TAD with Rain and PPF

Hi Everyone!

Today is Thursday Art Date with Rain. Every week she has a prompt for the art and this week is "Signs of Spring."  Spring is really no different here than winter with the exception that the temps go from the 30's to the 50's. It is windy and rainy  most of the year here. Oh, the wind never stops! That is a constant year round. NO, I do not like it.  It is what it is though.

Spring in my mind is just a bit of rain, flowers blooming and the newness of life.

This morning it did stop raining and I was able to get these shots of my Hosta plants.
Each year they they come back more beautiful than the year before. 

Hostas are suppose to like the shade but these love the sun. This is 2 weeks of coming back.	The rain drops just hang onto the leaf.
I love how the trail of drops, even on a slant stay in place.	Creating spring with leather flowers.
Close up of leather. Some of them are painted too.	Leather flowers are time consuming but worth it.
What is spring without a bit of fantasy?	More fantasy. I would like to go into that cave.
Abstract flowers.	More abstract flowers

I am also joining in with my friends at Paint Party Friday. 

Thanks to Eva and Kristen for hosting.

I hope where you are the sun is shinning and the fragrance of spring is in the air.

Nicole/DVArtist

Honor and integrity in art, in life.

Wednesday 4 29

Hi Everyone!

Today is 100% humidity. No it is NOT raining yet. The air is wet from the ocean and windy cold. It is suppose to rain this afternoon but the black cloud over my house say much sooner. I really do need a green house. Or some kind of shelter for my plants. 

So our state is going to open up in what is phase 1. Part of that is doctors, surgery centers, and other medical. This means that we will be driving to Salem for Mr. M. to get a well over due injection in his back. I am not excited about this at all but Mr. M. can barley walk so as soon as they call we will be on the road. What is your state or country doing to open up? For me, and millions of others, I think this is too soon. People already don't follow the lock down rules, now that things are opening we will see a huge spike in covid. 

I have not had much time to create this week.  You would think staying at home 24/7 that I would have all the time there is. However, I actually had to work this week. I did get this drawing done. I really need to go back to my good paper. This is done on PC paper. It doesn't allow blending very well, but here she is. 

Oh and here is the pizza Mr. M. made me for my birthday. I know this is crazy to show this but he make if from scratch all by himself. I kinda like this stuck-at-home thing. LOL

Oh and yes, I started eating meat.

 Have a wonderful Wednesday. Make it special just for you.

Nicole/DVArtist 

Honor and integrity in art, in life.

It's my birthday.

Hi Everyone!

Well it is official. Today I have been on this earth 68 years. When you are a kid, you never think, "When I am 68 I will be doing this or that" 68 was such a far off number, but it sure did get here quickly. LOL Mr. M. bake a chocolate cake with frosting from scratch last night while I was sleeping. I haven't tasted it yet but it looks great.

  He also got me a Gotham Steel deep fry and oven pan. OMG! I now want a full set of these. Shopping is slim pickens here in my town so he did good. 

I also have some gifts coming from my kids and they should arrive today. My good friend Cathy slipped a birthday card in my mail box too. Since we can't drive up coast to our favorite (birthday) restaurant Mr. M. is going to make homemade pizza for me. I told him I would make the dough but he insisted on doing it himself. Not a bad birthday for being locked down.

Where ever you are, no matter what your governor says, stay inside. 

We are no where near over this.

Nicole/DVArtist 

Honor and integrity in art, in life.

Sunday Garden

Hi Everyone!

Today we have no rain and then it starts up again tonight for the rest of the week. In spite of all the water my garden is holding on. I did have to bring my lettuce and spinach indoors to dry out. As I mentioned before, I am not a gardener. Not sure why I never did this before. My mom had a big beautiful garden and grew the most exotic foods. My sister too had a big garden and even grew corn. Anyway, they both must be looking over my garden because it is growing better than I ever hoped. Over night plants just started popping up and beans started sprouting. 

Hope all of you are having a good Sunday and finding things to make your life happy. Gardening seems to be doing it for me. LOL

There was nothing I could see growing in this yesterday and this morning tomato. 

