Spring is Here!

Good morning, good morning!  Spring is finally here!  Everything is in glorious bloom (almost everything).  It is still very chilly and we are having our share of rain, hail and bits of snow but the sun is starting to win out over it.

It has put me in the best mood and I have decided to go forward with my plans for my organic garden.  It's all very exciting for me even tho it will be a ton of work.  I had a landscape contractor meet with me yesterday to give me some pointers and to help me realize this dream.  It will be a small garden but for me it is a huge step in furthering my dream.

The biggest excitement of all is the new barn like art studio I am having built next to the garden.  I have already been flea market shopping to find fun things for this project that aren't expensive.  My budget is pretty tight so I scoop up inexpensive vintage finds when I can.  The pickings are pretty slim here but that's o.k. I have a lot of junk already, lol!

As I work on redesigning this blog, I will share progress reports and of course, new art.  For my art offering this blog post, here is a photo of my mixed media garden girlie I have framed for my studio wall.  She's 11 x 14 inches and I think I used a bit of everything in my studio supplies to create her.

I started with 300 lb. watercolor HP paper and collaged the background with bits of decorative papers, acrylic paint and gesso.  I did her face in color pencil and her hair in watercolor pencil.  Her dress is scrapbook paper, the collar is a paper lace doily and she has a fabric flower at her throat.

Well I'm off to fill my hanging basket by my front door with red geraniums.  I hope they will be hardy enough to last through the next few Spring storms.

Enjoy your Spring arting and maybe add a bit of dirt to the paint under your nails! (We will be twins!)

Forever in art,

Jessi

Longing For Spring

As I sit in my studio looking out at the gray landscape I can't help longing for Spring.  Spring with her bright new cheerful colors and fresh promises of sunny days is all I can envision as I continue to work on my Garden Girl journal.

Here is my offering from the journal for this weeks post...

Not sure sure why my camera doesn't pick up the true colors in this spread.  The background should be a beautiful soft aqua and the faces not so gray.  Might be the fact that Spring is not really here yet and there is no sun or warmer light when I take these photos.

I did the faces first in colored pencil and watercolor pencil.  Then I collaged the dresses and flowers on, worked over them in colored pencil and then gessoed the background and used a bit of acrylic layering over that.  The spread is 12 x 18 inches.

Hope you enjoy my touch of an early Spring!

Forever in art,

Jessi