A little Birdie told me SATURDAY MARKET is coming up December 3rd,

These feathered friends are ready for Saturday Market. 

December 3rd @ 1021 Bolivar in Denton!  9AM to 4PM

Come by and say hello.  We will have adorable vintage restored furniture, art work, gifts and festive wreaths for sale.  Come by and find that one of a kind Perfect Christmas gift.

 Vintage Farmhouse  Furniture,  Art and rain don't  mix, so our Saturday Market has been cancelled. We hope to see you at our Spring Market. Have a blessed Christmas.

4 " x 4" song birds, framed

Birds On A Wire

30" x 10"

Inspired from

Ephesians 4:3 Let Peace keep you together.

Mixed collage, framed

, 

Polka dot Posies

12" x 24" 

Acrylic Collage on canvas 

Perky, Sassy, Herkimer and Chester

These four roosters are ready for the Saturday Market  coming up December 3rd.

1021 Bolivar st. in Denton from 9AM to 4PM.  Come meet them and take one home with you.

$75.00 each, acrylic collage on canvas, 12" square.

Left to right : Perky, Herkimer, Chester and Sassy

Update:  Perky sold today, so just 3 are left folks.

Girl In Red Dress on La Rambla

I went to Spain once.  I loved the culture, the people and the paella! I came back with a paella pan, which is awesome by the way, and a lot of photos. My husband and I soaked in a lot of culture, art, architecture and history while we were  there, but my favorite days were when we walked down La Rambla.  The leaves on the trees danced with the pale blue sky and their shadows on the patterned walk way below and washed everything in shady, sparkling, dappled light.  My favorite spot for people watching and my inspiration for the oil painting posted here; Girl In Red Dress on La Rambla

Girl In Red Dress on La Rambla by Cheryl Harris White

Oil on canvas

24" X 36"
$300.00

Trees Of The Field

This is a new piece done with India ink. I loved how the trees look like they are singing joyfully. They are all lined up, as if they are playing follow the leader and dancing. As I was working on this, a song I haven't sung since I was a teen at First United Methodist Church of Carrollton kept running through my memory.  It was called TREES OF THE FIELD and here is just 1 verse of the Lyrics..

You shall go out with joy

And be let forth with peace,

And the mountains and the hills

Will break forth before you

There'll be shouts of joy

And all the trees of the fields

Will clap, will clap their hands

Trees Of The Field
by Cheryl Harris White
India Ink on Canvas Paper, Framed
12" x 48"
$250.00

New York City Collage

This one was for my daughter Courtney.  She has been to New York several times and LOVES Broadway.  Some of the scraps from theater flyers and maps from her trips were used in this collage as well as magazine articles and paper scraps.  Combining them with the paint really captures the excitement of the city.  More like this to come. Enjoy!

New York City
by Cheryl Harris White
Acrylic Collage on Canvas
24" x 36"

Spontaneous Trees I and II on display now at the MCL Grand in Lewisville

Theses two bright square paintings were a successful experiment I did with india inks. The tree shapes and blue background were done by covering the canvas with water and india inks and allowing them to become whatever shapes they wanted.  After it was dry, I saw trees... and developed their forms with acrylic paint.  I like the abstract look of the branches and trunks in front of the tree shape instead of up inside the trees, partially hidden.  They are the star of the show.  These are currently on display in the the north wind of the MCL Grand in Lewisville.  Enjoy!

Spontaneous Trees II
by Cheryl Harris White
Acrylic and India Ink
20" x 20"
$150.00

Spontaneous Trees I
by Cheryl Harris White
Acrylic and India Ink
20" x 20"
$150.00

Easter Crosses, Glorious Reminders of Life and Love

Easter to me is the most precious day of the year. It’s the day the first believers discovered the tomb was empty, after Jesus had suffered and died on the cross and had been put inside it three days earlier.  Easter is a day to thank God, who had enough love for us to allow his son to be executed to cover our sins.  It was the only price great enough to allow us, imperfect people to connect with God, Holy, Perfect, Loving, All Knowing God.  Depending on the pain and experiences humans have had during their trek through life here on earth, the cross can symbolize different things, some of them negative, especially if one only knows part of the story.  I know the end of the story.  The same resurrection power that raised Christ from the depths of the tomb  is waiting for me when my journey here on earth ends.  So, to me, the cross is not a symbol of death or pain, it is a glorious reminder of life and love.  I celebrate that here with these colorful Easter crosses.   

Acrylic Collage Easter Crosses
Various sizes, between 8" and 16" tall

“God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 NASB

 The crosses are all made of wood.  To make them I painted the back's black and on some of them had to attach a nail hanger.  The fronts are done with a collage of actual dried acrylic paint that I peeled off my palates and saved.  The palate paint would have other wise just been thrown away and wasted, but instead, I have given it new life.  I used Mixed Media adhesive as the medium which is very messy, but the end result is a smooth shiney finish that really makes the colors pop.  Enjoy!

