A Halloween Treat :)

I won this beautiful Halloween ATC from a fun giveaway on Terri Kahrs' Blog Pringle Hill Studio.

I received Terri's ATC, yesterday, and even her card that held the ATC is awesome so I placed her precious ATC against the card for this picture. Isn't this just wonderful? I love the image with the bat wings and how she's sitting atop the pumpkin! Terri's touches and background - just perfect with it!

Please check out Terri's Blog (linked above), when you get a chance; she's an amazing artist and she's so generous with image offerings!

Thank you SO much Terri; I am thrilled I won your creative ATC! It's a wonderful Halloween treat for me :)

COMING SUNDAY! I will be posting a Blog giveaway celebrating nature :)


I'm wishing you all a safe, joyful and artful upcoming weekend!


Love to all - Marilyn xxoo

"Celebrate the Seasons"......................

These are pictures of small canvases (approx. 4 x 4) that represent my interpretation of the seasons. I am going to mount these on an architectural piece that I picked up, recently, at a salvage warehouse and will share, in future, once I figure out how to mount them :)

I really enjoy the change of seasons; perhaps it has something to do with my being a "shaker and a mover" :) One seasons passes, and I look forward to a new change - a new start in a way. I have my favorite season which is Autumn with it's crisp, cool feel, brilliant colors and wonderful smells. My least favorite season is Summer which some may find odd but I don't like thunder storms and I don't like heat. I feel more alive and energetic in the cold and this includes Winter, too. I don't mind winter, really; except January/February gets a little wearing and it's probably because winter is so long.

Spring offers hope; a renewal and I love seeing things come back to life after a long hibernation.

What is your favorite season? I'd love to read with your comments you leave here.

Thanks SO much for visiting and your support, friendship, and inspiration are food for my soul!

Hope you are all well and having a good week. Coming soon................a blog giveaway!!!!!!! I'll probably post over the upcoming weekend or early part of next week.

Love to you all - Marilyn xxoo

It's a small world........................

I've been working on some small projects lately and having fun with them. These are pictures of the projects. The grouped twelve are Twinchies I did for a holiday project and the grouped six are Inchies that I did for a local exchange.

This is the first time I've worked on such small substrates but found you can really jam-pack them with art! The Inchies are 1 x 1 and the Twinchies are 2 x 2's. Cool, huh?

The third picture is of a 4 x 6 collaged postcard I did for an online project. The theme is Christmas and I started this piece with alcohol inks and went on from there.

I haven't been doing much painting really. I don't have any shows coming up until 2010 so I have a little time. I will be continuing, this week, with my Collage Workshop at the Albany Art Room and then planning some local workshops. More to come on that very soon!

In meantime; hope you are all well and having a good weekend. I wish you a safe, healthy and happy upcoming week.

Much love - Marilyn xxoo

"Life is Fragile"........................

I thought I would share this, with you, as it's a sample of a teaching project that I have going on, now, at the Albany Art Room. I'm running a 6-week collage workshop session on Wednesday evenings. I'm having the students work on an 11 x 12 canvas and we started out with adhering chosen collage elements onto the blank canvas and then building upward. It's been quite a process and we still have 3 sessions to go.

Students are usually used to doing backgrounds, first, then adding the collage elements. The challenge is to build up from the elements, meshing the images with painting, texturizing, line work - truly a mixed-media workshop.

The little nest and bird, there, in this piece is actually where I showed students how to cut a niche into the canvas and I really enjoyed the expressions on their faces seeing me cut a hole in the canvas! I have very enthusiastic students, their pieces are really coming together and I will share the students' works upon completion of the series.

Thank you all for your visits, here; you give me wings to reach higher and higher with my art! You, your art and words are my inspiration.

Wishing you all a safe, healthy, and joyful weekend ahead!

Love to all........................Marilyn xxoo

"Ye Are My Friend "

These are pictures of a 5 x 5 mixed-media piece. I made it into a hanging piece and it's on heavy mat board. One picture is a little clearer than the other I think. I've combined fabric, lace,stamping, beads, and some fun things from nature; small branch and dried hydrangea flowers - you name it, it's in there :). That's what's so much fun about mixed media!

Hope you are all well and having a good start to your week!

Love and hugs to all of you! Marilyn xxoo

"A Place of Wonder".........................

This is a postcard I did, today, with the theme of our interpretation of Halloween.

The background is on glossy cardstock and I played around with my alcohol inks; they've been a little neglected lately :)

Thank you for all your well-wishes; I think your thoughts and words are healing factors as I'm starting to feel better with a bit more energy! See? You all have healing powers!

Hope you're all having a good weekend!

Love to all of you and stay well - Marilyn xxoo

"True Pleasures"

I've been nursing a cold,this week, that has developed into an upper respiratory infection, of sorts, and I had to visit the doctor yesterday. So; I've been confined, to home, and I find I really don't make a very good patient and I think it's because I'm not "patient" :) Bed rest has been recommended along with some meds. and well; I'm just not very good at bed rest.

I've been missing creating art and have had to cancel some things, this week, which I always feel badly about. But; I also do not want to infect others as that is an important part of being a good patient. With all that is going around, now, it is highly recommended to stay home, rest and try not to be around a lot of other people so that is what I am doing.

