And the Winner is...

Congratulations to:

TerryMarch 31, 2014 at 7:49 AM

i love day of the dead and your bag is great.

you are the winner of my Andrea DeMeng Day of the Dead Tote!  Email me at: kirstenreed@yahoo.com with your mailing information!

Get Your Golden On

I am a firm believer in "keep on learning".  I love to learn new things, I think it keeps my brain strong and my disposition young! (Like seriously in my mind I still feel like I am 30!) 

I recently was lucky enough to get away to a cozy little town in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains and create with great friends and my favorite paint line ~ Golden paints!  Mary Beth Shaw, owner of StencilGirl Products, a Certified Golden Artist Educator, led our class at Random Arts in Saluda, North Carolina.  She showed us so many wonderful techniques to make these products work for you in your art! If you have a chance to take a class with her, I would highly recommend it! You will leave with an arsenal of information to inspire your art to move to a new level!

Here we are (from left to right):  Carolyn Dube, Maria McGuire, Mary Beth Shaw, me and Jane Powell (owner of Random Arts)!

Pictured here are a few of my weekend creations.  One of which went home with a new friend, Monica Cummings.

If you would like to see upcoming classes by Mary Beth Shaw click here.  If you want more information on Random Arts and their upcoming classes, click here.

Get busy learning & creating!

StencilGirl & Andrea DeMeng Blog Hop

Welcome to my part in the Andrea DeMeng Stencil Release Bloghop.  I received the Dia De Los Muertos stencil to use in a piece.  

In case you are not familiar with the meaning,  Dia De Los Muertos means Day of the Dead and it is a holiday celebrated in Mexico.  The belief is that the gates of heaven are opened at midnight on October 31 and the spirits of all deceased children are allowed to reunite with their families for 24 hours. On November 2, the spirits of the adults come down to enjoy the festivities that are prepared for them.  Preparations include altars decorated with candles, buckets of flowers, fruit, and big Day-of-the-Dead breads.  Little folk art skeletons and sugar skulls are also part of the display and offering.  For more information on this holiday and beliefs click here.

I decided to my project on a canvas bag.

I began by placing the stencil on the bag and outlining it with a stabilo pencil and filling it in with black gesso.

I then combined Daler Rowney Fluorescent Pink and Modeling Creme Pearl together and  scraped it through the stencil on top of the black gesso.

I secured my stencil down to the canvas with masking tape.

I am loving the contrast in colors here.

 But …oops..I let too much seep through on the bottom right. Hmm…. I guess I will just go with it!

I then took some Golden Fluorescent Green paint and Jessica Sporn's Squares and Circles stencil and went around the black to add some texture and contrast.  I loved the Aztec look of this stencil and thought it fit perfect with the  feel of the piece.

I repeated again all the way to the edges with the fluorescent pink.

 I then took my white paint to bring out details of the mask. I was also able to save my "oops" a bit by writing over it with white.

Thanks for stopping by today ~ there is a HUGE giveaway going on!! 

StencilGirl Talk will be giving away Andrea's new designs. Two lucky winners-one will receive a set of the new 6"x 6" stencils and one lucky person will receive a set of the new 9" x 12". ALL COMMENTS on the hop are eligible for the giveaway!! The more blogs you comment on, the more chances you have to win.

I am doing a giveaway too. If you follow me on Bloglovin' you will be entered to win this bag I made. If you already follow me, you are already entered to win! My giveaway and the StencilGirl Talk Giveaway will close on Sunday, April 6th at 11:59PM Central Time.

Be sure to keep hopping along and discovering all the great stencils and creations!

StencilGirl Talk

Andrea Matus deMeng

Mary Beth Shaw

Mary C. Nasser

Linda Kittmer

Carolyn Dube

Paula Phillips

Janet Joehlin

Kirsten Reed you are here

Judy Shea

Julie Snidle

Maria McGuire

My Itty Bitty Spring Collection

Take a peek at a few of the things I will be showcasing at the Holidays in the Hill Spring show April 6 from 12-5 at Tollgate Village.

I created an entire collection of "itty bitty" art….6x6" and smaller so everyone can buy a piece to brighten their home for spring and Easter! Each piece is original artwork, one-of-kind, no copies, signed by me.  Yay!

All these will be for sale at my show (plus many more not shown here)…unless they sell before hand! :) …plus I will have many more new pieces to showcase!

Hope to see you there!

My little chaos….

I am not complaining. Really. I am not.  But I just want you to have a "peek" inside my life these days. I have been working in a literal construction zone.  Painting, writing blog posts, prepping for spring shows, all in the midst of a complete disaster!!!!! I am totally okay with creative disaster…because I created it and I know I will clean it up.  

But this, this is just like a 100 toddlers leaving toys and rearranging your stuff kind of crazy disaster. 

Deep breath.

Now grant it, the chaos is the result of progress.  At the end of this construction project, I will have walls, lighting (not temp clamp lights strung all over), and heat.  I might eventually even have a floor and a ceiling.  But right now it looks sort of like this and I must say it is driving my OCD side very crazy, you feel me???

Every time I go to get a supply it is a virtual treasure hunt.

I think it's going to be a wall!!! :) : )

Even the bathroom. 

(yes, that is a computer printer on the vanity and a compressor on the floor, and me and my daughter in the reflection)

But I have give some props to my hubby for working so hard to make it happen.  

I. Just. Can. NOT. Wait!!!!!!

Here is a little tribute to #throwbackthursday - my picture/drawing/statement from when I was 8 years old! LOL!

So is there anything I MUST make sure I put in my "new" space? If you have suggestions, please leave me a comment, I'd love to hear!

Butterflies are beautiful for spring!

So spring on over to the Stencil Girl Talk blog and see how I used them to create an art journal page and a canvas!

Click here!

Yee Haw!

Oh I was feeling kind of spicy when I made this next piece.  As you know I have a "thing" for feet…love to paint and photograph them.  Love what our feet, shoes and posture say about our personalities. So it is no surprise, I decided to paint myself a sassy pair of cowgirl boots!

I started out with my wood canvas, sketched my boots and then for AH-mazing texture…added some wood icing + StencilGirl stencils.  I used Nathalie Kalbach's Crackle Stencil on the body of my boot.

I used Seth Apter's Numbers stencil in my floor and around the canvas for some fun textured elements.

And I used Carolyn Dube's Wonky Eyes stencil in my dress.

I actually kind of like it all wood and natural, but I HAD to add some color!

And this is what we got !

I found this fun quote on Pinterest! Love it!

The numbers "5678" sound like a perfect lead into a line dance, yes???

So my only wish is they sold these boots. Because this cowgirl would so be wearing them!

Have a kickin' day!