OK I spelled tomato wrong on the photo. :)

I have to do some research on how to transplant these. I did read, too late, that squash doesn't like to be transplanted. We will see how it goes. These are in an apple juice jug.

 They are healthy as can be.

 I think I told all of you that I watched a you tube on gardening and the young man said he was making beans for his dinner and soaked them over night. He left some of the beans in the water for several more days and they began to sprout. Ohhh well you know I had to try this. 

IT WORKS!

This is day 5 and the pinto beans are sprouting.

Oh, and yes that is paint on my thumb nail that wouldn't was off. LOL

and the Lima beans are coming out too. Not that Lima beans are my favorite but hey, 

I,ma goin'  see how they grow.

The rest of my garden is doing really well too. I will get some photos today while the sun is out. Any of you out there that are gardens and have tips please leave them in the comment. I am in what is Zone 9. Tomorrow is my birthday and I am wishing for garden tools and some growing tables. Hope Mr. M. got the (in his face) hints. LOL

Creating is not just for art projects, it is also creating the best life you can for yourself.

What are you doing to make that happen?

Nicole/DVArtist 

Honor and integrity in art, in life.

Liquitex Black Lava

Hi Everyone!

I have started this post 3 times. I try to keep my blog a happy place. I have FB to rant and rave on. It is still storming something wicked and maybe that is part of my mood.  Yesterday, I wandered my house doing little things. Sanitizing light switches and door knobs, cleaning, and looking for something to listen to on the TV.  I wanted to be in the art room but every time I walked in my brain seemed scattered. Too many ideas, too much chaos, and it was my mom's birthday. She has been gone now 6 years but because our birthdays are just days apart we always celebrated together. As I write this, for the fourth time, I now realize my mood wasn't because of lock down, or covid, 

I just missed my mom. 

OKayyyy let's get back to the happy place. In the late afternoon I was able to create some art. I actually worked on 4 different projects. The one I am showing today is another type of texture. It is Liquitex Black Lava. As with any texture there are many uses. Of course I like this because I can kind of wet carve with it on canvas. 

 This is all done with pallet knives. I love the wickedness of the trees.

Once it is dries you can leave it as is or paint, pastel, or ink in details. The ideas are endless

Close up 

Black lava is tiny flat black acrylic polymer hexagons in a clear 100% acrylic polymer gel. 

It dries to a fine ground black lava texture.

Be safe where ever you are.

Nicole/DVArtist 

Honor and integrity in art, in life.

PPF April 24

Hi Everyone!

I cannot tell you how fast this week swept by. All day today I thought is was Wednesday. Of course part of my busy is my garden in containers. I am having so much fun and excited to see the seedlings coming up through the dirt. Yesterday we had a storm from hell and some of the containers I had to bring indoors. A bit of sun today though and only a few rain clouds. 

Not much to show for Paint Party Friday but I did finish one thing. An abstract on 14x14" canvas with another texture medium I like to use. This one is Liqutex Flakes. It can be as subtle or exaggerated as you like depending on how thick it is uesed. This is a more subtle approach. I don't know if you can tell that the copper color paint is a metallic. 

 Here is a close up of the Flake texture. Yes this painting did start off black and white.

 The flakes are irregular size and shape white acrylic polymer flakes in a clear 100% acrylic polymer gel. So you could use this to build mountains and valleys in an art piece. It dries clear. I mix my paint with it too.

Now for a peek at my garden. 

 These are Fingerling Carrots, just starting to come up

 Radishes were the first to come up.

 I have 4 kinds of squash planted this is a crook neck.

These are my string beans. I will be making a trellis for these. 

That is it for me. If you have come by this way be sure to click on the link to see what other artists are creating for Paint Party Friday.

Nicole/DVArtist 

Honor and integrity in art, in life.

What happen to my nice weather?

Hi Everyone!

