spring!!

spring has sprung...............finally
today was a glorious day
i spent 6 hours digging in the dirt
and i loved it

shellin' out

my friend karen, the queen of jewelry making

gave me some irregular pearls

not knowing what to do with them i put them away

until now.............

which lead me on the hunt for more



i never knew there was some many to choose from
i love a various shapes and sizes
they work well with pearls and shells
and with my wire shapes

weekend in the country

happy easter

blogoversary

today i am celebrating my third year of blogging
i can't imagine not having this outlet

(i love looking back and seeing my art life )
---------

it has been wonderful
"meeting" so many talented people
sharing ideas and art
and being inspired by it all
i greatly appreciate every ones
comments and encouragement
and would like to say
" thank-you "
sincerely, nancy

remembering paris

it was this time last year i was "stuck" in paris

due to the volcano eruption !!!!
my friend carmi has been posting all last week

from this years trip

(i'm saving my vacation days for next year)
which has made me wish i was there again

so i looked through my photos

(over 5500 and made a collage of my favorite)

see more on my flickr page

fun with flowers

while i'm waiting for things to grow in the garden

i've been working on organizing some photos

these ones i took last month at canada blooms garden show

above melted records

using easels and vents interesting color combo

the butterfly project

last fall i found the butterfly project

at two dress studio

( i sent 3 )

trudy is collecting handmade butterflies

for the hollocaust museum in houston

so far she has collected 183 from all over

in many styles of mixed media

----

as i was preparing for my classes next month

i started to play with the butterfly designs

to see how they can be twisted in wire

and came up with three more (seen above)

i love how these new ones came out!!

mixed minded

coming soon!!!

mixed minded

this week i will be working on my jewelry projects

remaking samples, packaging kits and taking notes

i will be teaching 2 classes

one wire and beaded pendent and celtic twist

-------

next week i'll work on my encaustic lessons

april is a promise that may is bound to keep

~Hal Borland

dreaming of spring

as i'm clearing away the winter debris

i can see signs of spring

iris', lilies, chives are all 3 inches

as well as the tulips and daffodilsabove, a photo i took in class on sunday

a clipping mask from shadow house and

my photo touched up in ps

the top photo is the finished project using the "screen" blending mode

encaustic class

it's been 5 weeks since my last encaustic class

(i took this last semester off )

once a month heather has a 6 hour sunday class

i gives you lots of time to get something finished

(or close to it) after choosing the rusted lock and key

heather suggest i work with beeswax

i used 4 boards, 2 upside down

and different thickness

here i add a piece of lace i found at the flea market

one of my photos some coffee and sesame seeds to add some texture

and some handmade paper to line the canvas

old paper for the background and oil paint to highlight the texture

street grunge project

lately, as the snow has melted

it has revealed some interesting grunge

which i love

i'm always looking for texture to photograph

they add wonderful interest to any photo

even a simple tree

one thing i always notice is telephone poles

this one caught my eye

i played with the hue/saturation and cropped it

after trying it "on" several photos and

playing with all the different blending modes

i used the "difference" for the above tree

and "vivid light" for the photo below

like marie says

where layers count

sometimes less is more