Happy Holidays

It has been a couple of weeks since I was on here. The internet connection is just too awful.

I just got a notice from blogger that you can get my blog posts on a encrypted site by using https://1krazyrtist.blogspot.com .

I don't know how often I will be able to post. But I will continue to try.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. The holidays have begun here and the rv park is being decorated by the staff. They did a wonderful job for Halloween so I am looking forward to the Christmas decorations.

The photo I used today is called Party Doll and was made for a challenge in a magazine.

Hopefully I will be able to post again in a couple of days.

Terri

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Zombie Art

Finally able to get on here. Between no access and not being able to get up to the rec room area, I have been off the internet. All of my photos are processed on this computer so I can't even use my phone to log on except to do some text.

So today I thought I would share some of my zombie drawings fro
m 2013. I can't believe the zombie craze is still going on. These are just a few of the drawings I have done. Most of them are more alien zombie than human zombie. I like alien creatures.


The first drawing is zombie #6.







The second is a design for a greeting card.

The third is a couple of sketches for bookmarks.

I frequently do sketches for my crazy ideas and then the sketches go into my file. I may use them later. Or just look at them for inspiration for a new idea. I would like to do some t-shirts with some of my designs.

So, even if an idea sounds crazy, make sketches, make notes and then keep them. You never know when you might find a new way to use them.

Terri

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New Jewelry

While doing the daily drawing challenge the last couple of weeks I have been working on some new jewelry pieces. I wanted to share some of those with you.

  

In September I sold a few pieces to a local new age store. I went in to buy some essential oils and ended up selling some jewelry. I keep a small tub in the car of my jewelry in case I have just such an opportunity. And, this week the owner called me to bring in some more for her.

The first piece shown here in made with wire and peach quartz butterflies. It is approximately 2 ½” tall and designed to wear either way. This is similar to one I sold to the shop.

One thing I like to do with my jewelry is design it so it can be worn in multiple ways. I like to use chains that allow different lengths. If a piece cannot be worn both ways I like to make sure the back is nice looking just in case it turns while being worn.

The second piece is a wire wrap fossil. It is an Orthoceras (mollusk) that is 400 million years old. I bought the fossil at a gem show in Sedona this summer so I could wire wrap it. The finished piece is only 2 ¼” long.

The third piece is a goddess face in polymer clay accented with watch parts and other metal pieces.

The fourth piece is a polymer clay face colored with alcohol ink. The face is attached to a large watch piece with other parts and wire to hold it all together. A quartz crystal is attached as well.

The shop owner said that her customers seem to like the wire wrap, Steampunk pieces with the crystals. So I have made a couple new ones the last couple days for her. I will be making more I would think since this is the beginning of the busy season here in Wickenburg.

Wickenburg is a destination for snowbirds and horse people. It is the roping capital and has a big rodeo in February during Gold Rush Days. This is a very Western town that grows in October and grows even bigger in January. Then all the visitors leave in late March to go back to the cold states. It's a nice little place to live.

Terri

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Drawings 16 and 17

Being dependent on the rv park wifi is tough. Some days there is no signal, other days it works just fine. I have to take advantage of the signal when it’s available.

  

This drawing of an angel was done using the Prismacolor colored pencils on a light blue art paper made for use with pastels and pencils.

The second drawing is a sketch for a doll. It was just done with a 2B pencil on art paper. I like to make sketches for my dolls and tote bags before I make the patterns. I have many drawings, but have not made all the ideas into actual projects.

Since I am doing the daily drawing challenge I decided I might as well use it to practice a lot more on the spirit art.

I realized I didn’t put a time limit on this challenge, like thirty days. I will probably end the challenge on Monday, October 31. That doesn’t mean I will stop doing the drawings, just that the challenge itself is done.

I do have some new craft project ideas that I am working on. So the challenge has been a success in allowing my mind to wander. I have been able to consider how to sell products and what to focus on.

Here you can see a couple of older sketches for dolls I have made.  Plus the photo of the dolls after they were finished with an elf doll I made.

I hope to put some of  my dolls and tote bags into a small shop here in Wickenburg in January.

Terri

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Drawing 15 More Spirit Art

Here is today’s drawing. This spirit drawing was done with Prismacolor colored pencils on art paper. Her name seems to be Carmen. Her story is shown at the end of this post.

  

When I was doing the spirit art drawings in 1993 I was mainly using these colored pencils. I love the number of colors they have. I probably have close to 100 pencils. They work well on any kind of paper and blend well.

