Dog Days
"Dog days" refers to the hottest months of the Summer, which includes July and August, in the Northern Hemisphere. According to Wikipedia, the name comes from the Romans, who associated the hot weather with Sirius, which was the brightest star of the constellation Canis Major (Large Dog). Sirius apparently rose before or at the same time as the sun around this late part of the equinox. Therefore, they believed it to be the cause of the extremely hot weather during this time of Summer. So what does this have to do with my artwork? I've got some Hot, Hot, Hot Summer projects to show you today! Well, I guess that's a matter of opinion - LOL!
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| Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - J is for Journaling Ramona's Inspire Me Monday #135 Manon's Paper Saturdays |
Above are my 4 latest hot Smash Pages featuring hot Summer day family memories. I used a variety of materials, including Smash embellishments, Tim Holtz dies, K&Company papers & embellishments, hand lettering, and lots of family photos. The theme through out the four pages was the use of shades of orange and blue, as well as the use of pointing symbols. All the pieces were assembled puzzle-like, and I made them interactive by turning a postcard into a mini-page and an envelope into a tag holder.
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| Freshly Made Sketches #147 by Jen T. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes Julia's What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday #270 |
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| Tag Tuesday - Statues Moo-Mania - Texture Karen's Word Art Wednesday - #144 |
During Summer, my family celebrates several birthdays and spends time swimming. Birthday celebrations require candles, which could make everything very hot if not blown out - LOL! I cut the candles for my card by hand, but used heart punches for the flames, a Tim Holtz die for the mustache, and a DYMO labeler for the sentiment. As to the tag, which I titled "The Gardening Angel," it's a sculpture I put together using a variety of dies. It would look great in the flower beds by my pool.
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| Art Journal Journey - Frida Kahlo Alexandra's Sunday Sketches Lorik's Mandarin Orange Monday #104 Maria's Orange You Glad It's Friday #102 Eva & Kristin's Paint Party Friday- Week 22 Year 4 |
Next, I have my first attempt ever of drawing Frida Kahlo, the hottest Mexican female painter. It's not the best resemblance, but I believe it captures her essence. I drew her using micron pens on a 3.5 x 5 inch mixed media pad, and blended oil pastels to paint the background. The vibrant colors behind the b&W drawing reflect the juxtaposition of the reality of her life and the festive culture that she was born into. In addition, they helped the drawing pop-up.
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| Bella's 52 Photos Project - Gallery 14 {Stairs} Denise, Roger & Leslie's ABC Wednesday - D is for Dog Days at A&M Jen's In the Studio |
In closing, I leave you with a shot I took at A&M, which is one of the hottest Universities in the United States in my opinion. Not only is it a top university, but the weather can get extremely hot during the summer - LOL! We were there twice this Summer. The first time we went to register my youngest daughter, and the second time we went to move my oldest daughter out of her apartment. They'll be sharing an apartment this next school year.
I hope you enjoyed my "Dog Days" projects, and hopefully you'll agree that they're as hot as I think they are - LOL! Thank you for all your caring comments during my last post, as well as for following my blog. Blessings!
I love ALL of these but your Frida is seriously amazing!! Yours is THE best I've seen. Well done. :)
ReplyDeletePS I think I discovered the issue with commenting on my blog - I'm told it's a known problem for those using IE (Internet Explorer). If this is what you're using, you might try Firefox or Google Chrome. :)
Hot, hot, HOT! Wow, what a wonderful page of inspiration! Love all the projects shown, and especially love the FMS entry. Very cool how you used the heart shapes, and the mustache is such a unique and cool addition! Thanks for sharing your Dog Days with us at Freshly Made Sketches!
ReplyDeletewonderful summer pages! and lovely work this week for the challenges.
ReplyDeleteWonderful summer pages, and a glorious Frida, glad you joined the Frida challenge. Valerie
ReplyDeleteWonderful post and lots of goodies to see but the the star for me is your beautiful Frida drawing.
ReplyDeleteLove Chrissie x
such great summer pages and art -
ReplyDeleteAn I love your Frida!
XXX
Susi
Thank you for sharing with us at AJJ!
Hi Arnoldo...it's Sandie here.
