I have joined a new Facebook group called "The 100 Artists". It is a challenge to create 100 pieces of art. I am up to my 8th piece. 

Here are some of the pieces I have posted. I am finding it to be a real challenge, and the support has been great. I wish I had more time so I wouldn't be hitting my tired hours when I am working on them. I had set a goal of finishing three pieces this past weekend and only managed to complete one to upload. I should be able to work more in the evenings after school but I find I am too whipped to tackle any of my "larger" works and end up working more in my journals, if anything.

New Paintings for 2015

So my New Year's resolutions this year included: start using my blog again and paint! Well, I started to paint first and here it is Feb. 25 and I have been painting and painting! Hence, I have made no contributions to my blog (sigh). Well, I can only do so much, right? I solemnly swear I will try!
Anyhow, I am loving the painting. I wanted to explore new colours and techniques and so here is what I have come up with. These are mixed media collage, inks and acrylic paints. Please let me know what you think!

Zen art in books

Hi Everyone,
I know, I know.  It has been a long time! Why would anyone follow a blog when it only gets posted to twice a year. I want to share so much of my stuff and Facebook has been the easiest, but it isn't exactly how I want to share. I will be working on this more, I promise. Today, I will share just my most recents and they aren't the best photos, but I would love some feedback. This is how I relax... i have done about 20 various black and white line arts like this which I will share soon. let me know what you think! Pin me if you are into Pinterest!

Fun with mixed media

Hey... here is my one of my latest works. It was just a fun warm-up and I have a bunch on the go right now. It is so nice to finally have time to do just this... explore. I have tons of new ideas and intend to share my exploits. Stay tuned.....

Happy summer, everyone!

Happy summer, everyone! We have just returned from camping and I have been busy creating a journal/altered book that I will use in my fine arts classes this fall. I am trying to complete as many pages as possible before the end of August. 

I was inspired for this one in part by the colors that one of our former students, Alexis Howe completed and which I purchased. I love working with these talented young artists and I was thrilled to hear that she is planning to go on to a university education in art. This is an excellent piece. By the way, good luck, Alexis.

This particular page I will use as an example for line and color as we will be starting with the "principles of art" which may take us several months, believe it or not. I will be having most assignments as projects in their “altered books”. What do you think?

Inspirational birdsong....

Today I was laying on the couch on my deck, under a vine-crossed canopy framed in the setting sun's dappled reflections on  trees, watching the birds feeding at our bird-feeders and listening to their beautiful song. At one point the feeders and the ground were covered by over 50 yellow finches! The beauty took my breath away! Inspiration is so close when we are looking, isn't it? Birds are one of my favourite inspirations, as you can see. This is an artwork I have just recently completed, again using birds. I hope you like it. Please send me your feedback! Also, visit my Etsy store where you can see a few more of my recents....

Collage HaPpY!!!!

What a beautiful summer-ish day! I feel rejuvenated and jubilant, finding out my course load for next year... I will be teaching more fine art! I am excited to work with Tara and all the kids at Neelin. I was so inspired today at the Vernissage (first annual) where students had the opportunity to talk about their work. I have my eye on one that I really want to buy!!! Good job, Alexis! I am hoping to do some projects with the students that I love to do myself, like altered books and collage work. Here is one of the collages I have done in the past couple of weeks.

Collage HaPpY!!!!

What a beautiful summer-ish day! I feel rejuvenated and jubilant, finding out my course load for next year and I will be teaching more fine art! I am excited to work with Tara and all the kids at Neelin. I was so inspired today at the Vernissage (first annual) where students had the opportunity to talk about their work. I have my eye on one that I really want to buy!!! Good job, Alexis! I am hoping to do some projects with the students that I love to do myself, like altered books and collage work. Here is one of the collages I have done in the past couple of weeks.

My new purses!

I am so excited. Here they are! The new purses. The insides are printed too! They are laminated inside and out. The "thickness" is provided by 10 layers of recycled newspaper.There are stitched patterns all around the bag.

The straps are 1/4" tubing knotted on the inside. This bag is about 10" x 4" x 8".  It would work great as a purse or a lunch bag. Watch for out matching items coming soon -- larger totes, wallets, etc.  I will be getting better pictures so you can see the stitching detail.

Thank you Laura at Flashbags® for your help! I hope my customers will love them too. We will see the reaction after this weekend! We have two shows. I will update next week. I am too tired to move right now! Gotta go to bed!

Believe in the beauty of your dreams...

What a nice sentiment. Here is one of the girl artworks I am just finishing off . This also has a bird in it -- go figure! Do you see a theme here? This one took me a while to finish, as there is a lot of fine detail work to do in a face! I am also producing card co-ordinate stickers for you to use to seal the envelopes on most of my new cards. Here is the co-ordinate sticker for this card. Watch for my postcard calendar which will be available soon. It will be a perpetual calendar you can use for more than 1 year. My next post will show you that. It is not quite finished. I hope you will like it.

A breath of fresh air...

I was taking the dog for a walk this week when I noticed how much the air was filled with birdsong! The sun was shining and the sky was blue and the snow was positively sparkling! I can't wait for these frigidly cold temperatures to be gone, but I really appreciated the birds being out there singing away! It inspired me and I have produced several artworks recently with birds in them. These are my spring inspired greeting cards. I have more on the way. These are done in my collage style and really must be seen close up to appreciate all of the fine details and nuances. These have not been uploaded to my site yet, they are so fresh! Please visit the website and send me any constructive criticisms you may have. I really appreciate the time you take to do this. It helps.

