Art Smorgasbord - I Am Blessed

As I was looking through the art work I did last week, I thanked God for the gift of creativity.  No matter how hectic my life gets, I can find refuge in praying through my artwork.  Through blogging, I can share the humble pieces that have blessed me with the world.

The first two pieces above were inspired by Tim Holtz, whom I highly admire and whose work I've been following since he first appeared in the CAROL DUVALL SHOW.  Do you remember?  Anyway, the first photograph is my entry to Tim's 12 Tags of 2013 - April challenge.  I used the techniques he presented, but used my own original design.  I was excited to finally use one of the "Travel Labels" stamps that I won during Tim's September challenge as a backdrop for my butterfly and on the acetate wing overlays.  As to the original card design, it was inspired by the Upcycling with Tim Holtz post on the Jo-Ann Fabrics blog.  I LOVE the idea of working on my artwork and helping the environment at the same time!  I made a set of these to mail out for Mother's Day.  I am submitting this card to Simon Says Stamp and Show: Fly, Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Spring Flowers, Crazy Amigo Challenge: Home Sweet Home, Victoria's Earth Day Tribute and What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday? #201.

The next two pieces are from art journal.  The "Angels" page is basically a warm up exercise doodle.  I like to do these when I'm feeling uninspired, because they get my creative juices flowing.  I hand lettered the scriptural passage from Psalm 91:11 first.  I lightly penciled in the text, and then inked it with a micron pen.  I used Faber-Castell Pitt markers to draw the plaid by moving from light to dark colors.  I used the same process to illustrate the angels and starry flowers.  However, I used Prismacolor water soluble pencils and watercolors on them.  I like to  layer colors with the pencils and then blend them with a coordinating watercolor.  I did the grassy area by doodling with the pen and watercolors.  I am submitting this page to the 10 Minute Warm Up, Inspiration Avenue - Share a Tutorial, Crafting By Designs - Spring Flowers, Three Muses Challenge - The Written Word, Orange You Glad It's Friday #33, Artists in Blogland, Sunday Sketches, Mandarin Orange Monday #37, and Inspiration Monday - Week 67.  The "Fruit of the Spirit" page was done in a similar way, but I took more time to develop it.  I chose to illustrate grapes, a citron, a fig, dates and a pomegranate because they are all fruits found in the Bible.  I am submitting these pages to Artist's Play Room #52 - Fruit, Order of the Opus Gluei #154: Color Challenge, Take A Word Challenge - Botanical, Word Art Wednesday #75, and Paint Party Friday.

Last, but not least, I worked on the digital photo collage above.  I did it using the Pixelmator program on my computer.  I used two photographs I took at Texas A&M, home of the Aggies and the place where my daughter attends college.  Gig'em, Ana!  The program works in layers, so I could play with each photograph individually to get the effect I wanted.  The third and fourth layers were for the text.  It's a well designed and easy to use program.  By the way, I'll be at A&M again this weekend, so God willing I will take some good shots to post later.  I am submitting this photo to 52 Photos Project: Gallery 51 {My Favorite Place}, Illustration Friday - Urban, and Collage Obsession: Faces.

I thank you from the bottom of my heart for visiting, joining my list of followers and/or leaving a comment.  I feel humbled and thankful.  I also love reading the comments and then visiting the authors blog, if I haven't already done so already, to leave a comment in return.  May you be blessed by my artwork as much as I was blessed working on it!