Breast Cancer

As some of you know, my sister has been battling breast cancer since 2007. Two rounds of Chemo are over!! Radiation is over!! And FOUR surgeries later she has now joined "Team in Training" and will be doing a half marathon to raise money for other cancer victims. She is already able to walk/jog for 4 miles. I am so proud of her. She is exercising every day too with a pilates tape at home. Please consider giving a donation to her campaign this season. Large or small! You can do it online too.

I like this organization and its distribution of its funds. Most of the money raised goes to research and helping victims, which has led to many advances in fighting cancers and has prolonged the lives of many many people. Some organizations spend most of their money on administration and printing costs. So, Always check where your money will actually be going before donating to any organization. I recommend LLS as one of the good ones. Below is her letter to me: (Hopefully it will print this time.) Not gonna happen for some reason. Sorry about the repeats. But, please check out the link and consider giving to LLS for cancer research.

Hi Family and Friends,

I am a cancer survivor!!!   and I am raising funds for The Leukemia & Lymphoma

Society (LLS) as a participant in their Team In Training program and I'm asking

you to help by making an online donation to my fund raising campaign.

Please use the link in this email to donate online quickly and securely plus 

learn more about my progress.  You will receive a confirmation of your donation

by email.

Here is the link: http://pages.teamintraining.org/sj/sfhalf10/kbardv

Each donation helps accelerate finding a cure for leukemia, lymphoma and

myeloma. More than 823,000 Americans are battling these blood cancers right now.   

I am hoping that my participation in Team In Training will help bring them hope and

support.  On behalf of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, thank you very much for your

support.  I greatly appreciate your generosity.



Thank you,

Karen Bard

P.S. I would appreciate it if you would forward this email to as many people as

you can to encourage them to donate as well. Thanks again.

Win a $500 artists grant!!

I signed up for the 10,000 people project at Art House Co-op and this is my interpretation of the word "chair". Only about 1300 people have signed up for the project as of now and the deadline is Oct. 1st. They have a lot of projects going on over there and an art competition is coming up that will win someone a $500 artists grant. Who couldn't use that? Give it a look!!!!!!!1

Simple Studies for an art lesson

I thought I was figuring out how to load these images in the order I wanted them to appear in the blog. Oh well, better luck next time. I went to the beach last week with my painting pals and they asked me to show them how to use acrylics. So, the bottom two are from my lessons for them and the top two were done by Beth. Deb painted too and I'll load hers up later, since it takes so long for blogger to upload more than one painting and it is time to go to bed. Good night!

Did I tell you? I got a Digi Pro for my B-Day!

My son, Karl, bought me a DigiPro Tablet for my birthday earlier this month. I have enhanced photos with it and that is fun. But, above you can see I drew a mandala in my sketch book, scanned it and added color in gimp with the digi pro, the 3rd and 4th pics were drawn using the cordless pen that comes with the tablet. I'm just learning how to use it and have a lot to learn still. So this is beginner stuff you are seeing of course. It's a fun new hobby!!

Red Eyed Leaf Frog

I just scanned this in and had a little trouble because it is such a big drawing it wouldn't all fit on my scanner. So I have some dark corners to deal with. My reference was on an old calendar, I think the frogs are so cute!

Ruins ~ unfinished

Been drawing almost every day, but, not posting. So, I thought you may like to see what I have been working on lately. This one, "Ruins", was just hanging out in my head. Someone challenged me to draw something from my imagination instead of always having to see my reference materials and wala! I rather like it. Anyone else up for the challenge? If you try it too, let me know so I can take a peek! The rest of my drawings are from calendars or things I had laying around the house or outside. Will post more soon.
Have a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Levitate

The last canvas is finished and being shipped off to Art House Co-op in Atlanta, Ga. It came down to the last week and, with things coming up and going wrong, I'm so glad I finished the Canvas Project 2 in time.
This is #5 in a series of 3x3 canvases that I was given 5 words to interpret for a show and book that will be out sometime this year, I hope. You can read more in a previous post dated June 13th.

