Friday, December 23, 2011

Second Glances - more insomnia

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Second Glance - Digital Illustration 8 x 8 inches
Copyright 2011 TwoDressesStudio
All Rights Reserved
Image Credits thanks to Finecrafted Designs,
Art by January, Tumble Fish Studio, Lorie Davison and
Holliewood Studios
 

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

....couldn't sleep

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inSOMNIa - digital collage
Copyright 2011 TwoDressesStudio
All Rights Reserved
Image Credits - Holliewood Studios "Birds and The Bees" 
plus other images from the public domain

Monday, December 19, 2011

The pressure is on

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to get this finished before Dec 24.  I am feeling it - even though it is all self-imposed.  I keep trying out different excuses in my mind as I paint, reasons to delay it so I don't have to hurry through.  Being a beginner at painting is really rearing it's ugly head and I haven't any techniques to draw upon apart from some of the You Tube videos I've watched.  If anyone out there has taken an on-line acrylic painting course (preferably portraits as opposed to landscape) I would love to hear from you!  I am also open to any suggestions!
Arrrgggggg....I think I need to take a chill pill.  I swear I've worn out my husband asking him to tell me what's right and wrong.  Damn insecurity.   If I were the type of person to be more gentle on myself, I'd give myself a pat on the back for getting over the dreaded fear of a paint brush that has plagued me for 3 decades.  Oh, I know, everything WILL be OK.  :0) 

Day 13 - work in progress
Study of Richard Phillip's "Scout" - 40x30 inches acrylic on wrapped canvas
Copyright 2011 TwoDressesStudio
All Rights Reserved
Progress Snapshots

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Min's Christmas Cut

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Min, Mini and Mindi (just don't call her late for supper) is our 6 year old Yorkshire Terrier. She weighs about 6 pounds - a good size for her breed.  She has never had her hair cut quite so short, so when I see her, it's a double take!  Especially how much bigger her ears look!

Friday, December 16, 2011

Swan Correspondence - digital meanderings

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Swan I - digital illustration
Copyright 2011 TwoDressesStudio
All Rights Reserved
Image Credits - Tumble Fish Studio, Holliewood Studios




Swan II digital illustration 
Copyright 2011 TwoDressesStudio
All Rights Reserved 
Image Credits: Holliewood Studios and Finecrafted Designs

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

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"Dear God, Please send to me the spirit of Your peace. Then send, dear Lord, the spirit of peace from me to all the world. "                                                                                        - Marianne Williamson



Peace - digital illustration
Copyright 2011 TwoDressesStudio
All Rights Reserved
Image Credits - Tumble Fish Studio and Holliewood Studios

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Oh My Gothic 4 x 4 Squares - Month 8

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Working ahead of schedule on one of the collaborative projects I participate in, for January, it was my turn to create something for Leslie. She'd requested among other objects, eyes, vintage, clocks  and maps as some of her favorite images. 

I snapped several macro shots as well as added this new fabric collage to the ones I've completed and sent forward so far.

Thanks for your comments and visit - with two weeks to go before December 25th I'm sure everyone reading has a long list of things to do right now!











4x4 Fabric "Crazy Collage" - for Leslie January 2012
Most images from Tumble Fish Studio and map circles from Tangie Baxter




June to January 4 x 4's

Thursday, December 08, 2011

Work in Progress - Sunlight and Textures

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 Update 2 Day 11 - still working on the face......




Today the sunlight really captured the textures of an acrylic painting  I  have been working on  as a Christmas gift for my daughter Jill.  It is a study of a painting by Robert Phillips called "Scout" (see last photo below).  My daughter saw it on the set of  "Gossip Girls" and asked me if I would paint it for her.

I am about 60% done and am working on it for an hour or so a day, hoping that amount of time will allow me to finish it in time for December 25th.






















 Work in Progress - Study of Richard Phillip's painting "Scout" 
 40 x 30 inches acrylic on wrapped canvas
Copyright TwoDressesStudio 2011
All Rights Reserved




Above are photos of the work-in-progress, from top left down and then up again. Similar to looking at your work in a mirror, it's helpful to see a photograph for me to determine where I'm going wrong...or right.  I'm continually surprised at how the photographs change depending on the time of day, whether or not I've used a flash, sunshine as well as incandescent lighting in the evening shots.


