Friday Art Smorgasbord - God's Creations

Greetings!  It's been an extremely busy week, and my schedule for the weekend doesn't look much better.  Therefore, I'm truly thankful for the gift of art, music and writing, which allow me to relax.  Enough said, I now want to thank everyone for their good wishes on my First Year Anniversary post last week.  I was truly touched by your heartfelt comments.  It is my goal to make a difference in the world through my writings and artwork, and due to some of your comments, I feel I'm accomplishing my goal.  Praise the Lord!

© Arnoldo L. Romero 2012

Somehow, all my entries for this post relate to God's Creations, both in Heaven and earth.  The photograph above is of a micron pen sketch I did of a tomato vine in my backyard.  As I was working on it, I kept thinking of John 15:5, "I am the vine; you are the branches.  If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."  Isn't it funny how the arts can evoke memories and feelings from our subconscious?  Anyway, I got a little overwhelmed with the stems and leaves, so I don't feel the sketch looks finished.  Since I used it for my Twenty minute Challenge posting, my time was limited and couldn't add more details.  Regardless, I'm also submitting it to Craft Artwork - Letter T, for Tomato, which is a word many languages borrowed from the Aztec's Nahuatl tongue.

© Arnoldo L. Romero 2012

The second photograph is of an art journal entry I did for Simon Says Stamp and Show - What do you say? and Inspiration Avenue - Perfectly Pink.  I chose to illustrate ©Anel, my original character, who happens to love pink.  The journaling is based on the passage from Proverbs 12:10, "The righteous care for the needs of their animals, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel."  I love my collection of letter stamps, but I often forget to use them, so this was a perfect opportunity for me to play with them.  I'm also submitting this page to Three Muses Challenge - Windows and Take a Word Challenge - Butterflies.

© Arnoldo L. Romero 2012

The third photograph, is of an art journal entry that could be considered a cat study.  My main source of inspiration was from Simon Says Stamp Challenge - Kristina's Inspiration, which featured a photograph of Kristina Werner's cat, Mannie.  She asked that participants use a color scheme of Black and White, with green, pink, red, blue and gray as accents.  Since I watch Kristina's tutorial videos regularly, I'm familiar with beautiful Mannie, so he was the perfect model.  (As a matter of fact, my greyhound goes crazy trying to find Mannie in my studio when he meow's during the videos.  LOL!)  I did a drawing based on the Mannie's photograph, an origami cat, and a doodle, all of which feature Kristina's inspirational colors.  I incorporated the pieces into my art journal page, along with some hand lettering, punched hearts, and a date strip by Smash.  (The blocks in the strip looked more pinkish on the roll - Phooey!)  I'm also submitting this page to Crazy Amigo - Punches.

Delicate, Soft and Fragile
Digitally Altered Photo
© Arnoldo L. Romero 2012

Two of my favorite of God's creations are my 2 daughters.  Therefore, I am submitting this photo to 52 Photos Project Gallery 15 - Delicate.  I believe there is nothing more delicate, soft and fragile then a child,  "for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these," which is a quote found in Matthew 19:14.  I took this photograph over a decade ago.  My mother was in town, and the girls insisted on sleeping with her in the guest room.  They took turns telling stories until the girls fell asleep.  Since I took the photograph with a 35mm camera, I began by scanning it.  Then, I cropped it, blurred the edges and washed off the coloring digitally to create an ethereal feeling.  This is one of my favorite pictures of the girls, and I think I like it even better now.

© Arnoldo L. Romero 2012

My fifth photograph is for What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday #165 and Inspire Me Monday #30.  As I've mentioned before, I love having artsy vignettes around my studio.  This vignette, which is on one of my studio's reference books' shelve, includes a pair of dolls I made using cutouts of my girls' faces, a artist's mannequin, a vintage paper doll, an anatomy doll, and two angels I made.  You can also see some mail art that I received from Franck de Las Mercedes, Traci Bautista, and Sandy Steen Bartholomew.  All these pieces serve as inspiration and motivation, encouraging me to continue my creative journey.

© Arnoldo L. Romero 2012

The sixth picture brings me to the icon series I've been working on for a couple of years.  For this Christmas greeting card, I used a print of my "Mother of God" icon.  I designed the card using the color story in the The Play Date Cafe Challenge #143, which includes cherry, mint julep, and jade.  I've never been selected as "Cup of the Week," so hopefully their new design team at PDCC will honor me with this title.  LOL!  I used a modified version of the Card Positioning Systems Sketch #276 on a Tim Holtz card base, along with papers from a K&Company's Wintertide pad and a Martha Stewart banner.  I hand wrote the word "peace."  I'm also submitting this card to The Order of the Opus Guei Challenge #136 - Seasons.

Archangel Gabriel
8"x10" Canvas - Acrylic
© Arnoldo L. Romero 2012

Last, but not least, I have a photograph of my latest icon, Archangel Gabriel, whom you may have seen in an unfinished state in my last post.  I finished writing him on Monday - YEAH!  His appearance in this post is very appropriate, since he is the one that said to Mary, "Greetings favored one!  The Lord is with you," when he announced the coming of Jesus in Luke 1:28.  He is also known for other good tidings to God's chosen.  I am submitting him to Artist Playroom #20 - Series, since he's the latest piece in my icon series.  I am also submitting him to Paint Party Friday - Week 21 and Word Art Wednesday Challenge #39. 

This brings me to the end of my Friday Art Smorgasbord, as well as the announcement of the recipients of the ATC's I offered last week.  I had 54 comments, but only Borqna and Tracey Sabella, 2 of my blogging friends and followers, mentioned wanting to participate in the drawing.  Therefore, they will receive an ATC of their choice from the lot of 7 I offered.  Hopefully they don't want the same one.  LOL!  Oh, I almost forgot.  I have a posting on Tag Tuesday - Mermaids, but it's a tag I had already posted on my blog a couple of weeks ago - long story.  However, you may want to stop by and browse through my team members wonderful new creations.  As usual, you are invited to leave a comment for this post and/or add your name to my list of followers.  Thank you for stopping by.  Blessings!