Below are some of  the drawings from my files. These were not done for clients. I did them for either practice or for personal messages.  They are all from 1993.

This image is of one of my very first sketches. I was working in a new age store in Florida. This is Maria and she is an artist spirit who was with me to help me as I started doing the spirit drawings.

The next one is a drawing of an angel.

The third drawing is of Shar-lin, a healer. She was a healer when she lived and was with me to help me while I was learning Reiki. I am now a Reiki Master Teacher, as is my husband Bill.

The next is a drawing of a man named Inguez. I am not sure of his nationality. He came through with a message for me.

I do not have any photos of the drawings I did for clients at that time. It was way before cell phones with cameras so taking a quick photo was not an option at a psychic faire. I only have the drawings I did for myself and an ex-husband.

This last one is one of the drawings I did for my ex just before a psychic faire in Cocoa, FL. He asked me to draw a picture of whoever was watching over us at that time (he was driving us to the faire).  

I usually start each drawing with the eyes, nose and mouth. The background is the last thing drawn. I was as surprised as my ex when this drawing was finished.

When I first became interested in spirit art I was skeptical that I could do it. Even with my art background I wasn’t sure. But I kept getting encouragement from spirit and was surprised when I was able to do it.

I think everyone has something they want to do but has a fear of not being capable. It is very important to try. Even if you fail a couple of times, if you really want to do it you will find a way.

Terri

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Watch for the new metaphysical name for my shop in an upcoming blog post.

Carmen’s story: She seems to have died tragically at a young age, maybe 20. She loved the color blue and loved makeup. She wants to be remembered the way she looks here and not the way she looked when she died. She is at peace and wants her family to know she is doing well. 

Drawings 13 and 14 Pastels on Black Paper

So here are two more drawings in my challenge.

But these were both done on black art paper made for pastels.

On the first one I used only a white pastel pencil to draw a design similar to my coloring book drawings. I love white on black, it is so dramatic compared to the same drawing in black pencil on white paper. This one took about two hours to finish.

The second drawing was done with both pastel pencils and soft pastels. The drawing is a spirit portrait and also took about two hours to complete.

Both drawings are on 6x8 inch paper. I used old fashion aerosol hair spray (Aqua Net) to set the pastels. You can buy a special spray at the art supply store, but the hair spray costs a lot less and works just as well.

I hope you are challenging yourselves in whatever medium or field you enjoy. 

Terri

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Please note: The Etsy store name will be changing in November. The shop will be more metaphysical oriented and the name will reflect that change.

Drawings and Psychic Art

Here I am with the next two drawings.

 

The first one is a pencil sketch for a Christmas card. I thought the idea of an elf decorating a saguaro cactus here in Arizona was funny.

The second sketch, well, it is sort of a revisiting. It was done in pastel pencils.

In 1991 to 1993 I worked in a couple of  metaphysical shops in Florida. I did Tarot readings and psychic art, and taught some classes on Tarot, Feng Shui and Aromatherapy. The spirit drawings were done using Prismacolor colored pencils and pastels. Each drawing came with a message. At that time I was also using the name Astreya on my spirit drawings.

This second drawing is similar to some of my psychic art drawings from 1992 and 1993. I haven’t done many in recent years. I had at one point, a couple of years ago, offered some in my Etsy store.  This angel’s name is Jeremiah.

I have always enjoyed doing the drawings and even did a couple of oil paintings. Below I have included a couple of photos of some of the art.

First is an angel I did just before a psychic faire in Cocoa, FL.

The brown one is an oil on a 9 x 12 canvas of Archangel Michael. I sold this one at a convention in 2001. It was painted in 2000.

The next drawing is a white charcoal drawing from 1993 of a wise teacher.

The painting is of the same teacher painted in 2000 on a 16 x 20 canvas in oils. This one was sold in my new age gift shop in 2001.

I keep feeling like I should be doing these psychic drawings and paintings again. I may do some soon to sell in my Etsy shop.

Terri

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Drawings 9 and 10

Two more drawings for yesterday and today. 

The first one was done yesterday with conte’ crayons.  I wanted to do some sketches with different mediums.

Conte’ crayons are almost like really hard pressed pastels. They work in a similar way. They also get your fingers dirty like pastels, so you have to be careful when touching the paper. Smudges are easy to make.

The second drawing is another pencil sketch done with a B pencil. I did a painting a few years ago with a similar look. I love landscapes and trees. I am a Taurus and love the earth and being outside.