Cheers!

I need to feel like spring!

I didn't realize how much this cold was getting to me. I really need to smell the roses. I just somewhat finished this artwork. I am sure I will tweak it and maybe change the quote but my hand and arm hurt and I feel all sniffly... I HATE COLDS!
Anyhow, the hardest part was the  hair. Usually I don't have too much trouble with hair, but I just couldn't get it right at first. I also couldn't decide whether to have her looking at the butterfly or looking straight out. I hope you like it. Let me know....

What to do with an old textbook...

I was in the Neelin library the other day and they were discarding books so OF COURSE I had to take some. This book was originally in the Harrison library. It was first signed out in 1974, 5 years before I graduated! This is what I have done in the pages of it. Hope you like it. I haven't finished it yet, but I'm tired and I have a sore throat (booo). Watch for the finished piece which I will publish in the next little while.

I forgot to tell you about my calendar!

I can't believe I haven't mentioned it! This took me so long to compile and it was so costly, but in the end, I am very proud of it. Visit my calendar page on my website to see all of the interior pages. I call it my happy thoughts calendar as these are all very nice messages. I don't know about you, but I am kinda sick of the usual scenes and animals you get from the bank. Let me know what you think. I can start the calendar on any month, so even if you order late (hint! hint!) you can still get your year's worth.
Cheers...

What Shall I do today?

Well everyone..today is my last holiday day. I like the fact that spring is on the way. This picture just makes me feel like spring. Can't wait for those tulips!
 I feel ready to go back to school but I really want to savour this. I am going to start with a long hot bath. Then I think I will spend the day drawing, or maybe painting. I have so many drawings, so I guess I should maybe finish one. Then I will have the basis for another art-plaque.
Did anyone see the button mirrors we made this year. They are so cute and we sold tons! My 14 year old daughter has been making them for me and she was VERY excited to buy herself the latest Blackberry. It really is cool...hmmm... don't I need my phone replaced???? Well, maybe I can wait awhile longer.

Re-invention

Happy New Year, everyone. It has been a year filled with ups and downs, hasn't it? Our show season is behind us and we are all breathing an extra long sign of relief. I feel different somehow --- better? I have been madly working on my website during the Christmas break from school. I decided it was time for my little angel to go and I have replaced her with another angelic pic. This "gratitude" artwork was one of my better selling artworks this year.Check out a bigger copy on my website. This last couple of weeks I have been working on new pieces for 2011. Let me know what you think. I have also been doing lots of email marketing to drive more customers to my site to see this new stuff. Any suggestions out there?

My wedding and such

You can tell I'm not busy as I am doing more frequent posts. My exciting news for this post is about MY wedding. It takes place on Friday, December 18th -- just around the corner! It is super low-key, mainly family and at a restaurant, nothing crazy!!! Its perfect for me as there is nothing to fuss over. So people, it is possible to find a soul mate! It took me 46 years, but he's the one!

I can't wait! It is a great way to start the holidays.

I just feel so good today. My classes at school were good. It always amazes me how much talent there is with these young artists. I come home just buzzing with ideas for new pieces. My 2010 line will probably reflect some of this inspiration. I will soon start on that, with many half-cooked ideas already swimming in my head. This deloresart year may shape up to be the best one yet. For one thing, we are way more organized. And after all, I have help now! It really frees me up to put more energy into the creative. Here's one piece that will evolve into one of 2010's pieces. This is currently hanging at the Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba. Both pieces are for sale. The “Message in a Bottle” is $150 and the “Take a Trip” piece is $95. Hope you like these. Let me know what you think.

“It’s an adventure!”

Well, show season is over. I can't believe we made it. It seemed like it wouldn't be a big deal to add 3 more shows, but guess what? It is! We were so much busier and despite all of our careful planning, it was still crazy. I had to remind myself of what it used to be like when I worked alone! I will never forget. Not only did I have to load up my van, I had to add 3 kids (and a microwave, and a coffee maker)! Well, in a way those were the good old days. I learned so much about the business and met so many wonderful artisans along the way. Now, when my daughters are on the road, they still run into many of those people who have struggled along with me! Though I am no longer making the road trips I still remember it all fondly. I am glad the season is over and I look forward to next year. We have so many new ideas (the shoes are a new addition, featured in artworks # 42 and #202) and now that the e-commerce part of the site is going, we will surely see our business grow even more. All I can say is: “It’s and adventure!” Please visit our website often to watch as we move along. Cheers.

Well, here we are with just 2 shows left! I am so proud of what my family has accomplished this year! We have been working 24-7 to get product made and the van is over-flowing. One last road trip to Calgary then Edmonton and we are done for the year. Thank goodness for this wonderful driving weather. Here are some little characters I did earlier in the year. I was doing these in the spring and that is exactly what they make me think of now, spring! Only a few moths ’til then (lol).

WELL, here I am again, finally! It has been such a busy year. Teneil's wedding took up most of late spring and then summer seemed like a whirlwind! Fall was upon us so quickly, and thank goodness it has lasted this long. We are in the middle of show season. My girls are doing great! I myself am already in bed with a sore back. Oh well, what can you do? We have been working on the e-store at our website, deloresart.ca. We have had so many on-line orders, so it is working out great. There are so many fixes I want to do, fine-tuning, so-to-speak, but there is no time! Keep watching tho, as I am always putting up new artworks. Have a great fall, while it lasts...