Preserving Nature :)

These are pictures of pages in my sketchbook journal. I turned to these, yesterday, as a bit of a release from the busy weekend.

As I was unpacking my stuff from my demo for the show, I was possessive of a few of my favorite nature elements that I was using for prints for the workshop. I noticed that the layers of paint, on them, seemed to preserve the leaves and ferns a bit so I decided to use them as elements in my journal pages. I adhered them with soft gel and then added a couple of layers of the gel over the leaves. I'm wondering how long they will last?

I was thinking of putting a layer of wax over them. Anyone have any thoughts or tips on preserving these natural elements? Isn't there a technique with ironing them between wax paper? I would appreciate your thoughts as I always do :)

I wish you all a good start to your week; be safe and happy.

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

Some pictures from my weekend...............

I thought I would share just a handful of pictures, here, of the 5 Rivers Nature Preserve art event that I was involved in on Saturday.

The first picture is of my artwork hung on the wall inside the visitor's center. The next two pictures are of some friends, of mine, who came, first thing in the morning, to participate in the workshops and demos that we were offering. My station was of nature prints using natural elements from the 5 rivers preserve. The last picture is of some friends working on the sculptor's workshop which was a community sculptor where participants could paint pre-shaped, metal birds and then attach to the metal sculptor. It was really neat. Inside were offerings of pastel demos and a landscape workshop with handmade papers.

I thought the day went well. There were a few glitches, here and there, but it was our first time doing something like this. We started out outside but terrible winds came up and forced us to go inside but it worked out and there were plenty of tables and room for all of us demonstrating. The morning was a little sparse in terms of attendance but by the afternoon things really picked up and I sold some art and had fun with the nature prints demo. :)

I had lots of help and I so appreciate having family and wonderful friends to turn to for help.

We had music and snacks so it really was a festive event.


I hope you all are having a great weekend; got some art time in. I will be catching up with your Blogs in the morning. :)

Thinking of all of you................................Marilyn xxoo

Timing is everything :)

I thought it so appropriately timed that I received this beautiful tribute to Aries the barred owl from my friend Kerri

Kerri is not only a dear friend, of mine, but she is a marvelously talented artist. Please check out her Blog, when you can; I have linked her Blog to her name above.

In a much earlier post, I posted about my encounter with this wonderful owl whose story just captured my heart. I had suggested that anyone interested in paying tribute to Aries, send me a picture of an art piece that they did in honor of Aries.

Kerri's digital tribute to Aries arrived, today, and I think it's not only beautiful but timely.

Today is the day of my art exhibit and event at the 5 Rivers Environmental and Education Center in Delmar, New York. (See sidebar for details).

I'm all packed, my art is hung up on the wall in the visitor's center along with 5 other wonderful artists' works. I've got my demos ready to roll and so far it's a beautiful day! We're all keeping our fingers crossed that the weather holds for most of day.

I hope to have some pictures posted of this event early next week to share with all of you.

In meantime, hope you are all well and safe. Enjoy your weekends and know you are all in my thoughts throughout my day.

Much love - Marilyn xxoo

"Automatic Painting - An Exercise"...........

I love blogging for so many reasons. One of the main reasons I love it, so much, is the inspiration I get from all the artists and blogs that I have linked here.

Lisa Bebi is an artist who I follow regularly. It was her first article in a Somerset Studio magazine (about her over-painting technique) that intrigued me and, from then on, I've been hooked.

She recently posted, on her Blog, about a new painting exercise and technique she so brilliantly created with the substrate being a paper bag of all things! Ya know; those lunch bags that we have hanging around the house.

Lisa calls this technique "Automatic Painting". Please check out her Blog (linked to her name above) for pictures and words on her technique. You might have to go into her older posts to see . But; it's SO worth it. It instantly captured me and I had to give it a try.

Pretty much, in a nutshell, it is painting the paper bag with raw umber acrylics, then using a warm white acrylic to start spontaneously using your paint brush to create shapes, etc. until you start seeing images of something, someone, then going with it. I saw it as negative painting, and really, challenged me.

I used my art journal for the exercise and intend to embellish these more but I wanted to give you an idea of what I started out with. As I started working on the first one, I started seeing two figures - and as I kept painting, it became clear, to me, that this might be a couple heading out to a prom!

The second picture I instantly saw a dog forming and the other shape I kept working until I could get a figure of a little boy.

My exercises are a bit immature, in nature, but it's the exercise that really inspired me! It was a little scary to begin, but I have full intentions of working on more. I'll share the final pages, of these, with you once I embellish them in full.

Thank you, Lisa, for your constant inspiration! You really have taught me a lot.

When you visit Lisa's blog, check out her beautiful paintings. I love what she does with photos and over paintings. She's an Artist on Call for Somerset Studio, too, and I always look forward to her articles.

I hope you all enjoyed your Mother's Day weekends. I am constantly inspired by all of you! I LOVE Blogging! :) I learn SO much from you!

Have a great week ahead! Love to all - Marilyn xxoo

A Very Special Post for Me............................:)

This is a very special post, for me, to kick off the day and also the fact that Mother's Day weekend is upon us.

We are all mothers in one way or the other; whether we have children, pets, or we even nurture our art and all our art works are our "babies"! Sometimes they are hard to let go of right? :)

I am particularly excited about celebrating this Mother's Day as I can now shout this out and want to share it with all of you............................my son and his wife announced to us, on Easter weekend, that they are expecting their first child! Which means.................I'm gonna be a grandma! WOW! This is my first grand child!

It appears that we will greet the new member of the family in mid December!!!!

We got to see the ultrasound picture of the baby during this week which really was quite an emotional moment. It's very exciting! My son and his wife are so happy and they are floating with joy.

I decided, last night, to express their joy and ours on a canvas. This picture is of an 8 x 10 acrylic/mixed media piece that I wanted to symbolize this special news and I'm going to present the collage to my daughter-in-law on Sunday!

We are all praying and keeping positive thoughts for the parents and that the baby will be healthy; that is what is most important.

Thank you all for your support and friendships; your constant inspiration gives me wings and that is why I feel so comfortable sharing this joyous family news with you.

I wish you all a safe and happy day and a wonderful weekend ahead.

Much love always..........................."Grandma" Marilyn xxoo

A little art journal time...............................

I made some time, this weekend, for a little art journaling. I really love this activity and now want to get into making my own handmade journals; but that will have to wait awhile. I also would love to take some book-binding classes :) One thing leads to another I find in this mixed-media world of mine. How about you?

These pages were created with acrylics, oil pastels, cheesecloth, using embossed wallpaper as a stamp, collage, you name it; it's in there :)

I really do enjoy having an art journal to turn to. If I come across a new technique, it's so freeing to be able to try it out in the journal where there's no pressure; just me, the pages and the mediums.

Here we are on the beginning of a new week already. I wish you all a safe, happy and joyous one ahead.

Much love.................................Marilyn xxoo

And the winner is...............................................:)

Gaby!!!! Gaby's name has been picked by my "technical assistant" (husband chooses name out of a basket) for my Lavendar and Lace collage with frame.

Congratulations Gaby! Please contact me, when you can, and I will send your collage, to you, right away.

Please visit Gaby's blog which is linked to her name in red. You will find such inspiration; she is a fabulous artist!

Thank you all for participating and also for your lovely comments and words of support that you leave on my Blog when you visit. I know I state this a million times, but I cannot do what I do without all of you! Thank you for the wings!

I wish you a safe, joyous and artful weekend.

Love to all of you - Marilyn xxoo