Happy New Year!

 JOY

For Inspiration Avenue's challenge ~ 

“In the Garden”

Sharing a joyful piece of art created this year . . .

I always find joy in the garden (can't wait for spring :-)

as well as when my kitties are around.

At the rate I've been going, this will be my last post

in 2013. I hope everyone has a safe and beautiful end to the year.

Wishing you health and happiness in the Year of the Horse!

Giveaway Winner !

Congratulations to Jackie

who won my Facebook drawing for one of my "Houses" paintings!

Jackie selected this painting:

The other paintings are now in my shop :-)

It's snowing crazily today . . .

I'm trying to get up the motivation to do the rest of 

my outside Christmas decorating.

Brrrrr. 

Last week was beautifully warm and now this!

I think I'll stay inside and decorate the tree . . .

Or a painting of snowy houses sounds like another plan . . .

I hope you're having a warm and cozy weekend!

Happy Cyber Monday!

One-Day Cyber Monday Sales 

in Both of my Shops

Heart of the Magpie

Buy one item and get a second item half off!

MagpieMine

50% Off Anything and Everything!

Good until midnight (EST), today, December 2, 2013.

Giveaway!

Two days left to enter the giveaway!

I will draw a name on Monday, December 2!

I finished the 4th painting in my "Houses" Giveaway,

so as promised I will soon be drawing the winner's name!

Cyber Monday (December 2) seemed like a good day to do it,

so if you haven't entered, you have until then to:

 "Like" my Facebook page

and leave a comment there saying you want to enter the drawing.

(You can leave a comment here too...I love your comments!)

Below are paintings 1, 2, and 3:

[ They are mixed media paintings

with acrylic paint, ink, colored pencil, graphite,

and lots of collage material, like papers and book pages. 

Sorry, I may not have remembered everything. ]

All are around 7.5 x 10 inches.

If you'd like to win one painting of your choice,

head over to my Facebook page,

 https://www.facebook.com/MaggieNemetzArt

I'm also linking this to Inspiration Avenue's challenge this week,

which is Show and Tell, always a fun theme!

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend,

a long one for many of us in the US :-)

Little Red Riding Hood

 Myths and Fairy Tales

Niina at Inspiration Avenue has challenged us with the theme of 

Myths

She's also included Fairy Tales, which sometimes have their start in myths.

Why are fairy tales so scary sometimes? 

Don't children have enough fears on their own?

I guess the aim was to frighten children to 

stay out of dangerous situations, like venturing into the forest alone. 

I chose Little Red Riding Hood,

whose Grandma must have lived clear on the other side of the forest.

In my painting, she has just realized that someone or something

is following her! Wasn't that a twig snapping and the rustling

of some dry leaves? Yes, footsteps!

The big bad wolf figures in a lot of other fairy tales,

like Peter and the Wolf, The Boy Who Cried Wolf, 

The Three Little Pigs (I remember being frightened by

a picture of the wolf peering in the back door of one of the pigs' houses).

And don't forget werewolves!

In the days when fairy tales began, I think there must have been

many more forest areas and more wolves, 

so being set upon by wolves was probably an actual danger to children.

Do you think we need some updated fairy tales that warn children to stay safe

from internet predators, drug dealers and creeps hanging around the playground? 

I don't know . . . the modern take on child rearing 

doesn't usually hold with scaring kids to death!

And, honestly, most children are rarely left on their own anymore.

No walking through the woods alone to visit Grandma!

Visit Inspiration Avenue to see the Myths and Fairy Tales entries.

I've also entered this painting in Gritty Jane's 40 Portrait Challenge.

Heh, my first one, only 39 to go!

Stop over there to see some amazing faces.

Join in the challenge too, it's only been running for a few days,

there's plenty of time :-)


There's also still time to enter my
Giveaway

Just go to my new Facebook Art page,
"Like" the page,
and leave a teeny comment on the giveaway post
to say you wish to enter . . . and done!

Above is the third painting in the Houses series.
I still have at least one more to do. When I have at least four
completed I will draw a name and the winner can choose
one painting from the series. Go here to see the first 2 paintings.


I hope you are still enjoying some autumn-like weather
where you are (or ~ lucky you if it's Springtime)
Enjoy the upcoming weekend!

Pssst . . . a giveaway!

A Series of Whimsical Houses

And a Giveaway

Or at least it will be . . . 

How many items make a series? More than 2, I know!

I'm having fun creating landscapes with unusual buildings and other elements.

I'm trying to do one a day . . . so far so good.

These are painted on heavy paper and are around 8 x 10 inches.

So . . . my idea is to have a giveaway, so stay tuned!

When I finish 4 (or more) of these paintings

I'll give away one of them (winner's choice).

The reason for the giveaway is to let you know I've finally

started a Facebook business page for my art.

Yes, I've mostly avoided Facebook, just not really getting it,

but have recently been convinced it may be a "good thing" after all.

I'm actually starting to warm to it a bit . . .

All you have to do is visit my page, 

“like” it, 

and comment on the Giveaway post,

saying that you would like to enter.

Go HERE to enter. 

The winner will be drawn randomly using

either the random number generator

or, knowing me, a hat  :-)

I've started painting more randomly again after finishing

the Magical Journal Journeys journal swap

so I'm sharing this at Paint Party Friday :-)

Have a beautiful weekend!

