Angel Among Us - Original Mixed Media Canvas

Hi everyone!  I'm back with a new canvas.  I've been away from my studio for awhile because my husband had surgery about a month ago.  Thankfully he's made a full recovery and now I can refocus on art.  I bought this really big canvas and have been dreaming of the possibilities. 

I began by creating this beautiful background.  I used acrylic, oil, stencils and spray paint.  The pic is pretty bad but you can get a better look on FB.

I debated what to paint.  I thought of beautiful doors, a quaint chapel and settled of this beautiful lady.  She is inspired by a photo I saw of an angel tombstone.

Her face actually gave me a hard time.  I guess I was a bit rusty from my time off.  I think the key to art is probably never stopping.  Just like any other skill, it takes lots of practice.  The more you work at it, the better you get.

 I kept the wings simple and opted to let heavy paint strokes create depth.  I wanted the stenciled quote to show through so I went with a wash of color.

Since you can't read the stenciled quote, I chose my favorite part to write around the wings.  It reads, "At the end of the day who you are is completely up to you".

This canvas is 30" x 40" x 1.25".  Since it's so large, I won't be listing it on Etsy but I will be adding prints soon.  If you are interested in the original, you can email me or message me on FB.  Thank you so much for stopping by today.  Have a wonderful Father's Day weekend!!

Update!  Prints are now available HERE

Mermaid - Advice needed on this one

Hi everyone, I hope you had a great Easter weekend!  I working on this new canvas.  I don't have any progress pics to share other than the ones on FB because this one went really fast.

I love the way this turned out but I need your help deciding on adding a quote or leaving it as is.

I found a quote that I think would work well but I just can't decide whether or not to add it.

So here is a full shot of the canvas as is: Option 1

And here is the canvas with the words added digitally: Option 2.

  

So what do you think?  Add the quote or not?  If I add it, it would be handwritten not digitally printed.  Help, please, share your thoughts :D

Update!  I ended up leaving the original without words but added the quote to the prints.  Both are now available for purchase in my Etsy shop.

1.Original   2.Print

She's a Dreamer

Hi everyone!   I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving.   I took some time off from my studio but I was itching to get back to painting.   I found a beautiful photo on Pinterest that inspired me to create this lovely lady.

In case you haven't noticed, I love gypsies, hippies and all free spirits so they're a favorite subject for me.  I even tell my kids that I was a gypsy in a past life, lol.

The majority of the background is a thin book text wrapping paper along with scraps of patterned papers.  Then as usual, I sketched out my focal image.

She came together nicely.  I kinda wonder if I should have left her color like this.  What do you think? Do you like this better than the darker/colorful hair in the finished piece?

No gypsy would be complete without beautiful jewelry.  So next I added tons of gold trim, bangles and necklaces.

With her done, I added warm tones to the background and beautiful flowers.  I was really loving the piece at this point but I really wanted to add a sentiment.

I found the perfect quote:

She's a Dreamer, a doer, a thinker.  She sees possibility Everywhere and in Everything.

So what do you think?!  I love her and I hope you do too!!

Here is a closer look at the background and the flowers.  You can see the book text wrapping paper and beautiful zentanglish stamped flowers/flourishes behind the painted flowers.

Close up look at her ;D

This canvas is 16x12".  I'll be adding it to my Etsy shop, LittleHoneyBeeStudio tomorrow.  Thank you so much for stopping by, I hope you've enjoyed your visit!  Until next time!!

Update!  Original available for purchase HERE

Hope - Dia De Los Muertos Art

Happy Friday everyone!  I hope you all are enjoying a great start to the weekend.  Today I have another Dia De Los Muertos inspired canvas to share with you.

Meet Hope, she's the latest addition to my Dia De Los Muertos art series.

I named her Hope because this is my hope for you:  Whenever you find yourself doubting how far you can go,  just remember how far you have come.

Hope started out as a sketch in my art journal.

I worked on her whenever I had to sit and wait on my son.  Once I was done, I knew she HAD to go on a canvas.

