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OOOOH MYYYYY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH.

I love this piece. 
I love modelling paste.

This piece took me waaay longer than I expected it to take and was sooo much easier to put together than I thought it was going to be, which makes it a pleasant surprise and a great reminder that I really should stop worrying about things too much as they will come together as it should. It was worth every worry though, and is my current favourite spread.

This started with my trying out modelling paste and getting rid of itty bitty left over paints in shades of blue.
I painted the spread without any intentions to  make anything but just to use up this dollops of paint left in tubes, taking up room and figured something will come of it one day. *groan*

Anyhoo,

This really was fun. I was determined to use and try out all the little stencils and material I kept buying but was too chicken to try out and I thought well. Gotta do it one day; and did pop open my light modelling paste and spread it over a stencil...and it was GLORIOUS. They were the most PERFECT little dots ever.
When it was dried I tried some more on a Damask pattern I love and it was even better. Couple of days later when it was fully dried I painted it with some watery acrylic paint and it was just gorgeous.

I still didn't know what to do with this. I didn't have a sentiment in mind or anything and I wasn't sure I was going to do anything to it in fear of ruining it because it was just so perfect and it was not going to get better.

Then I came across this quote which was just perfect. It pulled what I was learning the past 2 weeks and put in a succinct sentence.  I feel that this is probably the truest thing ever and most frequently forgotten.
I firmly believe that humans are incredible beings with great powers - the power of the mind is second to none - but we forget what miracles we are caught in the rush of the day. We forget, that we are wiser than we believe because of all those around us telling us that we are not.

I drew the girl on a piece of thick card stock that used to be a certificate of appreciation for some volunteer work I did and gave her some colour with acrylics and pencil crayons. Found the prettiest eye I could find in the stash of magazine clippings. The glow is actually a painted tissue paper -2 layers of watercolors... To much surprise this gives the tissue paper heavier matted texture which is quite nice.

And all that glitter? Dollar store glitter glue - that is an amazing invention - probably by someone who uses glitter a lot and wanted to streamline the process. Or a very keen observer. ANYWAY.
Here is a quick slideshow of the spread:

And a quick photo of course:

EEk.
You can't really see the quote:

" At the center of your being you have the answer. You know who you are and you know what you want. You just need to listen. The quieter you become the more you can hear."

Hope you like,

Love always,
Shines

Bent

Well.
You know that song by Pink, Just Give me a Reason?
When I first heard this song, I didn't really listen to the lyrics but I heard the chorus and it moved me. I thought it was another song about a girl who's heart was broken.
When I REALLY heard the song for the first time and watched the music video I cried.
It echoed what my heart couldn't express....and of course, I had to make this moment - that it happened and I am in admission of it - they do say that the first step to recovery  IS, admission.


I wasn't really sure how this would turn out.
I played with some paint and light modelling paste(which is just the most fantastic thing EVER, I love it).
I didn't realize this but water on modelling paste will cause the paste to desolve and lose its shape...which was cause for panic at the time but it grew on me and added a nice incomplete effect.

I wanted to go for some sort of...well, I don't know what...I think I was more interested to try out different materials. The heart is actually the LCBO paper bag with layers of acrylic paint. I thought if I wrinkled it after, it would give some texture - it didn't really but I like it.

Hope you like,

Love always.
Shines.

Minis

In my little city we have these things called "transfers" that you receive when you use the public transit that serves as your proof of purchase and allows you go switch between buses, trains and streetcars on your way to your destination. A while ago when I first tried to reintroduce creativity into my life and wasn't really sure if I could find the time to be creative, I collected a bunch of these at a train station with the intention to use them as my new canvases, and see if I can indeed squeeze some time for creativity.  It was a great size (2.5 x 3") to work out to let out some steam or mark a special day as these things were issued daily, and I always managed to find some time to make these little pieces as they were definitely therapeutic. Eventually though , life did get to me and I wasn't able to find time for creative moments like these as I struggled to find balance between two jobs, a social life and time to sleep - I guess it was just NOT the right time to get creativity back into my life just yet, but it was certainly reassuring to know that I could find the time in any crazy schedule because, your canvas does not have to be big, it can be as small as you choose (in my mind,it was drilled from high school days that to be considered an art work,  art was created on things bigger than 5 x7").

