One a Day in May - Day 4

I had to push myself to produce something this evening.  After working all day I succumbed to a nap and then I had a meeting to attend which is for a very cool project to market and sell the arts in our region (The Enterprising Artisans Project).  Then I came home and submitted some photographs of my work for the power point presentation they are doing at trades fairs in the region to promote the project.  And then there was 'Survivor!'  So I really did have some excuses but I knew if I used them today, I would find new ones tomorrow and the next day and pretty soon this One a Day in May challenge of mine would go the way of my diets.

Mixed media (acrylic, watercolour, ink) mounted on kraft cardstock card.

One a Day in May - Day 3

Remember what I said about knowing when to stop?  Compared to yesterday's understated elegance,  today's card is more overstated chaos.  And I have more flowers stuck to my fingers than I do to the card!  Which was part of the problem.  I kept tearing the pressed flowers but then parts of them stayed glued down so I had to cover them up with more flowers and ended up with a bit of a jumble. 

Pansies & viola on handmade corn husk paper

I also managed to cut and stamp the lavender soap I made the other night.

I'm going to try to get up earlier tomorrow morning and get into my studio before my day job uses up all my energy!

Melange Team May Challenge

Every month the Melange Team on Etsy hosts a mixed media challenge on their blog.  Anyone can participate.  The prompt for May's challenge is "Royal".  You can interpret it any way you wish as long as it is mixed media.  Post a comment on the blog with a hot link to your piece.  We look forward to your entries!

If you would like to learn more about the team, check out the Melange Team page on Etsy.

My Talented Piecemaker Friends

One of the things I love best about this wonderful on-line community, is all of the talented, creative people I have met.  Last year I joined an Etsy group called the Piece Makers, a group of incredible mosaic artists.  So far I'm just soaking up inspiration.

Drop by the Piecemakers blog to see the latest challenge pieces, "Kaleidoscope", and vote for your favourite!  The next Piecemakers challenge is "Tree of Life."  Can't wait to see what everyone does with that one.

One a Day in May - Day 2

One of my greatest challenges is knowing when to say enough.  For this card I decided to let the simple beauty of these Japanese maples stand out against the rustic texture of the gladiola leaf paper.  I have to admit that I almost started looking for something else to add but I managed to stop myself...for now.

Japanese maples mounted with matte medium on hand made gladiola leaf paper.  The delicate leaves are also covered with a thin layer of matte medium to help stabilize them.

One a Day in May

This winter felt longer than usual, partly because it really was longer (we still have snow), and partly because of other life 'stuff.'  The bottom line...my muse didn't like it so she took a holiday.  But the ice on the lake has finally melted, my muse is back and we're ready to make some art.

I had Chinese take-out with a friend last week and my fortune said, "Your life will be prosperous if you use your creativity."  Everyone knows that it makes good sense to base important financial decisions on a fortune cookie so I ordered a new kiln!

"Prosperity" - May 1

To celebrate spring and re-awakenings, I plan to create at least one piece of art in any medium every day in May. I always love to hear from you!  Happy, happy spring!

Announcing the Winner!

The winner of my One World One Heart draw prize, a set of block printed handmade paper cards, chosen by random number generator, is Deci from Gem Trails.

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

22 

Timestamp: 2011-02-18 04:00:31 UTC

Congratulations, Deci!  Thank you to everyone who visited my blog.  This One World One Heart may be over but I'll continue working my way through the list of blogs in the upcoming weeks.  I look forward to spending some more time revisiting blogs that I only had time to skim through first time around.

Welcome to my new followers!