New Blog for Kid's Art

O.K. Yay!! I am finally getting started on the kids art blog. Since we will be putting our children's art up, I decided to call it "The Biggest Fridge in the World". Here is a link > thebiggestfridge . Please spread the word and help me garner interest. I love working with kids and getting their creative juices flowing. They are such important people. This Pencil drawing is by my son Cody. See more of his art when you connect to the link above.

Derail!

Here is the 4th in the series for Art House Co-op. #5 is almost finished and then they will be in the mail by Tuesday. The painting looks better in person, I didn't get a very good copy of this one. My scanner made a funny noise and I'm afraid to use it again until Frank, my husband, looks at it. 3X3 acrylic on wrap around canvas. If you scootch down real low in front of your monitor you may be able to see better color. Worked for me. (I'm imagining you all scootching now.) LOL
Hope everyone had a great day. Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there.

Art House Co-op Atlanta has a new project in the works.

The Sketchbook Project 4:

Rules and Info

• The goal of the project is to create a permanent collection of sketchbooks.
  
• The theme will be chosen out of a list of approximately 30 themes.
• After signing up, you will be sent a 5.25 x 8.25 in. Moleskine Cahier sketchbook. All of your work for the project must be completed in this sketchbook. The sketch book MUST be the same size when closed (5.25 x 8.25 in). When opened, they can be as big or as small as you want, but they must fold back into the same original size.
• Sketchbooks will not be for sale.
  

Details:

Entry fee is $18 for a United States shipping address and $21 if it is shipped over seas. The entry fee covers the sketchbook, shipping the sketchbook, each exhibition on the tour, and a spot in the permanent sketchbook library collection.

Everyone who sends their book back to them will be included in the collection and taken on tour.
Follow this link: Art House Co-op

Art House Co-op Atlanta, Georgia Airport Show

Orcas ~ 3x3 Acrylic

Shield ~ 3x3 Acrylic

Globe ~ 3x3 Acrylic

This is my favorite.

The Art House Co-op in Atlanta, Ga. has a sweet deal with the Atlanta Airport. They have lots of projects going. This is for the Canvas Project 2. They have given 1000 people 5 words as inspiration to paint onto 3x3 canvases to be displayed at the Airport (can be for sale) for one month. My words are Orcas, Shield, Globe, Levitate and Derail. I have finished these three so far and have levitate and derail to go. Oh, and at least one of my paintings will be published in an Art House Book! The link will of course lead to their site where you can click on "Projects", under the word "Opportunities" in the banner across the top. Give them a look, you may see something you want to participate in, it is open to all kinds of artists, and photographers and even object art.

Well, well, well, Dottie has given me an award. The Honest Scrap award requires that I tell ten honest things about myself. Oh my. First you can visit Dottie at this link: Holiday Floral Pieces < just click right there. Now here goes:
1. I am going to be 52 next month. :(
2. I'm not really that sad about it. As I get older I don't seem to care as much.
3. I've been married for almost 31 years. They haven't been the easiest years, but, I wouldn't trade them for anything. Not $ or fame or ? anything!
4. I have 5 kids. I wouldn't trade them for anything either.
5. I've had only three jobs outside the home. Held for a couple of years at most ( all together). I get to play a lot!
6. See that blurb under my profile pic that says my house is going downhill fast? yeah... true. That is why you haven't seen as much of me. Gotta get that under control.
7. The only reasons I am losing weight: A. High blood pressure prevents me from eating salty food. What do you get at fast food places or restaurants? I know what you're thinking ~ take your meds! We are trying all the different brands to find one that works. In the meantime..... B. I suddenly developed an allergy to SEAFOOD!!! I love seafood.... C. Lastly, Sugar now gives me Migraine Headaches!!! as does caffeine!! therefore chocolate is double trouble. :( But, I am 20 lbs. lighter.
8. I love people.
9. I love God.
10. I'm glad I was able to finish this list.

Now I pass this report on to 4 dear people that I would like to get to know better. Char, Deb, the Unruly Helpmeet (she is totally funny), and last but not least, Beth.

Back to work!

Hi Everyone,

I know this is old. But, I had to put something up on my blog. I have been out with back pain that has kept me from many things, but, worst of all my art. I started going back to the gym and swimming, and seeing a chiropractor. And, eating way better!!! I'm not 100% yet, but plan on it. Soon, I hope. I'm going to start painting again on Friday this week.




