Hope

Mixed Media 5 x 8
Words added digitally

Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul,

And sings the tune without the words,

And never stops at all …

Emily Dickinson

Happy New Year!

Red Tulip

ACEO: Red Tulip
natureswalkstudio.com

Red Tulip! An original ACEO textured painting celebrating spring. 

My tulips are not blooming yet, however their leaves are beginning to appear and I'm dreaming of warmer weather. Come on Spring, kick into gear! :)

And if you're in Western Washington, the annual Skagit Valley Tulip Festival goes through the month April. We usually make a days excursion of driving by the fields to view the tulips and daffodils, and also the art shows that are held during the festival. One of these years I'll have art on display at one of them. :) 

Sharing with Paint Party Friday, hosted by Eva and Kristin.

Stay Warm!

Sunflower Whimsey Mixed Media
6 x 8 canvas panel

In this cold winter weather, I'm thinking fondly of warm weather and summer flowers. 

Stay Warm, everyone! 

Love Heart

Love Heart - 3 x 3 miniature canvas

Love Heart - Mixed Media Miniature Painting new in my Etsy Shop

A bit on 30 Paintings in 30 Days. I over estimated my ability to get paintings done while traveling. Which isn't a surprise. :) However, I may be able to 30 paintings in 45 days. *she says hopefully* 

Once I get home and am able to actually finish what I have started. We'll see. 

Sharing today with the folks at Paint Party Friday, hosted by Kristin and Eva. 

Box Journaling

I'm in the midst of Box Journaling with Carla Sonheim, and don't want to give away all the class secrets, but here's a bit of how I've started.

These are the selection of boxes I narrowed down to consider.

My first box is the tall tea box... I started by peeling off the label, sanding and adding a layer of gesso. At this stage I was not  yet sure where it was going.... 

And these are a few treasures I'll include in one of the boxes, little memories from a nice day wandering the beach with my husband. 

More to this story tomorrow. 

And the greatest of these...

I worked on a spread for our local altered book exchange this past week. It's our last one and while part of me is sad it's ending, a bigger part is relieved. Even though I enjoyed working in all the books, it was becoming a burden to do them while my creative energy is so low. This took me a week! I'd paint a layer and go to work, add some ink and go visit my son in the hospital, another layer and off to work again. :)

Here is the spread: 

 The theme of the book is "All you need is Love"

Various layers of paint, stenciling, paint, inks, with heart ribbons, layered hearts, sticker letters and felt hearts, pitt pen and sparkly gel pen. It was fun, however long it took me to finish. ;)

And while I wasn't able to attend our local art group on Sunday, I did send some tiny valentine tags to share with the artsy ladies. 

Joining today with Clytie at Random Hearts for  Guest Heart Thursday

Also sharing with Paint Party Friday, hosted by Eva and Kristin

HuMp DaY Haiku - Love in Mind

Thinking back a bit...

memories of a special gift

made with love in mind.

There are some gifts I make that hold special meaning. This was part of a prayer flag for a friend going through a difficult period, and it was indeed a labor of love. I so enjoyed the process. I need to create my own Love prayer flag... it's time.

A year or so ago, I started doing Hump Day Haiku with Carla Sonheim's Silly classes and decided as a challenge for myself, I'd continue. I have found that creating a haiku (non rhyming poem with 5 - 7 - 5 syllables per line) feeds my soul. I especially like creating them to go with my photos and art. 

Would you like to share a haiku you have written? 

You may include a haiku in the comments, OR you may copy your blog post url (featuring a haiku) and add a link to your blog using Mr. Linky. And consider visiting other contributors blogs to see what they've created and say hello. 

Grow Your Blog Party!

Welcome to Natures Walk Studio! This post is part of the Grow Your Blog Event, hosted by Vicki at 2 Bags Full. 

Admiring the view at Artist Point near Mt. Baker, Washington.

For new visitors, I'd like to share a bit about myself. My name is Helen, and I am a nature loving mixed media artist and photographer living in the beautiful northwest corner of Washington State, in the United States of America. 

