Painting for My Son

I've been in my art attic painting with Ava all weekend:








And here's what I've been working on:




My son Wesley, who is 20 and my youngest, discovered my blog recently somehow and called me last week to tell me how much he loved my art! What a moment of absolute zen. He made me log on to my computer and go back through all my old posts, telling me which pieces he liked best and why. Who knew he even had an interest in art? He’s always been quite creative but his medium is music. Before our conversation was over he’d offered to BUY 3 paintings (please!), linked me to two of his artsy friends on Facebook and asked me to paint a mural on the wall of his living room. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. This weekend I started a painting for my Wes. It’s not finished yet, but here it is. To share my passion for art with one of my children is pure Nirvana. Wesley and I were always very close; my husband said we were joined at the hip, but in the last 5 years, he’s been busy becoming a man, and, to be a man, he had to break away from me. It makes me unreasonably happy to know we’re still kindred spirits.
Creative Therapy "Unconditional Love"

Warning!

If the music on my autoplay is too rowdy for you today, I apologize. I don't have a stereo in my studio, and this is what I'm painting to. So please mute your speaker, if it's too distracting.

XOXO,
Me

MY FIRST ETSY SALE

Today I don't have anything new to post because I'm working on a large painting, but I did add five original journal pages to my Etsy and have marked almost everyting down. All journal pages are now $25 (regardless of what they're marked in the shop, and I've reduced most of the 12" X 12" original paintings. This Etsy thing is still new to me, so I may have origianlly overpriced my items. I hope to make the ICON design available on t-shirts, as several of you have asked about them, but I'll have to wait and see what the price will be after set up and printing. I'm also quite interested in doing commision work in the folk art style of my "Emerge" fairy for little girls rooms etc. If you'd like, you can contact me at katherinemccullen@yahoo.com with specifications. Thank you so much for your interest and all your encouraging coments.

Love,
Alberta

Icon Part Deux

"Cultivate an attitude of happiness. Cultivate a spirit of optimism. Walk with faith, rejoicing in the beauties of nature, in the goodness of those you love, in the testimony which you carry in your heart concerning things divine." Gordon B. Hinkley

I'm thinking of doing a whole Cirque De Zetti series (inspired by Theme Thursday and Illustration Friday)My last two journal pages have been portraits of my sons, hard to tell, I know, but true, nonetheless. This is Andrew. The first Icon was Wesley.

Icon

(an icon that became a t-shirt transfer for WS: and Daily Art Stop)


"Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary."

–Cecil Beaton

Allegra

Mixed media on canvas 24" X 30" $400. If you are interested in purchasing this painting please email me at katherinemccullen@yahoo.com

It always surprises me how inspiration comes when you least expect it. If this composition seems familiar to you that's because it was originally a journal page called The Mummer's Dance (click on title to see). I've known since I finished that collage that someday it would be a painting. (My Artistic Life) Something about her joyous dance captured my imagination. (Inspire Me Thursday) The original collage was also the first art piece I ever sold. I began painting this in January, but I got stuck on her hair. I couldn't figure out how to get the effect I wanted. So, I left it alone, hoping that something would come to me. I've spent the last several weeks learning something new, concentrating on abstracts, and I was so excited about what I was doing that I forgot about Miss Thing leaning up against the wall in the corner. Friday morning over coffee,though, I happened to catch a glimpse of her. I'd originally textured a larger area for her flowing locks, but late the night before I decided her hair was out of control and decided to give her a little makeover. So, I took a paint scraper to her and began to chisel chunks of molding paste off, leaving areas of black canvas exposed under the paste. I liked the way the rough black and white looked on her. So I took my palette knife and more black paint finished giving her a new hairdo. Suddenly, the whole painting came together, and I knew exactly what to do, From that point on it was amazingly easy; the painting almost finished itself. And here she is, my celebration of spring, Allegra, dancing in a midnight garden.

At One Powerful Hour, where the challenge this week is Spring, the disclaimer on the sidebar said they didn't really care if the creation took an hour or not, that they really just wanted to see what we'd created. Well, my painting took a lot of powerful hours; just piecing together her crazy quilt skirt took quite awhile, but cleanup might have taken an hour.

