I have done a few ATC swaps now and I am starting to feel a little more confident doing them.  I find doing these swaps kind of intimidating because I don't yet have a lot of confidence in my art so I tend to try to use stamps and other things to make nice cards that don't require me to actually draw.  But for my last swap I really wanted to draw something so I decided to give it a try. 

These were for the May swap over at Willowing and the theme was owls. 

I had asked for help from anyone who happens to read my blog because I was stuck with this paiting.  You can read the original post here.  Thankfully two lovely ladies, Ingrid and OStarr gave me some great input and today I was finally able to finish my painting so i thought I would show you all the finished product.  It isn't perfect but since it is only the third piece I have done on canvas I am quite proud of it. 

I added branches (yes, those are branches and yes, I know I need to work on my branches :) to fill in some of the empty space and then painted a very light metallic gold wash over the whole painting to tone down the brightness in the middle and make it a little more cohesive.  I have a cheap, cheap metallic gold craft paint that I just on just about everything I paint it was the best $2 I have ever spent.  I then touched up the bird and the butterfly outlines which I had done in oil pastels. 

Just a note about oil pastels.  I love working with them.  I like to outline certain things in my paintings and add depth with the oil pastels and to me they work so well for that.  I had been told that there isn't really a big difference between cheaper and higher quality oil pastels.  Based on this is was blithly running through life using a $3 box of oil pastels from the dollar store but the other day I was at the art store and they had $60 boxes of Rembrandt oil pastels on sale for $20 so I thought since I like them so much I would give them a try and see if it does make a difference.  All I can say is "WOW" there is definitely a difference between the cheapies and the higher quality and my friends, I will not be going back!

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend, my is about to include a glass of wine on the patio. 

Here is another art journal page from the "Beautiful You, Radiant You" workshop over at 21 Secrets.  This workshop is taught by the amazing Ingrid Murray, who I have to say has amazed me with her wisdom given that she is so young.  You can find Ingrid on her blog My Peace Tree. 

This isn't the best photo of my painting/collage but it was too large to scan so I had to make due.  The images may not seem very cohesive to someone just looking at it but to me they basically spoke one word and that is "free" and a little freedom is something I have been longing for.  The large circle is supposed to be a manadala and I am afraid it doesn't look very mandala like to me except that it is a circle but overall I really like the way this piece came together and spoke something from my heart.  I see more mandala art journal pages in my future, thank you Ingrid!

Here is my princess I think she looks like she is from the renaisance era myself.  I drew her in graphite and then added the color with water soluable oil pastels, which I am really growing to like, and a little bit of white acrylic paint.

I stayed up late the other night and just decided to start drawing a face.  I didn't have anything specific in mind and I think for the first time I wasn't looking at someone else's drawing of a face as I was doing this.  I have been trying to find "my face" the one that feels like it is mine when I draw it and not just a copy of someone else's work.  Tonight I think I found her.  She is on a post card I made up because she was going to be part of an art swap I am doing but after looking at her for a few minutes there is no way I am letting her go.  All I can think of is "she's mine".  That may not make sense to anyone reading it the way it does to me but anyway...

Below is a painting I have been working on this week.  I like elements of it but overall it seems to me that something isn't working but I can't figure out what so I am looking for some constructive criticism regarding this painting.

Is it that the bird just doesn't suit it?  Are the colored ink blotches to much (I think that may be part of the issue, I was having a little too much fun with my alcohol inks:)?  Should I try to lightly paint over some of them, or try to blend a layer of sheer gold over them to soften them?  These are some of the things I considered.  So if anyone has anything to share please feel free to leave me a comment as I really am looking for some feedback on this one.  Thanks everyone!