A Second Art-Felt Greeting for the Holidays

HI THERE!

I just downloaded some photos of my Christmas decorations to email to a dear friend, so I thought I'd also share them with you, so here they are:

This wreath was made by a former neighbor. I just painted on some glitter glue this year to liven it up.

Fiber optic village. I add my mini ornaments to it, like the black car, the horse-drawn carriage, the wreath, the snowman, and the Santa Claus.

 I change this arrangement several times a year according to the season we're in.

 Our little fiber optic tree with mini ornaments, and other decorations in the area.

 A little fiber optic snowman

 In my kitchen/art studio--blue ornaments because the color scheme is blue and yellow.

 A round place mat made from beads (not by me) and a centerpiece that I made from a gold garland stuffed into a vase and ornaments for AC Moore, on the same table on which I create my art. This table gets used for many things, like dinner for small gatherings, etc.

I wish all of you a very Happy 2013. May you be healthy and prosperous!

Thanks so much for visiting!

Hugs ... Deb

An Art-felt Greeting for the Holidays

Howdy everyone. I hope you are happily getting ready for Christmas and the upcoming New Year. I am almost there!

I've been trying to find some photos that I took at my friend's house last year. She really does it up BIG for Christmas. She even carries the holidays into the new year by having her annual ladies party in early January. It's really fun and there's so much food and drink! Let's see--maybe I'll be able to find those photos now that I'm writing on my blog ...

I gave her the gingerbread boy on the right.

Gorgeous two-tone pointsettia.

Girl and boy snow figures with their pet.

I finally found some of them. Some of the others are lost (at least for now) in cyber-lalaland.

Here's a piece of art that I finished recently. I call it "Fantasy Fall Trees." I've been doing a lot of other art lately, mostly zentangles, but have no photos as yet.

Have a great holiday season--Artfully yours,

Deb

P.S.  Here's a comment I left for myself but got posted twice so I deleted it:
Hi Deb! I just don't understand why no one else has been commenting on your blog posts. Do you think it's because your blog might be a bit boring?
Do you think it's because people are just to busy to comment, or they don't have anything to say?
Maybe some viewers could give you some advice on making your blog better for them so they might want to comment and otherwise participate.
You could also offer something more than just your words, photos, and art ... think about that.
Your friend,
Deb

Mixed Media ... Creating Happy Memories

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday (those that celebrate it). I wish the best to all of my other readers!

If you ever want to create mixed media art that contains the things and people from your happiest memories, below are a couple of pieces that I created ...

My husband asked me to create something to make him feel good when he looks at it, so I did this collage about him. Zoom in on it and you'll see what I did. He really likes it a lot, and other people like it, too.

I did this for myself. It contains mementos from places I've been and things I've done. Plus it has names of many important family and friends on it. And there's a little extra art ... plus some silly stuff. I have it on the wall right in front of where I work at home. It has so much on it, but there could have been a lot more, just not enough space!

Oh ... almost forgot ... our Thanksgiving was great ... except for the turkey broth fiasco (spilled all over the stove)! It took me quite a while to clean up and cool off after that happened. Actually, I'm enjoying the leftovers more than I enjoyed the actual original dinner, but that happens sometimes when you're trying to cool off during the meal. Here's what the table looked like (the same table that I make art on) ...

I made the little centerpiece using a glass pumpkin, ribbons, green glass bowl, and silver doily underneath.

p.s. I bought the beautiful glass pumpkin at the Renaissance Art Center in Millville, NJ, during their monthly Third Friday.

Guess that's all for now. Enjoy!

Your friend in artliness ... Deb

Mixed Media Art ... and Odds & Ends

It's me again. I don't have any new art photographed yet, so I can't do a recent post of my art.

I just wanted to say hello and possibly post some older photos ... and maybe reveal a little more about my life. It isn't easy to do that because I'm a pretty private person. But let me see ...

This beautiful marble-topped table serves as the surface for doing art in my kitchen. I simply keep it covered with a vinyl tablecloth and it works out well.

This is me blowing out my candles on my birthday a few years ago. My wonderful friends/neighbors brought over this delicious cake.

This is my husband relaxing on my daughter's couch. He's a cutie, at least to me!

I collect copper wall art and this rooster is one of my favorites.

My grandson, Evan Aidan, painted this when he was about 8 or 9. He is now 13 and just had  his Bar Mitzvah.

Me with my friends' new little girl.



I thought that if my viewers get to know me a little better, I might actually hear from some of them. I invite you to comment any time or every time!

Your friends in artliness,

Deb 

Fall Colors ... and Other Colors

I'm back again. Due to Hurricane Sandy, we were without power from Monday evening until Thursday afternoon. I had intended to write a blog earlier, but there were too many distractions.

