And the winner is................................Deb Lewis!

Congratulations Deb! Your name was drawn, this morning, from a basket by my husband! He's my "technical support" :)

You have won my altered book cover from previous post. Congratulations!

Please contact me and I will arrange to mail during this upcoming week!

Thanks SO much, everyone, for participating and I'll have another giveaway in near future.

When you have time, please check out Deb's Blog!

I always enjoy her beautiful artwork, posts and she has the coolest Blog headers!

I wish you all a happy and artful weekend!

Much love - Marilyn xxoo

My first Blog Giveaway WIN! Yes!

I won! This is a picture of my very first Blog giveaway win! Elizabeth Woodford offered some very beautiful giveaways, on her Blog, that she made!

This is one of the beautiful pieces that I won and it arrived, at my door, yesterday! I love it! The internet pictures are great but there's nothing like seeing works of art in person.

The fabric/paper bird is just stunning! The colors are so vibrant and her choice of fibers - luscious with this.

Thank you SO much Elizabeth for a wonderful offering.

Please check out Elizabeth's Blog (highlighted above) for inspiration. She's not only a very talented and creative artist but also a fantastic gardener!

I hope you are all having a joyous day! Be safe.............Love, Marilyn

A Journal Spread..............................

I took some time, yesterday, to work in my art journal. I really enjoy, this time, as it's so relaxing with no deadlines, no pressure and it really helps me to be more spontaneous; I sometimes feel it's the real me ya know? Hmmmmmmmmm. That's a heavy thought.

Anyway; with this spread, I've combined stencils, stencils w/ molding paste, gel transfers (images from old photos), embossed aluminum foil for frame and corner embellishments, acrylic paints, and more.

If you haven't already left a comment to my previous post, please feel free to enter my Blog giveaway. Deadline is Friday, June 19th :)

I hope your weekend is joyous!

Much love - Marilyn xxoo

Blog Giveaway! "Simple Pleasures"

I think it's time for a Blog giveaway don't you?

I came across this image at a really neat flea market shop out in the country. I just thought this little girl was the sweetest! I decided to sit down at my art table, today, and create something using this image. She's on a really old greeting card and the card, itself, was in pretty bad shape. But; I still had to have her. :) I printed the image out in grayscale and overpainted it with heavy body acrylics. I used some embossed wallpaper for around the edges, printed out the saying on tissue paper and added a sticker that I felt was appropriate.

So.............................I am offering this piece which is created on a 5 x 7 book cover. All you have to do is leave a comment, here, with one word that comes to your mind when you think of a simple pleasure that you enjoy.

If you are unable to leave a comment on my Blog, you can email me at Artbeliever@gmail.com with your interest in the giveaway along with your one word.

The deadline for commenting is: Friday, June 19th. I will announce the winner on the Sunday of that weekend. :)

Good luck and hope you're all having a good week. Be safe! Love, Marilyn

"Secret Life of the Flowers"

At the nature preserve show, I was involved in a few weeks ago, a man asked me if I could do a small canvas as a birthday present for his wife. I normally don't do florals as they are as difficult, for me, as drawing a face :) But; I just felt like challenging myself and agreed to do the commission. The man is a neighbor, of mine, and I felt a little more comfortable trying this with someone that I know.

This is a picture of the result. This is actually done on a wood panel which is also a first for me. Gee; I guess I felt like torturing myself - hahahahaha. My neighbor's wife loves Irises and that is what was requested. It's truly mixed media with acrylic painting, pastels, collage using handmade papers, lots of layering and I hope my neighbor's wife is happy with this.

My Iris subject was from a photo I took and now that I look back at the photo, this doesn't look anything like it :) But; it was a good subject for a starting point - it's kind of like a fantasy flower wouldn't you think? :) I really enjoyed this!

Thank you all for visiting and, again, your support, friendships and lovely words are always so appreciated!

Have a joyous week! Love, Marilyn

Photo Fun..................

A couple of weekends, ago, a friend and I decided to head down to an historical section of our city to take some photos to use in our artwork. I really am on a mission to use more of my own photos/images in my art to really make my work my own.

The first picture, here, is one of the original shots I took of a very old historic building. I really loved this shot of the basement window with these potted pansies in front against the very healthy ivy background.

The second photo is of this original that I uploaded into my Photoshop Elements program and had some fun with.

Hope you are all enjoying your weekend and I wish you a safe and great start to the coming week. Boy; weekends go fast don't they? :)

Love - Marilyn xxoo

Cabinet Card

This is a picture of a cabinet card I altered for a friend's birthday. (no peeking Laura K - HA!)

I have so many surfaces I love to create on and I've always thought cabinet cards were way up there, for me, to work on. I love the matboard-type surface and altering the images, a bit, to create a whole new "story".

We are approaching another weekend and I wish you all a safe, joyous, and artful weekend.

I will be involved with an event, here in Albany, this weekend, called Art on Lark and am really looking forward to the day.

Thinking of you all..........................Love, Marilyn xxoo