Recently, I finally came to realize money was just not worth converting myself into a workerbot for and decided to work one job, live a little poorer but happier. I started investing a little more time to the creative process and a little less time to work.I've been working steadily in my altered catalog art journal and made great progress and the creation process is becoming smoother, faster and more therapeutic than not. Still, sometimes I just don't have the energy to make a spread and am more in the mood to make a little quick something. I really wanted to get back into drawing people(well, faces mostly) and expressions but I was just not wanting to buy another little book (I have a few already) and the idea was just peculating in my mind.

Then on the transit, I saw this incredibly beautiful brown girl - it was just not  fair that so much beauty belonged to one person; she was plump had the preettttiest eyes cutest face and I was in awe (which just means I developed an uncontrollable staring problem) and she awkwardly smiled as she got off the bus. I wanted to just capture this face - never you mind the rest of her body - I don't care what she was doing. My mind frantically started going through all the stuff I have to find the perfect place to try to capture this face without pressure an came up with the pile of gessoed transfers.

I had given  a good coat of watery-gesso over these transfers as the papers were glossy and I wanted a matted surface and I was just not sure if it would take to paint. I found that, gessoed surfaces are not great to draw or paint on with markers or watercolors. It turns out pencil crayons don't like gessoed surfaced too much either as the chunk of pigment just peeled right off her mouth, causing all sorts of waves of panic.

This final piece doesn't really look like the girl I saw; she was ebony colored with the cutest eyes and dimples ever but clearly, this piece is nothing like her. However, it marks the moment and when I see this pic it REMINDS me of what the girl looked like, which I guess is good enough for now.


I enjoyed doing this piece SO much - and wanted to do another face in watercolors...my painting skills seemed to have ebbed and I thought this would be a great time to start working on them again. I  took out the pack of watercolor ATC cards that's been waiting for this moment for YEARS - and banged out this one:

Athough I am pretty happy with the way it turned out (I'm not digging the hair), I think I was much more in love with the piecebefore it got all sorts of detailing done.

Well, that's all for now.

Hope you enjoyed,

Love always,
Shines.

Dance in the rain

I love hand-lettering.
I have great penmanship, but I admire those who can take ordinary,good "penmanship" and turn it into thought/emotion provoking works of art.I haven't the patience to learn such art but I try to show my appreciation for it whenever I can, like my little Moleskine book o'Doodles and in spreads like this one.

I am sure we've all been handed our fair share of lemons in life.
When it rains, it pours...you know it, felt and but lived through it and gave yourself a good pat on the back for making it through another pail of lemons with gritted teeth, making various flavours of lemonade.
At least that was me.
Now I think that its not just what you do that matters in these dire situations...its also your attitude.
If you keep going through life with the survival mentality you miss all the little joys along the way because you're always thinking what's next? Instead, if you waltz through it - with the attitude that you will try to enjoy even this sack of nutjobs, it doesn't seem as bad.

I had been wondering about the imagery for this quote for quite some time - my technical ability wasn't going to be able to portray what I needed . I tried to not think about it (but I couldn't help it cuz it was THE quote I wanted to use as this was the one that summed up the week's "enlightenment") too too much. I had this weird idea that, what I need will be taken care of when I need it.

Of course, weekend rolls around and I'm starting to feel a little more panicky about this.
Then I saw a newspaper left on the bus - Cartoon section, my favourite - and my eyes just about popped right out when I saw Mutts -which is my favourite cartoon strip and it was EXACTLY what I needed.

NOT saying that you should go through life with the attitude and expectation that all you need will be taken care of, but just to not over-worry about everything because as we all know, it almost always works out as it should.

Love always,
Shines