ReplyDeleteI did leave a request in the blog post over at Rhedd's Creative Spirit asking you to email me as you have been selected to be our guest designer for September's Challenge.
You probably haven't seen it yet.
Can you email me at sandie.w@live.co.uk if you are still interested and if so I can give you details of what you need to do.Thanks
Sí, un encantador album de fotos familiares!
ReplyDeleteWow, this is a lot of projects all at once, but you managed to do a good job on all of them! It's nice to see someone else is still scrap booking too, love the Freda painting. Take care and enjoy these last few days of summer . They go by so quickly!
ReplyDeleteLove your beautiful card and all the fabulous creations. Thank you so much for sharing with us at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. :)
ReplyDeleteA great Frida sketch!
ReplyDeleteAnother lovely post! The tag is so clever, with the bird cage doubling as a skirt. Gorgeous album pages! Thank you so much for sharing with us at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog!!
ReplyDeleteLove how 'Sirius' you are in this blog! Happy August♪ http://lauriekazmierczak.com/view-to-a-sunset/
ReplyDeletewow, love your frida drawing,its so expressive and wonderful,love her beautiful eyes.
ReplyDeleteand your other works its amazing too.
have a nice week.
greetings jeannette
Oh wow. Such great art collections.
ReplyDeleteWonderful 'Dog Day' creations ~ love the tag and all of your work really ~ Happy Week to you ~ xoxox
ReplyDeleteartmusedog and carol (A Creative Harbor)
Wonderful! I love your Frida. You have been very productive in the "Dog Days," I loved learning about them, thank you!
ReplyDeleteArnoldo, it's fantastic how you have described the dog's days and then went over to your hot projects. So cool! Thank you for this little lesson. It was great to read it :)
ReplyDeleteYour projects are really hot. The booklet with the family photographs looks awesome and I love the card with the colorful candles so much! And of course do I love your Frieda! Have a nice week!
I've come over to check out your fab candle card but enjoyed reading your whole post.
ReplyDeleteThank you for joining us at Simon says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.
Luv
Debby
Your Frida-drawing is excellent. Love it.
ReplyDeleteYour Frida has a warmth and passion... so expressive. Love the colour,..it does make the strong drawing "pop" as you said.I enjoyed your hot project:) Thanks for sharing on Mandarin Orange Monday:)
ReplyDeleteSo many beautiful projects to look at Arnoldo and love the sketch of Frida. Enjoy the rest of the week, Annette x
ReplyDeletehttp://nettysartadventures.blogspot.co.uk/
How fun! I was not familar with Frida, so I will go look up her art. Love the learning aspect of blogging. So much sharing. What a lovely sketch she is lovely. Such fun candles you made on your lovely card. How great that your girls will be together this coming year. That must bring you comfort too.
ReplyDeleteFantásticas creaciones y encantador álbum familiar, pero hoy me gusta especialmente tu versión de Frida, es realmente genial.
ReplyDeleteSaludos de Mar
Nice hot work!! I love all your very creative cards and gift tags. Frida looks great with all the ink details!
ReplyDeleteThe smash books look like a whole lot of fun to put together as well as peruse! Great Frida too!
ReplyDeleteI must admit I did not know the background for the phrase "dog days of summer." Thanks for enlightening me.
ReplyDeleteLeslie
abcw team
You have HOT stuffs here. Mine too depicts this. :)
ReplyDeleteHappy WW!
It's warm here, but not oppressively so!
ReplyDeleteROG, ABCW
Wow some gorgeous projects here! I love your holiday journal. So special to do and have to look back on in the years to come.
ReplyDeletehave a happy week and thanks for the visit earlier
Lynda B 28
I say !! .. It seems to be a desk busy like mine? - What an amazing collections A book to read on your old days together with the grandchildren?? I love all what you have done. Thank you for sharing God bless
ReplyDeleteKind regards
Mariane
http://cordes.re/blg/wind/?p=1402
This is a wonderful post. I love your Frida.
ReplyDeleteThank you for joining us at MOO-MANIA & MORE
Such a wonderful, creative post with so many lovely projects. Jo
ReplyDeletereturning for the 52 photos.
ReplyDeleteNow I see the stairs!
sisters are wonderful to have!
You did a fantastic job drawing Frida Kahlo. Well done!