For something different, here are some photos of fall trees that I took:

Isn't fall just a beautiful season (for those of us who get to experience it due to geographic location). But we can travel anywhere in the world by viewing photographs or going on YouTube.

Below is my latest creation, a piece of assemblage art that I call "House of Curiosities." It was so much fun creating this piece. I bought the house-shaped shadow box at a discount store, painted each room a different color, and then glued in items that I accumulated from flea market and antique stores. I texturized the roof with mod podge and painted it gold, as well as painting the bottom gold and the sides silver. I hope you like it--I really do!

I'll get back to blogging in a week or so. Take care, viewers.

Your friend in artliness,

Deb

Mixed Media Art--The Challenge Part 2

I forgot to post one of the challenge pieces that I did, plus I made a mistake describing one of them that I posted a few minutes ago, so this is a correction.

This challenge was to use only 5 things to make your art. Yes, I did use a photo from the JC Penney circular that comes every week, although I changed  it to black and white.

I was wrong about this challenge--we were asked to  use stamps, so I used three bird stamps.



In this challenge, we were asked to use embossing powder. That was something new to me. I glued this into my large art journal.

Hope I didn't bore you too much!

If you have any art that you'd like to show me, please respond and let me know where to look for it. It would be my pleasure!

Your friend in artliness,

Deb

Mixed Media Projects--The Challenge

I haven't posted for several days, so I thought I should get to it again. All I'm going to do in this post is show some of the mixed media art projects that I did for Julie Fei-Fan Balzer (balzerdesigns.com) and Nathalie Kalbach's (nathaliesstudio.com) Second Floor Challenge. In the challenge, they decide what medium(s) to use and then they put out the challenge in their blogs.

You  have to sign up for the challenge (I think there are only a few left to complete the year of challenges that they decided to do) and they will invite you. Then you post the photo of your challenge on the Flickr Second Floor Challenge Group.

Here are the things I've done for the Second Floor Challenge:

I wasn't officially in the group yet, but the challenge was to start with circles and see where it takes you.

 This challenge was to use pencil, so I used colored pencils to start this piece.

This challenge was to use only 5 items.

And this challenge, for October, was to use white card stock as a starting point. I finished it a few days ago.

I'll be back soon. Even though I started out posting every day, I've changed my mind and decided to post about once a week.

If you want to start a blog, Google let's you do it for FREE!

Your friend in artliness,

Deb

How to Comment on My Mixed Media Art Blog

I've been writing this blog since August. I'm disappointed and frustrated that I haven't received comments from many people, especially in the past 30 days or so.

I receive emails from my friends commenting on my blog, but they don't understand how to leave a comment on the blog itself. So ... this is how you do it:

• Go to the comment box below and type in your comment. I want to know what you think--good, bad, or indifferent.
• Where it says "Comment as," you will see a drop-down list. If you want to leave your name, pick "user name, or whatever it says and I think you will be able to type your name. If you want to leave an anonymous comment, click on "Anonymous."
• Then click on "Publish," your comment will get published, and (yippee!) I'll happily receive your comment.

I hope these directions are helpful. It would be great to hear from someone directly on my blog.
IF YOU STILL CAN'T COMMENT DIRECTLY ON THIS BLOG, PLEASE LET ME KNOW AT deborahapierro@comcast.net. I really want to hear from you!

About the art on my last blog that I asked help naming, my dear friend emailed me (because she didn't understand how to leave a comment) to call it "Paths to the Goddess." That's a very good title because of the white "paths" on it. I'll consider it, but I'd still like to hear a few more suggestions.

Hope to hear from you!

Deb

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Naming Your Mixed Media Art

A couple of days ago, I started this piece in my art journal. I have a small art journal that I finished, but this is my huge art journal. I wasn't even going to post it, but I decided that I would add some layers to it and see how it turned out ... so here it is:

I started out playing around with my various colored stamp pads. They seemed to be kind of dry, so I decided to do an abstract by just stamping them directly on the paper. Then, I outlined the stamped images with Sharpie metallic markers and other regular Sharpie markers.

I accidentally put a streak of orange marker on the page, so I made the squiggly things to cover that error.

Then, I dry brushed some acrylic paint aground the edges and glued on a picture from an outdated calendar that I  had cut out previously. After that, I added some wavy images with gesso, ran a plastic fork through them, and let it dry.

After the gesso dried, I sprayed Ranger Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls Mist on the gessoed areas (mostly) and let that dry. And then I brushed on Mod Podge to seal it. It actually looks better "in person" than in this picture, but ... oh well.

The only problem is ... I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO NAME IT! Can you give me any suggestions? Please comment with your suggestions for a name for this piece.

