Random Recipe :)

Bay Flavored Wild and Brown Rice

1/2 teaspoon salt; to taste
1 teaspoon butter
3 bay leaves
1/4 cup shallots; minced finely
2 1/4 cups chicken stock
1 cup long grain rice; brown
3 tablespoons wild rice

Preparation:

Saute shallots in butter until lightly browned. Add rice, chicken stock, and bay leaves. If stock is unsalted, add salt. Bring to a boil, reduce heat andsimmer, covered for 45 minutes. When 45 minutes are up, remove cover and fluff rice with a fork. If any liquid remains, stir and continue to cook for about 5 minutes more. Serves 3.

Serves: 3

Work in Progress

I don't have a new finished piece to show you yet. So sorry.

It has been a real work in progress. I started it the other day, I kind of knew where I was going with it but I had some research and work to do. So it isn't quite done.

But I did get the clear coat on the "Great Undertakings" piece and learned in that process that my doodle pen is not the right one for the job, for it bleeds and smears when reactivated with water-based sealers like Mod Podge. So do not use Pilot Precise v7 for doodling if you plan to coat your work. So with more research I learned it is either Christy Tomlinson's Scarlet Lime Pen or Sharpies new 'pen' which is not felt tip like their other products, but a roller ball as I understand it, that's permanent. So I ordered a 2-pack.

So today's project is partially waiting on those pens.

I can tell you today's project involves organic circles as flowers, and I coated each circles before using it with Mod Podge on both sides to kind of plasticize them so they would stand out in a true 3d manner.

I can't wait to finish it and show you. But we will just have to wait...

Great Undertakings

That kind of says it all.

"Self-Confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings."

I forget who this quote comes from but to me it says it all about our move to Hawaii. 

The imagery of the sail boat is from my new everyday life here. Is sail boats at sea everyday, it's amazing to me. I don't think I'll ever get over the wonderful view(s) I'm blessed with.

I took the picture before putting on a clear coat to avoid a glare in the camera. But otherwise I think it's done.

I started another canvas but don't think I'll get to work on it again until Wednesday.

I need to get a box of tacks so I can hang these babies up in my condo.

Mahalo!

finished is relative

Hey everyone!

I finished the two mixed media canvases I've been working on. OK yes, finished is a relative term in mixed media but I think I'm finished.

I'm battling over which one to show you and tell you about first....

 Live joyfully.

I was able to order canvases that were already pretreated with gesso, so that was a step I didn't have to worry about doing.

I used random scraps of blue papers and collaged a sky like area first. Then I did the same in green, but with narrow strips in a vertical way to represent grass. Once that was dry it got white washed.
I stamped with the bubble wrap and acrylic paints for depth and texture.
I had some awesome die cut leaves that I embellished with clock hands some doodling and gelatos. I cut the hearts and stems by hand. I assembled the pieces into flowers. I embellished with sew stampers and buttons and doodling and tiny clock faces.
I textured the whole thing with TP roll stamping, rubons, more paint and gelatos.
I embellished with the butterfly and a faux postage stamp (from washi tape), before adding the words. Then it was time for a coat of Mod Podge.

Dare to be Different.

I was all over the place with this one.

I started with all blues of 1-inch squares, darker closer to the bottom and light toward the top right.

I white washed it.

I hand cut a bunch of fishies and seaweed. I used tiny brads for the fish eyes. I tore strips of chip board to go along the bottom to represent sand, then intermingled the seaweed bases so some look closer than others. I shaded the fish and seaweed with gelatos. I had this little weaved rope thingy and put it in the sand. 

I did a tiny bit of doodling. I used an asterisk shaped brad to stamp tiny star fish.

I cut out tiny hearts to match the fishes, then I cut off the pointy part and made fins for the fish.

I stamped with TP roll and bubble wrap.

I embellished with the bubbles and rubons.

I found some sewing pattern tissue and crinkled little pieces up as part of the sand.

I tore long narrow strips of yellow tissue to play like more seaweeds.

I decided on a saying and choose to spell it out mostly in silver letter stickers, which I doodled around with an aqua sharpie, my doodle pen, gelatos and white paint.

I wasn't sure I'd like this one but now I think I do like it.

Mahalo!

Canvas Collage Play

The canvases I ordered of Amazon finally showed up yesterday. I couldn't wait to get up today and have an artful day.

I had been tossing ideas around my mind with what to do first. I go to a point in the creative process where it needed to dry. I decided to start another on in the meanwhile. So I was going back and forth with 2 canvases most of the morning.

At lunch time it occurred to me I better make a market run. So I left my art to dry and headed out. By the time I got home, and everything out away there wasn't quite enough daylight time left to get back to my art. I set the projects against the wall to wait for my next artful opportunity.

No sneak peaks of unfinished work. You'll just have to wait and see.

In also becoming quickly obsessed with Tim Holtz Configuration boxes. I wasn't too do an Aloha themed box. So I guess I'll keep my eyes out for trinkets around the island. If it goes well maybe I'll do more. I have already got myself a couple pieces of sea glass and coral. Maybe a star fish, some cool shells. I'm afraid if I make a list of things u wasn't too put in them I'll never find them so I'll just see what finds me.

ATC Day

No canvases yet. I was hoping they would come today since the Amazon tracking says estimated delivery date was today... But you learn to hold that with a grain of salt, living on an island.

But my creative juices were flowing and I needed to make something.

So I decided to make some random ATCs.

That's just 2 of the 7 ATCs from today.

Then I was playing with my Gelatos on watercolor paper, I had some interesting effects turn out. In still learning. So I set out to learn more via YouTube which seemed not to be a good day to do that. Every video I wanted to watch was on a lag and buffering. I hate that! I'm guessing servers are too blame.

So I finally gave up on that and just started watching Netflix instead.

A Shop Visit and DIY Experiment.

Last time I took the bus to Kahului I saw an advertisement for a shop called ISLAND PAPERIE. I made a mental note, by snapping a pic with my phone, to visit it another time.

Today turned out to be that time, after a whole lot of bus riding. Curiosity peeked? Go read my not artful blog post for today.

So the place is tiny thing. And everything is Hawaii themed or at least island/tropical. I think they specialize in laser cut shapes. Of which I bought a couple... Hibiscus, Plumeria, and of course Honu. And they seem to have their own paper line. It's a scrapbook store and they don't branch out to mixed media. They don't have the space to have more even if they wanted to.

After I got home and settled in I remembered watching YouTube videos on making my own color sprays. I made a turquoise one and a pink one.

Then I tested them both on a sheet of watercolor paper. They seem to work well. I'm pleased with my results.

On that same piece of paper I then decided to add some texture to it and I bubble wrap stamped in grey all over it, smeared the grey around the edges for a distressed look and stamped my signature TP circles all over it in white paint.

I figure I can incorporate it into my canvas projects or ATCs.