I made a copy of my sketch to help me transfer my image onto the canvas.  I didn't wanna have to sketch her all over again.

Once I had her transferred I began adding the base colors.

She started out kinda blonde but that changed fast although I'm thinking I should make a blonde haired blue eyed girl for you guys.  Let me know if you'd like to see that ;D.

With her pretty much done, I moved onto the background.  At this point I had no idea what I was gonna do.  Thankfully Pinterest is full of inspiration!  I found a photo of a gypsy that inspired the background.

I added drapes stenciled with tiny flowers subtly blending into the folds.

I have to admit, I'm EXTREMELY happy with the way she turned out.  I think she is absolutely GORGEOUS.

Here's a nice close up of her face.

I'll be adding her to my Etsy shop, LittleHoneyBeeStudio sometime today.  Thanks so much for stopping by, enjoy your weekend!!!

If you're interested in purchasing Hope, click HERE.

Shine - Mixed Media Canvas

Merry Christmas everyone!  I hope this finds you nice and warm.  Yesterday was a bit of a struggle for me so I got into the studio to relieve some stress.  Being creative is the best medicine in the whole world, don't you think?  Well it is for me and my soul was in need of it.  Don't get me wrong, we're all good here but sometimes (certain times of the month) I'm a bit of a mess over things that don't even matter.  Hopefully you can relate, lol.  Anyway, enough venting right!  I pulled out an old canvas that I never finished.  This one has been sitting here for months.  I had a vision for it but it didn't work out so I benched it.  So whenever I need to relieve some creative steam, the unfinished pieces are the ones I reach for and this is what I came up with:

This is an 8x10 canvas that I applied a layer of crackle paste to and then debossed into.  It was an experiment and it didn't really turn out like I thought it would so that's why I never finished it. I framed the edges using 3-D enamels, love that stuff.

Since I was feeling a bit down, I started researching angels and I found this beautiful image of a child angel.  I began sketching with the little girl in mind but of course it was my character that appeared.  It's funny how we all have different women that always appear in our artwork.  I may change the hair and eye color but they all have the same characteristics.

All of my canvases tell a story of what I'm going through and this one is no different but I'll keep it to myself so you can find your own meaning.

We all have something we're passionate about, a fire that burn inside but sometimes we need a little encouragement to let it out: I know that your's will Shine so brilliant it will be blinding.  I didn't plan on this quote but if found me as I dug through me stash and just seemed so perfect.

This piece is a mixed of crackle paste, acrylic paints, sketching, stamping, markers, pens and rubons.

It's loaded with rich texture and beautiful layers.

Thank you so much for joining me today and don't forget to let you light SHINE bright for the world to see.

HUGZ and Blessings to you all <3

Soar - Mixed Media Canvas

Happy Friday Everyone!!  I didn't think I was gonna be able to share my latest canvas with you today because it's been raining so much.  Luckily there was a break in the rain and the sun peeked out just a little bit so I ran out to get some pics.  This is an 11x14 canvas that I finished up this morning:

No words on this one so you can form your own interpretation of what she might be saying, thinking or doing.  I thought about adding a sentiment but in the end I decided she was beautiful all on her own.

I wanted to take a break from all the Dia De Los Muertos skullz so I pulled out a canvas and just started adding all the scraps of papers that were beginning to accumulate on my desk from recent projects.  So at this point, I had no plan at all, lol.

Then I decided that I wanted to practice painting my ladies using the canvas vertically and this beauty began to emerge.

I was also working on a custom order using a Prima stencil and tinted molding paste.  So in the spirit of not wasting supplies, the left overs went on this piece.

I gave her bold red lipstick and a red blouse because to me, she is a beautiful strong women.  She has wings to soar above all the drama around her.  She's smiling because she's confident and knows her own strength.  Her backdrop is blue and green because she is at peace with herself and her life, she's happy.  Okay so that's what I see in her.  I'd love to hear what you see.  What's your interpretation?

Thank you so much for stopping by my little slice of blogland!  Have a Wonderful weekend!!

Hugs to you all :D