ReplyDeleteSuch beautiful use of layering that goes into all of your artworks!
ReplyDeleteHotsie Totsie...hum, have no idea how to spell that!
ReplyDeleteLove your artwork. Your choices of colors, all the dimension going on, well it's a beautiful site to see. Thank you for sharing!
Hugs, Robin (State of Serenity) #74
Seriously hot projects. The themed family pages are so inventive.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful Frida drawing!
ReplyDeleteGoodness, your summer has made you creatively Hot... so many fabulous projects. I really like your Frida, the colorful background does make your drawing pop. Happy PPF!
ReplyDeletethis is one hot post.... love the Frida and think the campus building looks wonderful... the house is going to be so quiet without them... but on the upside think of the extra drawing and painting time... looking forward to seeing what you create...xx
ReplyDeleteWell done for OYGIF .... I like this post!
ReplyDeleteGosh, Arnoldo, what a wide range of artwork, it must have been a lot of fun to make these. I loved seeing your family pictures, such a happy collection. Your black and white drawing of Frida with the background of colours is so clever. And I really liked your final picture of the university.
ReplyDeleteIt's a great artistic blogpost and I enjoyed your descriptions very much too.
Love all your projects. And glad you didn't just call August the Dog Days just because it was hot. Glad you included the explanation. Glad (also) I stopped by your blog.
ReplyDeleteLovely Frida tribute!
ReplyDeleteArnoldo, I enjoyed all the hot items you posted. Your family photos show there is a lot of love and togetherness there. Your Frida is a good likeness I think and does indeed show the person she was.
ReplyDeleteI love all of your work, but was struck especially by the piece with the word grow--there's something magical about it.
ReplyDeleteYour 'Dog Days' looks awesome! Love the summery shots put together...the tag and the candle card are just khool :) Frida looks great too for a first attempt...I am attempting my version too :)
ReplyDeleteDeepa
http://deepazworld.blogspot.in/
Wonderful Frida - love the loose line work! Happy PPF!
ReplyDeleteYou always have some 'hot' and lovely projects to share. Your smashbook pages are great. There is a wonderful balance in how you have arranged the snaps. Your card and Freida's portrait are wonderful too.
ReplyDeleteSusan
Simply wonderful. Your girls will have such treasure of art from you. Yes IE is terrible with blogger. Blogger wants everyone to use Chrome so the planted a bug that they tell you they can't fix.
ReplyDeleteLove you Frida too.
Nicole/Beadwright
Great works! Happy PPF - Irma
ReplyDeleteWow it's definitely a hot post! Love the Frida so much..very well done! Great journal pages...all the love you have for your family shines on this post! So lovely to see!! You're almost empty nesters!
ReplyDeleteHugs Giggles
Everyone is having problems with ie and blogger. Excellent post and wonderful art Arnoldo. Blessings to you.
ReplyDeleteWonderful and complex post, as usual. I recognized Frida from the thumbnail!! So, kudos for your drawing.
ReplyDeleteLovely photo! I've heard that temps in Dallas have been unusual this Summer like not as hot as they should be. Crazy weather!
ReplyDeleteAll of your post for your Dog Days are HOT!! You have a great talent for story telling and scrapbooking, great post!
ReplyDeleteIt looks as though you've had a great summer! I really like your Frida sketch as well!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for sharing your talents with us, Arnoldo. You are such a blessing to our challenge blog and I always enjoy your sweet creations.
ReplyDeleteBless you,
Karen
Word Art Wednesday
Georgous Frida sketch and your nice family photos I like too.
ReplyDeleteDear Greetings
Sabine
I too am very blessed to have met you in blog land, Arnoldo. I enjoy your art so much, and I appreciate your willingness to spread your love for the Lord with others. I have, unfortunately, met some people and companies who don't want to be associated with Christianity and have told me I'm not neutral or "vanilla" enough for them. God is SO GOOD that He has taken away ALL my desire to associate with, or use products from such companies. And sadly, He will never bless a company like that. I appreciate those, like you, who will boldly share their love for the Lord. Thanks for your kind and supportive comments, and thanks so much for sharing with us at Word Art Wednesday.
ReplyDeleteGod bless you,
Karen