Having said all this, I just had to get to some art work, today, and often when I'm experimenting with something new, that I have here, I always start small. This is a photo of a tag I did today using an overlay of organza. I have a photo, in my files, of a section of one of my mixed-media paintings so I printed it out - full page- on a sheet of organza. I love it!!!!! I cut out a section of the organza that I saw fitting for this tag, sewed it - yes sewed (I know much to the surprise of people who know me-lol!) onto the tag. I added some sequins, fringe, fibers, and paper flowers as embellishments. I now am going to think about how to add this organza to larger pieces. The effect is just wonderful and I love the frayed edges that occur after cutting the organza, too. I will use the rest of my organza print-out in another piece.

If you click on the picture, here, you'll get a closer look of the organiza piece.

By the way; the organza comes in a packet by Jacquard that I picked up at JoAnn's with a coupon. You only get 5 sheets in pack.

I'm wishing you all a great weekend ahead; hope you get lots of art time in and please stay well! I never stop appreciating your visits and lovely comments; that's the BEST medicine :)

Much love to you all..................Marilyn xxoo

"Little Goblins"

5 x 7 Collage/Mixed Media
Canvas Board


This is a little piece I did in the spirit of Autumn's colors and Halloween. :)

Hope you all are having a good week!

Love to all.........................Marilyn xxoo

Part III - Beeswax workshop; students' works

These are the last (but certainly not the least) of students' works from my beeswax workshop last weekend.

It's been such a pleasure to share these with all of you. It was surely a privilege, for me, to share my techniques with such wonderfully warm and creative women!

Thank you all for your lovely and supportive comments here.

I hope you are enjoying your weekend; have a safe and peaceful week ahead.

Love to all! Marilyn xxoo

Part II; Beeswax Workshop - students' works

As promised, here are some more students' works from my beeswax workshop last weekend at Lori's. I am so proud and thrilled to share these with you! Each piece was given lots of thought and care to express themselves with what was offered.

Enjoy!

Hoping you are all having a good week! Thanks for visiting and leaving your supportive and lovely comments! I so appreciate them. They are my "food for motivation".

Love to all of you - Marilyn xxoo

Beeswax Workshop; students' works! Part I

I recently had the privilege and opportunity to share my beeswax techniques with a group of very special friends. My friend, Lori, opened up her home, to us, so we can have this workshop and share the joy of the Beauty of Beeswax.

Starting today, I want to share, with you, the works of these incredibly talented women from the workshop.

Every few days, I will upload more, until they are all shared here on my Blog.

Everyone took to the beeswax and I just love what everyone created. They could select their own papers, images, embellishments, etc., with my guidance on the beeswax technique, so they could walk out with creations of their own. I am very proud to share these with all of you!

Have a joyous day! Love to all - Marilyn xxoo

Friends gone postal! :)

I had such a beautiful mail delivery week, last week, that I wanted to share with you.

This all happened in one week!

First; I received this gorgeous, jaw-dropping fabric tote from my dear friend Ruth who now is a Floridian :) I visited Ruth, in August, for a not-long-enough stay but we did have a really super visit together. Ruth does not have a Blog, although I do think she should, as she is magical with fabric! I love the fabric choice, the crow, of course, is just amazing with beaded detail and love the eye!!!! The back of the tote is just as lovely with some printed organza! Thank you, Ruth, and I carried it, with me, at my collage workshop at the Art Room, this week, and everyone was all over it! :)

Two days after I received the tote, a surprise package came from my very creative and caring, friend, Heather Robinson. Please check out Heather's Blog (linked here as she is so talented and creative. Her themed pieces are amazing!

Heather sent me this beautiful journal she altered as an ode to Aries, the owl, who I met and fell in love with at the 5 Rivers Environment Center last spring. I participated in an art exhibit and workshops, there, and Aries lives at the center.

I offered a challenge, on my Blog, to use a picture of Aries and create something in his honor (much older post; in archives).

Heather responded to this beautifully and I now have her lovely journal on display in my home. Eventually, I will use this for my own personal use.

Thank you Ruth and Heather for making this week so special for me!

Hope you all are enjoying your weekend and wish you a safe and happy week ahead.

Coming soon........................photos of students' works from a beeswax workshop that I instructed this weekend. :)


Peace and love to all of you..............................Marilyn xxoo

"Sweet Friend"..............................

Recently I purchased some beautiful vintage wallpaper from Paperbag Studios Online Shoppe. I'm never disappointed in the offerings, there, and the wallpaper was no exception.

I decided to create a little sample using one of the wallpaper designs as a background on this 5 x 5 hardboard piece. I combined the background with some stamping from the Little Feet unmounted stamp sheet from Paperbag Studios (the same sheet I used on the altered baby shoes; see earlier post below).

The small image of the two little girls, there, is actually a tiny cabinet card that I had picked up in my travels. I adhered it to the piece with gel medium and added crackling compound along the sides, distressing with acrylics; hand-tinting with oil pastels. I embellished with some small flowers, beading and a glass pebble.

Once the collage was done, I decided to make this into a hanging piece and used beaded fringe for the hanger.

We have another weekend approaching; I wish, for you, a safe and happy day and a wonderful upcoming weekend!!!!

Much love to all of you..................................Marilyn xxoo