A Beautiful Day

I painted this as a gift for someone very special. I know I can never truly repay their kindness, but I am hoping that making them something from the heart will show my appreciation. I really hope they like it.

not what I 'should' be doing part II

If you saw my post from a couple of weeks ago (November 28th to be exact!) Then you saw the painting I have been working on since this past summer. I am not sure if "working" is the right way of putting it, exactly....LOL because, in reality, I only started it and then never touched it again for months. Life just got in the way and it seemed that the little elfin-fairy-girl-on-the-mushroom, was destined to go unfinished. But then something struck me one day (November 28th to be exact!) and I had the urge to work on it even though I had about a hundred other things that I "should" have been doing! Alas, the urge won out and my cast aside painting began to take shape. I am not sure why I stopped again, but I did and she, for a second time, did not get finished. Tonight I just kept looking at her and thinking about what she was thinking as she sat there with that sad and contemplative look. She was waiting. I knew that. But waiting for what? Then I had it and she had to be finished! And here she is...

6 x12 mixed media on canvas

x's & o's
kp

My favorite spot in the house...

Welcome to my LUDIO (living room/studio)! I haven't posted a picture of my favorite space since I moved. We really downsized, so I don't have as much room as I used to, but somehow I LOVE it so much more! It also forces me to stay more organized, which is so much better for working and creating.
I don't go nearly half as crazy or spend all my time trying to locate things before I can even get started!
Anyway I may not have a big fancy dedicated studio but I simply adore my LUDIO!!

artfully yours,
kp

born to be blue...

aka 'little blue peep' LOL!  I guess I am on a roll here. I am definitely really liking  painting in acrylics. I feel that watercolor has helped me become a better painter but I am still more comfortable with the acrylic medium...I will continue to paint in both! For now, I am just having fun with the fact that I am doing what I want without pressure. Winter break is a wonderful thing! I will continue to post, I hope you will continue to comment :)
x's & o's kp

a moment in time

That's the title of this painting. I thought she was done but now I think I may work on it a bit more. For now, though, I will leave it alone...it is from a picture I have of my mom when she was about twenty.
I am liking painting with acrylics. I am going to keep working and see where it takes me!
Please share your comments, thoughts and suggestions-I need all the help I can get :)
x's & o's
kp

reinventing myself...

I finally am done with school for the semester. Of course, I came down with a terrible cold the day before school ended. Murphy's Law, I guess.  Anyway, I have about 5 weeks off to sort of evaluate what I need to do next semester. It will be my last semester and at the end, I will have a gallery show...needless to say, I am already freaking out just a bit! I really need to focus and quit experimenting at this point and get a theme and a cohesive body of work together. I did this painting last night (yes, another experiment) I really like it though  and think I may paint more in acrylics for  my show....only a few weeks to decide and get going. I will post my thoughts and progress :) thanks for looking...
x's & o's
kp

match box artist

I made this from a match box, matches, clay, paint and some other stuff too. Made it for my mixed media class. We were pretty much given the 'go ahead' to do whatever we wanted, with whatever medium(s) we wanted to work with. I have been working on some "found object sculptures". I sorta just came up with these match box 'dolls' and thought they were fun, and yes (gasp) cute. Cute is a 4 letter word in art school. We are supposed to get hurt feelings or be offended if someone calls your work (gasp) cute. My mixed-media teacher told me today this piece is "too crafty" for him. Someone else said it was "cute" and then said, "Oh I didn't mean cute"....

I guess maybe I should be upset. Maybe I am not a 'real artist' because I make cute stuff? I don't know.
It doesn't matter because I am not upset or offended. I am happy. I like things that are cute. Babies and kittens and puppies are cute. And I like babies and kittens and puppies. And I like this little match box artist that I made too. It is cute. Please don't confuse cute with easy though. This little darling took me a good 8 hours or more to make. Each piece of hair is a cut piece of paper and individually placed on her head. Her head and feet are sculpted from clay and her head is attached so that it is completely movable. Each paint tube and miniature pencil is hand crafted and painted. Oh no, cute does not equal fast or easy.
Anyway, maybe I will not get an "A" on my little sculpture but it is okay because darn it, it is really cute!

not what I "should" be doing...

