More Art For My Studio

Last week I showed you the beginnings of a canvas I was working on - my fist project in my new studio. Well it is finished and hanging on the wall above the closet doors so I thought I'd share it with you. . .

 I really wish I could have gotten a better picture of it - I just love the colors! But I just couldn't make it show up in the photos. You get the idea right?

 I added a scrap of cardboard that I tore into a heart and painted then added a printed banner piece for the scripture reference.

This next piece is one of my favorites so far. It is my all time favorite scripture and I have leaned on this promise a lot in my life! This weekend I made it into a piece of art that I can see everyday and be reminded of this promise! I wanted it BIG so I made it fit on three 12x12 canvases. This is my take on the whole subway art thing. . .

 This is canvas # 1

  This is canvas # 2

  This is canvas # 3

 And this is the whole piece laid out together.

 I wanted the piece to have almost an industrial feel to it so I added small nuts with bronze brads through them along the borders of the two colors. I also added two of these crosses from Hobby Lobby on the first & third canvases.

This is what it looks like hanging on the wall over the refinished entertainment center and my handmade books. Sorry it's not the best picture - but it really looks great inhere and I am so happy with how it turned out. I would be happy to share the files with anyone that would like to make one for yourself. Just contact me and give me your email address.

Some of you may have noticed that all of my latest canvases are all scriptures from the Bible - you might be wondering why? Well it seems that God is taking me on a little journey these days. A journey of faith, trust and healing. And for the past few weeks I keep having certain scriptures being brought to mind. I just keep saying them over and over in my head. So I figure they are part of the lesson I am supposed to be learning. I have also been "drawn" to get them out of my head and onto some sort of art so I have tried to be faithful and get them done. I must say they are a comfort as I look around my new space and see all of the promises God has made to me. So  I will continue to make art with His words as long as He directs me to. And I will continue to share them with you all here.

I hope you all have a fantastic week!
till we meet again. . . .

Making "FRIENDS" Available to More of You. . .

There is a waiting list for this class on Saturday (July 21st) so we have decided to offer the class twice on Saturday. So if you are interested in making this beautiful canvas please call The Occasional Artist by noon on Friday. There will be another 4 spaces available! Don't be left out in the rain on Saturday - the monsoon is in full force here in the valley and we are expecting a yucky & rainy weekend. Come join us for some art, fun and A/C!

Second class is from 2-5:30pm. Cost is $35

See ya there!

Art Inspirations

As most of you know I have recently fallen in love with mixed media and art journaling. It has become a exciting, new way for me to express myself. Although art and words have always been a huge part of my daily life, this new medium has touched my spirit in a way none of my other artistic endeavors have.

I have started collecting images online to help me express my thoughts and emotions on my canvases and in my journals. Sometimes it is quite the struggle to find that "perfect" image to depict what I am wanting to share through my art. So I decided that I would share them with all of you here on this blog of mine called "Art Inspirations"

I will probably not be sharing any of my own art there or telling stories about my life here.That is what Spillin The Beenz  is all about! Instead I will be storing these things that inspire me in my art. Hopefully they will inspire you as well. I hope you will enjoy checking back there often for new images, new inspirational quotes and scriptures.

The Reveal

Well the HARD work is over - now it's time to do the FUN stuff! You know, all of the decorating, the finishing touches and the things that make it personal. But until all of that is done I thought I'd give you a look at how it is all coming together.

So this is the view as you enter the room.

(finishing touch needed: new window treatments)

 Once you come around the corner as you enter the room

(finishing touch needed: artwork on the wall)

This is my work table

(finishing touch needed: more artwork)

This is the view from my work table - thankfully the table is set where I don't have to look at myself in the mirrored closet doors! I didn't take photos of the inside of the closet - nothing but plastic bins in there. (finishing touch needed: artwork over the closet doors)

My "bookshelves" I was able to cut back on alot of the metal baskets and glass jars in the new studio. (finishing touch needed: paint all of the metal baskets - the white is too stark)

Here's the hope chest all finished. It holds all of my art journal and canvas art supplies. The boxes underneath are full of my cricut cartridges.

This is the little cabinet I painted - love my cricut sitting on top. Inside are more cricut things. (finishing touch needed: hardware still needs to be attached - waiting on hubby)



This shelf was already in the room - it now holds my wood mount stamps that are not part of sets.

Another view of my work table as well as my large punch storage - I love them on these rods!

My handmade books on top of the entertainment center. The doors opened to show some of my paper racks.