But, I did do another geofish. This is the second in a series. Number 3 is in process still. I hope this isn't too blurry. Did I display this one before? I don't think so. Anyway, Have a great day everyone!!

Congrats to Dottie, she is almost at 100 floral arrangements lovingly made by her own hands. And in celebration she wants to have a giveaway. Take a look at Dottie's blog entitled "Holiday Floral Pieces", enter her contest and cross your fingers!

Thanks Dottie for this "Friends" award. Dottie makes fabulous floral arrangements. If you don't have the knack, check her out at: Dottie

The following paragraph goes with this award .

The Karma Award: These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind of bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers.
Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly written text into the body of their award.
Well, what a great challenge for me ... I have chosen the following eight . Be sure and check them out... They are terrific !

Angeltreats
My Quirks and compass
Compelled to paint
Celio Arts
Fabio Cembranelli
Brazeausbest
Beth
Ooty

This is a journal entry from about a week or so ago. Having fun with a sharpie marker and then playing with shading in photo editor. Hope you like it.

My Wooden Mannequin

Just practicing drawing what is around me. I wasn't feeling so inspired lately and this turned out to be fun. They are modfied contour drawings of my wooden mannequin.

Well, this photo is a bit blurry but, it is a work in progress. The underpainting is acrylics and I wish I had been taking photos of the process. But, now I am using oils to fine tune it. And, some of the canvas is still showing, so it isn't completely under painted.
I need a faster camera or something, so I can take a good photo without a flash. Or, take it outside. But it was wet and I couldn't wait to show you.

How about a kids art blog.

What do you think of my hosting a blog or website just for kids to display their artwork? After seeing your comments on the previous post, Cody immediately got his drawing journal out to show me more work I could publish. Do any of you have kids who like to draw or paint? This way they could all check one site and make comments and see their art online.....Got any ideas? I took a quick check and didn't see anything like it. We could have challenges for them....Hmmmm.. just thinking.... could be a lot of work or none at all. If your kids think it's a good idea, send some pics my way to get started already.

Proud Mom shows off sons work!

Hey, I guess it runs in the family. My youngest son Cody did this in school. I'm extremely proud of course.

Do you know any aspiring illustrators? I found this great site for people who are, or, want to be publishing their illustrations. This site gets about 500 views a day, so you will get noticed, and Mike interviews working illustrators, and runs a bi-weekly challenge. This link will send you to Monday Artday's current challenge.

Old Oak Tree

This painting was done from photo's I took while on a hike with family in the South San Jose hills.
I scanned it and bits were cut off from the scan but you are seeing most of it.
Thank you Nancy Medina for giving me this art award! I'm honored to receive it from such a wonderful artist who has a huge passion for painting.

This award asks you to list seven things you are passionate about, and share the award with other passionate artist friends:

I am passionate about:
1. My husband, Frank
2. My 5 children
3. My friends
4. My faith
5. ART!!
6. Improving my art
7. Playing

I'd like to share this award with these wonderful artists. Please visit their sites and see what they have been up to. (But, the instructions don't specify how many artists to award) Soooo:

Barbra Joan - for her watercolors and pencil drawings that are amazing
Filomena - for her abstract art
Bonnie Lynn - for her love of sea life
Tracy Host - for her use of color
Y. Wang - for her still life paintings
Vermillion - for beautiful silk scarves
Susan Webb - for pushing the boundaries

En Plein Air

Grant Ranch - En Plein Air Painting with friends.
Julie, Aleena and I went hiking, took lots of photos
and had an artsy time. Even the kids had journals
to draw in and played with the pastels. Look at the shadows in the picture below.
We are going to do this again!!!

Art in the New Economy - an article for artists

ArtBusiness.com has free articles for artists and collectors that cover the whole business of art. They offer services and consulting too. Appraisals of your art is one of their services. I thought some of you may be interested in giving this site a look. There is so much info that I had to bookmark it so I can check back again and again. Just click on the link.

