randomly and let the face come out of the background....using the paper shapes to dictate facial features, clothing, whatever. If you haven't tried doing this, it's really very freeing. Just allow yourself to "see" the possibilities. Why can't someone's tie be standing straight out? Why can't someone's teeth be, uh, well, little circles? I know the result is a little strange but I always try to paint the parts with careful blending and rich colors to make it interesting. Is it a clown? Is it even a person? I've learned that with art, you shouldn't "GIVE" all of the information to the viewer. In fact, when you find yourself looking at art for more than a moment and asking yourself questions about why the artist did what he/she did and for what reasons, then perhaps the artist was successful. I don't know if that's what is happening here but it sure is fun to paint this way. I need to do a video from start to finish. We'll see if that can happen soon. Happy Sunday and as always, SMILES!

Updated Website

I've been working so hard the last few nights on my website. I think I've got the portfolio section going well and I can add more paintings as I need to...it takes some time to set up roll over effects even with a site that has the option to do so built in! UGH! Anyway, I REALLY need to get back to painting. This sitting and staring at the computer stinks once I've checked all of my accounts. Hope you're having a lovely Tuesday. GET TO PAINTIN'! and send me some motivation to get my patootie in gear!!
Smiles! Check out my site and tell me what you think.