Well what happened to my nice weather? Ohhhh, I almost forgot I live in the Oregon coast. Nice weather is a luxury not a given, not even in the summer months. It started raining last night so I covered my new garden and hoped for the best. This Am it was like we are in winter months here. Very high winds, rain blowing in all directions and my garden tarp, well let me just say I brought most of my containers inside to the back room. The weather has not let up one bit. So... I decided to bake Mr.M. some sweet rolls. One of his faves. No me so much. 

I also have bread rising and a very hearty stew on the stove. So all of this will keep us warm and full. What are you doing today and how is your weather?

Make today one of the best.

This is a new recipe for me and I am happy with it, not much work to it at all and only 3 minutes of kneading. Here is the link for the recipe.

Here is the first rising of the bread. I just kneaded it and now is in pans for the second rise.

 I also have a hearty stew on the stove. Should be a good dinner tonight.

Stay safe everyone.

Nicole/DVArtist 

Honor and integrity in art, in life.

Tuesday April 21

Hi Everyone!

OMG! I didn't wake up this morning until 8:45. I NEVER sleep that late. However, I have not been sleeping well at night so maybe this makes up for it. LOL I feel heavy headed though, I need to get my work out done, that always makes me feel better. What morning routine gets you going or makes you feel good? Let me know in your comments

 I have a few paintings that I am working on that have different kinds of texture yesterday's post was actually a commission and was highly textured with molding paste. Today I have this one that is textured with glass beads by Liquitex. If you have never tried this I encourage you to do so. Other companies make this texture but I find that Liquitex is a better product. 

This is still on the easel and should be finished today. 

 

Here is a close up of the beads.

 This photo was taken off of google and I thought is would show better 

maybe if you click on it.

 These are truly small glass spheres mixed with an acrylic gel. It is semi gloss when it dries. I have worked with this medium for many years on my leather sculptures and it dries perfectly.

 Create with passion, create from your soul, allow the art to encompass your feelings.

Nicole/DVArtist 

Honor and integrity in art, in life.

Monday 20

Hi Everyone!

Well I had a pretty good weekend. The sun was out and the wind wasn't too bad. I am keeping to my own little part of the world. I have stopped watching the world news awhile ago, only watching my local news once a day.  It is amazing to me, that here in the US some people are just crazy. These protests to open up our country are coming from some angry people. If we had a clear direction from our federal government maybe attitudes would be better. But, sighhh, we don't, so this will all end up worse than just the virus.  Wow, I didn't mean to start Monday off with a depressing note.

Soooooo off to some fun things. I was able to do come creating, hopefully I will be able to show it this week. I had a commission too. Bright bold colors that are going cross country to live in Georgia. I had a lot of fun painting these.

Hope your days are filled with a new kind of joy.

Click on the photo to see how much texture is on these painting.

 

Be safe and Elbow hugs.

Nicole/DVArtist 

Honor and integrity in art, in life.

Well this sucks

Hi Everyone!

Well this really sucks. Blogger has deleted most of my photos  going back a month or more. I thought maybe it is because I use a grid but no photos are gone that are not in a grid. Now all of my photos are on my PC, I am not using a cloud or a photo server. I can't find any recent reason from blogger. Anyone have any ideas.
Oh I have tried to reload the photos and they won't.

Nicole/DVArtist 

Honor and integrity in art, in life.

Paint Party Friday April 17

Hi Everyone!

Here it is Paint Party Friday already.  I have been so busy that my week literally flew by.  Busy with what you ask? My new garden! I didn't know I had such a green thumb. As of today my seedlings of 2 types of lettuce, 2 types of squash, cucumbers, radishes and fingerling carrots. All of these have been planted in small pop bottles and plastic containers. I will take a photo tomorrow of what I have, so come back. On top of gardening, I have been cleaning. Yes! I am a clean freak and a bit of a germaphobe.  I spent 2 hours cleaning and reorganized my walk in pantry and I am almost done with my art room. On top of that I spoke to my kids and my best friend Cathy. When this all started we made a pack to speak everyday on the phone. I made dinner, and cleaned and sanitized the kitchen and bathroom. 

Don't ask me where I got all of this energy but I hope it lasts. LOL 

Now for art. 

This is not quite done but it is getting there.

