Summer is drawing to a close but some things will never change.  Boys toys crack me up.  After having two girls, the boy thing is a nice change.  We now have Barbies AND superheroes in our home.  Spidey can be found all over the house these days.  This time...he's resting on my art table. 

Also, my sweet hubby helped me keep little people out of my studio long enough to do a painting.  Here's a not-so-great photo of it.  I'm becoming increasingly interested in the way stitching looks mixed with painting.  I've been experimenting and while I love the way real stitching looks, I think I'll keep it simple with drawn stitches.  These faces of mine are changing a bit.  It makes me think of how focused our society is on the way people look....the efforts we put forth to look "good" and the money spent on augmentation, lifts, and tucks.  I don't know what to call this painting...any ideas?

More painting to come!  I'll post as I get them done.  Smiles!

summer busy-ness

I don't know if I've painted a single thing this summer other than "Make a Wish" from my previous post.   I've worked a little here and there in some of my art journals and also done some sketching but otherwise, we've been busy, busy, busy.  Here are some wonderful photos of the things that have kept me away from blogging and my studio -- can't think of anything better to pull me away than my family!!

Happy end of summer days...stay cool!

Smiles!

On top of all of this, we also had Vacation Bible School, a trip to my folks (their patio is pictured above), a trip to my sister's, and the girls had a trip with Tom to Cary, North Carolina.  We still have a visit to Schlitterbahn next week -- that should be a blast and a one night visit from friends passing through town.  After that, we'll be getting ready for school!!!  WHEW.

"Make A Wish"

  
 Summer months are busy for us.  My husband and I have birthdays 5 days apart in June.  We have my mother-in-law, 3 nieces, 2 nephews, my brother, and my brother-in-law's birthdays in the summer.  If you add in our anniversary, my parents' anniversary and Father's Day, we've got a lot of special occasions all within 3 months.  It's NUTS!!  With all of these special things going on, I guess I had candles and cake on my brain.

    I'm always thinking of new things or new ways to re-invent these characters.  I try to stay with my core elements -- the things I love like brilliant color, lots of textural layers, blending and shading, and a childlike quality in the overall feel.  I try not to overthink the outlining and I do it quickly the way a child would.  I'm still having such a great time creating these "people".  I may do more dogs (I have several sketches that I haven't used yet and some new ones I just finished) but I still love doing faces.  Kids appeal to me because they have such a wonderful way of looking at the world.  My own kids inspire me daily (hourly!!) and they never cease to amaze me with their simple yet profound thoughts on so many subjects. 

So, enjoy this little piece...especially if it's your birthday!!  And even if it's not your birthday, you can make a wish just the same.  Maybe it will come true!!!

Smiles as always!

Artists pay it forward...for charity

Just an update on the artist project I contributed to recently. The book is completed and is now up for bidding on Ebay...click here to see it.  The current bid is up to $510.  It's very exciting and it was a great feeling knowing I donated something for a great cause. "A Place to Bark" will benefit from the proceeds, and someone will have an amazing collection of art from many artists on the topic of "heart".  I'm posting the painting I donated just for those new to my blog. Here ya' go:

Happy Tuesday!

The Word is Art: Slide Show A Place to Bark Fundraiser Book

This is worth a look.  I feel lucky to have been asked to participate and to be part of a group of amazing artists.  I wish I'd had more time to donate a few more paintings.  Check it out!!

The Word is Art: Slide Show A Place to Bark Fundraiser Book

Bad blogger, bad blogger!

I realize that I had promised to share the texture secret from the post before last and forgot to share!!  So, here it is. 

As many of you know, I adore texture and I'll take it any way I can get it.  The best way for me to build up texture is simply by slathering paint on, little by little.  (The way a pallette might look if you don't peel off the dried puddles of acrylic paint).  A little like this:

Scraping, stamping, smooshing, drybrushing, splattering, dripping, dropping and a whole host of other ways of applying paint can be used.  If you apply each layer and allow it to dry before applying the next layer, you will have a lovely, multicolored background with lots of little surprises peeking through (impressions made by stamps with various colors, found object impressions, scraping, dripping -- whatever you did to make the layer).  I love how the background can almost have an aged, shabby look, like years of various colors trying to show themselves.  HOWEVER, this process can take some time, especially if you don't like using a heat gun (because you might wake up the sleeping toddler in the next room).  If you rush, you will make mud.  I mean MUD ...brownish, grayish, yuckishness.  Yucky.  Yuck. 