Enjoying nature in our little motor home

I was blessed to find the love of my life 20-ish years ago; a true soul mate. We are both are nature lovers, and quite serious about reducing, reusing, recycling, up-cycling, AND growing our gardens. Native plants have taken over our "decorative garden” efforts, and we are expanding our raised vegetable beds again this year. We’re quite fond of fresh home grown organic veggies!  Our yard has been certified as a wildlife sanctuary by both the National Wildlife Federation and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. We are both Habitat Stewards with the National Wildlife Federation. (Yes, we're nature freaks!)

Red Tailed Hawk, Perched

I should mention that I LOVE to read. Bookworm! Yep that's me. Remember real books with pages that make a swish noise as you turn them? Those are my favorites. *wink* 

There is just nothing quite like the feel of a good book in your hands. We get most of our reading material from our favorite public library, or the friends of the library book sales. And not to be sacrilegious ... I like to alter old worn out beat up books too. 

Spread done recently for friends altered book.

I've been blogging since March of 2008, slowly finding my style. During this time I've participated in several different weekly blog challenges along the way. One of my favorite artists, Carla Sonheim, hosted the"Art of Silliness" online classes a couple of years ago and as part of it we did Hump Day Haiku. I got hooked on haiku, and now host a HuMp DaY Haiku Challenge every Wednesday, here at my blog. If you like to write haiku, you may want to check it out. 

'Solstice Snow' Allied Arts of Whatcom County Members Show Jan 2013

This year I was honored to be one of the artists with a booth at the annual Allied Arts Holiday Festival of the Arts, and I am in their current Members Art Show, showing Jan 4 - 26. I also sell on Etsy, which you can find in my side bar if interested. 

Coopers Hawk, viewing his domain

As part of this fun get-to-know-fellow-bloggers event, I'm hosting a give away! Yay for giveaways!  All you need to do to enter is make a comment and be sure to leave a contact email address or your blog link so I can contact you. 

Winner of the giveaway will be announced Feb 1st. 

Oh yes... the giveaway prize is two matted 8 x 10 prints: "Cooper's Hawk, viewing his domain", and "Red Tailed Hawk, Perched." These photographs were taken late December 2012 on one of our raptor watching expeditions. Both are shown in this blog post. Your prints will not include the watermark. 

Footnote 1.18.13: I spent the last two days at the hospital with my son, who had an emergency hip surgery. After today's surgery, he is doing well! However, I won't have as much time as planned to visit you all for a couple of days. But I will come visit! 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Thank you, Vicki, for hosting us for  "Grow Your Blog".

 

Solstice Snow

It began with a canvas textured with molding paste... I applied paint in a few layers to get to this point:

I added more paint, and created a mountain peak, then attempted a snowy mist blanketing. 

Adding a whimsical tree, and bits of lace trim to the ground and as a star, and tiny beads as snow. Here is the finished piece:

Solstice Snow 

Now... go check out what the other artists at Paint Party Friday have been up to this week! 

Also sharing with Artists in Blogland

Final Weekend

The final version of my mustard field mixed media painting, (WIP originally shown here) now offered at the Holiday Festival of the Arts.

I've sold several pieces and a lot of the ornaments so far, and last weekend sold one of my larger paintings. Woot! This weekend is the last of the show, and I hope to sell out... although I'll be happy with whatever sells.  :)

8 x 8 x 1 inch Mixed Media Painting - Mustard Field in Bloom

This little owl is also at my booth...

3 x 3 Miniature Art - Red Moon Owl

Wishing all my Paint Party Friday friends a wonderfully blessed Holiday Season! 

Keeping busy!

Still working on little art pieces (and some bigger ones too) both for my Etsy shop, AND to keep my booth full at the Allied Arts Holiday Festival of the Arts.  The show continues Wed - Sunday until Dec 24th.  I promise that next year I'll be more organized and have more pieces done ahead of time. I will!  :)

3 1/2 x 2 1/2 Canvas - Old Time Santa Beeswax collage

3 x 3 Canvas - Red Breast beeswax collage

Mixed media swallow ornaments

Happy Paint Party Friday! Thanks, Eva and Kristin for hosting! 

