encaustic class

for class i was inspired by a photo i had taken in new orleans

as i wondered through the garden district finding beautiful home after beautiful home

i finally found some wonderful grunge!

the garage/coach house was perfect! for creating texture in encaustic

above, the photo enhanced in ps and made b/w,

 layers of wax in siena, umber, ochre and orange

scrapping and ironing to add contrast and

 some white to simulate the plaster

then a little black oil paintto age it a bit more

below the orignial photo

texture challenge

this months challenge was a lot of fun

i loved playing with all the textures

above i added all six with various blending modes and a filter on my photo

the mask is from shadowhouse

below are some wonderful samples from the participants

deborah


caryl

kathleen holley

johanna

joanne

kaylene

marilyn

marion

glory

jill

today i am celebrating my fourth year of blogging
i can't imagine not having this outlet

(i love looking back and seeing my art life )

it has been wonderful
"meeting" so many talented people
sharing ideas and art
and being inspired by it all
i greatly appreciate every ones
comments and encouragement
and would like to say
" thank-you "
sincerely, nancy

------

(above, one of my country photos using several filters

my grunge textures and a mask from shadowhouse)

busy gardening

now that spring is here most of my time has been spent in the garden

this is the time i like the most

digging in the dirt, re-designing, moving and splitting plants

this years big project was to cut down two cedar trees that have outgrown

there space, make that area a bit bigger, transplant some shrubs, move

a few things around and add a few new ones

now i have to sit back and watch things grow

(or move to the back yard and find another project!!)

a new twist and one upped

after looking at several bezel that have been sitting on my work table

i got an idea, why not add some wire

so out came the drill, 1/16" bit

then the fun began
after a visit from my friend carmi, aka the resin queen
the ideas where flowing, she suggested using one of my digital photo
we narrowed it down to 2
since it has been a while since i poured resin, carmi offered to do the job


after several weeks, i almost forgot about it
while at carmi's studio i noticed the finished project
it looked great, she posted it on the john bead blog
now that we have worked out all the kinks i will get
busy making more!!

texture challenge

for this months texture challenge i looked through my cemetery folders

i have thousands of photos to choose from

i find it very peaceful to wander , enjoy the nature and learn some history

(above a simple photo from the farm, using several of these grunge layers)

there is the best texture found here

if you would like to join in the challenge you can download them from

my flickr page here

you have 2 weeks to play and if you e-mail me your finished project

i will be posting results on april 24th

above the original photo and 4 samples of how a blending mode can change the mood

flea market finds

so many cute things at the flea market

luckily i had my iphone

this way i didn't spend a fortune!!

a few things i did spend my money on

song book $6, paint scrapper$1, cloth measuring tape $4

and photo corners $1