Imagine Your Life

I worked on this new journal page off and on for over a week while waiting for Shaman and Django to dry. It fits several challenges Arty Girlz Stamping Challenge, Crazy Amigo's Paint Challenge, and My Time To Craft Nature Challenge.

If you'll take a look at my sidebar, you'll see that I've added some more journal pages to my Etsy shoppe and I will continue to update. I discoverd that Walmart carries a ready-made frame and mat set that fits most of my pages, and I did the stairway down to Mr. Al's office and a wall in my studio with my framed pages. They look very cheerful. When my BFF Susan saw these framed and hung, she went out and got frames for the pages and cards I've given her and covered an entire wall in her office with them. Believe it or not, I still have plenty more where those came from, so I hope some might find a happy home with you. 11" X 16" prints are also available for all of my collages and journal pages.

Love,
Alberta

Django

12" X 12" X 1.5" mixed media on canvas

Painted while dreaming of spring on a long, cold rainy weekend. (Mixed Media Monday)

IF: Shaman

11" X 15" mixed media on cardboard for Illustration Friday's Legendary challenge

Well, as you can see, I've discovered something else I like. Ava says I like everything. What could be wrong with that, I ask you? Except that I do get a little attention deficit when I have a lot of things going on, like I do now. I've got three big unfinished paintings in my studio, and while they sat there, I painted this abstract because I'm excited about this new form. Truthfully, I didn't like one of the big unfinshed canvases, but now I think I can go back and apply some of the same techniques I used here and be happy with it. Learning something new is always a good thing!

Earlier this week I received this honor from two Phenomenal Women: Cathy and Terri, two friends whose support and friendship inspire me daily to have the courage to continue pursue my dream and to share the chronicles of my journey with you. Here's what these two artists said about blogs that receive this award: "This blog invests and believes in the PROXIMITY-nearness in space, time and relationships. These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement! Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this clever-written text into the body of their award." I am humbled and honored to be considered as such. I would like, in turn, to recognize 8 other artists whose blogs exemplify the qualities of generosity, inspiration, and selflessness:
Artiphy the Heart
What's Up Roc
Bluebirds Living In The Meadow
Bulles Dores
Green Weeds
Lumilyon
It Must Be Mice
Tumblefish Studio

Please visit their blogs and leave them a comment. You will be glad you did.

Because of all of you, I have finally been able to do what I dreamt of for so many years. Thank you with all my heart.



Love,
Alberta

12" X 12" mixed media collage on canvas

Because green is my favorite color and I use a little green in almost everything I do, it was easy to find an entry for this week's Wednesday Stamper challenge. Green has always been is a very spiritual color, in my mind, and represents growth, rebirth, joy. This lady ( My Time To Create) has a firm spiritual foundation, an open heart, and sees the beauty of the world around her.

Let Go The Illusion of Control

While I was waiting for ""Verdure" to dry I journaled around the studies for that piece with the paint leftover on my palette. (for Mixed Media Monday's Written Word Challenge)

Verdure

16" X 20" acrylic mixed media on canvas $250 plus shipping. If you are interested in purchasing this painting, please e-mail me at katherinemccullen@yahoo.com

Last year I discovered the works of Katherine Treffinger, and she has been kind enough to correspond with me, answering my questions and encouraging me through the process of creating abstract art. Recently Katherine used the expression "Break the illusion of control" in one of her blog posts, and let me tell you: that rocked my world. All of my compositions, up to now, have been so tightly controlled, so this was a whole new concept for me. I was excited by the idea, though, and ready to give it a try. So, here's what I came up with, and it may well have been the most fun I've had painting, since my nursery school teacher, Miss Sadie, threw a piece of fabric on the floor and let the entire class crawl around and fingerpaint on it, (later making it into a dress she wore often and proudly). Ava named the painting "Verdure" because she said it looked "mossy." While I was painting, I thought of camelias and mimosa blossoms, so the title seemed perfect to me. Surprisingly, it fits 3 challenges, so I suppose there must be something to this "painting intuitively" business. (Saturday Surprise Saturday Workout and Creative Therapy.)

Time To Wish Roc Happy Birthday!

Here's a birthday card I made for my friend Roc, whose birthday was Monday. Sadly my Internet was down, so I didn't get to post it on her actual day, but I hope she had a great one. Stop by her blog to wish her well and to visit her fantastic world of color and whimsy!

(My Time to Craft and Mixed Media Monday)