Houses tucked in tight

The Neighborhood

I've been trying to do some fun quick pieces,

not wanting to spend a huge amount of time, just some things

to encourage inspiration and creativity.

These whimsical houses fit the requirement.

The background is a Gelli plate print

(Ya, like everyone else, I have a stack of 'em mouldering on a shelf :-)

And the simple geometric shapes are quick to paint.

So ~ at least they start out simplistic. Of course then I begin playing with 

all the little details and the time adds up.

But it's OK because it's lots of fun. . .

I may do a series of these little neighborhoods.

This one is a nighttime scene, so no people in it.

They're all fast asleep in bed!

I call it "Tucked In Tight"

The theme at Inspiration Avenue this week is

Houses

Stop over HERE to see the entries in the challenge.

They will all be in by Sunday, November 17.

You still have time to enter!

Full circle!

Priti Lisa's Journal

Lisa has a love for the Virgin Mary and also Frida Kahlo.

I couldn't decide which theme to go with 

for my pages in her journal so I did both.

Actually just one page of Frida . . . this is one of my favorite photos of her.

Lisa chose the color  turquoise , a beautiful color for Mary and also

a bright Mexican color that suits Frida.

The gold color is metallic, but didn't photograph well.

Lisa's journal is so packed with beautiful pages, it was impossible to close!

I had a difficult time photographing my pages, since they wouldn't lay flat.

I'm sure all 9 of the journals were packed like this as the last pages were finished.

I received mine back the other day and "overjoyed" and "astounded" are

much too mild to describe how much I love it! And no, it doesn't close either :-)

But, my finished journal will be another post . . .

I'm afraid I added to the thickness of her journal with this cross.

(Lisa, feel free to snip it off and use it somehow, if you want!

It might alleviate some of the bulkiness!)

This 

“Magical Journal Journey” 

(thank you Lisa W for the perfect name!)

has been such a beautiful experience! I think we are all in 

agreement to do it again. It's wonderful to have received

my journal back after 9 months, but also sad that it has come to a close.

But the friendship of the 9 of us doesn't have an end date!

It is strengthened and flourishes with each Magical Journey!

Have a lovely and creative weekend!

Think about gathering some artist friends and starting your own

round robin! You won't be sorry!

Magical Journal Journeys ~ Angie's White Pages

Angie's White Journal

Finally! I finished these pages eons ago, but with plenty of family obligations 

and other stuff too uninteresting to go into here, I haven't posted since September.

I almost forgot how to do a blog post!

Angie chose White as her color. White is simple (sometimes).

It's serene and pure, and at first it was a bit intimidating.

No hiding behind COLOR! Although as you can see, 

some color has sneaked (snuck? no.) into my pages.

The right hand page started as a Gelli print in which I kept seeing

images like fairies, leaves and flowers. I picked those out, 

and kept adding other pieces to the page.

I had been looking for a chance to use the beautiful Edwardian lady . . .

As I was gazing at the next two blank (white) pages a song popped into my head.

I've always loved the song "Happiness Runs" by Donovan, and hadn't heard it in years.

Somehow, there it was running through my head!

Happiness runs in a circular motion.

Thought is like a little boat upon the sea.

Everybody is a part of everything anyway.

You can have everything if you let yourself be.

The verse goes (first and last...I think there's only one):

Little pebble upon the sand,

Now you're lying here in my hand,

How many years have you been here?

Little human upon the sand,

From where I'm lying here in your hand,

You to me are but a passing breeze.

The sun will always shine where you stand,

depending in which land 

You may find yourself.

Now you have my blessing, go your way.

Since the theme of these two pages is the sea,

I've included a few sand dollars I found on the beach in Mexico.

And of course a little pebble :)

So sorry I'm late posting this, Angie!

Since we are so close to the end of the Magical Journal Journeys,

I was afraid you might receive your journal back before I completed these pages!

Anyhow, only one journal left.

I have Priti Lisa's Turquoise book on my table right now

and will be finishing it up today!

September 16 IA Challenge

Woodland

Above is a watercolor I did many years ago. 

It is from a photo I took in Virginia, probably

around Petersburg or Williamsburg, or maybe Richmond.

We used to drive in the country a lot in those days,

and found many beautiful woodland places.

I didn't want to let this challenge go by without posting something

(especially since it was my turn to choose the theme, and also because

woodland forests are some of my favorite places).

Suddenly it's Friday already and I am busily working on

my postcards for the IA Altered Postcard Swap

and also finishing up my pages in Angie's beautiful White Journal.

No time to spend on Woodland art, even though I would love to!

Since it's a favorite subject for me,

I do have some things I may not have posted before.

Okay, I probably have posted these at some point, 

but there's no time to search around to make sure!

This one is from my 2012 Sketchbook Project journal:

I had to download the one below from the SBP website when I discovered I

never photographed these 2 pages. Of course, the sketchbook is now at the 

Brooklyn library (along with the other thousands of entries :)

It's kind of cool to think the sketchbooks will be there probably as long

as the library is there for anyone to check out and look at!

The project is ongoing, a new one every year. I haven't entered again, but I may in the future.

The SBP people have digitized the books...HERE is the link to my pages.

This one I have since started to rework, and it's unfinished now but I hope

to get back to it one day soon...finish it and put it in my Etsy shop.

Here is a bookmark which is in my Etsy shop.

Visit Inspiration Avenue to see
the entries in the Woodland challenge.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

I hope the autumn weather is treating you well!

(Or Spring, as the case may be :-)