HuMp DaY Haiku - grateful heart

Grateful Heart available in my Etsy Shop

Now it has begun

Season of stress and excess

Still a grateful heart

The holidays are my least favorite time of year. So many stresses. So many bittersweet memories of seasons past and those who are not here. 

I am, however, grateful for the ability to feel stress. And grateful for memories and for the love of those who are here, and for friends who listen. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

A year or so ago, I started doing Hump Day Haiku with Carla Sonheim's Silly classes and decided as a challenge for myself, I'd continue. I have found that creating a haiku (non rhyming poem with 5 - 7 - 5 syllables per line) feeds my soul. I especially like creating them to go with my photos and art. 

Would you like to share a haiku you have written? 

You may include a haiku in the comments, OR you may copy your blog post url (featuring a haiku) and add a link to your blog using Mr. Linky. And consider visiting other contributors blogs to see what they've created and say hello. 

Faithful Owl

One of my little mixed media pieces destined for the Holiday Festival of the Arts...

2.5 x 3.5 stretched canvas - Faithful Owl

Sharing with my friends at Paint Party Friday...

Also sharing with 

Resisting Autumn

I've been playing around with this canvas for a while... 

Started with a couple layers of green acrylic paint, then lightly stenciled some leaves

I decided I wanted some script in the background, so layered with script stamped on tissue.

I applied beeswax to meld in the tissue, and added a die cut tree. I liked it. 

I decided to try out a friends favorite technique of applying Diamond Glaze over the beeswax... I'm not so sure I like it so shiny. Hmmm...
You'll notice I added some paint dyed ribbon and beads to the canvas.

I'm not sure it's quite done... but it's getting there. :)

I've been resisting the thought of autumn arriving, as I'd rather have a bit more summer weather, thank you very much! However, since I love the colors of autumn, I may as well embrace it's impending arrival.

Happy Friday, everyone!

I'm sharing with Eva and Kristin at Paint Party Friday. I hope you have time to see what some of the other artists have been up to this week. 

Paint Party Friday

It's always fun to participate in Paint Party Friday, hosted by Eva and Kristin! 

This week has been busy and stressful, however I was able to finish a small piece for my second "Art Only" Etsy shop. I'll be added some pieces to it throughout the weekend.  My first Etsy shop  will morph into mostly vintage ephemera and other vintage items.  

This piece is an ACEO sized mixed media canvas (3 1/2 x 2 1/2), created with layers of  vintage book pages, acrylic paints, stenciling, (all left over from another project) and inks. 

The heart is leftover painted paper pieces adhered to heavy back chipboard, cut out and varnished. 

All these bits and pieces left over from other projects worked together to create this little canvas. 

Have a wonderful Friday, everyone! And do stop in to see what the other fabulous PPF artists are working on this week. 

Paint Party Friday - Still WIP

Another Paint Party Friday  going on with Eva and Kristin! 

This week I worked a bit more on the 5 x 5 canvas landscape, which is part of my Autumn on the Mountain series. 

I added a bit of color, and have some more toning to play with before adding the threads and other doo-dads I've planned. 


Also, being thrifty, I  used some of the leftover paint on this torn paper background. It also has a few stamped images added. 

It has since been cut up into postcards... more on that next week. :)


Check out what others are doing for their Paint Party Friday here. 


And a great group of artists are also sharing at Artists in Blogland.

Paint Party Friday - WIP's

I'm having fun with Paint Party Friday, visiting as many artists as I can. I have yet to visit everyone, but I'm working on it. :)

Here's what I'm working on this week...  

I did a bit more on the canvas I started last week... added some mesh and color on the "mountain. It needs MUCH more work, I just haven't had the time this week. 

Mixed Media canvas

I also worked on this canvas I started a while ago; added stenciling with leftover paint from the other project. 

Torn paper background

And this torn paper background's painted layers are from left over paint also. This will be added to and cut up for post cards. 






See what others are doing for their Paint Party Friday here.