Don't do that.  It's just altogether yucky.

So to cheat Father Time, I like to collage bits of various thicknesses of paper.  Paper weight paper is great because it requires less gel medium or a lighter weight gel medium.  (Like scrapbook paper, one sided).  Sometimes I tear up old paintings I didn't like that were done on heavy watercolor paper.  That way, I already have painted pieces with lots of variety.  I've also been known
 to paint whole sheets of watercolor paper to tear up for my characters facial features.  Paper is a great way to add texture and variety to your backgrounds.

Knowing this, I became very excited when I came across some old dry wall tape.  DRY WALLTAPE??  Yes, you heard me (read me).  Dry wall, joint tape.  It is glueless, comes on a roll, and is available at any hardware store.  It can be painted, gel mediumed if you will, cut up, laid down in strips, whatever.  It is very absorbent and it is MEANT to be painted or had joint compound spread over it, so it will hold up to whatever you want to do with it.

So, there you have it.  Some of you are sitting there going, "Duh, I so already knew that."  But it was new for me and I always want to share my excitement over new things.  Here's one of my applications...in a journal.  I left the edges uncut -- kind like it that way.  So, new for you or not, give it a try.  Let me know what you think! 

 

inside my new project

Fun with recycled board books....these are the first 2 pages.  I'll fill each page with a funky portrait.  Should be fun!  The book is only like 3 and half inches square, so it'll go fast.  Painting small helps me feel like I'm getting things done.  It's also a mindless, worryless project because it's something I think I'll just keep for ourselves.  We'll see, eh?

Newest paintings

I've been working lately on these three paintings (in addition to the portait of my daughter from my last post).  I promised to share the texture secret (it may not be so secret but it's new to me).  I'll do that in my next post.  Here are the paintings...almost done but still have some details to add to all of them:

Feels great to be painting again!!! 

Portrait painting in progress...maybe I'll try me next!

This is my daughter Ellie.  I'm trying to do a portrait of her.  I made it easier on myself by blowing up a decent photo and turning it into a black and white.  Then I used vellum to trace some of the basic structures of her face and made a "carbon" for myself by rubbing blue watercolor pencil on the back of the vellum.  I should've reversed the photo and then when I traced, I could've had pencil marks ready to transfer.  Live and learn!

The blue watercolor pencil did not transfer well but left enough of a mark for me to lift up the vellum, look, lay down my tracing, and then sketch over my blue marks with pencil.  (I had taped my image onto my canvas).  As much as I might feel like a purist at times, wanting to sketch just by looking instead of tracing a black and white copy, I just don't have the luxury of time to sketch these days.  I "cheated" with the sketch if you will, so I could just get to the painting!  Anyhoo, here's a shot of the vellum.  You'll see blue, read and graphite.  The blue is on the back (my carbon attempt) and the red was traced over to transfer the image and to let me know where I had already traced.  If I had used pencil over pencil, I'd be lost as far as what I needed to trace...make sense? 

Here's where I am now with the color photo to reference hair and shadows, etc.  I am still working on this and hope to finish this weekend.  I'll post more images as I go along.  It's a stretch for me since my portraits lately have crazy features!!  At some point in my artistic journey, I could sketch realistic faces easily and it felt very natural.  BUT if you don't sketch daily, portraiture is tedious.  If you LOVE painting realistic faces, sketch, sketch, sketch and paint, paint, paint!!!  It is extremely helpful in my view!

I've taken artistic liberty and prettied up the background...you can't really tell but the canvas has a lot of texture.  I'll tell you more about that later.  It's something I've been experimenting with and you can get it at any hardware store!!!  Stay tuned for more info.

 

Happy painting ya'll!

miles of smiles from Texas to you!

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?