Monday, October 18, 2010

The Journey Continues

I was thinking these past few days that I need to pursue and try some other methods of artistic expression in order to pass my thoughts on to you.  My primary focus has and will be on acrylic painting because it's the one that I pursue the most.  But, I'm open to other ideas and did try my hand at a few things this week.

One of my friends from Twitter, Kim (@WSDreams) makes the most amazing pillow sachets, eye masks and other items all scented with different scents that she puts together.  She even has a specialist come in to smell the scent that she has put together.  I find this amazing.  I didn't realize putting a scent together was so complex and how much work is involved.  Check out Kim's site to see the amazing ideas she has to scent your home.  She has an etsy shop and the URL is listed under sites you might enjoy visiting.  I know I love to look at her site and the way that she describes some of her fragrances is such that I can imagine just how the fragrance would smell.

So, I decided to make a batch of sachets as little holiday gifts.  Mine are not as elaborate as Kim's, but they make a cute addition to a little basket of home made goodies that I will be giving out this year.  I've decided that for the most part, that this year I want to give handmade or hand decorated gifts.  It shows that I've put a little more thought into what I'm giving and it's a little easier on the pocket book.  I bought little organza bags at a craft shop.  These are white, but there were many other colours available.  A friend picked up a bag of lavender for me when he was at a trade show.  I was surprised at how far a one pound bag of lavender would go.  I emptied the lavender into a plastic container and sprinkled some lavender oil on top of it to make the scent more pronounced, put the lid back on the container, gave it a shake to distribute the oil through the lavender and then let the batch sit for a few days.  While it was "steeping" I made up some labels to tie to each little bag and got a piece of yarn ready to tie off the bag.  There is a little ornament tied to each end of the yarn.  I packaged up the lavender and have a picture of a few of my bags to show you how they turned out.  I'm planning to give these to the female friends along with either a wooden ornament or a folio of assorted greeting cards.  I'll show you those in a later post.  Hope you like my little sachets!  They are about 3 inches by 2 inches, just a nice size to tuck in someone's coat pocket or purse when they aren't looking.

My artistic week also involved painting some of the wooden ornaments and making some holiday cards.  But my first and foremost love is painting, so I've taken pictures of the canvas after the background was coloured in.  I sponged in a mid tone of green, a touch of alizarian crimson hue, and just the tiniest amount of gold.  Since I like to do a series of paintings, I painted three canvases in total so that the background would be consistent in each.  The second painting is how the canvas looked when I blocked in the main elements that would be seen.  I have put in the branches of a tree with leaves on it that would be coloured in later as autumn leaves. The third picture is the painting as it is now.  It is not finished yet, I'd like to play with it a bit more and add more colour variation in the leaves.  Autumn leaves are complex, the gradation of colour, the texture, the essence of fall still needs to be added so what I have to show you in the third phote of this little experiment is about 75% done.  Another few hours tomorrow and I'll have a finished product.  Then I can start to think about what to do with the other two canvases.  I'm thinking the series will be titled "Autumn Splendour" with each canvas a variation on the theme.

So, what am I planning for my next little adventure?  Well, I'm thinking of some really nice holiday cards that you are more than welcome to copy for your use this year.  I have such a number of holiday stamps, that I can make quite a nice assortment.  But, I also want to make some more elegant cards for special people, maybe those that I don't see very often, but get an e-mail or even better, a handwritten letter from every so often.  Does anyone else get a tingle up their spine when they see an envelope in their mailbox and you see the return address is that of someone special in your life?  I know I do.  Those are the cards and letters that I put in a pretty box and look at again and again.  So, I'll try to get some of these special cards made to show you what I'm up to.

I know I'll paint this week, that's a given.  But, I'll also read a book or two on drawing.  I  have to confess, my drawing skills are weak and I'd really like to improve them.  But, my field of interest in subject matter for my drawing might surprise you.  Flowers are nice, landscapes don't really interest me, and portraits just are not up my alley.  I love to draw imaginary creatures.  Do I hear gasps of horror or shrieks of laughter?  I confess that dragons, gargoyles, faeries and all the other interesting imaginary folk have captured my heart. I guess that I'm still young at heart or maybe I just need to see a little more of imaginary beings because you can do so much with them in an art project.  Anyway, "Draw and Paint The Realm of Faerie" by Ed Org and "Fantasy Drawing Workshop" by John Howe are on my bedside table along with a sketch pad.  Both books are from Impact Press and are readily available at Amazon online and I would think that any good art supply store might carry them as well.  The store that I get my supplies from has had both of these titles on their shelves recently.

So, that's how my week wrapped up!  Sorry that this post is going up so late, my fault entirely.  I tend to get things done early and then get involved with something else.  I've already started work for Thursday's post, so that one should be online nice and early.  Unless the computer and camera have another spat.  Those two are more tempermental than any two year old I've seen lately.  But, I think they've decided to cooperate as the pictures scanned into the computer nicely for this time.  Heaven only knows about the next time.

Hope you had time to play with some artistic items and find your inner artist.  Take that time for yourself.  Not only do you deserve that time, but you need it to recharge your batteries and find that zest for life.

Wishing you a week of fun, excitement and the pursuit of something related to art!

Sincerely,

Rutheemac

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