What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday ??? .. Be Prepared

Please excuse  my artistic 

and UNORGANIZED

MESS !

...Here is my Work Space for this past month 

nice tablecloth...yea I know it doesn't make any sense 

This week I am scrabbling to finish up a job 

for my artist friend Jamie Morath.  

we made this wooden art piece a while a go 

artistic take on three businesses in downtown Loveland, Ohio
the owner of one of these shops has asked to see the piece
 and may be interested in purchasing it for her shop window !
Jamie called and asked me to get it finished up
We are both very excited to make it look good
with lots of new details
The green things laying on the sidewalk
are going to be for umbrella tables in front of the Paxtons.

 It is All Jamie's design

taken from a painting she did once.

I made the initial wood structure 

and little wooden pieces

 Jamie painted it for our Loveland

"Paint the Town" Event. 

 I am doing some little things for it

 like gluing it together

 and caulking it on the edge.

  I'm also making some little-bitty things

 to go with it like tables and chairs

out of wire and wood and super Gorilla Glue

those green things are umbrella table, umbrellas
... to go on top of the tables,
when I get those done.
...made from sculpy clay

wooden and wire tables and a love seat bench in the first stages

this is a close up of some of the other things

 going on at the same time this week.

everything from wooden ornamental birds to jewelry 

bird (wooden) piece for a necklace
so far it is the only one

Love my dremel
but I want the newer one !

some tools i borrowed from the hubby.

Well...there you go 

now you know what a scatter brain i am

but always with an 

Artistic Purpose

Hugs and peace

KAT

 I  am linking this post to
a couple of other blogs
  a fun blog and a neat idea at :

Some things About Me Post...

I think these background info posts are important 
just like you
 I paint a lot at home on my kitchen table for some reason
maybe I'm a hopeless "Home-body"

   I'm Mom  (they call me Mem-mem)  

to four boys, ages 34, 24, 19 and 12 years.   

that is my most important job and joy of all my life !

I've enjoyed painting since a very young age

 and took lessons here and there, 

but prefer to explore the arts in  my own own unique ways. 

Painting took a back seat to raising a family. 

We moved around a lot, being a military family for 21 years.

I experienced  working for a well know folk artist

 in Yorktown, Virginia, named Nancy Thomas. 

... absorbed a lot of the basics like mixing colors 

and how to paint in the folk art style

 in a whimsical way, using modeling paste

...creating texture with it.

I have a great appreciation and fascination for nature

 and all kinds of Art.

 ...enjoy experimenting with oil, watercolor, and acrylic paint. 

 Forest and landscapes, birds and flowers are my favorite subjects. 

...enjoy using the palette knife technique

 and also multimedia pieces  

using nature “stuff” 

  (Interesting pieces of bark pieces and pinecones and acorns.)

I love to swing on my porch swing a lot

and I love pretzels.

I'm currently working on some watercolor illustrations 

with paints and ink to illustrate 

a children’s book 

...that should be out this winter. 

EXCITEMENT !

It is about a cat named “Creeper” written by Danny Langone

 of Beloit, Wisconsin (my home town).

 Future children’s books , hopefully will follow 

... the next one being about a mouse named “Percy”.

I am  always exploring what I can learn.

 We all find inspiration everywhere in nature and in life!

this is some bark art

do you see the spy in the woods ?

another palette knife tree painting that i sold to a
stranger...and I was over joyed when I did !

So as you see I love trees, animals and birds! 

 Birds have been a favorite subject of mine! 

... catching photos of them in my backyard

 or in a painting with flowers or trees 

my birch tree bird feeder and a cute little guy

A backyard visit from a red bellied woodpecker!
so exciting

water coloring try

my latest water-coloring
 cardinal and daisies
a gift for my 80 yr old Father 
(who is now called Brother Anthony)
he is a Benedictine Monk in Peru, Illinois.
which is a rural area out in the middle of the USA.
(my moms favorite saint)
St Anthony helped her find a lot of misplaced items
like glasses, school books, hockey sticks and pom-poms...
you get it , right?

I also blog about my mood,and hard times

Like when I did not get chosen for an art show 

that I really, really wanted to be in

 for two years in a row! (gasp)
my latest post from yesterday is all about crying over that stuff for the second time !
it does help to get it out and off my shoulders.

I'm blessed to have great friends
 among the bloggers here 

  I love the U. P.

 I love my grams Lake house
 which I blogged about in May 2011.  

The home was on Lake Huron in Michigan 

it is a large influence on me and holds wonderful memories

Hi Gram !

my dads mum is from German heritage
Her family name is Munck

Lake Huron

My Mums parent s are   French Canadian
Family name is Gignac

 My Gram Loved  Flowers

So I hope you enjoyed taking a little look at my blog 

I also blog about food and my travels 

and my ups and downs trying to be as great a mom 
and woman as my Mom was. 

