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I haven’t had much time to paint or work on many of the projects that I would like to, these days.  I am playing with photography and digital enhancements, and having a blast with it.   I may even get some quality prints made to add to my SHOP.  I have always wanted to get a program or camara, that would take or enhance pictures, BUT I’m a starving artist, SO when I found some free apps on my smartphone, I was happy.

2012… we welcome you!

Merry Christmas from the Lesebergs!

I haven’t had muchtime to paint,  just for the true fun of  it for a couple months.  The Lord is good, always, and today was no exception.  There was nowhere to go, no pressing appointments, we finished homeschooling (somewhat), and the baby was just down for her nap….. TIME to PAINT! 

It’s hard to paint at night all the time, every week, for me these days, because I get up so early to run/workout.  I WANT to paint everyday…. everyday.  Plus just doing this whole “thing” alone for a year takes it out of me quickly before the week is up.  Anyway, if the mood strikes, and the kids are happy or napping, then I love to plunge right into paints and papers and stamps and stencils.  Ahhhhh…..

The above photo I took with my phone, which turned out a bit nicer then the one below with my camara, BUT the lighting is nicht gut in this house, especially after the sun goes down, and I will always and forever say it’s wicked hard to take good pictures of your art!  I mean a great picture, where you can see the real colors, and get the gist of the piece.   The colors look more like the phone/camara picture then this one:

I had a lot of fun playing around with this piece, and I’m not quite done yet.  I still want to fiddle with her eyes, and hair, and maybe add a flower or some other doodles.  I think every once in awhile, I just need to play.   To read a few art books, doodle a bit, slap some colors down, and then pull it all together, whatever has influenced the creative flow from day or week, and get it all out on canvas.

A few weeks ago a friend on facebook contacted me about painting some trees for her.   She had a color theme picked out, and a general idea about what she wanted the piece as a whole to look like.  For the most part she let me do my thing with the piece.  I don’t know about you, but sometimes it’s hard to really get into something when there’s a limit, or specific parameters put on your creativity.   Maybe it had more to do with the fact that I was still getting back into our daily routine with household and Homeschooling obligations, OR that I really pushed myself with a full week of activities last week,  OR maybe because I was also working on silhouette  for my daughters tumbling class.   It took me longer than I thought it would to finish these trees….
I went in and originally drew them onto the black gessoed and white gessoed boards with a sharpie marker but then ended up painting over that too much and getting crazy looking branches and funny looking trunks, so I had to re-paint the background in the black side pieces, and just play more with the look of trees.   I know they look simple because they’re just outlines of trees really, but it’s tougher than you think to make it look like a twisty tree as a silhouette.   And to make it look like a SHERI tree as well.  This project actually challenged more than I originally thought it would and I’m uber pleased with the outcome.   They look AWESOME together! 

The holy grail is to spend less time making the picture than it takes people to look at it. ~ BANKSY

A couple years ago I made a wall calendar from one those little roll-up calendars they pass out at Christmastime from a Chinese restaurant we frequented often in Speicher,  Germany.   I had a blast making it, and I have two more calendars that could be made just for YOU!
Any designs,  colors, or layouts you prefer, or you can let my imagination run wild and I can surprise you with one.   I’m charging 15$ TOTAL with free shipping. 
This would also make an awesome stocking stuffer…
So comment here or on facebook if your interested.  

This is part of a tryptich I’m working for a commision from a friend.  This will be on the side of a larger middle piece, and the other side will be exactly like this one.  I can’t wait to finish it just to see the final effect. 

I’m also working on a Star Wars themed piece for my just turned 5yr old.  He loves Darth Vadar. 

I’ve also been having a blast with my smart phone app, and taking a ton of pretty pictures, and totally messing around with them.

This is a pic my oldest took of me , and then I manipulated it with the app. 

Ive put a few of my latest things Ive been playing with on my phone on THIS PAGE HERE…. it’s time to freshen this old bloggy blog up.  I am going to try to be a little more active here… and also on FACEBOOK.  You can scoot right on over there and LIKE my page …. if you want to….

I saw this BLOG POST today

I think THIS CHICK rocks

Joined THIS GROUP recently

and I’ll leave ya with a cool little ditty

My hubby got this shot of some sheep grazing in the countryside, and I , of course, wanted to try and capture it in paint! 

I LOVE how they just glow in the sunlight.  My hubby loves this little painting so we’re keeping it, BUT his critique (he’s my first critiquer everytime) was that I didn’t stick to the details of the photo , and add in the spraypaint on their little backs.  Whaddya think?  I wasn’t really going for a copy of the original picture, but I can see how it might have looked pretty cool to have the spraypaint.  Different….

Going to the beach!  I will share some WIP later tonight.