Besides doing these little sketches, I have been working on a variety of wire wrap necklaces and other fun stuff. Some have been posted to the Etsy store this past week. Including a couple of the sketches.

Terri

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Drawings 7 and 8

Two more sketches done. Both are simple pencil drawings on the drawing paper.

  

I used a B and 2B to create them. Obviously the girl is similar to my other coloring book drawings. The landscape is similar to a couple of paintings from a couple years ago.

I need to find some new subject matter to sketch. The themes of these drawings seem to run the same.

I do get bored easily and like to find and learn new things. So I will be going through old photos and taking new ones to provide new ideas for my sketches.

This is good because it pushes me to step outside my comfort zone. That is always a good thing for anyone wanting to learn more about their craft, no matter what field you are in.

Terri

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Drawings 5 and 6

Well, again I couldn’t get on the internet yesterday so I missed posting.

So I am posting both drawings 5 and 6 today.

For yesterday, it is a pencil sketch like the others. I love trees so I did the tree as the main focal point. Most of the drawings begin with the 2H pencil to create a very light sketch. Then the 2B and B pencils are used to darken the lines and add the shadows. The 2H barely shows up at that point.

For today’s art piece I did a pen drawing of a holiday card idea.  I need to decide on a design for my cards this year and this is just one idea.

Below you can see the ones I drew last year. These were inspired by my coloring page designs. I didn’t use any of them, but I like to create them anyway.

I may put some cards in the Etsy store. I don’t know yet.

All of these were done with the Prismacolor Illustration pens on drawing paper, then scanned into my computer to be cleaned up in Photoshop. I started with the 2H and used it throughout to draw in the circles then the inner designs. The light lines are easily erased once the pen lines have been done.

 Using Photoshop to remove unwanted lines and smudges is a great tool. I can resize the drawings as well, to fit them to card size before printing.

I like to draw them as close to card size as possible so they will fit well without too much white paper left over on the edges.

 

Home designed cards are fairly easy to do. You can do a drawing or painting, or take a photo. Put it into your computer by either scanning or by taking a photo of the art piece and putting the photo onto the computer. Then you need to crop the piece to fit your card size. 

Use card stock to print on. You can just print onto the card stock, or print multiple copies of  your art piece, cut them and glue them to the card stock that has been cut and folded into cards.

Envelopes are available at the office supply store in a variety of sizes, so you can pick your card size and print it yourself.

There are also software programs that will allow you to create cards just by providing a photo and choosing the card style. Then print per the instructions.

I know not many people do cards these days for the holidays. But I like to do them because they are something personal. And they are great to send to the family members and friends for whom you don’t send gifts.

Terri

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Drawing 4

Ah, day four of the challenge. I didn’t start this drawing til late this afternoon. I started the morning watching Bob Ross paint on PBS. Then we went to some yard sales and a flea market. Then to a craft show at the library. It was a fun Saturday morning.

While watching a tiny house program this afternoon I did this pencil drawing.

It is again on the 80 lb, acid free, drawing paper. I used the 2H pencil to do a little sketch, then the 2B pencil to finish it up.  That was it. I think it took about 30 minutes to complete while I watched the TV.

I am finding this exercise very inspiring. I am considering doing some oil painting in the next few weeks. Living in an RV makes some projects difficult. I just have to put away my jewelry and sewing supplies to make room to work on the paintings.

I hope you are finding a little inspiration too.

Terri

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Drawing 3

Here we are on day 3 of my art challenge.

This drawing is another 5x7” on the drawing paper.

This time I did a piece inspired by some of my coloring book drawings. I started with a 2H pencil and did a light sketch of the face and some of the hair tendrils.

Once I got a good sketch I took the 03 Prismacolor pen and started following my pencil marks. I had some hair pieces I didn’t like so I redid the lines of those. Then I worked back and forth with pen and pencil to get the final ink rendering.

Then I decided to add all the swirling lines around the back and sides of the head.

After the whole ink drawing was finished I used an eraser to gently remove any pencil lines that were showing. I scanned the drawing into the computer at this point.

Then I used watercolors to give it life. I tried not to get too detailed with the paint. I just wanted to highlight each part and make the face stand out.

I am having fun with this challenge and each day I find myself getting less stressed about what I create. Today I told myself that if I messed up the drawing I would just create another one. That worked to help me relax and not worry about what I was creating.

