Acrylic background

This was sort of a dump of acrylic paint on yupo paper.

It seemed to convey the heat of the summer skies in Florida.

So I mixed up a thick batch of watercolor and painted my hill and palms.

Too simple, but the background gives a dramatic affect and the watercolor does it's own thing
on the acrylic which is always interesting.

This was the stencil I made and used on the picket fence painting last week.
I wanted the background to show faintly so just rolled the white over lightly.
When we lived in Colorado, the arrival of the hummingbirds meant we were done with snow for that year.  Their arrival was sort of a celebratory thing at our house.
I don't believe I have seen one hummingbird in Florida, but I haven't forgotten them
Wishing everyone a Happy PPF

Surprise!

The best thing about raising orchids is if you ignore them, they present you with gorgeous surprises.

Last year I had a thrips infestation so this year I am diligent about spraying them with

dishwashing soap and water or neem oil to keep the "nasties" away.

At this time of year I get wonderful surprises almost weekly.

One of the joys of being a Florida resident.

Finally got this matted.  The original was the yellow and I added layers and layers, and layers of circle stencils.  The foggy white layer was the last and seemed to pull it all together for me.

What do you think?

Awaiting inspiration!  I have a vague idea about a dragonfly.  

Happy PPF!

P.S.  What a surprise!  I wrote my blog, went to post it and there was my hummingbird...and I was writing about surprises.  Thank you  Kristin and Eva! and the random number generator.

Reclamation projects

By now you are familiar with the multitudes of yupo backgrounds that reside under the bed

in the front bedroom.

This was a project to use some of those.

Am not sure if it is done or not.

I'll probably hide it for a few months and then take another look.

This was a weave using strips of old discards.
I discovered Rosie Kaplan on Facebook and she does some amazing circular weaves.
Couldn't figure them out but did come up with this .

And last but not least,
this was a background and I cut out stencils of the flower and the hummingbird and put them where the colors worked best.  I rolled it with green acrylic.  YUK it was way too green.   Another home made stencil of a picket fence (reversed) and I rolled it white.  Done, I think.
Happy PPF

Dancing Ladies

My apologies for the recent absence.

Work has kept me busy.

That said, I always reserve Wednesday afternoon to splash around in my paint.

This is acrylic paint on yupo.

When it dried I covered it with a thick watercolor mixture and this time for some reason

got the beautiful background as the water color paint reacted with the acrylic paint.

It has never done this before but I hope it does again!

When the water color mixture is dry you can sketch your design on with chalk and then with a wet brush lift away the watercolor paint  using bits of paper towel to blot away the color.

This is one I did a while ago.  The red is the watercolor and the gold is an acrylic background.  You

can see that only my brush strokes show in the bottom one, no reactions.

Here is a background (complete w/blue tape) awaiting transformation.

Thanks for stopping by!

Ooooops!  I forgot a bloom for you

I smelled these before I saw them, they are so tiny.  They have a wonderful coconut scent.

Spring has sprung

After a year of fighting thrips on my orchids, and not having any healthy blooms to enjoy,

at last, I think I have won (and the good news, not with serious chemicals).

I diligently used citrus flavored dishwashing soap and Neem oil alternating.

Both were mixed in a gallon of water.

I also used a blend of 409, alcohol and water once or twice.

So, this is what is blooming today.  

When I wasn't stewing about my orchids, I did have some fun with my art

Some of those backgrounds I love to do got cut into bits and mounted on a canvas.

I had envisioned something more exotic but as sometimes happens, those great ideas just don't work

in reality.  This reminds me of the colors of Hawaii

This background really looks like a shawl.

I am not sure where I am going with this, yet.

It may reappear in a few weeks completely revised.

Playing around with these things is half the fun.

After all, it's only paper, right?

Wishing everyone a beautiful Spring

and praying for peace and good will.

Happy PPF

Happy St Patricks Day

Happy St Patricks Day!

We have so may happy memories of time spent in Ireland.

Both my husband and I have Irish background and when we arrived there for our first visit     

we both fell in love...with the countryside and the people.  

The people we met in Ireland were just the best.

We were fascinated by their fascination with our politics.

(I wonder what their thoughts are today)

We loved their cheerful, "of course you can" attitude.

And their food, and their countryside, and, and,and.

So we have been back four times (and never been disappointed).

So Happy St Patricks Day to all

and put this wonderful country on your bucket list.

The painting is, again, yupo.  I did layers, starting with yellow and if you are interested,

there is a 4-leafed clover hiding in there for some lucky stiff.

 Spring is springing on our lanai.  This is my guatemalensis orchid covered in blooms.

They start out sort of dark and fade as they age.

(Just like us?)

Weaves and texture

This background was just waiting to become a weave so this week I went to work on it

It is always difficult to get started, "over, under, over, under" but once you have it,

you have it.
I also have been playing with Golden Molding Paste and stencils on yupo.
After letting the paste dry, I add watercolor.  The results here are interesting

So that is all of the fun this week.
Wishing all a Happy Paint Party Friday