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On another note--below is a photo of me and my two wonderful, creative nieces. I love them to pieces!

Please help me name my piece of art, above, won't you?

It will be fun to find out what you come up with. And you'll hear from me, no matter what.

See ya later!

Finished Mixed Media Art - Continued from October 4th

Well, on October 4th I showed how I prepped for the finished piece of art below. It's different from what I usually do because there is little or no color. I like it, though. I call it "Almost Black and White."

I decided to add some masking tape embellishments on each side. You just tape one end on and then twist it as you go down the board, taping it down at the other end. Then I brushed heavy gesso over the tape to stiffen it. After that part dried, I applied Mod Podge with a brush to seal the piece. I hope you like it.

The silhouette of the woman reminds me of someone standing in front of a huge work of art in a gallery.

To change the subject ... on Nathalie Kalbach's (nathaliesstudio.com) blog today, which I subscribe to, she features a wonderful video that is very uplifting and is worth listening to and sharing with others. It is all about having a positive outlook on the many awesome things we all experience in life (hopefully). Here's the link:

http://www.ted.com/talks/neil_pasricha_the_3_a_s_of_awesome.html?source=facebook#.UHAzUNK8Rmc.facebook

That's all for now ...

Preparing for a New Mixed Media Piece

Today, I decided to work on a new mixed media piece. I'm going to title it "Almost Black and White" and you will see why.

I found this board and decided it would be good to use for a piece of art. So I brushed it entirely with white gesso.

Then I got a group of design elements together. I plan on using all or most of them on this piece. Most of them are stamped pieces, the silhouette is hand drawn and painted with a Sharpie black paint marker, and one piece was done on the computer,

When I am ready to lay out my design, I will glue these elements onto the board with tacky glue. I generally brush the glue on because you get better coverage that way. It's also best to work on a craft mat like the one above. These mats clean up very quickly and easy.

You can buy tacky glue very inexpensively at AC Moore and other stores that sell art and craft supplies.

I haven't decided on the layout yet, but I will soon--and then I'll put it on my next post!

I wish at least one of my viewers would let me know what they do to prepare and create their art works.
I hate to beg, but PLEASE????



Embellishments of all Kinds in Your Mixed Media Art

Mixed media artists use all kinds of embellishments to create art. The following butterfly was originally created on a piece of cardboard that I cut out, covered with tacky glue, and then sprinkled with varying colors of beads. Much later, I glued it onto a canvas board with tacky glue. Then I decided that the butterfly needed better wings, so I pencil sketched the bluish-parts, put down tacky glue, and sprinkled the wings with a blue bead mix. After some drying time, I just tap off the excess beads onto the towel that I do my beading work on and then put them in a container of mixed colored beads. I use the mixed colored beads for other projects.

I followed a similar process for the rooster, although I sponged on gold metallic paint for the background. I found that my rooster was off-center, so I added the beaded diamond shapes to balance it out. I gave this as a Christmas gift to my mother a couple of years ago. That's a great thing about making your own art pieces ... you can give them as gifts to appreciative loved ones!

These next two pieces have these types of embellishments: my own photography, stickers, pieces of art that I cut out from my own designs or doodles, pieces of stained glass, a piece of broken mirror. I love to do mosaics using stained glass, sea glass, and broken mirror pieces. I named the first piece below "Spiritual Garden" and the second piece below is just a mosaic that I gave to my sister as a house gift. On second thought ... I think I should have added more stained glass pieces so there wouldn't be so much white background.

What types of embellishments do you use on your art? I'd like to hear your suggestions.

All the best for now ...



Art Supplies for Mixed Media Art

I haven't blogged for a while, so I thought I should get to it.

As any other mixed media artist, I have tons of art supplies and different ways of storing them. Below are photos of some of them.

alcohol inks, paper scraps, oil pastels, stamps and stamp pads

stickers, papers, embellishments, mirror and glass pieces, jewelry supplies

acrylic paints and sponges

general photo of the supply areas

art journal, stencils, brayer, and other items

markers, glitter glue, glitter paint, glitter, Sharpies, miscellaneous, papers, etc.

scissors, black, white, and metallic Sharpies, gesso, Elmer's glue, sponge brushes, acrylic paints, colored pencils, and more

paint brushes, Cloth Paper Scissors magazines, and  other art books

Is there no end to it? I think not!

See you later,

Deb

Finished Collage

Several posts ago, I started a piece that looked like this:

I told you that I had no idea what it would turn out to be. It took me a while to complete it and here it is. I call it "Beauty in Color."

If you want to know what I used on it or how I did it, please leave me a comment and I'll get back to you.

Later ...