Shameless . . .

"Shameless" (9 x 12 Loose Journal Page on Watercolor Paper)

"Jan could not recall ever seeing a creature more beautiful, though there nagged somewhere at the back of his mind the notion that she ought to have seemed hideous. Why? For she was pure, admirably pure, without a twinge of conscience or shame." - Meredith Ann Pierce

Hellooooo and happy PPF! I hope this finds you happy, well and enjoying the last of your Summer season. 

I for one am so ready to get back to a regular schedule. Summers with a little one are an adventure, but there's something to be said for the comfort of a routine. (Like um, time to actually paint). Having said that, I did do one little thing that I thought you might like a peek at. And I took lotsa process shots along the way. Wanna see? Okay, here goes:

Began with a quick sketch and some basic collage 

Added a wash of acrylic and oil pastels

Layered on molding paste (mixed with white acrylic) pushed through a stencil

Coloring her in. (AKA the "ugly stage")

Defined the eyes and added more color and molding paste

Final touches include the addition of some decorative napkins, more oil pastels, charcoal, iridescent stars, a bit of trim and a racy piece of vintage text. 

Shameless, I know. But when a word pops out at you, you just have to go for it. Especially when you hadn't gotten around to actually "dressing" her yet. Ha: serependity at it's finest! 

Thank you for taking a look. And thank you to Kristin and Eva for all of their efforts in bringing us together.  

See you next week! I have an exciting announcement that I can't wait to share. Hmmmmm . . . . 

To Love & Art,

Kristin xo

Now I've Really Gone & Done It . . .

"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths."

- Walt Disney

Oh my! It's been that long since I've blogged. In my defense, this Summer has just flown by: it feels as if The Summer of Color just ended and now we're getting ready for back to school! But, although I've been quiet around here, I have been busy on the art front. As a matter of fact, I've been really busy with exciting new projects and upcoming opportunities. 

But I digress. It all started a few weeks ago when a friend of mine called "out of the blue" and announced that I "really should have" a dot.com address. She felt that it was time to take my art to the next level and offered to help me set it all up. Since I have no earthly clue how to create a website, I accepted her gift and excitedly went about gathering what I needed on my end to make it happen. There were bios to write, photo shoots to take part in (and let me say here that I'd rather have a root canal than have pictures taken) and art galleries to assemble.  I was getting a website! And I felt, for lack of a better way to put it, so legit. 

Now, as I write this I want you to know that I don't really believe in coincidences. I believe that people come into our lives for a reason, even if we don't always know why at that time. And what my friend didn't know when she felt compelled to help me was that just that morning I had been invited to teach an art journaling class at a local venue and needed a dot.com to connect my site to theirs. My career goals of teaching again were coming to fruition and my friend was there to help, even though she may not have known why at the time. 

SO here it is: my brand-spanking-new website. You can now find me here and at KristinVanValkenburgh.com. Oh! And along with the new website came something else that I had yet to do: create an art community on Facebook! So now - along with our Summer of Color page - you can also play with me year-round here on our pretty little Facebook page. I'd love it if you'd join me by "liking" the page. I promise it will be a fun place to hang, and that there are more surprises (that I can hardly contain myself from spilling!) on the very near horizon.  

In the meantime, I hope your Summer is going well, that your dreams are coming to fruition and that you too are finding excitement in the new. 

Until next time,

Kristin xo