Don't know why I do what I do. Sometimes  (most times) there is no rhyme or reason. I have about 10 things I should be doing, but instead I pulled out this old painting and have begun to completely re-work it. I am just really into experimenting with different mediums, surfaces and subjects. It seems I am still searching to find my voice...or maybe I should say voices? LOL

Anyway this is what's on my drawing board today...

in progress...

close up

 happy day! artfully yours, kristen

elf time

every year at Christmas time the elves always visit our home. Last year I actually caught one in the living room putting ornaments on the tree and another decorating the mantle! Here is what they looked like:

 

the Holidays are here...I am getting ready for the Elves! How about you?

xo

kris

patience

Thai is my latest w/c painting, Patience, 22x36 on Arches 300lb cold press paper...
another experimental piece. I would definitely make some changes if I were to do it all over again. That is as it should be, I suppose. All in all, I am happy with it and am going to move on....

artfully yours,
kris

let's go

If you recall I did "are we there yet" over the summer. I intended on doing a whole series of these wonderful, vintage trailers. Then life took over and I had to move and school started and I sorta got side tracked! Well, now I decided to revisit some of my sketches and work on this set some more. I really have an affinity for these happy lil' campers and I want to do at least 4 more....
here is number 2

and number 1 (in case you missed it!)

artfully yours,
kristen

hair-do 2

finally finished...or at least I think so.

hair-do

This is a work in progress. It has taken me over a week, so far, just to get this much done. I have learned a lot working on this painting. I love the idea and am happy with it, for the most part. I would do things a bit differently if I were to do another one-which I am seriously considering doing.
I don't know if you can read the top portion or not, but it is titled "the Common Sense Manifesto". The blue around the border is tape, as I have the edges masked off.  As soon as I am done, I will post the finished piece. Should just be another day or so. I plan to work on it Thursday morning in my painting class. :)
I welcome and value your comments.
x's &o's
kp

vase full of happy

that's the title of my newest painting. I don't have any idea why i painted this one ...it just sorta came out.
Again, I was (am) experimenting with different things. This time I worked on different paper and in a much larger format 22 inches x 30 inches. It is a lot bigger than I am used to working so it was a bit of a challenge but I liked it. I also tried some different pigments so I enjoyed playing with some different colors. I think it is a happy painting. Hence the title...

experimenting !!

Okay well as you may or may not know, I am in my fourth year at Maryville U getting my BFA in studio art. So I am doing a lot of experimenting when it comes to painting and mixed media. It is a lot of fun but also a lot of work and the experimental phase can be very time consuming and not always fruitful!
I mean, I always LEARN so much but do not always come away with fabulous art.  Anyway, as I get ready for my senior show, I am still working on pieces that I can use  and also experimenting to keep things fresh :)
Here is something I did yesterday. I think it is fairly successful and I am definitely going to try a few more with this technique. Please let me know what you think too!

artfully, kp

a couple more atc's...

here are a couple more from my set of cards...

x's & o's kp

creative women art cards

recently I coordinated an atc trade with some wonderful artist friends of mine. I will be posting the series as soon as I receive the final sets of cards. the theme is 'creative women'. here are a few of my cards...

i will post more tomorrow :)
x's & o's kp

all 5

here are all five blessings :)
I really should start on my school work now! this has been a fun little project for me just because i wanted to!!
x's & o's kp

good fortune

here is the number four blessing, " good fortune"....with "love" soon to follow :)

I wish you all of these and more. x's & o's
kp

the 3rd

here is longevity...the 3rd in this series of 5 blessings.

x's & o's kp

contentment...

