Getting creative with paint on Halloween

From costumes to door decorations paint is the simplest and cheapest way to get some great effects!

A little facepaint and a skillful hand can turn a cute costume into a WOW costume!
I love this costume that my son wore when he was four. Holding his sweet little face in my hand, while I painting his whiskers and stripes, is a memory that I will cherish forever:)



But the kiddos are getting older and not as eager to have me paint their faces anymore:(

This year I painted a door decor. This was a quick and inexpensive way to add a little creepiness to the festivities this evening.

For this project all I needed (were things I already had)

Roll of white craft paper
Black craft paint
Some old brushes
Tape
A spooky picture for inspiration
About one hour of time
A black light


This picture served as inspiration



With properly placed positive and negative space and a few painting techniques, dry brush and texture rubbing, here is the finish painting.



I will hang this painting on the outside of my front door this evening with a black light replacing the porch light. Hopefully it will give the effect that I'm looking for. A little ghostly spirit to greet our trick or treaters!

This is day two of SITS (the greatest blog on the web)giveaway contest!

Happy Halloween! I hope you get lots of treats!

It's getting spooky around here!

This is a repeat performance of last year's post. This happened one year ago today! This story has become legend in our humble little house.
(Actually, SITS, the blog with the besting blogging tips ;)is having an incredible giveaway and part of the rules to enter is to post about a past Halloween:)) I really really really want to win this giveaway, pretty please.

Ok, so here's the story...and I'm sticking to it!

I was standing in my kitchen thinking of what to make for dinner tonight, when a cool breeze swept through the room. It gave me goosebumps and made the hairs on my arm stand up.

Lucy started barking in the direction of the sink as she darted from side to side. It was as if she was seeing something that I could not.



The next thing I knew, Lucy ran into the living room and came back into the kitchen, with the strap of my camera dangling from her mouth, camera attached. I took the camera from between her teeth and looked in the direction she was barking. She continued to bark at the sink. It seemed as if she was telling me to take a picture of that area of the room.

The air still had an eerie chill. Due to Lucy's insistence, I snapped one picture of my kitchen sink and cabinets. Looking at the camera screen, I detected a shadowy figure but it was too small to make out what it might be. I quickly uploaded it to my computer for a closer look.


I could not believe my eyes!

It was the ghost of Chucky standing right there in my kitchen!




The chill has since left the room. What was he doing there? What did he want? I hope he doesn't come back tomorrow night looking for dinner...

Happy Halloween!!

Imagine what spirits I could capture with my new camera if I win the giveaway?!

And the winner is...

Chosen by random.org

Sara from

Congratulations!
All you have to do is email your address to me and tell me which framed 8"x10" chalkboard you would like from my etsy shop

I apologize for the delay
Have a great day!

MIA

Working, volunteering, going to school, running a business and being a mom can sometimes get a little hectic!

I have a giveaway winner to announce (will be back shortly to do that)

I the meantime here is a project that I have been working on for my illustrator class. The assignment was to make a logo gel button with your initials.
Here it is


This is my original logo and design! I'm happy with how it turned out!:) What do you think?

I'll be back this afternoon to announce my chalkboard giveaway winner. Time to run some errands before the day gets away from me...

How to relax...

Pick up a pen or pencil, grab a piece of paper and draw (doodle).

Read more about this doodle at Doodle it up!


I took some fun pictures with the inspiration for my 30 minute doodle. LUCY!
Here's one:


Looking at this picture and the quality of my pencil sketch it brings to mind the artist M.C. Escher (I am in no way comparing myself)
This is one of his masterful works


I may use the photo above of Lucy, the chalkboard and the sketch as a reference for a future drawing. If I give it a try, I'll post my result here.

Isn't it funny how one little sketch can trigger a series of thoughts and actions.

AND it can still be relaxing!

It's Sunday! I hope you're relaxing!

Make a Wish!

I can go on and on but really you're just too awesome for words!
Take a good look, this may be our president in 40 years!

Some songs just make you feel good...

Love this song. It just has that uplifting quality that instantly lifts your spirits!



Have a happy week!
It goes so fast!

How to figure out what you were meant to do...

Try everything!

In my case, when I was going to college (about twenty years ago) I changed my major every semester until the last year, when I finally declared Fine Art as my major.
Then, with degree in hand, I went out to the real world and worked several odd jobs until deciding it was time to go back to school and get my degree in Education.
With two degrees in hand, I got a job as a high school art teacher. Then came marriage, then came baby, then move to a different state, and start over.
A mural business was the perfect fit. Be your own boss, paint on walls, big and collaborate with clients to realize a vision and exceed expectations.
Paint what you want abstract, minis, sell online. That was fun! I plan on returning to that at some point. (As soon as I find a place to paint again)
With no space to paint computers seems the perfect creative outlet. Back to school to study digital media. I'm on my third and fourth courses now and loving it!
With each course I take I learn a new program and different applications and uses for these programs. I have learned photo montaging, photo restoration, and applications for each in photoshop. I have entered the world of 3-D animation in Maya 2008. And currently, I'm working with Adobe illustrator.
Through the variety of projects that I am assigned to do , I'm learning what I like and what I don't like to do.

Here's a project that I'm currently working on:


The left side is a photo of a computer card and the right side is my illustration. It's a great lesson for learning the program but if I did this for a living I'm not sure how long I'd be living!
Here's a close up of my illustration and some of the details...


tedious work. But I'm sure it moves quicker the better you know the program.

So, try everything to learn what you do like and what you don't like!

I've decided to put together a new blog with just my digital media work.



My DIGITAL MEDIA ART PORTFOLIO

I will continue to take course and document my progress, assess my likes and dislikes and possibly enter the digital media art world!