Thanks to the Men & Women that have served!!!

and continue to serve the FREEDOM afforded us in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!!
Planning on enjoying some friends and family over the extra day off!!!  Our flag is flying proudly!!

For Sunday Sketches I came across an old (1990) sketchbook I had from a community education drawing class...I have had no time to do anything this past week.  I have decided I need to refocus and reorganize (maybe just keep organized) my artroom...back to calling it that...studio gives me too much credit for what I should have and don't have going on in this room!!! Choas pretty much just choas - not alot of art!!! So while cleaning I flipped through my books!  This just makes me smile and isn't that what this weekend is about...WE in this country can smile and should MORE OFTEN.

Thanks to Sophia for hosting - and all the artists that contribute, my apologizes for not getting around promptly!  If you have a few extra minutes... you have to check out Pat and Ann's work from the Every Day in May challenge...great stuff, wish I was that disciplined and ORGANIZED to have participated!

cheers, have a safe and happy holiday where ever you are!!!!
dana

p.s. will be spending some time on the new bike this weekend too!!!

HAPPY PAINT PARTY FRIDAY!!!!

Here is my faux pointillism - inspired by EVA and Nicola at Pointy Pix!!!  Eva has taken on a pointillism project and I just couldn't imagine trying it...but did...let me tell you - yikes!  I literally had to use my left hand to hold my right hand back from just coloring in my sketch!!!  Making those dots - millions of tiny dots is just like me trying to hold a yoga pose and breath!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I appreciate the art done like this all the more.  The work that Nicola does at Pointy Pix is INCREDIBLE!!!!  She has a portrait of her dog that I can't imagine doing - seriously incredible.
Anyways, back to my Paint Party Friday post - yard sunshine - done in faux pointillism!!!!

 Thanks to Eva and Kristin for hosting our Friday fun at Paint Party Friday!  I do get around to check out all the great art but it takes me all week and then it's time to start again!

cheers, dana
make art, make friends - share art, share souls!!!
art & content copy right dana strickland, sinderella studio design

THE WEDDING WAS ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL...

Ben, Chelsea, Landon and Nolan

The rain held off but it was a chilly breezy 55ish... still just beautiful.  The bride, the groom all the kids...tear,tear, tear!!!! Happy happy happy!!!

Alot of the guests didn't get it that they were supposed to stamp the tree but many did.  The bride and groom absolutely loved it!!!  I am honored that the bride's mom had the confidence in me to do it!

So, please allow me to share the tree again... the after wedding version for Sunday Sketches!  Thanks everyone for indulging my son's wedding weekend.  It was soooooooooooo moving!  I am lucky to have two wonderful sons' that have taken amazing women as their soulmates!  Also, giving me incredible grandkids.  As, well as Mark's daughter and her husband - a wonderful couple with our other two grandkids - WE ARE SOOOOOOOO BLESSED!!!

The Wasson Wedding Tree May 14th, 2011

mother son dance, Ben chose Wonderful World by Louie Armstrong

My baby....

cheers, dana

it is STILL friday...although kind of late...

Well tomorrow my baby boy gets married!  Rehersal dinner was great... we were all sweating as it was in the mid-80's...outdoor ceremony.  Guess what, tomorrow's forecast is a high of 58 and rainy... please everyone chant for rain after 5 pm.  Ceremony is at 3pm. 

The setting is beautiful and everyone is all so grown up.  I love watching my youngest with his brother and all his cousins' in the wedding party.  They have all grown up together and are best friends... does it get any better.  All the little ones look adoreable and yes, I have my kleenex ready - a gift to me from the mother of the bride.

I just can't wait for tomorrow when everyone is all decked out... the bride and her girls will be goregous because they always are!  And, the men....so handsome...the little guys in tuxedo's!  Seriously fantastic!  I love being a mom and grandma!!!!

I so planned on showing my painting on the hand made paper but it won't be seen until tomorrow - the morning of the wedding so, I will be posting this to Friday's Paint Party super early Saturday morning!  Just want to make sure no one sees it before it gets to the wedding site.  Yes, I am sure they have more important things to do than follow my blog right now, BUT you never know.
Thanks to Kristin and Eva for hosting Paint Party Friday!!!

Okay, it is after midnight, I think everyone has other things going on besides this....



 The mother of the bride asked me to do a painting... Chelsea (bride to be) had seen a print of a tree you could order framed. Then you have the wedding guest  stamp their fingerprints as leaves and blossoms. Her mom thought it would be more meaning ful if I painted it! Yikes, are you kidding me!

So, here it is before going to the framers. Carved in the tree are the bride and groom's names. The date of the wedding and the initials of their two boys!!!

Each guest will be asked to stamp their finger in either blossom pink or spring leaf green to add growth to the wedding tree.  Their is one print already on it as Mark's daughter is leaving for Brazil for 9 weeks and will miss the wedding.  I will post again on Sunday Sketches the tree after the wedding!!!  I hope they like it!

Have a great weekend...see you Sunday!
cheers, dana

all art and works copyright dana strickland, sinderella studio design 2011

Wedding Week...