continued from yesterday's post, I am doing a little series of these cuties. I am calling it Five Blessings.
I will have a total of 5...happiness, contentment, good fortune, longevity, and love.
here is #2, contentment....
x's & o's
kp

making stuff...

so far today I have played with clay, oil pastels and acrylic paint. I have inked in some images, worked on an art doll. Yep it's been a good Sunday :) here is a tiny watercolor painting I made...it's about atc size and I am going to put it in a little black frame...
x's & o's

kp

heart keeper

Here is my 2nd painting in my latest series. I am also going to make some mixed media sculptures to go along with these. I hope you will follow along ! Over the next 6 months, I will be preparing for my senior show and will be sharing my thoughts and progress here :)
As always, comments always welcome and appreciated !
x's & o's
kp

upcycled wash board

I made this to hang my keys, from an old wash board i bought at a yard sale for a buck. I found a second one and am going to make another for my sister, as soon as I make it I will post a tutorial! :)

gone too long

I know I have been MIA for way too long :( Oh I could go on and on about my summer...my internship, my family visiting, moving from my home and switching my work location and I could give about 100 other reasons why my blog and my group have been all but abandoned, but I won't! I will just say that I have missed being here and I have not entirely given up on my dreams of being a faithful and true blogger! Trust me, I have the best of intentions and hope that one day, in the not too distant future, my schedule will be such that I can post and blog daily!
I have just started back to school and have already been given my dates for my Senior Show. It is not until April 2011 but my wheels are already spinning and I am in the beginning phase of getting prepared.
I  think that I have the direction that I would like take my work for the show. I have decided to stay true to my illustration background and also to incorporate some of my writings. I do not yet have a name /title for the show, so please any thoughts or suggestions are welcome!
here is my first piece...

x's & o's kp

it's a jungle out there....

This is a mixed media illustration I have been working on for a couple of weeks now. One of my clients is throwing a baby shower for her niece so she wanted me to create something special using baby photos of the mom and dad to be and creating an illustration, for a boy or a girl, with a jungle theme. She is giving the original as a gift and we are printing 4 x 6 cards to send out as shower invitations. I sure hope they love it :)

are we there yet?

That is the name of this self-titled, mixed-media illustration that I did today. I decided to paint this for a few reasons. One, I have wanted to do some paintings of a little Shasta or teardrop trailer for a while now. I have a special affinity for those old campers...my family and I camped out one time for over 6 months in a trailer like this when I was a little girl, and though it may sound weird, it was one of the best times of my childhood. Two, I wanted to experiment with a technique that I saw on Suzi Blu's blog and I needed to make sure the that same process would work on art board. Three, I am going through a time in my life right now that makes me wonder if I will ever 'get there'...so, "are we there yet" seems very appropriate! I hope you like it and I hope you will share your comments.
x's & o's
kp

two blogs? really?

Yeah seriously I have two blogs. Both of which are utterly neglected. I have the best of intentions and when I started this blog, it was supposed to be completely different. This was going to be my paper art and craft blog and the other was supposed to be my art and muse blog. Oh yeah, that worked. Not.
Ah well, if at first you don't succeed.....I refuse to give up and truly believe in my heart that I will, one day, be a faithful, true blue, blogger. In the meantime, I will continue to limp along, trying my best to post and not feeling too terribly guilty when I don't!
And to anyone who still checks in...thank you from the bottom of my art :)

I will leave you with a hand carved stamp I just did of yours truly...

x's & o's
kp

Sea Shelly...