After all, this is just a small piece of paper and a pencil. Not an expensive loss if I get the drawing wrong. But it’s easy to get caught up in trying to do a perfect job the first time you sit down to draw, or begin any project. It’s a human thing. So we have to learn to let go and allow the mistakes to happen. That’s really how we learn.

I hope you are having a great week. And I hope you are trying new things each week.

Terri

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Drawing 2

Well, this is day two of my challenge.

I did another landscape sketch, then decided it needed to be inked in. It was on the 80 pound, acid free drawing paper.

I used the Prismacolor Premier Illustration Markers, 03 and 05 points. The first photo shows the result.

But I still felt it was blah. It didn’t really pop. Because it’s a small drawing it was hard to really tell what things were if you held it at arm’s length. So putting it in a frame on a wall would be even worse. From any distance over one foot you would not be able to tell what it was a drawing of.

So I used my watercolors to add lights and darks and give it some feeling.

Here you can see my final result. Not the best of paintings, but at least you can tell much better what you are looking at from a distance.

This is a good challenge because it will push me to be a better artist. I have been lax in drawing or painting every day.

I have so many paints and art papers and canvases that I could probably create a new piece every day for a year, at least.  I am terrible at yard sales where there are art supplies. I buy them even when I don’t need them.

Whether you are a fine artist, crafter, quilter, or jewelry maker, a challenge is always good for you. It pushes you to do better. It pushes you to step outside your comfort zone and try new things.

The idea of this challenge is not to always create saleable work. It is partly to find who I am as an artist. My hope is to learn more of what I can do and what I really want to do.

Terri

And check out the new items in my Etsy Store:

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drawing 1

Day 1 of my art challenge:

I was looking back through one of my sketch books and found an old sketch that was only about two inches across. I decided to do a newer version, only a little bigger.

This is a 5x7” pencil sketch on 80 pound, acid free, drawing paper.

I used a 2H pencil to start the sketch, then added darker accents with a B and a 2B.

Drawing pencils come in a variety of lead hardness and softness. The H is hard and the 2H is the same as your yellow school pencil. They go up to 6H and 8H. The higher the number the harder the lead and the lighter the line they will draw.

The B is the softer lead and goes up to at least 8B. The lead is soft and makes darker lines. The higher the number, the softer the lead, the darker the line it makes.

These two pictures are from one of my college art classes. The assignment was to use advertisements from magazines to create a collage. Then do a pencil drawing from the collage.

I used a variety of pencils to create the 8”x10” drawing.  This is from 1982.

  

It’s a lot of fun to experiment with the different leads and see what type of shadows and lines you can create.  

I hope you take any opportunity to try new things when you can. You never know where those things might lead.

Terri

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New Old Drawings and Stuff

After major internet connection issues I am finally am able to post again.

  

While I was unable to use the internet I worked on a bunch of jewelry.  I sold a few pieces a couple of weeks ago to a local gift shop and the owner plans to buy more in the future. So I created more wire wrap pieces and some polymer clay Steampunk hearts.

I’ve also been evaluating what I am going to be posting here in this blog going forward. I feel like I have hit a creative block as far as craft projects go. I’m having trouble coming up with cool and fun ideas. 

I was watching an Artbeat Nation episode on the local PBS channel this past weekend and was inspired by a young woman who creates a collage every day from magazine images. She makes a new one each day and posts it to her blog. I like the idea of pushing yourself like that to create something new each day. I spend so much time on some of the jewelry that I don’t draw or paint as much as I would like to.

So I have decided to create a new art piece each day. It may be as simple as a pencil, ink or pastel drawing. Or it may be a small painting in watercolor or acrylic. I think they will all be approximately 5”x7” on really good art papers.

My plan is to create art works that I will sell in my Etsy store. They will be priced as low as $5 and probably no more than $20.

 

As you can see I have included some art works in this blog. These are older drawings but I still wanted to have some kind of images today.  They are from some of my sketch books.  They are from the 1990’s through 2001. I actually have sketch books from the 1980’s and photos of some of my work from the 1970’s.

The first image in this post is actually a scratch art piece I made for one of my college art classes. The piece is 8.5x11 inches, and is in one of my binders. Besides my sketchbooks, I have several binders full of sketches and drawings from over the years.

Many artworks and photos of older works have been scanned into the computer and have been put together chronologically. 

I will include descriptions of my inspiration for each piece and what the medium was. I just won't be doing such long involved posts. I’m hoping to be able to post every day. We shall see.

I hope you continue to read my blog and I do encourage feedback. Comments are welcome.

Terri

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