 I hope you will come visit me

I'm doing a gift-away for my followers 
...if you message me when I have 100 followers 
 I'm getting very close to 100 followers.  
which is a big deal to me !
Hugs and peace and joy
KAT

working on some art...and my mood...

"Valley Day"

My life is a roller coaster 

What do you do to get out of a valley 

and back up the hill 

?

Getting out into nature ?

 The beach

 The mountains

Even if it is just my backyard

it helps to swing on my porch swing

  and soak up some nature

 Nature
Joyfully whispered in my ear...

"Kat... do something about your bad mood

go out and get what you need to be artistic today"

"don't wait"

"don't hesitate"

"do it !"

So I did

 Today I am happy to be working on an oil painting

 (sorry if you are tired of my trees )

and also playing around with wire and beads

...my new experiment

in creativity

 I tape off the trees
I'm not sure why I feel the need to do this step
I just like to keep things defined

Then I slather on some blue and white

 for the beautiful  blue sky

Then I pull all the masking tape off

This is very messy

buff color for a base color on the trees

I just put on some sky and the light and shadow of it
and the base color for the trees
To Be Continued ...

here are the supplies to make some
casual pendants
with large gauge wire
and some beads... crystals( C Z )
and waxed linen string

 non tarnishing wire
pounded flat

so my valley day

is on the upswing now

at least going down is fast

and up is more gradual.

Hugs  all

KAT


I am joining in at:

Oil Painting in the Works

Happy Friday

here is the status of my oil painting of the birch trees

for my sister.

oil painting of birch trees

start with Blue painters tape
on the areas of the tree trunks
and paint in the sky

palette knife used
to fill in the trunks and the foreground foliage

my sister would like a cardinal somewhere in here too
my first attempt failed
do you see where I rubbed it out ?

almost done
I think
I still want to add a cardinal sitting in the trees
slightly afraid i will ruin it though
Trying to get my nerve up
to finish this painting for my sister.

wish me luck  and bravery
Happy PPFriday
KAT Griffin

1. 

Happy Paint Party

I am still on vacation here in Virginia

 with my eldest sons family

and having fun with my grand-daughter Jilly

we went to Bush Gardens Williamsburg

and had so much fun

Here is an oil painting

I am working on for my sister

cant wait to get back to it and finish it up



here is just a start to my latest oil painting



still a lot of work to do and color to add

I will be able to visit you all next week

when I am home again

HUGS

KAT

just had to post my gran-daughter's painting too !
Im so proud of her
I love her so so much !!!

please feel free to join us at paint party friday
a wonderful group of artists of all kinds !!!

BIRDS with STARS

OK... So this is me splurging on a mango shaved ice . 

 This is our favorite little shack 

along the Little Miami River walk/ bike/ hike trail. 

 It has been just way too hot this spring and summer!  

Seriously hot...like danger warnings about the heat hot!

So walk in the shade and eat shaved ice

 or drink lots of H2O.  

So of course i have been thinking about Christmas/ Hanukkah  and /or Winter 

season stuff for my gift shop art work.  

We have a big outdoor-in-the-park Art Show 

here in Loveland in mid September... 

and I want to sell a few of my new bird ornaments

 at the LASOM booth. 

 (My backdoor way into the exclusive art show) 

only 80 artist are picked to sell and compete

in the annual big event!  

Twice I did not make the cut . 

  but you can read about that here

 if you really want to be depressed for me. 

 LOLOLOLOL

I sketched up some flying birds and had Mr Nature cut some out for me
using a nice lightweight thinner wood.
then I added my signature feathered texture
with golden modeling paste and base painted them black

I was going to do these birds differently.
 I was going to use patterned scrap book paper on the bellies
 of the birds and colors to match the look of the oriole in my bird book 

 I do LOVE golden STARS at the holidays
so I decided to put stars in this art... somehow

I rubbed on  a mixture of bronze and yellow paint.
with my finger tip.
I like the random folksy-artsy look of that effect.

the star fit perfectly into the beak !
I got out the handy-dandy Gorilla super glue and some soft wire.

tiny-tiny hole drilled into the back wing-tip.

and glue the ends of the wire into the hole
(hold there for 30 seconds and it is set) 

Do You think that maybe these birds hang the stars in the heavens ?

Happy Holidays!

Well...

I have a lot of these to make, so I have to start now!

Hugs To You

KAT

come on and see more
from the other crafty people at :

Not Just A Housewife's DIY Contest