why sometimes you just have to pull out those old art supplies and play

TITLE: Heart Song. Find the Original Mixed Media Painting and its story in my etsy shop. Prints will be available later this week.

So it's been a few days, and I must say I've been crazy busy painting in my studio! I am LOVING it! Finally I've got my passion and excitement for creating back. I realized I had grown rather bored and tired of my paintings. I had this sort of system down. I'd paint a horizon and add one color on top, one on the bottom. Then I had this routine for painting characters and sometimes it was super fun and easy and sometimes way too hard. I just didn't have that joy going on anymore.

What's a girl to do, right? Well, I went to the back of my art closet and pulled out all of the supplies I hadn't played with in a LONG time! I've got stacks and stacks of these stencils that I've created with paper and my X-Acto  knife. And way too many cans of spray paint in practically every color. For awhile, I was making t-shirts and embellishing them with the paint and stencils, then doing appliques to further decorate the fabric. I realized I wasn't a very good seamstress (even though I LOVE fashion), but I definitely had an eye for color and a flair for fancy embellishments. I had so much fun making t-shirts! So why not try embellishing my paintings!

And this sad girl went from THIS...

to THIS super compassionate and energetic red head!

TITLE: Compassion Never Fades. Find the Original Mixed Media Painting and its story in my etsy shop. Prints will be available later this week.

 
 This painting really reminds me of the lovely Oprah Winfrey. She's got that, "I believe in you, just believe in yourself" thing going on in her eyes. And I even added my fantastic new "Extreme" red glitter to cover the bird, just like Dorothy's shoes, it sparkles with magic!

A few birds here, some paint splatters there. I tell you, it's been sunny outside and here I am spray painting in my studio (windows open, of course). And I have so many more new paintings I can't wait to share with you! 

Later this week I'll be posting a stencil template too. So if you're feeling like trying something new, it could be the perfect thing to kick start your heart with lots and lots of creativity! Prints of these two paintings will be available in my etsy shop later this week.