49 Day Prayer Book

They say that seven times seven is a powerful number. To repeat an activity, or say a prayer, for 49 days moves us deeper into our purpose, requests, or prayers. This is a little book I just made (using TP rolls!), decorated SEVEN DAYS A WEEK, with SEVEN interactive prayer cards tucked into each week.

The sweet book is spiral bound with an easy to slide decorative band of butterflies and flowers. The inside back page has another slide to contain a sweet envelope to hold your secret prayers.

Will be on sale in my Etsy shop soon! Enjoy the pictures. (If you're interested in purchasing this one of a kind prayer book, leave a comment or email me at lovechris@earthlink.net.

Sweet blessings!

Memorial Day

Thank you Dad for your service in the Pacific. I love you, Rest in Peace.

The latest version of Phoenix Rising.... still working on lettering, etc.

Maja's Phoenix Rising

My friend Maja is opening a wonderful Center, PHOENIX RISING,  in Las Vegas New Mexico. This is my first draft for her logo. Any feedback is most welcomed.  This was done using Photoshop.

A Bit of Tahoe

I'm on a bit of a get-away this week, taking my son on a birthday trip to Lake Tahoe and Reno. It was a lovely day to travel through the state of California yesterday. I woke at 5am this morning to a luscious pink and blue sky outside my bedroom deck. Our resort/condo is at the base of Heavenly Ski run, tucked in the piles of rocks. Balmy weather. Experienced the eclipse yesterday.

I'm going to try to get into the swing of daily sketching and art-journaling. I started May with that intention and failed miserably! It's all in the intention, the thought... now to get in into real time action.

Here's my bedroom deck view and my quick watercolor sketch.

Way to start a new week!

Two Days in Big Sur!

I'm loving it! Spent just two days in Big Sur, Kirk Creek, overlooking the ocean. Worked on my book (almost done now) and a bit of art.

My 'art room' view....

 Here's my campsite at Kirk Creek....

 Just down the road, spent the day surf-side!

Why I love my Art Van!

I love traveling in my little Dodge Van. A comfy bed in the pack (a porta potty), little fridge, and my art supplies... my idea of Utopia, or heaven on earth!!

 My Window on the Sea.... Big Sur, two weeks ago

 

Here is the Plasket Creek Campground I stayed in. You can see the surf through the trees.

 

 My mobile writing studio! Right here in Santa Cruz!

 Leaving the door open for a welcome breeze.

 Always have my sketch book ready.... these are from last year's Yosemite trip.

 Snow Day!!! I travel to Yosemite last April to paint the wild flowers.... 8 inches of snow instead!

 And sometimes, I pull out my comfy camp chair, put my feet up and just read.

Birds on my mind....

I'd love to hear your comments or links to other bird paintings!
I've always loved sweet little birds that often accompany words of wisdom... so I've been creating simple little birds each afternoon. Most of them are sketches done on watercolor paper. I have a bunch of 300lb scraps! I used my Caran DAche watercolor crayons to layer in colors. I love the way they blend.

 These next two look so blah and not very vibrant or colorful. After I took this picture I went in with my new Sennelier Oil Pastels. Wow... what a difference! I only bought a box of 12, now I want the whole range of colors. I'll post the new picture later.

 This last one is done on a cradleboard canvas, mixed media, lots of papers underneath, stamping, pieces of vintage music. The leaves were fun. Adapted from one of my Life Book lessons, the leaves are made of coffee filters. It was fun to drop color on the leaves. The bird and the leaves are all attached to long strips of vintage sheet music. I used my Caran DAche watercolor crayons to build up layers on the bird. It was fun playing with new supplies I've never used until taking the Letter Love class!

Switching venue.... LETTERING CLASS

I'M so happy to be taking Joanne Sharpe's Letter Love on-line class! I've been following her work for years and now she's teaching classes. HOORAY!

Here's what I've done so far.....

As she transforms.... Encaustic layers

Still working on her.....

This week's work....

I've spent all of the last week working on this last Angel of Spring piece.  I'm not happy. I am happy. Depends on where I look. Her mouth still needs work. The size of her head shawl is way too big. I like the backgrounds. I like the colors in her face. Her face was done using Sharon Tomilson's "Faces in Collage" technique. I used a vintage photo of my mom! She was sooo beautiful. Here, she was about 15 I think.

I used Angelina fibers for her shall... they are still really glittery, but will tame down with the encaustic layer. I also used some vintage hand tatted trim around her veil. I like it... still working on the staining/coloring of that.  And I also like the Rosary necklace that I placed in yesterday. It also, will look great with the encaustic wax coat.

Oh... and I think she needs hands. I was trying to get away from painting hands... but looks like I need to.

So... I've been frustrated... ALLOT! with this piece, so I've started on something different.... birds on a wire, using vintage music collaged onto a canvas, then heavy layers of paint. Here's how far I've gotten...
I love the thick heavy brush strokes. Even used some heavy modeling paste here and there. I like the depth of adding more and more layers, and using a huge brush, bigger strokes.

Angels of Spring #4 & 5

So... I'm loving working in my cleaned up studio. What a pleasure to have space and be able to find the tools and paints I want. I just finished up Angel of Spring #4 & #5. Please give me constructive feedback!

She's coming along....

Well... she's coming along! I'm happy with what's appearing here. Still more layers, glazings, paint, and who-knows-what!

My Wood Nympth Angel progress

I'm almost embarrassed to post this, and, on the other hand, I'm telling my inner critic to hush now.  I kinda like her... but her mouth needs to be bigger. This shows layer after layer of color on her face. Aqua, ruby red, forest green, copper, and now skin tones.  I'm happy with the the trees in the background. Her eyes need adjustment too. Now I think I should take this down until I can 'fix' things. oh well.