Mikes almost home!

As I'm preparing the house for Mikes arrival I find myself being very domestic.       

The hart to your left is one of my many valentines :  )  The one with L&M on it, Mike made for me last year. 

I decided to make a paper bag art gift bag. 

     <~~~inside

Here I sewed a few images on

 Here I sewed it all together and made it into a sweet little gift bag.

A few cards and some harts

 

I spent Thursday cleaning the art room. It really needed it. When I'm arting, I don't think about mess...I think about moving and creating as quickly as it is coming to me. 

The photo above is one of my girls we call EL she'll be 9 soon and has been doing art here at Auntie Lisa's all her life :  ) She is about 3/4 of the way through her journal, she started in 2008.

 

You have to step down a few steps to get into the studio

This is a view from sitting on those steps.

I think the bottom shelf needs some hauling out! What a fricken mess!

When I don't know what to do with something...I push it under there, have been, prolly for about five yrs maybe :  )

Here are a few Valentines from other artists 

Here is my purple potatoe valentine

Bottom center

The cabinet card on the left is one from Dawn :  )  I love the fish he is holding as well as the paintbrush in  

her hand. The one on the right is an art block I made using artchix clip art. So fun! 

 .   

 Mike is in the air right now on his way back to me. During the last 12 days I have watched Cold Mountain 10 times. I love a good story about a real true passionate kind of love. Nicole Kidman repeats to Edman in a letter come back to me. Ok so before I get all mooshy about my man Mike.

Subconsciously I started a sewing project and after sewing enough body parts to make 6 dolls, I realized. Sewing on a machine reminded me of the feeling I had when I was a kid and would bite my nails. 

 I will continue making my body parts and wait for Mr. D. to call and let me know he is in San Fransisco and when he might be at Ohare.

 

Happy Friday

incomplete walls, sleepy cats and the winter market

This wall has become "the incomplete" wall.

A place for the paintings to rest until their final destination.

 Chunk says all this art stuff makes him sleepy.

 I'm continuing to make/work on my valentines for

 The Glenwood Winter Market 

Mike has been gone for over a week now and I'm missing him dearly.

Makes it a bit easier to make these love cards, while I'm thinking of him.

Happy Day to you all

Lisa D.

Valentines and old dogs

I was invited to sell some valentines at a local Farmers Market  :  )

I'm pretty excited about it!

Here are the beginnings of a few of the cards

 

 Last week while playing around with the large canvas I came across Kelly Rae Roberts blog and saw a painting a friend of hers did for Kelly's new baby. I was so moved by the large flowers and the grey background. I decided to sketch it some

 and then I went and put it on the canvas 

I like the sketch better. 

but I'll look at this for a bit and see where it might take me. 

Reminded me a little of a Hawaiian flower and my Mike happens to be in Hawaii right now for the next week!

 A photo of the other 2 babies we have. 

Mr. Pe Joe & The Old Lady dog

 

                                                                   A few more cards.

                                                                              

Have a great weekend!

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

A small nest from a few yrs back

 I started this canvas a yr ago and kept adding through out the year in hopes to find what it was that was suppose to be painted on this huge 3 ft by 4 ft canvas.

 There were so many places on the canvas I just didn't want to cover up

 I have learned over the years that painting over paintings just means I'm adding another layer...and I love layers :  )

 Above I plopped down some heavy paste to give it a little more raised texture 

Then I dropped paint down onto the canvas

 and began to apply my newest layer

 So much of the original background is gone, yet if you get up close you can see so many of the past colors in little corners. I hope to paint some flowers on this tomorrow with a title.

  My latest Omo girl

 A photo I found behind the washer the other day

Two of my favorite guys

Mike and Dan

25 yrs ago?

Happy day to you

Lisa D.

Here we are at the end of the week

 I've had this girl around for a bit now. The other day my friend Ling came over and when she saw this painting she said she saw an angel. I don't paint many angels to be honest with you, as much as I adore other artists angels, I've just never really had much desire to paint them.

 After looking at it from a different point of view I decided to make her an angel.

I may just put her back on the wall for awhile and see what comes next. Mike will be in Hawaii for 2 weeks and with that kind of time on my hands I may end up finishing all my started paintings.

 I've started another Omo girl, I was feeling inspired by the one in the book above.

 Some studio pics

 As much as I resist selling my art, I really have to focus on bringing in some more money this year. 

I need a new living room set and I want to take the kids and Mike to Disneyland for Christmas. So I must paint to produce.

I plan on posting this flower painting on Ebay some time today and will continue listing new things as they come.

B~Ball practice tomorrow

Mike to Ohare on Sunday

Martin Luther King Day on Monday

Taking Hannah to see the new Fockers movie.

Happy weekend to you

Keep warm

Lisa D.



Getting back into the studio

I was 16 almost 17 when I walked into the best church ever!

One of the many church members that approached me was a woman by the name of Judy. Judy always had something good to say to me, she always made me feel kind of special with out even knowing it I think.

Judy has been fighting a cancer for some time now and I'm not sure she has much time left with us.

I made this for her this weekend

There are many layers

fabric

paper napkins

string

pattern paper

I then went and painted a few flowers, added some butterflies and hand stitched the centers.

 

I will put this in the post tomorrow and hope that Judy finds a little comfort while holding this piece and feeling all the layers underneath.

 Backside

 This is one of my 3 mannequins

I'm going to post this for sale in my Etsy store

 I have always been attracted to other artists art :  )  These are two of my paper dolls that I got over 4 years ago.

 The chubby girl pulling herself up from the scale to show a lighter weight so reminds me of myself right now.

 Here is a 30X30 canvas

 I think it still might need a bit more of some watered down white before I start adding the subject.

Happy New Year to you all

A week from today Michael will start his new journey with this new company.

Zackery will be back at school (departing today)

Hannah continues to have a good second year of high school.

I will be back in the studio full time

Life is never perfect

but we should find the good in each day.

Love and hugs to you all

L.

A few catch up photos

This weekend we were in Whitewater WI for a Jr. Bulls tournament.

A great time as always! 

 I fell in love with this Christmas card and have started a painting based on it.

 The sillies came out on the last few nights of our holiday trip to Georgia.

 Always fun to spend time with cousins.

 June of 2010  I sat in the dining room with my brother in law and listened to him tell me about this F ing cancer and what its doing to his bones. That afternoon I painted this on one of those boxes we had from the kitchen remodel.

 When we got back from Atlanta a few weeks ago, I pulled this out and realized how it still felt right, even though I had a few tell me it wasn't my best. Sometimes best doesn't really matter, what matters is how it felt while creating it.

Lisa D.