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

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

Celebrating my blog birthday! Lesson 23 Art At The Speed of Life

Today is my blog's THIRD birthday.  February 11th! Still exploring the art element of form, Lesson 23 is called Make Your Mark.  Pam Carriker's book Creating Art At the Speed of Life gave us a chance to look back on previous art pages for marks, doodles, patterns used frequently.  I used a February Calendar page and set aside 2/11/13 to wish Paint On My Walls a Happy Birthday.  All the other squares are filled with line patterns.  I really enjoyed combining zen tangle patterns with color .  This was a very relaxing page and one of the most enjoyable so far.

Happy Third Birthday Paint On My Walls 2/11/14
Make Your Mark Journal Page
by Cheryl Harris White
Mixed Media

Art At The Speed of Life Lesson 22

Lesson 22 from Pam Carriker's book was an exercise in form to create a mask.  I loved creating the greyish pale face on the opposite page representing my somber self.  On my face are cool tones and collage images and dots.  The message on the face reminds me the beginning is always today.  This face is confronting real life.  The mask shows the dreamy, hopeful, life giving self, nurturing my soul with love and hope.  I liked the happy yellow and green color palate and whimsical collage and stamping elements.

Un-Masked
Art Journal page
by Cheryl Harris White
Mixed Media

Art At The Speed Of Life Lesson 20

In Pam Carriker's book Creating Art At The Speed Of Life Lesson 20, the goal was to create a page with cubist style shapes.  I chose to use hands as in her example but to assign each of the three hands to represent people in relationship with me.  Mine is the yellow hand, my mom was the orange hand and my daughter was the green hand.  I loved using washes of water color on already printed papers and then layering diluted paint on top to create the forms on this page.

I remember my mom's hands and the things they made.  She painted with watercolor.  She sewed doll clothes.  She quilted.  She made curtains.  She created the most amazing birthday parties for us growing up.  She used her hands well...  A gift I want to pass on to my daughter and those I love.  I create with my hands and it impacts the world around me.  With my hands, I leave my mark.

I Remember My Mom's Hands
Art Journal Page
by Cheryl Harris White
Mixed Media

Art At The Speed Of Life Lesson 19

From Pam Carriker's book Creating Art At The Speed Of Life Lesson 19

The goal in this exercise was to bury and then unearth words through layers of collage.  I chose text from an add about paint colors.  All the words were describing vivid colors and the emotions they evoke.  Then, using layers of diluted acrylic paint, and pencil and ink, I created forms from the scraps of text.  The gray color palate reminded me of depression and the way it buried the colors that were originally there.  It was like a slow painful death of emotion, color, light and life.  I titled this journal page, "Searching".  There were a few color words that still showed clearly through the layers of mist and I highlighted them.  When I look at this page, it makes me thankful that I have gone through depression, because on the other side of that experience all the colors are even more vivid and alive than before.

Searching
Art Journal Page
by Cheryl Harris White
Mixed Media

Art At The Speed of Life Lesson 16

Positively Negative was the title of Lesson 16 in Creating Art At The Speed of Life by Pam Carriker.  I created an original drawing of a face on two colors of paper I painted myself and cut them out.  Using positive and negative space added so much interest to the design and takes your eyes on a dance around the page.

Positively Negative Art Journal Page
by Cheryl Harris White
Mixed Media

Art At The Speed of Life Lesson 15

Arcimboldo-Style Self-Portrait

I LOVED this exercise. I included images from art and history to compose my self portrait.  I call it my Art Queen Arcimboldo-Style Self-Portrait.  I found a flower scrap that said "She most heartily enjoyed pursuing life" and thought it appropriate.  Then I thought about the times in the past when I most thoroughly enjoyed life, and it always involved some application of creativity.  Next I created an explosion of art and art supplies bursting forth from my head like ideas just popping out all over the page.  I used magazine scraps of a quilt for the hair and some of the other accents.  My favorite thing about this page is my crown. A crown for an Art Queen.

Art Queen Arcimboldo-Style
Self-Portrait
by Cheryl Harris White
Art Journal Page
Mixed Media

Art At The Speed of Life Lesson 13

Open Windows symbolize an openness in relationships to me.  This is a strong theme in all of my art and very important.  The shutters on the window actually open all the way up to show the art on the page behind it. Come back tomorrow and you shall see what it is.

Open Up Window
Art Journal Page
by Cheryl Harris White
Mixed Media

Art At The Speed of Life Lesson 10

Faux-toshop Collage Lesson 10 in Pam Carriker's Art At the Speed Of Life.  I substituted a photo I altered of my original Prodigal painting.  The background was done with washes and layers of diluted acrylic paint.  I found an interesting quote that seemed appropriate for the beginning of a new year.

Make no small plans, they will have no power to move men's souls and hearts. 

Unless our proposals are bold, they will be ineffective.  -Elton Trueblood

Faux-toshop Collage
Art Journal Page
by Cheryl Harris White