Advent and Christmas

This is the season to be busy, right? Well I have been busy but not with Christmas but with  decluttering. I moved last February from 1200 square feet to 700 square feet so I am parting with at least half of my belongings. This is a slow process especially since I had a large room full of fabric in my last place. 

I did take breaks from decluttering by making some items for my new Etsy shop called Art By The Sea Studio. First was this whimsical tree inspired by artist Jane Font.I painted six of them and attached them to red card stock to make Christmas cards.

I also wanted to paint a Nativity scene. I had enjoyed painting the angel with a palatte knife so much I decided to try a Nativity in that style. I tried it first in my art journal. I am glad I did because I didn't have room for Joseph on the first try.

When I am not happy with a painting I have to step back for a day or two and look at it later with fresh eyes. I took a break and made ATC (artist trading cards) with the Advent Angel on them for my prayer/covenant group. These were to small to use the palette knife so I used a small brush and heavy body paint. I made three extra just because I am adicted to making them for some reason. 

Then last minute Christmas sales picked up in my Etsy quilt shop so I didn't get in my painting time for a few days. When I was able to get back to my paints I did another Nativity with Joseph included this time and on a larger scale. 

I found a source for printing my artwork on cups, t-shirts and phone cases and have been busy setting up my artwork with that company. A few are ready for sale in my shop www.etsy.com/artbytheseastudio

This company is also making prints of my originals in several sizes. 

Things should be quiet this week leading to Christmas so maybe I can get in some sewing and painting time. 

May each of you have a Blessed Christmas. 

Debbie

Tis the Season

As I sit here composing this blog post I realized this is the first Christmas I am not dreading the Christmas Holidays since my husband died. We had a long established tradition of Christmas breakfast with my Mom and sisters and their families then heading to Gamble Rogers Memorial State Park to camp for two weeks on the beach. Hiking, reading, a lot of reading, and Jim surf fishing filled our days. Wonderful memories. 

Just before Thanksgiving I broke out my sewing machine and made some Christmas toilet tank toppers for my Etsy shop. 

I also made some Christmas greeting cards to sell and some fabric gift tags.

I didn't make any bowl cozies because #1 I hate making them, #2 I had 17 in stock. Guess what is my top seller? Bowl Cozies. LOL

Today is the first Sunday in Advent. I am looking forward to the Christmas hymns at church, Starting a book of writings and artwork called "Night Visions" by Jan Richardson and painting my meditations. 

In order to prepare for this time of anticipation I painted an Advent Angel. Simple and faceless but carrying a message of joy to Mary. 

How do you prepare for the coming of Emmanuel?

I would love to hear about your Christmas traditions. Please share them below in the comments.

May this season bring you anticipation of joy and hope in the new year. 

Debbie

Not Normal Yet

Things have not gotten back to normal yet. Still dealing with hurricane claims and repairs. My car. which is only 6 months old, was damaged when my carport came off and the debris blew across it. I was shocked that it was taking over $6,000 to paint it. Wow! I guess the days of $200 paint jobs are long gone. Any way the car has been in the shop for two weeks. Apparently I didn't have rental car as part of my policy so I have been car-less. I am suppose to get it back tomorrow afternoon. Yeah!!

I have been busy sewing and painting. Below is my latest artwork. A collage and the layered paints and stamping the background. 

Did some Christmas tank toppers for my Etsy store. 

Have you started Christmas prep yet? 

Started hand quilting two table toppers today so I would have something to do while I sat with my feet up. Spent the day with my feet up because.... 

I did a swan dive while walking Malady this morning. 

It looks worse than it is. It does hurt like the dikens though. I bruised the big toe on my other foot too. 

I am dog sitting for a friend these next few days so I will be walking two dogs in the morning. I will be extra careful for sure.

Debbie

Check out my Etsy store www.etsy.com/daytonadamsel for quilted items and www.etsy.com/artbytheseastudio for art prints and originals

Fall and Storms

Preparing for Fall and Storms has kept me busy for the last couple of weeks. After I wrote my last post I gathered together my Fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas fabric to start sewing for my quilt shop on Etsy. I also started working on some more ATC, Artist Trading Cards for the holidays as well. As I surfed through Pinterest for ideas I saw many pumpkins and decided to paint an 8 X 10 canvas of a pumpkin in the field. To me pumpkins are the symbol of Fall's arrival. 

