Melange Team Challenge: Chapeau (and a progress report)

(available as a card on Etsy)

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This month's Mix It Up with Melange challenge theme is "Chapeau."  Anyone can participate, just post a hot link in the comments section of this post. (Instructions for creating a "hot link" are included in the post - or at least a link to instructions is.) 

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This was always one of my favorite ACEOs, "Myrtle's Hat" (recognize that bird?  I use Myrtle's image all the time - like in my current blog banner!), I loved how the first words of the background are "this hat" and always felt like the couch with the parrots was grounded just right.  Something I'm always struggling with in painting.  I also made this the very first year that I became involved in mixed media and just a month after I joined my first mixed media group.  I'm a little nostalgic, too, because that was when I could fit all my supplies into ONE drawer.  One!  Can you believe it???  I had to be pretty creative about what I did back then because I had so little to work with.  Now I'm surrounded by supplies and it takes me forever to get something done because I'm always looking for that "perfect" thing to include.

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Speaking of which...here is a shot of a couple WIPs I have going.  The poppy is turning out.... okaaaaaaaaaay.  I'm not currently in love with it.  We'll see.  The other is something I started because I had red paint left in the paint tray when I was painting a bookcase (okay, I'm still painting it - the coverage still doesn't look even) for Rexy.  I took a page out of Pam's (no pun intended for those in the know) book and used my leftover paint from one project to  paint some backgrounds in my journal and also on a couple of canvasses.  (I'll post the journal pages another time, I forgot to take pictures of them)  I'm still debating with myself about the martini glass that you can sort of see...I think I probably won't include it.  I'd like it to have a more universal appeal when I post it in my shop.

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(sorry, it's a little blurry because I wasn't using the flash or a tripod)

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(Am I the only one that has trouble with spaces between paragraphs on Blogger?  I just had to write "there should be space here" in white between my paragraphs so that I could get a space between them.  Then, next post, I'll hit the space bar once and when I post it will turn into 2 full inches of space for no reason at all.  I suppose I could insert some sort of html into my post to make up for it, but I stubbornly believe I shouldn't have to!  Sigh...I just published the post again after doing that and now I've gone from no space between to double the space!)

Progress and a Great Artist Having a Sale

Art & Ghosts is having a sale!  Ooh!  I love her work.  I bought a print from her ages ago, here it is:

So, my sister came over on Saturday and tried to help me a little with the studio/dining room mess. I think she may have been a little non-plussed by it.  (Although she saw it a few weeks ago, so I could be wrong.)  We got a start on it.  She's got a label-maker, so at some point she will be helping me separate and categorize things in a (hopefully) more efficient way.

See, the paints (tubes are on the right, behind the brushes) are on the second shelf, which is their permanent (for now!) home, although I will probably arrange them to be a little more convenient for working.  The worktable, although still covered in tons of stuff, is somewhat clearer.  And all my WIP are on top of the shelf, to the left.  See that wood frame-looking thing around the plastic tubs on top of the shelf?  That is one of 8 stretcher sets that are 5-1/2 inches deep that I got on Craigslist.  How cool is that?  I haven't stretched any canvas over them yet - but I have the canvas (you can just see the edge of the plastic wrapped bundle in the foreground of the picture below).  They're so thick, we're thinking of making shelves out of a couple, too.  Where we think we're going to get the wall space for that I'm not sure...

This one's a little blurry, but I was too lazy to go take another picture!  This is the table where the paints and their towers of toppings used to reside. (see the first two pictures in the post below) It's a little more clear now - look! Actual table top is showing there on the right!  My goal is to eventually eliminate the presence of this table in my dining room.  Wish me luck!  See my cute, metal doctor's cabinet there on the left?  Wouldn't it be nice if its cuteness were visible in its entirety?  One can dream...

I'm a Lucky Woman

Rexy (to me while I'm holding my cousin's baby):  "Do you love her, Mommy?"

Me:  "Yes, I do.  She's a sweet baby."

Rexy:  "Do you still love me?"

Me:  "I love you the most of all!  You're my favorite girl in the whole world."

Rexy, considering this - then:  "Awww, I love her, too.  ...but I love you more, Mom."

:-)

At Last! Take That, Artistic Paralysis!

Look!  Actual beginnings!  Of actual artwork!  Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition...or something like that...  I just love artwork that involves poppies and it just so happens that Somerset Studio has a call for a "Poppies" theme.  Just the incentive I needed.  I've wanted to try doing some poppies for a long time.  I've also wanted to get back on the horse and try getting published again and there's a nice, long lead time until the deadline.  (August 15th)  Typically I forget to look at the calls often enough and then when I do, I've already missed the deadlines of the subjects I like the most. (A touch of self-sabotage, perhaps?)  I'm even making a few ACEOs since they're always asking for small format items.

I say "get back on the horse" but I guess I misspoke, since that implies that I "fell off" or got rejected.  The reality is that I've never tried again since the first time I got published.  Why?  Too chicken!  So silly, I know.  The only way I was able to do it that time was because Pam and I were doing it together for the first time and I knew she was counting on me to send mine in, too.  Without her, I would have totally lamed out.

Anyway, I told the ladies on the Melange Team forum that I would post pictures of the terrible state that my art supply world is in.  Typically, I used a table in the corner of the dining room to work and I stored supplies on one wall, plus in another corner.  Well, we rearranged the dining room and moved all my supplies to one side and I was suddenly overwhelmed by chaos.  That was six months ago and I haven't done a lick of artwork since.

You can see that my paints have been buried under a myriad of things.  And these pictures don't even do justice to the height of the piles on this little table!  I don't dare show you the whole area or you'll be calling "Hoarders" for sure!

This is the table at which I usually work.  As you can see it is somewhat otherwise occupied.  It's a nice spot, though.  A big window with lots of light streaming in, a daylight lamp, some convenient shelves right at my elbow...too bad I can't even get to it!  (Let alone work at it.)  The little workspace you see in the picture at the top of the post is the tiny bit of space I get at the computer desk if I push the keyboard as far back as I can.  It's so small a space that I can only put an 8-1/2 x 11 piece of paper on its side and even then one  of the corners hangs off the edge a bit.

Still, I'm so happy to have gotten something started!  I'll report back as I go along...

Obey the Kitty!

Friend of Chairman Meow

Have you been to this site?  I love it! I first found it by accidentally stumbling on their "Obey the Pug" t-shirts. My cousins have pugs and I was smitten immediately!  I subsequently found they have "Obey the Dachshund" products as well - for the other side of the family - and the deal was done.  I think I sent every member of my family a link to this site! Now I'd like to spread the love - if you're an animal lover, check them out!