SPA: Stork

"Dreams"

6 x 4 Postcard

I'm honored to play host this week over at Sunday Postcard Art! It may not come as a surprise that I choose a theme near and dear to my heart, Stork. . . .

This postcard was created using several collage elements including decorative paper for the background, vintage floral wallpaper for the cloud and vintage baby shower greeting cards for both the baby bundle and the stork. Both buff and titanium acrylics were used to keep the piece soft and several charcoals, wax pastels and wax crayons were added for depth. Final touches included a vintage poem by Harriet Dustin Buffum, Stickles glitter as a lining to the cloud, a few sprinkles of german glass glitter to represent stars and a single Swarovski stone on the Stork.

Thank you for allowing me to act as your host this week. I look forward to seeing all your beautiful Stork creations . . .

Kristin xo

Easter Images for You!

Vintage birthday card with adorable bunny

"Sweet Girl" Easter card from 1956

I found some sweet images from my collection of vintage children's cards that I wanted to share with you. They (or portions of them) would be great for Easter cards, place cards for your Easter table or afterwards for your Easter journaling or scrapbooking. . . 

Have fun!

Kristin xo

MMM: Something Borrowed

"The Lollipop Tree"

8 x 10 gallery-wrapped canvas

                            

Detail of sides

Detail of top

This week's Mixed Media Monday prompt, Something Borrowed, asks us to create a piece of art using something borrowed - even if that means "borrowing" someone else's ideas! I love this concept as, let's be honest, most of us do our best to avoid comparisons with others. To be challenged to do the opposite was something I couldn't wait to try . . .

You may already see it, but in "The Lollipop Tree" above, I attempted to channel two artists that I greatly admire: Pam Garrison and Amy of Paper and Gluestix. They both create bold compositions, often using bright, cheerful colors to tell a story. In this piece, I tried to emulate the doodling and gallery-wrapped sides that Pam Garrison has been painting lately in addition to the whimsical lines and positive affirmations that Amy often uses.

This piece started life as a line drawing / experiment in doodling which was then washed with several layers of watered-down acrylic. I really didn't know what it was going to turn into when I started, but it seemed to develop into a large giving tree of sorts, with candy colors dripping from the sky and a plant grand enough to produce a crop of lollipops. The affirmation on the leaves states that "Life is Sweet." Other touches include a birdcage / chandelier in the top left and a "bird" (the flying heart) on the top right. In addition to several layers of acrylic, I also used colored pencils, a white China Marker, a ton of matte gel medium and a piece of imagery (that one's for me) from vintage Mother Goose. Finally, I  smudged charcoal over the entire piece (highlighting the brush marks) in order to give it depth and tone it down.

Thank you for your time! I'm eager to see what everyone does this week . . .

Kristin xo