Pumpkin in the Field

Pumpkins also remind me of Halloween. As a child I loved cutting a Jack-o-Lantern into a pumpkin. Ours were always smiling because we thought of Halloween as a happy and fun time. 

What symbols do you equate with Fall and Halloween?

I also painted an abstract titled, "Summer Dreams" to represent all the dreams I had for summer. A lot of yellow for the Florida sunshine, swirls of activities that happen in a tourist area in summer, steady circles of calm and rest, the bright colors of flowers and the green of trees that cover the landscape. I even dream of Summer Storms that refresh the land and my soul. 

Summer Dreams

I didn't however dream of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. I prayed and watched as Harvey devastated Texas and tried to think of ways to help those effected by the storm. 

As the heat and humidity in Florida rose to 100 degrees I decided to head North to Ohio and visit family. I planned on staying for two weeks then heading home to start painting and sewing for the holidays. Mother Nature had other plans. My flight was canceled home and I was unable to get a flight  home until Thursday September 14th. My patio and carport took a hit but my house was spared. I will be happy to return home, clean up the remnants of Irma and start painting again. 

Until next time, God Bless

Debbie

Still Here

I am still blogging, although sporadically. I am making a quilt for my grandson who is getting married September 16th. I am quilting it by hand so it is slow going and time is flying by. 

As for my praying with art, it is still going to be my ministry online. God is still speaking to me but I haven'e had the time to create the art. This is the two I have done recently.

I heard a beautiful song yesterday during devotions called, Winds of God by Jodi Penner. The first and last line are, "I feel the wind of God today, today my sail I lift."  I identify with that phrase because my late husband and I used to sail the inland waterways, letting the wind take us where it willed. I remember the joy and freedom I felt, though not in control of my destination. I also remember those times in my life when I allowed God's wind to take me where he willed. What exciting, sometimes challenging days those were. 

Later in the song it talks of being cast on the shore of selfish ease and ask God to let me feel your breeze so they can put back to sea. I realize that in the three years since losing my husband I have been resting on the shore and now it is time for a new direction. So my prayer is, "Lord let me feel your freshening breeze and I will put back to sea." 

Have you had times of resting on the shore? If so, how did you set sail again? 

In the future I will try very hard to keep on a regular posting schedule. Once I figure out one that is. ;) 

May you feel the fresh wind of God this week and in the weeks to come. 

Blessings,

Debbie

Time for REST

Wow I can't believe I haven't posted since the 15th of July. I need to get a handle on a schedule if I want to grow this blog.

I have been busy though. I now know why retirees say they don't know how they had time to work before retirement.

I am working on a queen size quilt for my grandson's wedding in the Fall. I have two grandsons getting married in the Fall and planned on giving each a quilt but I am not sure I can since I am hand quilting them. I might have to machine quilt one of them.

I am also making toilet tank toppers and table runners for my online shops and selling off my huge stash of fabric. It has gotten out of hand and I need the cash. Selling the fabric is time consuming since I have to take pictures, unfold and measure each piece, write a description and then copy everything to the two other selling sites. 

I am still keeping up with my artwork a day for a year and Praying with art. 

One of the Artwork a day.

I also am researching selling my art at art fairs and festivals. There is a lot involved with that venture not to mention the expense. 

Primitive acrylic art for art festivals and one per day.

Last week I meditated on Matthew 11:28-32. Specifically verse 28.

Sometimes we get so busy we forget to spend time resting in God. All the busyness I spoke of earlier can draw you away from the peace we find in time with God. I spent my morning time with God this past week, however I would quickly get distracted by all that went on during the day and only focus on God again at bedtime. 

This weekend God's Spirit has nudged me to get back to praying the hours. That is, reading Scripture, praying and short meditation in the morning, afternoon, evening (Vespers) and bedtime. I know many of you think this is for Catholics only but many Christians follow this rhythm of prayer. It surprisingly only takes a few minutes of your time each hour but it helps you stay focused. I use an Episcopalian resource by Phyllis Tickle but there are many books out there to explain and guide you. Of course there is Google as well.

