"Blossom" and Fantasy".........

I've been working on some needle felting the past couple of days. These are pictures of clutch purses I felted. The purses are approx. 8 1/2" long x 6 1/2" wide.

Needle felting is a very relaxing activity to me. Well; just as long as I am using a foam block on my lap while felting - LOL! I've been known to pierce my thigh a couple of times :) Ouch!

I tried knitting and crocheting but just couldn't seem to concentrate on all of the counting and figuring. I love and admire knitted and crocheted pieces so much. The needle felting is a fit, for me, as I feel I'm actually "painting" with the needle and roving. I don't have to stop and count rows, etc. and it's a bit more forgiving for me. AND; the roving comes in so many beautiful textures and colors!

Thank you, again, for visiting. I am wishing you all a safe, artful and wonderful Memorial Weekend ahead. Much love - Marilyn xxoo

Christmas in May? ...................:)

I love wooden cigar boxes. A couple of weekends ago, I went to a flea market/antique show and there was a booth, there, offering just wooden cigar boxes. This one particularly attracted me as it's very deep and the wood is nice and thick. Wood is another one of my favorite substrates to work on. I discovered using Absorbent Ground over Gesso to help receive paints, drawings, decoupaging and it's a wonderful medium over wood.

This coming November I'm going to have a solo show at the Albany Art Room and it was suggested that my offerings be some functional art pieces as well as visual/hanging canvases. I thought it would be fun to turn this cigar box into a greeting card holder for Christmas cards! I used some vintage images from some old postcards, decorative papers, acrylics, scrapbook papers, rusted embellishments, buttons, etc. I went over the top of the box with a layer of beeswax.

It's a little hard, for me, to think about Christmas, right now, although our weather feels more like Autumn than Spring :) But; thinking ahead, with this kind of thing, is the best for me as the projects take awhile to complete. It's very freeing, for me, to not have to work under pressure and time constraints when it comes to art. How about you? Do you work better under pressure or do you need lots of time for creating? I'd be interested in your answers if you want to comment. :)

Thanks so much for visiting and hope everyone is having a good week.

Love, Marilyn

"Paris, Wisdom, and Delight"..................

I had an opportunity, today, to work on ATC's for a one-on-one exchange with a friend. I haven't worked on ATC's in awhile and it felt good to sit down at my art table and create these.

Thank you all for taking the time to visit my Blog, the lovely comments you leave, and your support and friendships are forever appreciated.

Our weekend is upon us and I am wishing you all a safe, happy and artful weekend.

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

Surprises are great!

I'm not one for tootin' my own horn but I received a really neat surprise today when I opened my mail.

I noticed the Summer 2008 issue of Somerset Gallery in my mailbox. I knew I didn't order it and wondered why I received it. It dawned on me that possibly I could have an art piece, published in there, as I did submit a couple pieces quite awhile ago and actually had forgotten about them. I opened the magazine up and started perusing it only to find one of my collages on page 12 of the issue! This is an 8 x 10 collage on canvas that I submitted for their House theme which was probably a year ago! I didn't even know it was going to be in the Gallery. Oh well; it was certainly a nice surprise :)

I am hoping your day and week will be good to you all! Love, Marilyn

"Her Wish".......Acrylic/Mixed Media, 16 x 20 canvas

I think one of the reasons I enjoy collage, so much, is drawing inspiration from the things I have around me; ya know my stash :)

I like to make up stories about what I'm working on. For instance, for this painting, I just had to use this Adolphe-William Bouguereau image! I just found out these images are copyright free which makes me quite happy. He is one of my favorite painters; love how he captures expressions.

I first began this painting by sinking an old map of Italy into gel medium onto the prepared canvas (I color copied the map) and started adding textures with different mediums, thought of colors of Tuscany and went from there. I started seeing some peaks of mountains, different tones of grass, etc. I added some torn pieces of antique music sheets into the painting and other natural handmade papers. This all seemed to fit with this Bouguereau image as she is holding a violin. I sunk her into gel medium then stamped around her using an old print block that I have here.

My mind drifted to thinking that this girl is longing to study music, in Italy, and pursue her love of the violin. That's how the title of this painting arrived....."Her Wish" and adding the hardware with the rusted star there that you see. She is wishing on a star :)

Thank you all for visiting my Blog and leaving your wonderfully warm and supportive comments. Your continued support and friendships are so appreciated.

I wish you all a safe and happy rest of this week and a fun upcoming weekend.

Love always............................Marilyn

Acrylics, Collage, Beeswax, and more :).........

I just finished this project today. It's a wooden file box approx. 9" x 12".

The first picture is of the top that I collaged using decorative papers, images, some hand drawings, acrylic paints, stamping, and some fun embellishments. I finished the piece off with a thin layer of beeswax. The second picture is a sideview of the box. I have two more, to go, and each one is smaller than the other.

I hope you are all having a good weekend and finding some art time for yourself :)

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

"The gift".....

This is an acrylic/mixed media painting I recently finished.

It's on a 16 x 22 canvas. A dear friend, of mine, recently introduced me to paper tole. I loved it and decided to include this in the painting. The roses on the left have been paper toled. The larger one on the right was done with a stencil and modeling paste.

I wish you all a happy upcoming weekend!

Love................Marilyn