Tonto National Monument

On my wanderings I went to the Tonto National Monument outside of Globe, AZ. The vistas and sights in Arizona are unbelievable. I can't wait to get up every morning to see a new beautiful sunrise, the superstition mountains, or drive to a new place to visit and see the heavenly views.
 Here is a picture of me at the ruins. This was a 1/2 mile walk straight up! The trail was switchbacks but I still had to stop about every thirty feet to get up it. Thank heavens they have a lot of signs to read and benches to sit on! It was worth the trip.
Of course, I took a lot of pictures, and I thought this particular one (the ruins wall) would make a great post card or scrapbook page background. Well, that's what I am going to use it for! The lady next door to me makes coasters out of her pictures. I might see if she can show me how she makes her coasters and use this photo.
This photo of the view from the ruins is why it was worth the climb! Can you imagine waking up in the morning. looking out your window and seeing this view? Awesome!
Keep working on your art. The world is full of ideas. All you have to do is wake up in the morning and practice "seeing" the possibilities.

Post Card Art, Acrylic Painting

It's 65 and sunny here!

I work on art in the afternoon. Here are some things I am working on.
I didn't bring very many supplies with me on this trip so I am limited to one black ink pad, scissors, double sided tape, a few stamps, watercolor paper and my trimmer. I decided I wanted to send some handmade postcards to my family so I stopped by the hardware store and picked up some paint chip cards. I know this is not a new idea but I love to do this so I am doing it again. This time I wanted to do something modern.
1) First I cut my watercolor paper into 4"X6" post cards.
2) I cut off as much of the print as I could on the paint chip cards and saved the leftover cuttings.
3) Next I stamped two post cards with a stamp I brought with me. It has a lot of faces and other things on it in 1" sizes.
4) I cut the stamped out images to fit behind the precut squares in the paint chip cards.
5) I attached the pieces with double sided tape.
6) I cut out a word that related to my trip from a travel newspaper and taped it on.
7) I edged the post card with black Stays On ink. In hindsight, I would have  edged all the items with black and added a charm or a twig from outside.

I moved the images and papers around to balance the card and used the Paris part of the stamp to break up the squareness and it needed even more so I put the frame around the Paris stamping.

I'm struggling with transitioning from using oil paint to using acrylics. Ugh! I grew up taking oil painting lessons and painting with my Mom from the age of eight but these acrylics drive me crazy! They dry so fast and I get so involved in the painting I forget to spray the paint a lot or it turns into plastic. I'll get through it but it is a struggle! I hope you like my Indian. He's not done yet but I thought I would put him up so you all knew I was "working"!

I'm working on some zentangles I will post soon. I call them my Eternity People.

Rainy Day Art

It's raining here so I am painting an acrylic portrait. I am reviewing acrylic painting techniques so I can get serious about selling my artwork. I am focusing on shading and skin tones on this painting.

 I went to the swapmeet today. I found a beautiful handmade bracelet made out of silver forks. The lady who made the jewelry was so nice that she invited me up to her house to see how nice the area and weather is. She lives in the White Mountains. I will check it out when I get back to Phoenix.

Most people stay in when it rains so the streets were pretty clear today. It is still strange driving here. The old people drive extra slow and the young people drive the speed limit and everyone is polite so it is hard to tell when to pull out and when not to. It is taking awhile to adjust.

Here's a Phoenix photo to share.  This was taken at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum outside of Phoenix.
Well, it's time to get back to my painting!

Arizona Side Trip to the South

I'm getting my camper repaired in Phoenix. I had to leave the camper overnight so I decided to take a trip to southern Arizona. When I got into Tucson I visited the DeGrazia Art Studio. Here are some of my ideas I got from there.
Above is the entrance to the visiting artist studio. Karen is a mixed media artist. Check out her website at karengodfrey.net.
The flowers on the entry are made of metal and painted. I will print out this picture and use it as a post card and then I will use the card and family photos on a page where I make a post like in the photo around the top of the page. I will add my own hand made, painted flowers to match. I will enlarge and cut out cacti like in the lower right side of the picture. I will overlay the cacti in the lower right side.
With the photo above right I will also use it as a post card. I will use it like it is, sepia tone it, and enhance it on my computer so I have a lot of different post cards of the same photo. This photo is in the chapel of the DeGrazia Studios.

DeGrazia had a great feel for showing action in his paintings but he could also show other feelings such as this priest riding a horse in what I felt was a religious parade. I really felt like I was in the experience with the priest. I will try to convey that feeling on a scrapbook page. Maybe my theme will be my pilgrimage to the DeGrazia Studios. I will use the signature of the DeGrazia studio for the title, I will do a chapel page with the chapel as the main photo. The priest on the horse and the photo below will go on the layout too. Of course, I will add a little journaling, the place, and date.

My goal for the scrapbook page or layout is to convey a sense of calm like you are walking into the real chapel. I will choose the cool calm blue of the sky for the background and I will shrink the back photo of the shrine so it is smaller and in the back of the layout. That way the movement of the other pictures will give a feeling of depth.

Try out these ideas and I will see you all soon!

Side Trip to the Grand Canyon!

This is a photo of me on my way to Phoenix in search of sun and warmth! I decided to take a side trip to the Grand Canyon. It was cold and snowy but sunny and beautiful for all of 24 hours! The Rangers were telling everyone the weather report of 5-9" of snow coming in so I opted to go on down to Phoenix. It was a 3 hour drive through huge beautiful snowflakes and winding roads. It was beautiful but exhausting.
The weather is a little cooler than usual in Phoenix but beautiful. The forecast is for upper sixties and seventies this week. It's going to be hard to concentrate on my book I am writing for All About Scrapbooking. Wish you were here! Love, Candy