Below is the resulting artwork that resulted from my meditation on Matthew 11

This weeks meditation focus will be on Acts 2:29-41. Will you join me in praying with art the message God has put on your heart this week using this or another Scripture passage. If you do I would love to hear how God spoke to you in his word.

I still plan to set up the Facebook group where you can share your art prayer but it has gotten delayed. I had hoped to have it up and running this week but my friend who is helping me set it up has had health issues. Hopefully we can get together this week and get it up and running. 

Until next time may God surround you with peace, rest and kindness.

Debbie

Christmas in July?

Every year I plan to have my holiday table runners and decorations made and ready to list in my Artyah and Etsy shops by July. I am always amazed at the number of people who tell me they are ready for the holidays and shopping is done by July or August. Well once again I didn't get anything ready by July. I did however start this week on a few Christmas and Halloween cards. 

Still hard to think of creative ideas when it is 96 degrees out.

How about you, are you one who plans that far ahead?

Let's talk about the reason for the season, Jesus. 

I had planned to blog about this art prayer on Monday but I blinked and it was Saturday. LOL Wow the week flew by before I knew what was happening, 

My stepdaughter, Ann, had been on vacation all week but between family problems and work calling her all week, she was stressed to the max and needed to make some hard decisions. That morning Pastor Ken had preached on how God doesn't test us that he doesn't provide a way out. How opportune was that?

We tend to focus on our problems and chaos instead of focusing on what God is trying to teach or show us. My prayer for Ann and all of us caught in the chaos is that we may have eyes to see God's way. 

Have a blessed day.

Debbie

Deli Paper

Welcome back Art Prayers. I tried  new, easy technique using deli paper for today's praying with art.  You know the thin paper they line those plastic baskets with and wrap sandwiches in at the deli. Very inexpensive and can be found in most grocery stores in folded squares or on a roll like wax paper. 

This week I decided to focus on the fruits of the Spirit for the next week or two. There is a lot of information in those verses in Matthew 

I will be taking one fruit of the Spirit at a time to focus on in prayer. This morning it was love. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind. The second love others. 

I started by applying aqua and Mediterranean blues along with a greenish blue to a scrap piece of printer paper.  I forgot the gesso so the water  in the paint caused the paper to curl. No problem though because it flattened out when it dried. 

I then mixed some dark pink with white to lighten it up and painted that on half a sheet of deli paper.

One thing I learned was that if you try to dry either the deli paper or printer paper with your hair dryer it is like fighting a mad cat. So I gave up and laid them aside to dry on their own and worked on another project.

After both papers dried I stenciled the background with a very light blue to give some texture and then set it aside to dry while I cut hearts out of the pink deli paper. This is a great use of for the deli paper since I can't draw. You can see through the deli paper to trace your heart or any other shape you want. Now I can draw a simple heart but mine are always lopsided so I thought I would try tracing. Problem is I forgot to trace it before painting it. But I lucked out and found a heart shaped container to trace around. 

I attached the heart using Matte Gel Medium, wrote God in one heart and Others in the second heart and outlined. It is all I can do to resist fixing the crooked outline but I did because the Spirit reminded me to practice what I preach about perfection. 

Here it is completed and ready to glue in my journal.

Simple, I like simple.

While I was creating and meditating I became aware that I had been understanding this to mean that I needed to try harder to love God and Neighbor, that I would be a sinner or not a Christlike follower if I didn't accomplish this. The Spirit opened my eyes to the true lesson, This is not something I accomplish or fail at. Loving God and others is a natural result of spending time with God and allowing the Holy Spirit to fertilize and prune my soul. In doing so my life will naturally produce these fruits. Big sigh of relief and smile of joy was the result of this realization. Why do we make it so hard? God must shake his head and smile lovingly at me every time I make this relationship so hard. 

Will you join me in this venture into the Spiritual gifts? I won't be blogging everyday on them but I will be sharing one occasionally. If you know someone who might enjoy praying with art won't you share this with them? 

