I just finished the third in a series of five mixed media portraits. This one is titled, ‘A Mother’s Hope’. I have a lot of ‘mother moments’ going on right now, and it is very soothing for me to try and capture some of those feelings on canvas. While my oldest is in Basic Training, my middle is going to be a senior next year, and my youngest is still a sweet almost 7 years old, I have so many emotions right now connected to my children. I remember like it was yesterday, the hope of becoming a mother, and that oh so exciting day when I knew I would be! I love the soft look in this moms eyes, it reminds me of that time. I added a clock to represent the countless hours we spend in watch care over our children. ‘A Mother’s Hope’ is available in my etsy shop, www.thebagladysart.etsy.com
Category Archives: nest
I Love the Smell of Beeswax In the Spring!
I love springtime! It makes me think about gardens, birds, and spring cleaning. Ok, not ALL things about spring are great, but most of them are! I created these beeswax collages with spring on the brain. A lot of people ask me about beeswax so I thought I’d share some of it’s secrets to help de-mystify it. I use a little melting pot to heat the wax in. Usually to about 185 degrees. You can use a candy thermometer to check on the temp if you don’t have a temperature controlled heating device. The smell of melted beeswax is heavenly! I keep a designated brush in the pot and just store the wax in there. Mine has a lid to keep out impurities. When you brush the wax on you are only applying it to the surface. The finished look/smoothness is achieved with a quilting iron and or heat gun.
You can melt crayons into your work to add color. And my favorite thing to do is to add stamped images by stamping onto dressmakers tissue with Staz On ink. The tissue becomes transparent and the stamped image is very sharp. Spending time on the background gives wonderful results. The depth is amazing and the scans don’t do it justice! I made prints from these also and they turned out great, I am very pleased. I have never taken a class in this method, it was all learned by trial and error, and what information I could glean from the net. I figured it had to be easier than waxing your legs-LOL!
A Mother By Nature
Some days make you both proud to be a mom, and sad at the same time. Yesterday was one of those days for me. My oldest son Christopher, will turn 18 in two weeks. He has talked about going into the Army for several years, so it should come as no surprise, but he is signing up. We have talked to the recruiter and it is all set. Part of my heart is bursting with pride, but all of you moms out there will understand the part that says, “Wait! That’s my little boy! He’s not ready!!!” Why is it that while our boys tower above us we still see them as our “little” boys. The ones that play with legos, watch cartoons, wrestle on the floor, pick on their brothers and come inside with mud on their shoes? I was working on this piece while all of the talk of army recruiters was going on. My husband said “that is really nice, but she looks so sad”. I guess that is what happens in our art. Our feelings go into our work. So while she is sad, she knows that we only hold our fragile children in our hands for a short while, until they are strong enough to fly away on their own.
Check Out this issue Cloth,Paper, Scissors
Stuck
Sometimes I start on a piece and get so far and then can’t figure out how to finish it. Such was the case with this piece. I had the back ground and even the woman’s face, then my muse took a vacation and there the canvas sat, unfinished, waiting for further inspiration. This doesn’t happen a lot, thankgoodness, as I like to finish what I start, but once in a while I just can’t seem to reach the finish line. So today I went in to my studio and tried to decide what to work on. There was my unfinished canvas staring at me. A worthy goal for the day. Not sure where to go with this piece, I went online and started looking for quotes. Pages later, I happened on this quote, “You cannot prevent birds of sorrow from flying over your head, but you can prevent them from building nests in your hair”. It’s a chinese proverb. There was my muse, dancing around clapping his hands! A few hours later and filled with satisfaction at having completed my task for the day (I also got the vacuuming done and worked out-woo-hoo) I am happy with my finished piece and even more happy knowing tomorrow when I step into my studio I won’t still be looking at that unfinished canvas.