Great storage in the drawers in my entertainment center. I have been saving these tea tins for "something" for about 18 months. There are 15 of them in this drawer - perfect fit and great organization!

 the boxes in this drawer are left overs from a class last year - almost as perfect as the tea tins. But the best part was spending NO money!

Cool new "vintage" baskets from The Occasional Artist. I love them! Perfect for holding books and magazines as well as my journals & sketch books.

Now that the room is all put together I decided it was time to try it out. So tonight I am working on another canvas - some much needed artwork for the walls of my new studio!

It is in a drying phase right now so  I decided to pop on and share my room with you all.

It's dry now so I gotta run - I will be back soon to show you the finished project.

Till we meet again. . . .

My Class this Saturday

I just thought I'd let you know that I had a couple of spaces open up in my "Shabby Journal" class at The Occasional Artist on Sat (july 14) from 1 - 5pm. So get out of this horrid heat and come have fun with us! Give the store a call if you want one of these available spaces.

Well back to varnishing. . .
                            Till we meet again

Another Update on the Room

So today I decided it might be kinda fun to line the inside of my hope chest with some vintage book pages. I love how it turned out - just wish I hadn't rub out of pages. Now I need to come up with something cool for the lid. Any ideas????

 I also got busy on my letters - I tried a new technique I saw on Pintrest (gotta love pintrest!)to add a peeled paint/distressed look. It was very easy and I loved it - gonna do it again sometime soon.

 Just in case you want to try it, here's how you do it. Paint your letters a base color - I used a medium brown on mine. Once the paint is dry, rub a bar of Ivory soap (it's gotta be Ivory or Dove - something that is pure soap)in the areas that you want distressed. you can see it above on the 5 brown letters.

 Next paint your top color - I used a red on mine. Once this coat is dry sand off the paint in the areas you applied the soap.

 Once I was done I mixed up a black paint and water mixture, I painted the whole letter with it and then wiped it all off. It stays in the crevices and just adds to the aged look.

 Once my varnish arrives I will add a coat of that before attaching them to the front of the hope chest.

I also got a really cool and FREE chair today!!! It matches everything perfectly! I will be reupholstering the seat as soon as I find the perfect (and maybe free) fabric.

So that's where we stand with the room now. I am getting so excited to see it all finished and even more excited about working in my new studio!

Till we meet again. . . .

Don't Open Emails From ME!!!!

if you get an email from me with an attachment or link or heck, any email that diesn't say "don't delete me" in the subject line, DELETE IT!!! So sorry my email acct got hacked. What a pain in the butt.

My New HOPE. . .

CHEST - okay it's not "new" but it is becoming "new" again! Here's it's story. . .

About 10 years ago I bought this old Lane hope chest at a garage sale while Gary & I were vacationing in California. I bought it for $10 and had hoped to do something with it for my scrapbook room at my old house. That never happened. Then, when Bryanna got engaged she asked if she could have it to store her new china in it. I of course said yes and it went to her new home. The china came out of the chest eventually and this little hope chest got buried under a pile of stuff in her garage for the next 6 years.  

A few weeks ago when I got serious about the new studio I asked Bryanna if I could have it back. So on Thursday Darwin & I dug it out of their garage. When we unburied it I found it had some "issues" that it didn't used to. The bottom had dry rotted and one of the casters and a chunk of the wood had fallen out and the bottom would have to be replaced. I think Darwin thought it was a lost cause but I was not detoured. That very day I got it home and measured the bottom and headed down to Home Depot for a new piece of wood, 4 new legs, some wood glue and some screws. I had the Home Depot guy cut my wood for me and I was ready to get home and tackle my newest project! As I put my $22 piece of wood in my trunk I realized it was split! So back in I went to get yet another piece of wood. As luck (or God) would have it, the guy that helped me was busy and so another young man helped me. He was a little unsure and asked an older gentleman to help him/me. The new man decided I needed a $35 piece of wood. I was a bit disappointed, but figured I was still getting a great deal on my "new" piece of furniture for my studio. They spent quite a bit of time cutting the wood to my exact measurements. And when they were finished they asked if I wanted the scraps (you have to pay for the whole piece not just what you use out of the piece) I told them yes, since I was paying for it. Then I said "unless you want to charge me just for the piece I had cut?". They looked at each other, grabbed the scraps back and threw them in a bin and said "okay". The younger of the two asked the older what to charge me, the older of the two said "give her the special deal".I thanked him and as the younger man & I walked up to the cash register I asked what the special deal was? I was not prepared for how special this deal was. . . it was .51cents!!!!! That's right, after tax I paid .56 cents for a $35 piece of wood that I took 80% of!!! I had to hug and thank both of these men. And as I walked out of the store I had to thank God for making this so easy and so joyful for me. It was another one of those moments that I talked about earlier today about how God gives us the little desires of our heart!