Until next time, Blessings, 

Debbie

Wisdom

Last post we talked about how anyone can use art in prayer and how easy and inexpensive it is to get started. This post I am challenging you to take that first step and create!

This week I am meditating on "wisdom" God's wisdom to be specific. I had a big decision today and I wanted some guidance and where best to find that than from God. I did an online Bible search for wisdom and it came back with 219 results. I had no idea it would be that many. 
I chose James 1:5 
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.

When I think about a picture of wisdom I think of an owl so that is what I chose to use as my art prayer. 

Above is the start of my art prayer. I am not quite done with this art prayer but I got my answer so I will be finishing this page giving thanks to God for his wisdom.

The technique for this page is mixed media collage. I received some pins from Pinterest on Sunday of collage art and it inspired me to try this. A little more time consuming but that was ok since I had a lot of praying and listening to do. 

Will you join me this week in art prayer? If you do and do not mind sharing would you share your theme or Scripture passage in the comments below? 

Blessings my friends, Debbie

Questions About Starting

Questions. I am sure you have many so I will strive to answer the most common ones. But let me tell you what I can't answer first. I can't answer questions on technique or teach anyone to paint or draw, I am not an art teacher. There are many wonderful art instructors in any kind of technique you can think of on Youtube. That is how I learned to do mixed media art. I can only share my experiences and limited knowledge about art, color theory and the like. Below are a few I and others have asked of the instructors I follow. 

1. Do I have to be an artist? Know how to Draw? Paint? and similar questions? All answered the same, NO! We are not creating masterpieces or museum pieces. Heck we do not have to show anyone our work at all. This entire experience is between you and God. Yes I am setting up a closed Facebook page for us to share our artwork if we like, but this is not a requirement. You can even join and only look at other's artwork if you like. 

Below is my first art journal page. I used magazine cutouts, Elmer's Glue and some inexpensive craft paints. 

2. Is it expensive? No.  I started with a hardbound book I bought at a thrift store. All you have to do is glue 2-3 pages together to make them heavier. If you are using paint you might want to get some Gesso to pretreat the pages. Gesso is a little pricey but will last sometime in a small journal. (I used Elmer's glue or a glue stick to glue the pages together). 

I recently saw a blog where the lady used the composition books you find everywhere, even the Dollar Store. She glued together two pages and she was set.  For Modge Podge I used a recipe I found by googling home recipes for Modge Podge. It is made with Elmer's and water. For color use children's crayons and watercolor paints. I was lucky to have some bottles of acrylic craft paint my daughter gave me. You can find different acrylic craft paints in small bottles at Michaels, JoAnns, basically any craft store and some big box stores that are very inexpensive. Use a coupon or wait for a big sale. Those little bottles last a long time. You only need primary colors of blue, red and yellow along with black and white to mix up a huge assortment of colors. Same goes for paint brushes. The inexpensive brushes and children's paint brushes work fine. I use my fingers more than brushes anyway. Remember we are not painting a masterpiece here. I use wax paper for a paint pallet, you can use old plastic lids, paper plates etc. I use the wax paper to cover my table too. That is what the blue tap is holding down in the picture above.

There are all kinds of "stuff" out there to tempt you but stick with a minimum to start with. You can use found objects for stamping and texture in your kitchen and yes, even the bathroom. Think toilet paper roll and makeup sponges. I recommend a standard pencil and white eraser as well. To sum up, this can be a very expensive process or an inexpensive process. Just don't go for the really expensive stuff to start. The set of brushes pictured above are less than $6 from Amazon and there nice brushes to start painting with. Here is the name:

Heartybay 10Pieces Round Pointed Tip Nylon Hair Brush 

I have two cartons of "stuff" I bought when I started because that was what the Youtube instructor was using. I will probably never use all that "stuff" so take it from someone who learned the hard way, go slow in the beginning when it comes to supplies. 

3. How much space do I need? I use half of my small kitchen table. I even have used a small motel room desk when traveling. It mainly depends on the size of your painting/drawing/collaging surface and the tools you use. I know art instructors who have little travel boxes set up to use on an airplane tray. 

