A dress a day

Ever since reading the book Julia & Julia, I have been fascinated by this concept of creating something new everyday. It seems like such a huge commitment. Well I have found another wonderful creative person who is taking on this and creating a dress a day. She takes old dresses and makes them into these cute new ones. Her budget for this whole thing is $365. Follow her here http://newdressaday.wordpress.com/.

Another form of "destashing"

Many people talk about destashing. Usually it has do deal with supplies. Everyone has a pile of cute whatever, or something neat that they found, and it has been taking up space for a long time. Sometimes it just feels good to purge all those items and sell them, or give them away. But I was pondering the act of destashing my art. Finding new homes for my personal art collection. I have been a professional artist for about 13 years. And I have many art pieces that have had an emotional connection that I have kept and displayed throughout my home. Why not destash some of these and start over. Doesn't a bare wall just get the creative juices flowing. What about a bare room or even the whole house? Wouldn't that just start a frenzy of creativity. Why not let the past go and move on to a new a bright future with new and exciting artwork.

A Monday and I'm in a Treasury!!!

It has been a great weekend with rain and bouts of sunshine in-between. And today the sun is hopefully going to shine all day. It will be a great Monday, plus picotee on Etsy put my painting in a treasury! The treasury is called Turquoise dream and it has some beautiful jewelry pieces, and photos, purses and lots of other neat things. My painting is called "Spring in the Sandhills" and it is turquoise and red. Check it all out here and have a great Monday! http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4bf0fe9f15706d91ff15bbc7/turquoise-dream#4bf146444d168eef6ecc02ea

How to make hair jell

I read this article a while back about how most women are exposed to 70 different chemicals in the time it takes to take a shower and get ready for work in the morning. It talked about the chemicals in your shampoo, soap, hair products, makeup, nail polish and everything else we use. So that really got me thinking and I have been doing a lot of reasearch on using more natural products. In that reasearch, I found a cool recipe for hair jell. Take 1 T flaxseeds and add that to 1 cup of water. Bring that to a boil and then simmer for 10 minutes. Strain the flaxseeds out with a strainer and you have a jell that you can use on your hair. I also added a couple of drops of lemongrass essential oil. This should be kept in the refrigerator and will last for a couple of weeks.

Art prints

After much experimenting with inks and paper, I am happy to say that I have started my line of prints. My goal is to create some happy and uplifting paintings and turn them into prints and eventually greeting cards. I had some issues with finding the right paper. I wanted a beautiful acid free archival paper, but it was hard to find the right one. I finally settle on a canson and an epson. So in my spring celebration I now have three to offer on my website at http://www.mwestdesigns.etsy.com.

Spring in the Sandhills

I am desperate for Spring. It seems like it's been an extra cold and snowy winter. I know it's only February, but I can't wait for spring. In the Sandhills, spring just kinda jumps up on you. One day there's a late spring blizzard and the next day the sun comes out and the hills are so green that it almost hurts you eyes. Then the wildflowers start to bloom and spring is officially here. That is the inspiration for this painting. Come on spring, I know your just around the corner. Check out this painting on my webpage at http://www.mwestdesigns.etsy.com

Should have been a cowgirl Painting a day

I have been wanting to try portraits. I had this picture of my niece wearing a friends cowboy hat. It was so cute, so that is my painting for the day. After drawing it out with charcoal, I started with the background. Then I worked on the hat, face and body. I wanted to do the outlines and tried those in oil crayon but I just didn't have enough control. So I ended up just using paint. I think it turned out okay for my first try. I will definitely work on some more.