Announcing FREE Shipping

A couple of changes in my Shop.  First.. is FREE shipping inside the US and discounted shipping everywhere else.  It's easier for you, it's easier for my brain.. so there ya go!

The second is the addition of a department for crafting supplies.  I'm pulling things together to share my stash with you!

First up is 5 yard hanks of twill tape.  Yay!  Help me declutter the studio and get some great fibers to use in your journals or just 'bout anywhere else. I use it to make rope, hang shelves and all kinds of things.

Get your today... I have both white and beige!  I tied 'em up with strips of recycled paper from Morgan's school work.. Some of these strips would be good collage fodder too.. so nothing wasted!

oh yeah.. and free shipping!

Biking Milestone Reached

Just an update.... we are still riding bikes.. and here was my route today. There's a milestone hidden in that route for me. NO.. it's not doing 8.7 miles... it's crossing the inter-coastal bridge. (images below the map)

View Larger Map

not our pictures... but the only ones I could find.

No.. we did NOT ride up the hill on the bridge. 

We walked it.

Grab These Supplies before they are GONE

I don't know if you all know or not, but I've helped to found a charity to support, uplift and improve the lives of children in Honduras. What started as bringing art to them has grown. We are delivering shoes to kids that have never had them before thanks to Tom's Shoes .. and while there, the teachers at the mountain schools asked if we could get them supplies for the kids.

We are working on lists of things the kids need and I found these great kits at Staples for a dollar.

Even if you can't afford to buy some of these .. share the link so that others you know might give and receive a blessing.






Here's the press release on the charity site:

URGENT ---- found these today at Staples for a dollar! They said all Staples everywhere are clearing them out.. it's only what is in stock and when they are gone.. they are gone.

The Children need these in Honduras. So if you can swing it.. run out and pick up a few or a few dozen to send to Liz Rosky and Colour a Child's World.

Hurry!!!! and Bless you! Share this with EVERYONE  

---

These little babies have a glue stick, stapler, staples, pencil sharpener, eraser, scissors and a ruler.  Most of these kids have never had these most basic of school supplies.  Lets all do what we can to fix that!

Sketching at Books A Million

did this sketch this afternoon.  I had limited time, so only spent about half and hour on it.  Before you get all impressed... it's only 6 x 9 inches.. in my everyday journal.  It's sort of my rendition of the cover of a book that looks great.  Lots of example and exercises of working on tonal sketches.

There was more shading to do on the side of his face.. I could probably work on this a lot more... but it's all about a learning and practicing so I'm fine leaving it unfinished.

Things I know... I NEED a kneeded eraser.. I just need one.  I want to pull out highlights but dont' have a way to do that.

I also NEED to study anatomy more.

I put the book on the thing at the side of my blog... if you want to check it out.... but here's the link

I totally want this book and it's available for kindle too... not sure the best way to get it.  What do you guys think?

What are you playing with today?

Replay Ashes Painting a Phoenix

My son wrote a poem the other day that moved me.  I wanted to create a painting to go with his poem.  I intended the painting as a gift for him, but he insisted that we put it up for sale... along with a signed copy of his poem.  Soooo.. at the end of this post, you'll find info on where to purchase this very special piece.

Here is Joey, reading his poem for us.

You have Joey's permission to print his poem if you like

So yeah.. I just had to do a painting for it.  So that's what we did on today's live show.  I didn't know when I started if I would be able to paint the bird or not, but I like it.

Ashes

16 x 20 Stretched Canvas

Available

So here's the replay of me creating the painting Ashes

Watch live streaming video from greenislescrafts at livestream.com

So, like I said.. Joey has said he would like to sell the painting and keep a print for himself.  I have a listing for it.. at the price he set.... on our available/ mixed media page.

The Shelves that Tee Built

I shared this image in THIS POST where I talked about some of the organization that's going on in my studio.

Well, after today's live show (see the REPLAY here), the girls and I were talking about some of the changes and they thought I should have kept recording that part.  LOL  So here's a video on how to make shelves like this for your space, or bathroom, bedroom, laundry room, entry way, garage.. oh or pantry!  Anywhere you need to get storage on the walls and off your surfaces.

Now.. since you guys see how much twill tape I have... do you need some?  I could put small packages of it together and put it in my shop.  What do you think about five yards for a three dollars and I'll cover the shipping to the US?  I'll make a smashing deal on shipping to Canada and overseas too.

Show me your shelves~

Replay - Playing with draped fabrics

Sketch (unblended, fat cub pencil), neocolor II and acrylic examples of painting draped fabrics

I will go back into the neocolor one and add depth and additional details with pens and colored pencil

Quick sketch I did the other night to demonstrate fabric drape and the way I perceive colors.

You can see that the edges of the sleeve are not smooth and layers of color create the shape and curve

Watch live streaming video from greenislescrafts at livestream.com

Test show really... and we had fun after we stopped recording too - showing the UNFINISHED parts of the studio and talking about hoarding, purging and the shelves that tee built.  I'm told the unrecorded stuff was the best part.  LOL

Setting up the Studio

Trying out my new space!

Can you guess who I am painting there????

It's practice for tomorrow.. we are doing a trial run on the live shows

 and working on draped fabrics and clothing for portraits.  Join us at 10 AM Eastern Time.

you can watch it on my website, on facebook or on livestream

As you guys know, we moved in November.  Well I've been working a little here and there to try to organize the studio.. but let me tell ya.. I was overwhelmed.  Just beyond what I could figure out.  BUT  I had a couple of kicks in the pants that got me motivated.

