Love One Another

This angel painting was created for my sister, Kathleen. She asked if maybe I had a painting sitting around she could put up in the office at her new job. Since I give the pieces away, I didn’t have one on a back shelf, but I offered to make one for her.

Her next question: could I do an angel painting of her dog, Stella? Hmm. I suggested I could try including Stella, but wanted to incorporate a guide as well.

I used this picture of Stella after a rainy hike for inspiration.

The simplest, most basic mantra “Love One Another,” is a good reminder to everyone these days.

As usual, it is a mixed media piece with collage, paint, rubber stamping and oil pastels.

I love all the layers and texture.

I’m also really pleased how the angel wings create the look of a wing on Stella.

I think I would be comforted if a guide or angel made herself known to me and she was carrying a puppy.

Coming soon: a blue haired angel. Or maybe she’s a mermaid…

Thanks for the visit!

Here’s a bonus Stella picture, from her puppyhood.

 

 

You Are Awesome!

My 2017 Valentine’s were inspired by this patchwork wall in Kelly Rae Robert’s new home studio.

Of course I was working on a much smaller scale. Instead of cutting, scoring and folding card stock for my mini cards, I bought place cards from the Paper Source.  To fit in small glassine envelopes, I cut 1/4 inch off each card to reduce it from 3.5 x 2.5 inches, to 3.25 to 2.5 inches.

I love how intricate they look. I create them by the page, then cut them into smaller sizes to layer onto the card fronts.  Cover a sheet of plain copy paper with adhesive (I like Tombow adhesive) and start building up your patchwork.

Cover the whole page, going off the edges.

Trim the edges evenly, then cut into the size needed for the cards. In this case, I cut then into 3 inch by 2.25 inches and used some vertically, and some horizontally.

These pictures show the page, above, as I trimmed it to smaller sizes, embellished the pieces and glued them onto little cards.

I enjoy uses as much of the page as possible, piecing together almost every scrap.

Look in front of these finished cards to see the tiny bit left over from one 8.5 x 11 sheet of copy paper, covered with patchwork and cut into pieces.

I used gold trimmed Christmas cards and glittery calendar pages for some of the punched heart embellishments. It makes me happy to reuse paper ephemera and give it new life.

The greeting inside is created with a rubber stamp from Oh, Hello Friend:

You are Awesome, Loved, Wonderful, Beautiful & Adored!

A good thing for everyone to hear every once in awhile.

I was watching a Kelly Rae Roberts video while I stamped Valentine’s.

After I sign the inside and put my initials on the back, each one goes into a little glassine envelope. It looks a lot like wax paper – kind of glossy and transparent at the same time. I stamp the front and use washi tape on the back. I like how the colorful cards looks in the translucent envelopes.

Here they are spread out:

…and stacked up.

Wishing you all lots of love.

Speaking of love, this is the sign I made and carried when I participated with my sisters and nieces, in the rain, at the San Francisco Woman’s March last month:

Thanks for stopping by.