Shout Out!

Wow, I got a fantastic shout-out Saturday (10/11/14) on Kris Hubick's blog, Retro Cafe' Art Gallery about my trio of Frida Shrines! How exciting is that?  

If you'd like to check it out, I'd be so proud.  You can visit Kris' blog post HERE and you can find my little mention about halfway down the page.

If you missed my post about making these awesome shrines, just pop over to it by clicking here and see the process and fun I had making these darling shrines.

With the holidays coming up, I have picked a few things from their holiday collection to work on and show you, so stay tuned for more artful fun!

It is so awesome to get validation from others. So today I'm all puffed up and proud.

As always, I'm keepin' it artful!
~~Betty

SUNFLOWER HEAVEN

It is no secret that sunflowers are my favorite.

I draw them all the time,  paint them on every available (or suitable) surface in my home. There are big sunflowers, little sunflowers, purchased sunflowers, latex sunflowers.  I paint and share out sunflowers at every opportunity to spread sunshine into the homes and lives of many.  How can  you not smile when  you see a sunflower?  Such happy flowers!

This week is no exception.  This tag is of course, a sunflower, hand drawn on vintage 1949 school book text with my trusty black Sakura Gelly Pen and colored with Caran d'Ache NeoColors II (a birthday gift from the husband, that I selected, ordered and paid for with his credit card!--he hates shopping) The flower was further embellished with Derwent Inktense blocks, both wet and dry and a touch of water soluble oil pastels.  The background was prepared with acrylic paint and Derwent Inktense blocks.  It measures about 4" x 8" and was hand cut from a manila file folder. The Haiku, which I love to compose, tells a brief little story about the sunflower.


During the hot summer months here in north Texas, there were many fields filled with giant sunflowers. I wanted to wander through all of them, seeing those bright faces and reliving some childhood fun.  But it seemed I was always in a hurry to get somewhere.  Next summer, I'm taking time to stop.

So enjoy my little ray of sunshine today.  I hope it brings you a smile too.  This one will be winging its way on Monday to a new home.

Stay artful!
~~Betty

I won!

Yes, you saw that right!  I was the winner of the Mixing It Up Every Day Blog Hop and the fantastic prize generously donated by Cottonwood Arts!  My prize package arrived this week and my fingers are just itching to play with all these new wonderful goodies, but most especially the journal notebook.  The notebook is constructed inside of illustration board, has a lovely weight and lays perfectly flat when opened, a big plus in my book!

Also included in my prize package was a nice sample pack, a set of Laminated Coldpress sheets, a set of 5x7" rounded corner coldpress sheets and a nice set of rounded corner art boards.  All are designed to use with wet or mixed media, so I am excited to play with every single bit of it.  Stay tuned for the creations!  My good karma aura is really shining right now!    And many thanks again to Sandee Setliff & Tamiko McCurry at Mixing It Up Every Day for a really fun blog hop, and to Cottonwood Arts for providing such a great prize!