First.. was this wicked drafting table that you see UNDER all my goodies in the picture above.  My friend Sharon Field gave it to me.  It's wicked cool and awesome; one of the older models but I just love it.  I always always always wanted one.  You might not know my childhood dream was to become an architect.. but yeah.. I drooled over all the junk to do that job.

Second was storage.  I was so dang tired carting around the tins that my stuff came in.. I wanted something efficient and... well.. cool.  So I saw Pixie of Red Pixie Art show off what she kept her sweet little crayons of goodness in.. and it was one of the "Really Useful Boxes".  Have you seen them?

OMG I love these boxes.  

I just want them to come to my house and live with me in happiness forever and ever~!  (yes.. yes Tee does go off the deep end for containers.  You want her loyalty and undying devotion???  Send her boxes and cool special wicked pens... she loves those too!!)  **hides fingers so you can't see them twitching**

Ok.. getting a grip. Well they are a little out of my price range.  BUT THEY ARE AMAZING.  *breathing*  Ok.. so went to Targ'et.. (with the french accent) and got Sterilite boxes.  ALMOST as cool... and they come in green.

AND they fit my little delicious crayons of goodness perfectly~  And I got some longer ones for pencils and things.

Wellll then I needed somewhere to store my wonderful containers.. so I took some OTHER containers I had (little cool plastic crates) and some Hercules hooks and made a shelf.

How cool is that?  AND they'll hold all those boxes when they are filled.  In fact, the the plastic crate will break before the hook gives out.  OH and I hung a tin on the side over there for my scissors and paint rags.

Then Joey set up some more shelves for me to go on the left of my area (to hold the laptop to drive the camera that will sit on the shelf that tee built.)  LOL LOL LOL

on the right is a drawer unit that moved with us.. and my craft paint in that red bucket thingie

More later after I get more stuff finished.

Resisting Blah

Oil Pastel Resist --- video shot while testing out cameras and lighting for the live shows.

Free Bookbinding Workshop

One of my books that I made in the workshop

I just wanted to let everyone know that I've changed my Snappy Li'l Journal workshop to a free class.

Tell your friends... have a ball!  OH and show me your books!

Wicked WIP Too

Remember this painting? I shared it as a WIP in this post.   Yes, it's the one that had a face suddenly appear when I was drawing my undulating line.  Excuse the shine there... I used gel medium to put on the newspaper headline.  It'll all be a nice flat color before the surprises go on though.

I was deciding when and if I would paint the face  and well .. tonight was the night for her.  She aged with grace as I worked and her personality spoke to me.

We've talked a lot about skin tones and blending lately.. and if you look at this.. it's not blended.  Nope.  I dabbed and brushed the colors on and blotted with my finger. This is all acrylic so far.  

I'll go back in with colored pencil for more depth, grit and definition.

You can kind os see where I planned her hair.. it may surprise you when it's finished.  Like I said.. she's telling me what she wants and it's not what I wanted for her.. AT ALL!

Collage Fodder Handwriting

Here are some of the handwriting pages I’ve pulled and printed to use for collage.  You might like some of them too.  Each one links to the original site where it was posted.. BUT if that proves to be too much of a pain for yall.. let me know and I can host some of them on a download page on my site.

Martha Ballard 1785 - 1812	Vietnam Diary	Henry Sewall 1776 - 1842
POW Diary 1918	Madeline's Memories site is full of good stuff	Joshua Hempstead 1711
Boy Scout 1925	Alice Williamson 1864	Stephen Austin 1834
WW I Diary	Marine Airmail	George Washington 1781
AM Jefferies 1951 (link is at the bottom)	Konrad Beck 1483 a favorite site btw	H Nelson Taft 1862

Skintone How do YOU do it

Flesh Tone Mixing Chart

image from Paint-Sculpt.com

I don't mix this color, but it's good to know how to do it right?

We started this discussion on facebook.. and these are the things I shared.  We also talked about doing some live sessions on this topic (well at least one)  Let me know if you are interested in that.  Also, if you have a technique and want to add it to the list... I'll be happy to link to your post!



Neocolor II blended with white liquid acrylic - salmon, pink and light ochre
This one has a video demonstration -- this was early on in my painting.  LOL

Get more info and see a larger image on this post.









Flesh tone craft paint base, neocolor on top (eliminates issues with paper) This one has a video too.  (face starts at about 2 min)

Get more info and see a larger image on this post.










Acrylic flesh tone base, blue shadows, pink cheeks, titanium white added to flesh for highlights.  Over collaged background - lots of different textures.

Get more info and see a larger image on this post.










All Neocolor II on thin writing journal paper.  Salmon base, shadowed with blue purple, pink cheeks and highlighted with yellow and some white neocolor scribbled over the colors to blend. (no video - sorry)

Get more info and see closeups (and larger images) on this post.









Acrylic flesh tone base, tissue paper for texture and then watercolor painted over that in browns and blues and greens.  Video by Rachelle.. she rocks

Get more info and see closeups (and larger images) on this post.










Watercolor underpainting (changes texture of paper, gives it more tooth), neocolor II for more shading and depth and colored pencil for detail and more shading (no video)

Get more info and see closeups (and larger images) on this post.








Aliens - gray base, shaded with black neocolor.
This one has a video too.

Get more info on this post.