Finger Painting is FUN!

Happy Monday everyone!

Do you remember what it was like to finger paint as a kid?

I remember how fun and free it was to stick my fingers in the pretty colors of paint set out for us by the teacher.

I can still feel the sensation of the cool & slick pigments on my fingers. 

The construction paper always felt rough at first when my fingertips spread the paint in lots of different shapes to form a picture.

When we are children, we do not judge what we do... we just do it and enjoy it as we do it!

That is what life is all about... enjoying the moment and appreciating the experience of whatever we are doing.

As we grow up, we lose some of that ease of just doing it to do it.  It always has to mean something or "be" something, and that pressure can kinda take the fun out of what we are doing.

So when I saw a Finger Painting Class offered by my favorite "art teacher" :) Carla Sonheim, I could not wait to sign up! 

In this wonderful 3 lesson, mini class, we relearn how to smush paint around again and have FUN seeing what appears on the page!

Here are the paintings I have made so far...

Three little Pugs all in a row!

A Bear

...and a Bunny!

They were so much fun to make and I cannot wait to see who else pops to life.

I highly recommend checking out all of Carla's classes.

She is an amazing teacher!

It does not matter if you think you cannot draw or paint. :)

If you can scribble on a piece of paper, you are an artist!

She will teach you a whole toolbox of wonderful techniques and from the very first lesson... all of a sudden art appears!

It is relaxing, fun and exciting just to create!

I would love to see what you make!

Please feel free to share it with me!

I would love to see!

xoxoxo

Melissa & R-Chee

Batik Owl Pillow

Happy Monday everyone!

I am so excited to show you the new batik I just finished!

This is the 3rd batik I have made so far! 

In case you missed them, here are the links to my bull and rabbit pillows. :)

To make my owl, I sketched out a couple of ideas and then picked the one I liked the best to draw in pencil on a piece of cotton fabric.

After I sketched him out, I painted on the gutta resist to save the white lines and then started painting in the color with the fabric dyes.

When it was all done, I sewed it on to a 20 x 20 green pillow that I had just asking to be decorated! :)

My final step was to hand-sew an orange pom pom trim border!

Voila!

A new pillow to add to my decor!

I just love how it turned out!

It was so much FUN to do that I already have my 4th one in the works!

I promise to have it ready to show it to you next week!

What FUN things are you doing this week?

Please leave me a note and let us know!

We cannot wait to hear all about them!

xoxoxo

Melissa & R-Chee

The Blob Book is Complete!

Happy Monday everyone!

I am so excited to show you the last two inside pages and the front & back covers of my BLOB Book that is now complete!

I started it last Fall in October 2012 at my Sister's Art Retreat!

Melanie and I took a wonderful Drawing Workshop with Carla Sonheim through Art Camp for Women.

Here are all of my posts showing all of the drawings in my magical Blob Book that I just LOVE.

October 2012

November 2012

March 2013

June 2013

It was so FUN to see these splashes of paint show me shapes to trace and color in whenever I wanted to just relax and create!

Each character seemed to just arrive and say hello every time I pulled out my pencils, markers and glitter glue pens!

Here is the page you saw above that I made using a simple set of kid's watercolor paints!

All you do is lightly swirl, splatter or swish the paint on a piece of watercolor paper leaving space for the white paper to show.

You do not have to lay a lot of swishes down, and it is best to really water down your colors to keep them light and transparent for you to be able to see your creatures in your blobs.

Then I just let them dry, folded the pages and cut random scallops on the edges to make a FUN edges instead of hard corners.

It also made the pages different sizes from each other which allows you to draw creatures that actually are partly on one page and partly on the one underneath if you would like!

Then you just take your pencil and find the creatures in your blobs and trace around them.

There are no rules!

You add any faces, expressions and colors & textures that you want when you color them in!

I just used colored pencils, watercolor paints, markers, and glitter glue pens to color mine in.

It was so FUN, easy and relaxing to do!

Front Cover

Back Cover

Ta Da!

My first Blob Book is complete!

I cannot wait to make more!

I love that I did not rush through this process and just let the book evolve over 6 months.

If I would have done it all at once, each page would have looked the same!

But by spreading it out, I was able to have a clean slate each time I sat down and pick up new colors, markers and even glitter at the end!

These are things I never would have done if I did it all at once!

Now my book is even richer and, in my mind and heart, has a whole life and story on each page that I created!

Thank you so much for always looking at what I am making!

It is so FUN to share it with you!

You really make my world a very special place to be!

xoxoxo

Melissa

Sister's Art Retreat June 2013 ~ Project 2 ~ Batiks!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

I am so excited to show you the second project that Melly and I finished on our twin sister's art retreat last weekend!

On Monday, I showed you the felt house village we created and today I will get to show you the batiks we completed together!

We started drawing them last month in our Batik 101 class and got to paint them together right after we finished making the village!

Please click here if you would like to see the process of how to make these easy, no mess, no wax, non-toxic way of creating batiks!

Melanie created this fabulous mountain bike scene and I made a bunny!

The photo above shows what it looks like before you wash and dry it...

... and this is what it looks like after!

Melanie is making hers into a wall hanging!

... and I simply machine sewed mine onto an old pillow cover that I had in the closet, and then hand stitched orange pom pom trim around it just like I did for my first batik so that they would match on the bed! :)

Ta Da!

I just loved how they turned out!

Melanie and I had so much FUN!

We even got to read our books a little, and I worked on my rug hooking for R-Chee's pug cave on the way home.

It is almost done and I will be able to show it to you soon!

We had such a blast that we have already planned another twin sister's art retreat for a weekend in July & August!

I know more Batiks & Felt Houses are planned and a special crochet project will be started too!

What FUN things do you have planned for the Summer?

Please leave me a note and let me know!

I cannot wait to hear all about them!

xoxoxox

Melissa & R-Chee

A Wonderful Wednesday Afternoon ~ New Whimsical Blobs!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

R-Chee and I had so much FUN today when we pulled out our set of kid's markers, colored pencils, glitter glue pens and water color paints!

We found lots of whimsical creatures to outline & bring to life in my blob book that I started last Fall in Carla Sonheim's workshop offered through Art Camp for Women.

We had a wonderful day together!

Relax and just make some art from your heart today!

It is so FUN to create something you enjoy in the garden, kitchen, studio or sandbox!

Just Play a bit today!

It will make you happy!

That is the greatest gift we can give to anyone...

A smile & some cheer!

Speaking of creating, smiles, cheer and art...

My twin, Melanie, & I are going on a sister's art retreat together this weekend!

Yipppeee!

We leave on Friday so I will be back blogging next week to show you what we made!

We are going to make more batik paintings and pillows together, crochet and read a book we got just for this weekend to start together and have a summer book club!

What FUN things are you doing this weekend?

Please leave us a note and let us know! 

We cannot wait to hear all about it!

xoxoxo

Melissa & R-Chee