Five Paintings and Quotes about Flowers

I did five of these together and LOVE them.  I am posting them here, each with a quote about flowers.  May they bring you JOY!

Posies I
Acrylic / Mixed Media
8 1/2" x 11"
by Cheryl Harris White
$40.00

I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers. --Claude Monet

Posies II
Acrylic / Mixed Media
8 1/2" x 11"
by Cheryl Harris White
$40.00


Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them. -- A. A. Milne

Posies III
Acrylic / Mixed Media
8 1/2" x 11"
by Cheryl Harris White
$40.00


The earth laughs in flowers.  -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Posies IV
Acrylic / Mixed Media
8 1/2" x 11"
by Cheryl Harris White
$40.00
There are always flowers for those who want to see them.  -- Henri Matisse

Posies V
Acrylic / Mixed Media
8 1/2" x 11"
by Cheryl Harris White
$40.00


"And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin,"  Matthew 6:28

Posey Tree

I loved making this one.  Everything I learned  by making the small previous pieces in the last 3 posts, went into this one.  Some of the materials I used were painted papers and hymn book pages, jagged scissors, acrylic paint, gel medium, black liquid acrylic, mixed media adhesive, clear acrylic sealer and sponges and brushes.  I'll be doing some more like this.

Posey Tree
by Cheryl Harris White
Acrylic Collage On Canvas
12" x 36"

Rythem of Life Series - Joy

This was just an experiment really.  I liked the idea of flowers, symbolizing joy, growing out of an old boot.  Sometimes life gives us an old boot, and it is an effort to plant seeds of joy. . . but once we do, the joy grows.  Happy sowing!

JOY
Mixed Media
by Cheryl Harris White
81/2" x 11"

Rythem of Life Series - Peace

Here is another one I tried the same way.  Layers with washes of color built up on top of each other.  I call this one Peace.  If you look closely there are pages from the hymnal on the bottom layer.  

PEACE
by Cheryl Harris White
Mixed Media
81/2" x 11"

Rhythm of Life Series, Dream

I have been experimenting with different papers and how they absorb  diluted washes of paint.  I found that an old hymnal I found had thick pages that were very thirsty and just absorbed the rich colors very well, but didn't fall apart and get soggy.  I must admit, I hesitated at tearing up the hymnal.  It had been on a shelf for years and no one ever used it.  I went ahead and used it though, because at least now, the words from the songs are on display in some really bright pieces of art.  It is definitely getting more attention now than it did collecting dust.  I created several of these and call them my Rhythm of Life Series.

DREAM
Mixed Media
by Cheryl Harris White
8 1/2' x 11"

How to make your own Hand Made Art Journal

3 pages folded and sewn together.
Do this 5 times to create 5 booklets.

Book Supplies: 
*15 pages of heavy water color paper cut or folded and torn to 9" by 11" dimensions 
( fold them in half to create the shape of a book 4 1/2" by 5 1/2 " and put them in groups of 3)

5 booklets taped together to form
one art journal book.  You are ready
to make the cover!

 * Waxed linen thread and a needle (Use the     needle and thread to sew them together at        the fold to create 5 little booklets)
 * Binding tape (Slip the tape through the           thread on the outside spine of each booklet     and hold them all together.

Adhesive Canvas
can be found at art supply
stores in many sized.   For
this project, use 11" x 14 "

Cover Supplies:
*1 adhesive backed piece of canvas 
size 11" by 14" 
* Water colors ( or other paint )
* Brushes
* Masking fluid (optional)
* Stencils ( used these to plan my designs
but they are optional.)
* Ruler (before you paint the canvas, 
use the ruler to mark off where the binding,
the front cover and the back cover will be.)

Paint your canvas with whatever paint
you like.  I used some masking fluid,
water color crayon and markers for mine.
Notice that there is extra room on the top
and bottom edges that will not show.  It
will get folded over when you cover
the book.

* Scissors
* Sharpies

Finished Art Journal!

Once the cover is dry and your
booklets are sewn and taped together;
simply cover the book.
Use scissors to trim corners.