Here's the photograph I am working from (it's also shown above as the last lower photo on the right in the series above as a reference) - 

Original - "Scout" -Richard Phillips


 Photo from the set of Gossip Girls - Original Painting "Scout" by Richard  Phillips



Wednesday, November 30, 2011

I am so behind.... FREE download and link to great swap!

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To those of you waiting to see your butterflies posted, I apologize.   I have taken on a couple more projects than I should have and the deadlines are echooing in stacatto in my mind!

To assuage my own guilt, please feel free to grab this little 3.5 x 5 inch recipe card for Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti.

 Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti 3.5 x 5 inch recipe card
Image Credits:  Tumble Fish Studio, Clementine Designs,
Holliewood Studios, Finecrafted Design


 Instructions:

Right click (rick clight is what I initially typed) See! I've lost it!  Then choose SAVE As.   When you go to print it out, select PRINT AT EXACT Size.  Once printed, just fold it in half, glue, and trim edges. Hope you enjoy it!

And if you are interested in participating in a holiday recipe card swap like this - following this link for more details and Join US!

Here's the info in case you have trouble with the link - 

 Image Credits - Tumble Fish Studio


Saturday, November 19, 2011

The beauty of pollination

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Wednesday, November 16, 2011

New 4 x 4 Square Finished and Update on Butterfly Effect

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Update on Butterfly Effect - I am scrambling to find the owner of four beautiful butterflies that arrived recently as well as photographing new arrivals that seem to fly in almost every other day!  I should have everything up to date, uploaded and  ready to post again by this weekend, fingers crossed.  I'm delighted this project, after 15 months continues to reach so many kind and giving souls!  Thanks so much.  I am guessing before taking a final tally, we may have reach 400!

Below is my latest 4 x 4 fabric page, this month for Lenna in sunny Florida!  Ironically, her page for me arrived yesterday as I was just starting the sewing, beading and embroidery for her.   Lenna also sent an extraordinary and very original butterfly that I photographed today and will include in the update mentioned above.   Thanks Lenna!





















Front


Back


Image Credits with thanks to:
Tumble Fish Studio
Finecrafted Design
Art by January



Monday, November 14, 2011

New Inspiration

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I found a new digital collage artist I love on Flickr - Marcel Lisboa  (Brazil) - these are inspired by his work.









 

Image Credits - Tumble Fish Studio (Freestyle 2), Tangie Baxter - Mona,
Holliewood Studios

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Sunday's Musings.....

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Working on these little 4 x 4 cloth squares is effortless.  The size lends themselves to working on them in the evening if I am watching a favorite TV program, (like The Good Wife??? anyone else a Good Wife fan??)  or just relaxing with my DH. As a result, I'm ahead of schedule again, and will be finishing this for Karen Owen probably sometime this evening, even though it's not due until November 30th. 

This one has some embroidering left to join the front and back together along with a few finishing touches around the face...






little bits of tatting, some opalescent clear beads,  and some transluscent colorful stretchy netting I used to embellish the wing.....






still some work to do (as you can see) in and around the face and within some of the tatting...the yellow tatting was meant to look like the end of her sleeve...maybe with a few revisions it will!

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Front 4 x 4 - Aviana for Karen (work in progress!)


For this particular project, we are not required to finish the backs of these pieces, but to me, it's not finished unless the back is...I just don't spend as much time on it...
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Back 4 x 4 - Aviana for Karen



and finally,  the low resolution digital version that I decided to add to my Etsy shop.  I've been drawn to paler hues and pastels lately, such delicate feminine tones..


Avianna - 8 x 8 inch digital collage
Copyright 2011 TwoDressesStudio
All Rights Reserved
Image Credits - Holliewood Studios, 
Iktupilli and Made to be Unique (hummingbirds and birdhouse)
Filters - Totally Wild Dezinez
Available on Etsy here

I hope Karen will like it.  She does lovely collage work - her gallery is here I've been adding beautiful lavender I purchased from Salt Spring Island months and months ago with the intention of creating some little sachets.  If you've ever wanted to purchase bulk lavender, check it out here

Thanks for visiting.

Update - finally done!