Here is a quote: "The upshot? You as an artist have to dedicate yourself to creating the absolute best art you can possibly create. You've got to look beyond yourself, think seriously about what you want to communicate and about how you intend to effectively get those points across, however arcane or concrete they may be. Work hard, work daily, be productive, embrace quality, and commit yourself to prevailing as an artist regardless of the adversity of the circumstances. By approaching your discipline with consummate dedication and seriousness, you maximize your chances for success. It's that simple and no more complicated."

Check out Nita Leland-teacher

http://nitaleland.blogspot.com/ Here is a great site and I like her "You tube" tutorials. I could not follow so I wanted a link that was easy to find. Check her out and scroll way down to find the video feed.

Playing with the horse

The first horse is the original. I played with the pic in Photo Bucket. The second horse was altered using the "tint" tool. The third, using the "color rotate" tool, the fourth using the "neon" tool, the fifth, using the "invert" tool and on the last one I added twists and a sticker. It was fun to play and it's a good way to learn a bit about shopping a photo.

I painted this so fast! I wish I had taken photos of the underpainting and then showed the glazing. It was fun to do and I lost all track of time. I'm editing the next picture of it so you can see the original straight on and also see some of the fun things you can do in photobucket.

Alum Rock Path

I edited Alum Rock Park Path using photobucket.com. It is a pretty cool free site. But I had a time getting it to upload from there to blogger, and had to save to my computer first then upload. But, Photobucket will resize, add text, squish and stretch and colorize etc. etc. If you don't have photo shop, try photo bucket.

Under the Sea

I think it is finished! I've said that before though. Let me know what you think. We'll see if I do anything else to this painting when I go to pick it up at the studio where I paint once a week with friends. I glazed over the entire background last week with Pthalo blue-green, (thinking it was too bright, therefore making it too close to the foreground). I think this set it back somewhat. I hope you get the feeling for the vastness of the sea. A little corner of this painting can be seen in my banner above.

Quotes I like!

John Updike said, "What art offers is a space - a certain breathing room for the spirit." Well spoken, and you can find more quotes at this link: Quotes for artists - I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I did. (I uploaded this photo from wikipedia.)

I painted this yesterday. I just had to do something with colors. I love bright color and bold design. I'm going to continue working on some more like this during the week. It is an 8x10 acrylic on canvas board. I usually paint in oils every Friday. So during the week I will draw, doodle, paint in watercolor and acrylic. I'm trying to find "me" when I step out and do something like this.

Hot Air Balloon Rides

As promised. No water in sight. 24x36 Oil on Canvas. (The whole painting isn't shown here.) Reminds me of Morgan Hill, Ca.

nick harvey

http://www.art-by-nick-harvey.blogspot.com/
If you like poetry and art check out nick harvey.

From Within

I'm seeing a watery trend lately. I'm going to have to upload some other type of scene next. My daughter goes to the British Virgin Islands once or twice a year. She took a wonderful photo from her sail boat of a cave. This is how I envision how it may have looked from within looking out.

Double Falls

I love hiking around Yosemite. This painting reminds me of time I've spent there. I did this one in the 90's. It was a class painting. 18x24 Oil on stretched canvas. We just followed along with the teacher. No two paintings were alike ever, we all went our own way. Our teacher, Dale Momii, didn't want to control us that way. We picked our own colors and added this or that. It was the most fun class. I made several lifetime friends and am still painting with two of them weekly. Check out Dale's website, I linked it to his name above.

Abalone Shell Inspiration

This is pretty close to an actual scene I can see in a piece of abalone jewelry my husband bought me on our anniversary. Painted in acrylic on an 11x14 wrap around 1 1/4 in. thick canvas. The piece of abalone shell on my bracelet is only about a half inch round inlay, in silver.

Sea Turtle

I can't believe it's been almost 3 years since I painted this one. I'm thinking of adding a turtle to my undersea painting that is in my banner above. Your are only seeing a small corner of it there. I hope you like it. I don't think I'm not putting the paint on thick enough. You can see canvas threads here. It's a 9x12 oil on stretched canvas.

An Award!!!

My blog was picked for The Fabulous Blog Award . Thank you Barbra Joan for considering me for this award!!!