So, I have been unable to keep up with the Artful Diva journaling a painting/sketch a day for May following the prompt word....But I have been able to keep up with checking on her keeping up with the daily challenge.  Great fun following her month!  Check her out!
This is the weekend of my son's wedding - so I plan on getting back to more attention to my art when this weekend is over...THE BIG NEWS ON THE ART FRONT IS THAT OUR TEAM HAS BEEN ACCEPTED TO PARTICIPATE IN SCRAPFEST 2011!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Happy happy - OMG omg!!! now what?????  Hope you follow our progress as I post.... It all begins June 11th with a frantic run through a scrapyard for one hour for our materials for the build... I have never done metal - scultping - welding - not sure how this all came together but our leader is confident!!!!!!!!!!!  Thank God someone is!!!!

Trying to sift through some projects as I have plans for my first spring/summer Artists' by the lake show coming up shortly after ScrapFest 2011 so...  as you know I struggle with value and this painting I did last year...but lacks value/deepth...I have decided to add to it next week...we'll see what happens.

I know that I am supposed to work with the paint and let it dry before moving onto the next step BUT am the most impatient person soooooooooooo don't do real well with that step.  As I worked on my all important project with the handmade paper I shared with you - I had to do alittle at a time...yes, I had to let the paint dry before moving onto my next tiny space on the paper...it was a great lesson for me!  I am proud of how the piece came out - no, not a masterpiece by degreed professional artists' but for me... a true accomplishment.  I didn't sit down and try to do the whole thing in one sitting.... it took me a couple weeks inbetween work and all to actually finish it - as simple as it is... I will be sharing at this weeks
Paint Party Friday.  It is a gift to my son and his wife to be!

Happy Wednesday...make art, make friends - share art, share souls!!!
cheers, dana

all artwork copyright 2011 dana strickland, sinderella studio designs

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY...

To my mom, a profound thank you for teaching me it is okay to be different!  For encouraging me to be all that I dreamt of...for showing me how to step outside the box!!!  My mom is my biggest fan of anything I do.  If I show her artwork - she always loves it!  If I say I want to fly - she tells me I can!  She is a woman of courage - even though she shudders on the inside - she walks tall and is an inspiration to any that met her!

me and my mom at last years Artists' by the Lake show!

to me my mom preaches Merry Everyday so is the inspiration for this painting which I put as the cover to her calendar I did for 2011!!!

my mom at 6 years old

SOOOOOOOOOOOO HAPPY MOTHERS DAY...to my other mom's.... Aunt Carol, Aunt Myrna, Aunt Norma, Sandy and to my daughter in law Becky mom of 3 of our grandchildren!  Chelsea, daughter in law to be next weekend mom to 2 of our grandchildren and Mark's daughter Jen - mom of 2 of our grandchildren.  I must say that these 3 girls are mom's to be admired.  I am so proud to know them and have them in my life!

cheers!  enjoy your day ladies! (sharing with Sunday Sketches - thanks to Sophia for hosting)
dana

p.s. supposed to be 68 here today...yep a Harley day!!!!  love my new bike!

a LATE paint party friday post... it's already Saturday...

and my journal page is of Cinco de Mayo... it is now Siete de Mayo... oh well

just trying to do something everyday...I feel like I should only be posting masterpieces but trying to keep up daily that just doesn't happen in my world - keep in mind I use the term "masterpiece" ever so loosely!!!
Anyways - in the neighborhood... we live by a lake and geese / ducks are yakking all the time.  The last week every morning I am hearing this chaotic honking... like what is a goose in trouble... are they having a fly in ??? So going out to my car to go to work the honking starts and I look up at my neighbors house to see the TWO geese that are making all the noise each day...

These two put a smile on my face each morning as I leave... so honk honk everyone!!! Happy Paint Party Friday a day late!  Thanks Kristin and Eva!!!
cheers, dana

Wednesday works...

Trying to keep art in the forefront in everyday craziness... so Pat at The Artful Diva is doing a great challenge!  Everyday in May there is a prompt and you create - she has put together a beautiful sketchbook for her participation in the challenge.  I am not up to the official commitment so am being a wimp and following her along as I can.  The first of May was soap and the 2nd was plug... as I am actually trying to complete a sketchbook too, I am putting what I do for this into my moleskin.  With the help from another blog inspiration, Deanna a blog friend from Sunday Sketches - I purchased a super cheap set of pan paint watercolors - she is right - they are so easy to use - so I CAN DO SOME QUICK watercolor work!!!  Thanks Deanna!

MAKE ART,  MAKE FRIENDS - SHARE ART, SHARE SOULS!!!!
Thanks Ladys'
cheers, dana 

Sunday Sketches...In Orb-it!!!

As my busy world is spinning, so much going on!  Work is busy, babysat last night and that was busy!  Nothing like a seven year old and 3 year old to keep you hopping - great fun!  Grandpa, Jackson and Neva!

 
Wedding only 2 weeks away - Mothers Day in-between...yikes!  So to sooth my soul I did a journal page in soft blues - layered watercolor spheres/orbs...it was a glazing exercise in one of my books.  As I looked at the page I felt like getting inside one of the orbs and just traveling around viewing everything from an outside perspective... taking in all that life has to offer... so many smiles!


In Orb-it

 Used my sharpie fine point markers to color in the butterfly!  I love these markers for quick fun.  No fuss- no mess, so can get my art-fix quick!   My special project is at the framers...can't wait to share soon.

Make art, make friends - share art, share souls!!!  thanks to Sophia for sharing this site each Sunday...Sunday Sketches
cheers, dana

all works on this site copyright 2011 dana strickland