As soon as I got home from Home Depot I got started on my replacing my bottom. It took me a little bit of time, energy and sweat to get that bottom out, but I did it all by myself! I was so excited to just slip my new bottom in and get it "glued & screwed" so I could do the fun stuff - sanding & painting. But sadly I had mis-measured and my .56 cent bottom was 1/4" too wide! I just couldn't bring myself to go back to Home Depot and ask them to cut it again. So I called my friend Judie's husband and asked if he could fix it for me (he has a whole wood shop at his house). He is a nice guy and said yes, I could come the next day. So I loaded the chest and the wood into my trunk so he could measure it before he cut it for me so I didn't have to bug him again. As luck (or God) would have it, Ken cut my wood for me and then even glued and screwed it for me - he even used clamps and everything, thing I would not have done! Once it was glued he even attached the hardware that the legs screw into for me. I left there so happy and so thankful!

Here is my little Lane chest that was built on February 13, 1971 ( you can find this info by looking at the serial number). I really wish I would have taken pictures before I got the bottom in and the legs attached, but that's okay.

 The cedar is in great shape on the inside

 My plan is to add these wooden letters to the front of the chest once it is all painted. There are 6 little sections on the front of the chest that they will fit perfectly in.

 Tonight I got started on all of the sanding and painting. Of course I painted it black but I left the ornate trim just washed with the black so that the wood shows through.

Even though the cedar was in such great shape, I painted it black too. There are a couple of reasons why I did this. One, I hate the smell of cedar - always have. And two, because sadly, when I broke out the bottom I found that even a 40 year old piece of Lane furniture that calls it's self a Fine Cedar Chest" has a substructure of MDF!!!! Oh my, really? My hope and my prayer is that all of the formaldehyde has gassed out in the past 40 years of being used and stored in hot garages. But to be on the safe side I am painting and sealing every bit of the chest - no natural wood top on this piece of furniture like on the other pieces. If it becomes a problem I will just get rid of it. But I am having faith !

 Here's a close up of the trim & new legs

They whole chest still needs another coat of paint and it needs to be varnished (I hope my varnish arrives tomorrow - I had to special order my fav varnish last week because I couldn't find any locally). And of course I need to get my letters done. But I am very happy with how it's turning out.
So that's the story of my hope chest, my newest addition to "The Room that God Built"!

Till we meet again. . .

The Room That God Built. . .

this is what I am calling my new & improved studio. It truly is the room that God built. As I said before in another post I have been praying to find furniture on the side of the road - and I DID! I have been praying that I could do the work that needs to be done and so far I HAVE! I have prayed about every little detail that has gone into making a new space that I can both create in and be  healthy in.

Being a Christian my whole life, it should not surprise me, but yet it still does when God gives you the most simple of desires. You know those little things that are not "important" in the grand scheme of things, but just those things, or moments that make life easier, more joyful. And in this world of disease, and hunger and war, to think that He has taken the time to grant me these little wants, amazes and humbles me. Because of this I wanted to do something that would always make me remember what a blessing this room is and how my God cares enough about me to answer my prayers. So I made this canvas last night. It hangs just inside the door. You can not miss it when you walk in.

I wish I could have gotten a better photo so you could really see all of the depth of color and texture in this piece. (If you click on the photo you can see it better and see more of the color and texture.)

I matted the main image onto some torn up and roughly painted cardboard to give the piece more depth and texture. The image is an old abandoned winery in Italy - wasn't Christ's 1st miracle to turn water into wine? Maybe this room is my miracle?

 Just the title here and some f the details

 I used another scripture on this piece that has been on the tip of my tongue for a couple of weeks now. . .Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart"

 I added this little image of  Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam Fresco from the Sistine Chapel. I thought it more than appropriate and just the right finishing touch to the canvas.

So this is my newest addition to the studio.

Just another thought before I close:
During the past 19 months while my studio has been such an issue and my health has been such a burden, I kept asking "what lesson am I supposed to learn?". But honestly I never sat still or was quiet long enough to get an answer to my question. Maybe this is the lesson. . . to have more faith, to put God FIRST in everything (even the small stuff), and to learn to pray and be aware and grateful for the answers?

Till we meet again. . .