Paints, Tissues and Sneezes

One of my favorites, I love the colors.  

I can't remember a time when the urge to PAINT has been this much of a pull.  Its been ages.

One of the last Christmas ones.

And even with me being sick this week, I've still managed to crawl into the studio and work on some canvases.

One of my favorite scriptures.  

Then, Sweet Hub got sick too.  And then really caused me to run and hide in the Studio.

Another of my favorite scriptures.

I'm still trying to find my style...and get what is in my head, onto the canvas.   Close, but no cigar, as they say,

I wanted this one to look like chalkboard, with just a hint of color.

Valentines is on my mind.  

This one turned out a little wonky, but one of my favorite JRR Tolkien quotes.

Another great scripture.

I love em all in a pile!

But I've taken almost all of the canvases down to work and they are selling.  Which just makes me happy.  One woman bought the one above, because she said it just made her smile.  I love that.

Speciality work always makes me nervous.

The guy at Valvoline, when he saw the canvases in my car, asked if I could paint one for his daughter.  I said sure...I worked her name into her favorite quote.  I loved the way it turned out.  He told me it was better than he expected.  LOL.

Sketch once, but check your spelling twice.  :)

Sometimes though, I have to re-check my spelling.  Oops!!!  I've put a few on my Etsy.  And it goes without saying all images copyright Cindy Mayfield.  Please do not use without permission.

Sneaking ahead and thinking of Valentines...

...yup, that is where my head is at.  I was playing with a pattern that I got when I took Sandra Feazel's class in Paper Cowgirl last February.  LOVE this little heart pocket.

Still Painting...

This is the second one.  And I like it even better than the first...its a little more quirky.

I think I'll just keep going.  :)  Maybe use some blue or something.

Allot like Christmas...

Hand-painted canvas for Christmas

I think it was last year or year before, that I spotted this wonderful canvas on Holly Mathis's blog.

Lindsay Letter's canvas in Holly Mathis's home

I nosed around a little and found it to be the work of Lindsay.  As in Lindsay Letters.  No shocker here that I am a huge fan of her work and have been for ages.

Christmas decor for this year

So when I stared pulling out the Christmas decor this week, I decided I wanted a clean, cottage, Christmas look.  Simple with lots of fresh greenery (we don't put up a tree).  Well, don't should read can't.  Naughty kitty in the house.

Anyway, long story short, above is my take on Lindsay's Silent Night Canvas.

Now, I'm on a canvas painting roll.  

And with me, once I start doing something, it becomes my new constant obsession.  LOL.  So now, painting and Mum making.  Kidding.  But I do enjoy the painting process again and above goes great with my new chair.  A chair that my friend Lisa was going to toss, my friend Mandy recovered and now the cats have taken it over.

New to me chair, holding one very naughty kitty.  

Which does indeed hold one said naughty kitty.  :)

I want my whole life to be like this!

This is just fun...

Open publication - Free publishing - More christmas

All cute and fun, with lots of cool writing.  :)

Rolodex Art, a work in progress

Trudging away on my little Rolodex Project, as inspiration hits!

A is for Alice, A Vintage Mum Project

My friend DeeDee threw down the creative gauntlet.  Her challenge, to create a "football" type mum that incorporates a vintage aspect or two.  Or more.  I accepted that challenge.  And here is what I created for my swap partner Brook.

For Halloween a few years ago, Brook's son went as the Mad Hatter, so I thought that she might be somewhat fond of Alice in Wonderland.  Since I had recently found a vintage copy of the book at an Estate Sale, that was what I decided to go with.  I love AIW as well, so this was allot of fun to create.

Using several of the books pen and ink images, I began to lay out the shape I wanted.  I knew I wanted to have white roses (that had been painted partially red, as Alice did in the book), rather than a mum.  I could not find the roses that I wanted, so I ended up using "soap roses" that I found at Dollar Tree.  With flat bottoms, they were easy to affix, and I just added some vintage velvet leaves.  I even included a paint brush with red paint on the brush end.  Alice at the top is affixed to the brush.

As the top began to take shape, with vintage playing cards, pages torn from the book and a letter "A" from tinsel, and characters from the book, the bottom streamers followed along.

I painted one streamer with red stripes and added a quote about painting the roses red.  I added a small Hatter hat (that had been a Christmas ornament), that I adorned with pink ribbon, a small feather, the tag that reads "in this style" and tiny hat pins.

I also made a streamer of playing cards.  Stamped a mylar streamer with the words, "though the looking glass".  I also created a streamer from punched hearts out of the book pages.

Details, I wanted loads of details.  On one streamer, I added a small vintage bottle and created the tag that read, "Drink Me".  After attaching it to the streamer, I added the description from the book of what the drink tasted like.

I even added a tiny tea cup, with a wee Hatter illustration.

I had orginally planned to stop at Alice and her paint brush.  But it felt like it needed more at the top, so I added the red heart doily, and then the book pages, then the cards and the rabbit...and it just kept...growing... larger.

And it was good that it did.  The top seemed to small and now its a good balance for the bottom.

Here it is, all in one piece.

Thanks DeeDee for hosting a great swap that was allot of fun to participate in.

Now, I've got to get decorating for Christmas!