Meet Sea Shelly and friends..... a few of my new digi-stamps. If you purchase one of my mermaid images, I will donate $1.00 from each sale to a charity related to the Gulf crisis. More images and news coming very soon.

x's & o's kp

home again

I have a feeling you may be seeing a more of these 'happy homes' over the next few days. I am really loving painting these! I got some comments that said they have a 'beachy' feel. Moving to the coast is my hearts desire, so maybe that is coming through in my work... Either way, home is the sweetest spot. Illustrating that is pretty sweet too! :)
xo kp

now squares

Last week it was circles. Now for some reason, I painted these squares. Honestly, I don't know what has gotten into me? When I go into my studio, I just sit down, with nothing in mind, and start doodling and painting. The past few posts have been what comes out...not even sure that they are complete and they certainly are not anything more than 'sketches' and experimentation. I guess I will just keep it up and revisit them at a later date. I think maybe I should be more focused and try harder to create something more cohesive. There is always tomorrow :)
xokp

 ....from the above painting, the idea for these 'happy homes' came to me!!

Please someone tell me what I am doing!! LOL What is going on with my art and my mixed-up mojo!?!

remembering...

This is a watercolor collage I have titled, "Remembering" in honor of all of those we loved and will always be remembered....

greetings from LaLa Land

Here is a mixed media collage I made today in one of my experimental moods.

I call it Greetings from LaLa Land.

It seems I have a thing for circular flowers lately. Hmmm don't know why but i seem to have a theme going on here...

kp

a page from my journal...

As you may have noticed, if you peek at my blog(s) at all, I like to make things. I like to make all sorts of things. Too many things, I sometimes think.... but I can't stop. And when I really think about it, I don't even want to stop. I give myself permission to make lots of things. I like to doodle and color and make with my hands. I like to put things together. And I like to blog.
I started this blog with this sort of vision that it was going to be a certain way, that it was going to be different from my "other blog". It was to be a card making/stamping blog with this sort of set theme. That was a great vision and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, however, it just isn't working out that way. I just don't have the time in my life right now to keep up with the set schedule that I imposed on myself and I am finding that I just don't want it to be so rigid anyway. I just want to make stuff and share it and hope that you like it. So that's what I am going to do! I hope you will still come by to see what I am creating. I will still be posting tutorials and have plenty of ideas to share.

Here is a journal I made last night:

Made from an old book cover and one of my doodles (which I turned into a stamp for the card from my last blog entry!).

x's & o's
kp

it's not just black and white...

Nope it's not just black and white. It's black and white and YOUR favorite color! That is the card challenge this time over on my Papercraft Planet group! I hope YOU will come and play along! If you are not already a member, please join (it's free and really easy) visit here http://www.papercraftplanet.com/group/kpink to check it out !
Here is my inspiration card for this challenge:

:)
kp

creative women

I have some really exciting news! I finally got my aceo trade going and WOW!  What a fabulous, talented, generous group of women artists I have gathered! Our theme is Creative Women and the art will be collected on August 5th. I hope you will continue to follow along as this 'story' unfolds...
...more about this soon :)
In the meantime I made up this little atc with all of the creative women in mind.

x's & o's
kp

owl love this card...

I feel just terrible. My dear friend Julie sent me this great, colorful, whimsy card that she made with my new owl of us clear stamp set, and I saved it and did not post it.  Oh shame on me for not sharing it sooner! ( so much for being "on track") LOL!  Well, I wanted you to see it now... Please visit Julie, at her wonderful blog, Julie's Open Window and give her some oohs and ahhs!

Julie made this card just for me!!

x's & o's kp

doodling

Lately I have been experimenting a lot. Maybe it's because of school that I have gotten into such an experimental phase. I guess that being exposed to many different techniques, styles and mediums has sort of given me a new perspective and the opportunity to try different things. Years ago, I used to make cards a lot. In fact, I thought of myself as a pretty decent card artist. I mean, I have designed stamp images for years, but this fact does not mean that one is automatically a good card-maker. And lately I find that I am sort of struggling with the making of cards. I have tons of ideas and inspiration but I am just not sure which direction I want to go. So I find myself doodling a lot.....this is one of my 'doodles' that sort of came out and I just went with it. I am not really sure it is even a card, although I am sure it could easily be one...I think I would either frame it or turn it into a wall hanging or journal cover....
What do YOU think?

doodling with watercolor paints!

 x's & o's
kp