  

Thinking Pink Art Journal Page

Thinking PINK

 "Almost all words do have color, and nothing is more pleasant than to utter a pink word and see someone's eyes light up and know it is a pink word for him or her too." --Gladys Taber.

Since this blog is a celebration of color, light and life, the idea of a color belonging to a word or words was interesting to me.  It caused me to make a list of pink words. I began with the obvious ones to get rolling; lipstick, bubble gum, cotton candy, blush, roses and lips. Then I branched out a bit, which worked much better.  My top PINK words were; Joy, Lily, Sensing, Intuition, Inspired, Beauty and Lovely.  So share a PINK word with someone you love today and have beautiful, inspired day.  

Thinking Pink Art Journal Page
by Cheryl Harris White
Mixed Media

Poppies Art Journal Page

These pale poppies are so soft looking.  They are another example of a happy accident.  I put three blots of red paint on the page and closed the journal.  The result kind of reminded me of a row of poppies.  So I dropped a green drop of diluted acrylic paint at the base of each splotch and turned my journal upright.  Gravity did the rest.  All that was left was some outlining with a pen.

Poppies Art Journal Page
by Cheryl Harris White
Mixed Media

Art Is My Passion

True art is characterized by an irresistible urge in the creative artist.  --Albert Einstein

I loved putting this quote on this page because when I created this background, I was just playing with liquid acrylic paints and inks and nothing was intentional.  The drops of color are actually from drops of rubbing alcohol that bled through from the next page.  I was in a zone, creating as many backgrounds as fast as possible.  I found this image of a girl exercising and painted over her.  I chose her for her PASSION. She seems so intentional and focused. So when the pages dried, I added my focused, intentional, disciplined, passionate girl onto this happy accident of a page.

Art Is My Passion Journal Page
by Cheryl Harris White
Mixed Media

Java Mama, Cup of Joe

Here is another page I finished at the art journaling workshop at Misty Oliver Foster's Art Studio in Frisco last weekend.  I loved this old fashioned pair of ladies sipping coffee from their dainty china cups and silver tea service.  They seem so far removed from our current coffee shop culture; where we get to decide between Venti, Grand or Tall sizes of Mocha's, Frappes, Frappuccinos, Macchiato's, Latte's, Iced Coffee's and more.  Not to mention the choices of cream, soy, whip and other flavors.  The image of these two gals chatting over plain black coffee reminds me of a simpler time.  They are the focus of the page and to make them stand out, I painted over their images in grey tones, and used black and white pen to outline them. This contrast from the green page with red accents is what makes these two Java Mama's stand out and be noticed.

Java Mama, Cup of Joe
Art Journal Page
by Cheryl Harris White
Mixed Media

Be, Live, Bloom

Last weekend I went to an art journaling workshop at Misty Oliver Foster's Art Studio in Frisco.  She is a very talented artist as well as an excellent teacher.  I highly recommend taking her workshops if you ever have an opportunity to do so and included a link to her site above.  Check her out.

Below is one example of an art journal page I completed while I was there.  I included a quote I just love from Charles Dickens as well... " Nature gives to every time and season some beauties of it's own."  I loved this because even though there were seasons of my childhood when I DID NOT believe red hair and freckles were beautiful, that all eventually changed.  As I grew, I realized that not only is it beautiful, it's what makes me shine.  That's what made me bloom.

Be, Live, Bloom
Art Journal Page
by Cheryl Harris White
Mixed Media

Art At The Speed of Life Lesson 25

In Lesson 25 in Pam Carrker's book  Creating Art At The Speed of Life, we are challenged to create  tag using the artistic component of LINE.  I love lines, so this was a favorite of mine.  Lines connect objects and give our eye a path to follow as it explores the page.  We were to create a tag using our own signature or initials. If you look closely you can see mine  C H W.  I liked using my lines to also create some figures of people.  You have to look closely to see them, but there are 4 of them.  3 of them have blue and green heads and being connected with the main lines in the composition symbolizing their close relationship with each other.  One of them is purple and red in the lower corner and disconnected from the others and almost turned inside out, alone.  The line simply comes onto the page and travels back off again with out connecting with the others.

CHW
Art Journal Page
by Cheryl Harris White
Mixed Media