Inspiration Avenue Weekly Challenge

Tea Party

Well, I've set a new record for myself in being late

with the weekly challenge at Inspiration Avenue.

Never been THIS late before...but finally here I am.

No excuses, but I will just say I was running hideously late already,

and then spilled a huge vat of paint water all over the

newly refinished floor in my art room...

which flowed behind and underneath a heavy storage unit, 

which had to be emptied out, 

and moved with help from my son, 

and all the icky water cleaned up.

Ugh. And I'm sure everyone is waiting anxiously

at Inspiration Avenue to see the week's entries

for Tea Time, since I am the host this week.

So no more wordiness, but I will hastily get over there

and post the entries. I've seen them all,

and each one is fabulous!

(I could surely use a cup of tea right about now :)

Paint Party Friday

The Fairy Kiss

I'm happy to have finally remembered to get something

completed by Friday so as to enter it in Paint Party Friday.

Paint Party Friday is great because there is no theme (other than painting).

NOT that I don't love themes, don't get me wrong :)

But I love the "anything goes" opportunity.

This is a little (4" x 5") canvas based loosely on

Richard Doyle's fairy paintings from 1870 or thereabouts.

I am planning to add the dreaded beeswax, which I have

decided not to use much anymore, except on this,

which I think could benefit from a little softening.

Here is Doyle's Fairy Kiss painting:

I love his painting so much more...

At first I was wishing it was a little more colorful,

but I realize I love it just as it is ~ so soft and whimsical.

Here is one of my favorites:

His style is so recognizable.

****************

You may remember from another post I discovered a lily

in my garden that I don't think I planted.

Well, here is another one:

I have an asiatic lily in the front garden, 

but this and another one showed up in the back garden.

Hmmm. Maybe they were planted by the fairies.

It's been a very interesting summer in the garden.

Some things I expected to do well were very poor.

Other plants, like this calla lily were astonishing.

I've had this plant for 5 or 6 years, and it has

never gotten more than one or two blooms per summer.

This year it had six gorgeous blooms. I wish I had photographed it

when it was at its peak...it only has a few blooms left in this photo.

Happy Paint Party Friday!

Don't forget to visit the Party!

Inspiration Avenue Weekly Challenge

Wings

Sometimes when you feel like giving up. . .

a little encouragement is all you need.

Who knows what could happen?

Inspiration Avenue's theme this week is “Wings”,

a welcome and fun-filled topic from Kat of Wright Story.

This is a tiny mixed media piece, done on a 4" x 4" x 1"

block of wood. Everyone should have a little bluebird 

to tell them to keep going sometimes.

Just, hopefully it's a wise little bluebird who

will also point out if you're wasting your time :)

It's a fine line. . . 

See all of the Wings submissions at

Inspiration Avenue posted on Sunday afternoon.

Inspiration Avenue Weekly Challenge

Eve

It's nice to be able to enter the IA challenge again.

I'm just about settled back in my art space.

All my supplies are creating a cozy little nest

around me *big sigh of relief* like a security blanket :)

*Someone* plopped a filing cabinet right in

the only empty spot where my chair

will be going, but we'll see how quickly that

finds a new home when (if?) the time comes.

So the theme at Inspiration Avenue is Picasso.

This is my attempt at cubism, and I can see

that I will have to do a lot more practicing and studying 

if I ever want to master the technique.

I'm calling her Eve.

She looks a bit like she is coveting something

on that branch, and is thinking about

plucking it off. Naughty Eve.

Thanks to Tammy of Art and Inspirations for the challenge!

It's fun to do something a little bit different.

La la la....

New Things

I'm always enchanted by Suzi Blu's artwork and classes,

so being at loose ends (waiting to get back into my art room)

and searching for some Inspiration,

I jumped right into her new class, 

enigmatically entitled

La La La!

I'm downloading videos at the glacial speed of my internet connection,

so all I know is these little pieces will be

Cute (ala Suzi Blu), Tiny (hopefully making them sell-able),

and A Lot of Fun (the whole point, right?).

I just ordered some vintage book pages from 

Katie Blue at Blue Green Arts on Etsy

(What is this fascination with the color BLUE?

It's not even my favorite color.)

Not sure exactly what I will do with them,

but I can't wait for them to arrive.

So,

when I started this post, I thought I would just put down

random things that are going on, 

but now I see that it has a theme, which is

Waiting.
=-)

Listing My Art on Etsy!

Finally, A Milestone!

My forced hiatus from creating art is still ongoing,

but something positive has resulted:

I've taken the time to begin listing some of my

original art in my Etsy shop. Yay!

One of the sticking points keeping me from doing this was: 

To open a new shop or add to my existing shop?

I could dither about that for a year, but finally decided ~

a few people already visit my shop...that's better than no people lol!

I hope to add much more, plus prints. 

Prints are available now, I just don't have them listed. 

I'd love to have all of you lovelies visit me there!

If you've noticed, like I have just noticed,

in the screen shot above ~ my last Google search was

"climbing hydrangea not blooming".

I await (not patiently) every summer for the hydrangea

to bloom. I have other hydrangeas that bloom profusely,

but this climbing one just climbs and climbs,

with nary a flower. I have read that it can be 7 years

or more before they grace us with a bloom.

We are quickly leaving 7 years behind, 

so I think I've waited long enough!

Does anyone have a trick to make 

a climbing hydrangea bloom?

I'd be so happy to hear of it!

The floors are all finished in the hallway and my art room,

but we cannot begin moving furniture in for another week.

This room, that is barely the size of some people's

walk-in closets, has 4 doors, 2 windows, and

a funky little L-shape at the entrance that is unusable.

But it's MY little space, and for that I'm grateful :)

Now that it has had its transformation, I am

hankering for a comfortable chair to add

to the chaos that is usually my creative space.

What better place to meditate on the subject of Inspiration?

(If I get this chair, I promise I will keep the space less chaotic :)

So, all I need is: 

a) The chair.

b) A way to fit it into this tiny space.

I'll be happy to get back to entering the challenges at 

Inspiration Avenue, when I can spread out with my

art supplies again. Right now I am restricted to pencils

and sketchbooks, with nowhere to make a mess with paint.

I'd Rather be Reading (Poetry)

I thought to do a drawing of some kind for the challenge

this week, which is "Poetry". But I'm not liking this much.

I may turn it into a painting later, and maybe I will like it better.

Stop by Inspiration Avenue ~ there are some amazing

entries for the Poetry theme, brought to us by

Priti.Lisa! I love the artwork I've seen, as well as

the poetry that inspired them.

I hope you're having a lovely summer weekend!