Embrace Life, Thursday, November 5, 2015

I fear I will have to apologize in every post until I do better, for the poor pictures…Taking a picture without being able to SEE what you are photographing is quite adventurous, but it is what it is and it will do until I find a new camera…so Use your imagination that the colors are bright, vivid and have no glare!

It started on an unseasonably warm November Day in Middle Tennessee. 

Everything was going well when I decided that I wanted to give Tracy’s stamp that I had won a try.  I just had a simple project in my mind and knew it wouldn’t take too long.

I began to read the directions on the back of the stamps, and that is when I took a turn down the daisy hole (sorry, there were no rabbits in sight)…

The directions said to  “stamp on scrap paper the very first 2 or three times to prime the stamps”.  I had no scrap paper where I was sitting, so I just decided to try them on my 8x10 canvas that was in my lap and I would just paint over it~~no biggie.

  

I stamped and stamped and stamped, and then ONE MORE stamp for good measure…I got up to go wash off the stamps because I was not going to use them until I had, in my mind, covered the canvas in pretty bright colors and then I was going to STAMP on top of that for a hippie-style daisy…it was going well…

I came back and pulled out the white gesso and painted it in criss-cross patterns to give some texture….still going well as I pulled out ye olde hairdryer.

Things suddenly took a turn…not your normal style of painting…after all, I have been creating something since a little kid, and I am now OLD and know that all projects have a proper logical order and in painting, one should always paint the back ground FIRST and build from there…yeah, Momma said that since I was a baby, if she said the sky was BLUE, I would say, “No, it’s (insert color here)…”  I am saying that I knew my colors as a small child and THAT is the story I am sticking to (it had nothing to do with me being a disagreeable child who argued since she learned to speak…heavy sigh.)

I thought I would just pull out a color and paint the petals and the center and it would give me a direction to go to when I would place the flowers at their proper time~~LAST.

Diarylide Yellow filled the centers/leaves/stems and  Pyrrole Orange colored the petals (ok…I painted 38 pumpkins for an order yesterday and I needed to know that Orange could be used for more things than just a pumpkin!)

Ok…I kinda like that…so I pulled out some of my favorite colors and just started painting in the background  (careful and don’t get on my petals, the mind YELLED!) with Quinacridone Violet (what is wrong with just saying VIOLET??) and then Quinacridone Magenta (really?  I’m Southern…what do you think that is going to sound like when I attempt to say it???)

Next came some Cobalt Teal Hue and some Blue Green Light on the leaves/stems….OH YES…Pretty colors…see how they change colors as I add layers…I love playing with these paints!

 I roughly dry-brushed my favorite color, Phtalo Turquoise (again???...what is that word…ok…so, I am at least familiar with this word from my one watercolor class in college…see Mom, I did learn something other than to burp on command!)…Look how it changes colors with each color I paint over…isn’t that the coolest thing ever!  Can I tell you how much I love COLORS!

I thought I might as well go with it now, so I pulled out the Carbon Black and outlined the flowers…I really should have taken more time with this, but I was just playing…still learning how to do this style…

This experiment sure had taken a dark tone, so I pulled out the drywall tape and scruffed in some Titanium White and added the word to the top…added some curly q’s and I am calling it DONE and you know what…I LIKE IT!!  I did attach the “embrace Life” with Matte Medium.  I had stamped it on the envelop that my stamp came in…I need some more work on stamping the words…so I went over the words with my black pen…

OK, Tracy, I will absolutely understand that the next time you have your husband pick a number, that you will tell him to pick a number between 1-100, but stay as far away from 79 (or whatever my number happens to be) as possible…I’m sorry…I KNOW this isn’t how we are SUPPOSED to use stamps, and MAYBE one day I will do better, but I sure am not going to promise that!

Thank you, Tracy, for the inspiration that you give to me and to countless others…your caring heart shines in your creations and I am so glad that our paths have crossed…

If you don't, Please follow Tracy on her website/blog to learn the PROPER way to do things!  =)  This will take you to Tracy's website.  You can also join her on many Monday Nights to see her create a project in about 1 hour (find them on You Tube)...You can LIKE her also, on facebook...she is EVERYWHERE and of course, she is the DecoArt Education Coordinator...my FAVORITE products and I am so happy to be a Helping Artist with DecoArt!!  Yippie Skippie!

I know, Tracy is thinking “please, don’t let anybody see this, please, don’t let anybody see…OH HI, everybody!”  but you are far too kind to ever utter what is going on in your head out loud (well, most of the time.).  Thanks for letting me play with some of your toys.

Tonight, I embraced LIFE…I LOVE life and am so blessed to simply create…I wish Blessings to YOU…~charlotte

My supply list: I apologize for any misspelled words...

DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics:

Diaryliade Yellow,

Pyrrole Orange

Quinacridone Violet

Quinacridone Magenta

Cobalt Tea Hue

Blue Green Light

Phthalo Turquoise

Carbon Black

Titanium White

Gesso White and Matte Medium