This is me one year ago. How fast things have changed. I made the top hat and was on my way to a "Thank you" tea put on by our library to all the volunteers. Of course all the gals on the art committee had to wear hats, a dress, (Not me, I have never been a frilly girl) bring a fan and what ever else we could do to make it tea time. 

 and this is Mr. M. for my birthday last year he got a hair cut. LOL

No my birthday isn't until the 27th

Stay safe, create, and if you can do something nice for someone else.

Even if it is just a phone call.

Elbow Hugs.

Nicole/DVArtist 

Honor and integrity in art, in life.

Another Day

 Hi Everyone!

Well it is official we now have confirmed cases of Covid in my little town. A woman of 50 years and a person that resides in a assisted living home. I really dislike that officials won't allow us to know what towns and cities the cases are in. Here they will only say what county the cases are in. I understand it is a privacy issue, but it is also a health issue for people living next to or close by and infected person. I know this info because of the great work our newspaper does. As my readers know yesterday Mr. M. and I went grocery shopping for meat. Now in my town we have two large stores Fred Myer and Safeway which everyone knows is Albertsons. We don't normally shop at S/A because they are soooooo expensive, however, they are the best place in town to buy meat. (Note I don't normally shop in Florence. Before Covid we shopped in Salem or Eugene to far to drive now) Anyway, I was so impressed with S/A The store was remolded last year and is very clean. The have implemented one way in and out and all the isle are one way. The shelves were full and the prices on some things were actually lowered. We were able to get all the meat I had on my list, and a few other items that are not at Freds. They only allow a certain number of people in the store at one time too. We were lucky besides the workers Mr. M. and I were 2 of 5 people in the store. Now I know a lot of stores across the country are doing this, however, FM is not one of them. 

It is chaos when I go in there. Think I will stick to S/A. 

I am NOT photogenic at all and selfies don't work either. However, here I am on my way to the store. Ohhhh I am getting wrinkles Yikes! 

Please be as safe as you can, and stay home as much as you can. 

Elbow Hugs

Nicole/DVArtist 

Honor and integrity in art, in life.

Venturing Out

 Hi Everyone!

In just a few minutes we are going to venture out. I am trying to stock up on as much food and other items as I can.  It feels so strange to say we are leaving out house.

Anyway, I want to show you how the torn paper piece is coming along. 

If you missed that post, I took extra paint and put it on a brown grocery bag, then sandwiched another bag on top to get these. 

Then I tore the bags into pieces and using clear paper mache paste

glued the pieces on a canvas.

This is still on the easel and I need to finish it up today.

Wishing all of you the best day that you can have. 

Remember to do something nice for yourself

Be Safe and Elbow Hugs.

Nicole/DVArtist 

Honor and integrity in art, in life.

April 13

Hi Everyone!

I accomplished quite a bit over the weekend. I worked in my yard, talked to family on the phone and prepared and finished some art projects. Even though I have big windows through out my house not much light comes in. So taking photos is a real job. LOL. I also have a large wall in my living room that I call my abstract wall. It has looked like this for a while. Needing just one more painting.  

I finished this one and now it hangs in the empty spot.

I have to rearrange the paintings a bit.

The angle of the camera makes this wall look very small however it is not. LOL 

You get the idea. 

I have the best mail lady. Last week she brought me some things that I just mentioned I was going to the store for.  She wouldn't take any payment either. I asked what her favorite animal is and she said, "Bear" today she is getting this.

In addition I have not done any leather work and ya'll know my obsession with skulls. This one is ready for the air brush and some embellishments. 

Hope you are all safe.

Nicole/DVArtist 

Honor and integrity in art, in life.

Happy Easter

Hi Everyone!

This will be short, just enough to wish all of you the happiest of Easter days. 

I love vintage cards especially Easter cards. Here are some I found for today.

For me and I think most who come my way are pretty blessed to have a roof over our heads, food on the table, our health, and good friends. Who cares if we have to stay inside for a while?

Stay safe, be protected when you do go out, and of course Elbow Hugs.

Nicole/DVArtist 

Honor and integrity in art, in life.