Prepping for The Summer of Color 4

I can believe that on Monday, The Summer of Color 4 hosted by the very talented Kristin at Twinkle, Twinkle is beginning! Seriously, the fourth year! I say that because first of all, it seems crazy that I have had a blog that long.

:)

So this weekend I am preparing for the color goodness to begin. If you don't know about the SOC, it is a free 6 week event where each week there is a fabulous color challenge. (Info about it RIGHT HERE) I was not sure how I wanted to complete each week's challenge. So I just started pulling out a couple different choices. I vowed to myself that I would not buy anything new to house all my creative play in. I had to use what I had!! 

Hmmmm...an altered book, chipboard mini album, loose watercolor paper, a spiral journal, junk journal. It took me a bit to finally decide and I can't promise that I won't change my mind either. Come back when SOC4 kicks off to see what I decided!! :)

Summer of Color is really fun and I have enjoyed the past 3 years.  Here are a few pictures from the past.

 Read about it HERE

Read about it HERE

Read about it HERE

These are just a few from The Summer of Color 2. The great thing about this event is that Kristin welcomes all kinds of creativity - mixed media, scrapbooking, card making, jewelry, ATCs, photography, art journaling... anything really!! Plus, a little added bonus - there are giveaways each week. It is going to be so ridiculously fun! COME join the COLOR FUN if you haven't already!  

Happy Creating!

Prayer Portrait - Sunday Mornings Class with Mindy Lacefield

This past Sunday I began a FREE class called Sunday Mornings with the amazing artist, Mindy Lacefield! It is a 5 week, christian focused art class she is giving on her ning site Tim's Sally. I can not tell you how perfect the timing is for this sweet offering. It's funny how God works like that! HE is always sneaking unexpected blessings into life...exactly when my feeble little heart needs it. :)

Perfectly timed, this past Sunday my pastor was talking about cherishing the "small things" in life. He was reminding us how easily we can become so focused on the next "big" thing, success, etc - eyes so fixated on the ten steps ahead rather than the present. We are all so busy, scheduled, moving from event to event, overwhelmed by TO DO lists - that right before our very own eyes...perfect, little cherish-able moments are missed or I think taken for granted. I know I have been guilty of that for sure. So I vowed right there in my seat to notice more actively all the blessings that rain upon me each day.   Large and tiny..... :)

So, that afternoon inspired by Mindy, my Creator, church, the other beautiful creatives sharing words & art in the class, and the knowledge of all the grace HE gives me...I painted a whimsical prayer portrait. 

It was so fun to paint with a process different than what I am used to. I usually use the shapes from the background to start my girls and then sketch them out. With this painting, I placed the face first by laying down some old book pages with Mod Podge. (Mindy used tissue paper) Then I just used paint to paint her face...no pencil! That was a little scary for me! It's all about trying new things and growth, right? :) I also used more pinks and blues in her face. SO fun!!

I love how she turned out! I am really looking forward to Mindy's next project coming up this Sunday. If you want to join Sunday Mornings come visit right HERE !

Happy Creating!!

Playing with Inspired Color Palettes

I don't know about you, but I am usually drawn to the same color palette. I can pretty much guarantee that my art work, journal pages, crafty projects, or scrapbook layouts will probably have a collection of colors like - aqua, yellow, gray and some pink. There is usually some shades of orange too. Not bright crazy colors...more pastel in flavor. That's it. That is my usual color combination.

So, the other day (while I was feeling adventurous) I was painting with my son and I decided to use the colors he chose for my art journal page. I didn't steer him toward the aquas (which I wanted to do, Ha!) and just let him pick away. His favorite color is red, so I knew there would be some unfamiliar painting colors for me. :)

It was such a wonderful creative release to just paint with whatever I had in front of me. The happy discovery of this little color adventure was that I realized that I really like adding dark navy blue to my pages! I hardly EVER grab for that color. It seems so dark. But I LOVED using it!  

I was thinking about some other fun ways to change up my usual color combos. Here is a small list of what I came up with....

• Blindly reach into your paint bin & pull out 5 colors
• Search for color palettes on Pinterest & work from the colors in one
• Visit one of your favorite home decor blogs or magazines and pull a color combination from a favorite room
• Try using a monochromatic selection with your favorite color
• Find a fabulous scrapbook page and use the colors as inspiration for a painting
• Ask each person in your family (or a group of friends) to give you one color. Put them together as one palette.
• When you are at the grocery store, snap a pic of a bouquet of flowers & use it to inspire you
• Do you have a favorite football or basketball team? Or maybe old school  colors? Use these colors to spark your color adventure! :)
• Come join the Summer of Color 4 at Twinkle Twinkle - It starts June 2nd! It is a free 6 week blog party full of color prompts. SO fun!

Another page started in an altered book with the colors from my sons palette.
White added by me. :)



GO ahead...go change up your color choices. You never know what you may discover. 
Happy Creating!!

A Whimsy Girl Mixed Media Mini Book

Oh, how I have missed painting whimsical mixed media girls! It has been months. Months! I was feeling super inspired after seeing so many lovely faces on my Instagram and Pinterest feeds (I have SO many artsy, creative friends) that I just needed to sit and paint.

I started painting and just couldn't stop. :) I guess that is what happens when inspiration hits. I decided that I would make a mini book filled with all the girls. I grabbed my bin of cut down pieces of thin cardboard from food boxes. Like I have mentioned before, I like to break down old food boxes like crackers, cereal, and pasta. I put them in a bin close to my studio table. I throw junk mail in there too. It is great for grabbing easily and painting on. 

To help my creative flow move along easily, I like to create several backgrounds all at once. I like to do this especially if I am making a mini book. I work on a bunch of backgrounds all at one time and then I can pull one out at any time to finish. I use the shapes in the backgrounds to inspire the figures I sketch out. It always amazes me to see the different pictures that can be found. 

Along with each mixed media girl, I am using a quote and adding it to the pages also. Happy words...inspiring words...positive phrases...scriptures - just whatever I am feeling at that moment.

I will be back soon when my mixed media mini book is all finished and show you how it turned out! If you want lots of little peeks along the way, please come follow me on Instagram @sadieinspired

Happy Creating!