The rules for the Fabulous Blog Award are:
You must pass it on to 5 other fabulous bloggers in a post receiving this award.
You must include the person giving you the award and link it back to them.
List 5 of your Fab Addictions in your post
Copy and Paste the rules in the post.

My 5 Fabulous Addictions are:
1 . Friends
2. Lately I've been playing a lot of Harvest Moon on the D.S.
3. My kids, there are 5 of them, so I have to be addicted right?
4. Art Supplies
5. Taking pictures of trees and skies.

Now I nominate the next 5 blogs, for this award because I think they're fab.
1. http://delgrandedesigns.blogspot.com/
2. Daily Painter
3. http://celioarts.blogspot.com/
4. http://art-hearts-place.blogspot.com/
5. http://brazeausbest.blogspot.com/

It was hard to choose because there are so many great blogs out there. Congrats to the winners . To put your award on your blog.. right click on the award picture...and save to your desktop. Then upload to your blog entry.

This is a line drawing I did in my art journal. I love drawing eyes and doodling. This poem has been running around inside my head too, and I thought they went well together.
The reason for the poem: One day I was struggling with my attitude and in blaming God for my situation, I realized it was Him that I was angry with and I decided to tell Him so. Then, it felt as if He put an arm around me and said, "I can understand why you feel that way." What a sense of being understood instead of judged for my feelings.

The Wig Shop Challenge

Done!!

This is my entry for the DSFDF challenge. I finally finished it. Everything that could go wrong did yesterday. The transmission went out, the dvd quit working, my roommate needed to go to emergency and I had to borrow a car to take her. We were there by 9am and left at 3:15pm. I had to leave her alone periodically to take kids to and from school and work, but, yay I am getting it in on time.

DSFDF stands for Different Strokes From Different Folks. Karin puts a new challenge out to her viewers bi-weekly. 'This painting was done from a photograph she provided on the blog that the artist is supposed to interpret. Go see all the other results.

Wooo Hooo!!!

Wooo Hooo!

Look what I did! I added a slide show. They are free. Just click on the smilebox icon. It's not my undersea painting.. but that one isn't finished yet. Try it!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

I'm sorry, some of you haven't heard from me in awhile because the post comments issue has not been resolved. I'm not the only one experiencing the prompt to type in a captcha, but it never loads and you can't make comments on some sites because of this. It seems that sites that require a captcha are the affected ones. but, not all of them as I am able to post comments on others. The captcha is the required letters you have to type to leave a comment on some sites that want further safeguards from spammers, and automated comments.

Under the Sea

I thought I'd show you this undersea painting that I am working on (in stages). Unfortunately I made that decision in the second stage. But, this is pretty basic. You can see I started with a many shades of blue background. Then greens in the mid-ground. Keep watching, there is more to come.

The Room

The Quilt

This is the purchased quilt. A very nice couple asked me to stencil these cute animals around the room of their soon to arrive daughter. I had to make my own stencils with supplies from Michael's, I made several before we found the right size. The results can be viewed above. By the way, their daughter arrived safely and is beautiful!

A Blog Hop!! adventure

I just joined a "crop stop blog hop". it sounds like fun. It is one of the blogs I am following. Give it a try. The directions are on their site of what to do and I think someone wins a prize at the end of the game.

Art Journals - gotta love 'em.

http://milliande.typepad.com/milliande_visually_witnes/2009/01/-take-a-closer-peek-fellow-art-journalers.html
Copy and paste this for a peek at many art journalers, extraoridnare!

I wanted to do this portrait last year, but I was so nervous. I didn't think I could do it. I didn't want to ruin a good canvas, so I used a canvas board. I thought that if I don't do well it won't matter. Freeing myself up like that enabled me to attack the canvas without a care and what I received in return was freedom to try painting whatever I want. Say, "shoo!" to the inner critic, paint on newspaper or anything that will let you be free to be yourself, try anything and everything. I want to give a special thanks to Carol at Art Muse Dogs for the reminder to let your inner child come out and play.

Here's an oldy. I saw a photo a lot like this in a magazine and this is my rendition, painted in o4, I think.
I could spend all day on blogspot looking at everyone's site and uploading images. There is a cool art journaling site that I found. Soon i'll put a link to it up for you all. It is very cool.