4. How much time does it take? It can take as little or as much time as you have. Especially if you can have a separate space dedicated to you and your supplies. I am a widow living alone so I have the whole house to myself. Well maybe not the bed. My poodle Malady only weighs 15 pounds but takes up over half the bed, right in the middle. LOL If you can't have a dedicated spot you can create a small drawer or box to hold your journal and supplies at the ready. Then you can just grab and set up anytime you have 15 minutes to listen and create.  I have even created a page in 10 minutes but I have my supplies set up and ready to go all the time. 

My current prayer journal.

I know I have probably missed some questions you might have so feel free to ask any questions you might have in the comments below. I will be happy to answer those I can.

Until next time, have a blessed weekend.

Debbie

Be Still

I am late getting this up because I have been so busy this week and before I knew it the week was gone! Unfortunately I have been doing things other than my art journal so that is behind too. But life happens and we adjust. Not going to stress over being behind because that blocks our hearing God and drags us right back into our perfectionism. 

I have gotten some artwork and journaling done this week although not completed yet I do have a start.  

I have not done a wrapped canvas except the little four inch ones like below.

So I challenged myself by starting an  8 X 10. Here it is in process.

I am trying out a gitter glue on the cage. I have had it in my stash for months so gave it a try. It takes a long time to dry so I have set it aside until today. I will let you know how it turned out in my next post.

As for my "Praying with Art" journal, I started a page on being content. Is waiting for the final touch unless life gets in the way.

I also finished this one on Saturday,

I am working on the Facebook page and it should be ready mid July. It will be a closed group for those who want to journey into praying with art. More details soon.

Tomorrow I will be discussing letting go of some of our "perfectionism." This is one of the biggest killers of our creative spirits and I think it hinders our hearing God. 

Until then take 5 minutes to sit quietly and listen to God's message for you in this passage. Psalm 139:13,14

 13For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother's womb. 14I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.…

It will be hard at first if you are new to this. One minute will be an eternity and those mind monkeys will try to distract you but just take a deep breath and start again. I couldn't stop my mind more than 20-30 seconds at first but I kept at it and eventually worked up to much longer. Also you may not hear or feel any stirrings. That is ok too. God is very patient and sometimes his message is just "Be Still"

Blessings dear friends. 

Praying with art

Praying with art is something God laid on my heart in the Fall of 2016. I was in my second year at the 2 Year Academy for Spiritual Formation and I was praying about what to do for my two year project. My original plan had ran into a lot of barriers which made me realize that it was my plan not God's. 

My desire to find a ministry and my love of creating came together in this God inspired way:

Praying or expressing what you hear from God with an art journal.

Ash Wednesday Journal entry.

Art journaling is very popular right now, especially mixed media art journaling because it is freeing and you can start with little to nothing in art supplies. I will go into more detail as we move along. 

I can tell you that it has helped me relax and stop fretting and I spend less time striving for self perfectionism.

Journal Page from 06/23/2017

I need to work out a schedule for posting regularly and how often to post the suggested scripture or topic for prayer. Perhaps you can help me by answering a few questions.

How often would you like to receive a focus Scripture verse or topic to art journal? Weekly or monthly?

Do you prefer a Scripture passage or focus like love, forgiveness, etc. or both?

I will be posting more info in another blog post about tools and supplies, where and how you can pray with your art. But let me encourage you right now by getting rid of some negative thoughts you may be having. 

1.  You do not have to know how to draw (I can't), paint or write neatly (another thing I am not skilled at) 

2.  You are not creating museum pieces or pieces to sell. You do not have to show anyone, including me what you did in your journal. This is between you and God. 

3.  It is not expensive to do. You can find many items in you or your children's "stuff".

4.  Finally, yes you can do this. You will wonder why you waited so long. 

Sign up to receive my post via e-mail and join this amazing journey with me.

Blessings,

Debbie

Backgrounds and the time it takes

Yesterday I said I would explain why I had not finished my one a day painting. This post is picture heavy which makes it longer than usual. 

Doing one piece of art per day was taking a lot of time in between steps because of drying after each layer of the background. So I decided, after watching a YOUTUBE video to prep a weeks worth of paintings and document the process for the background.

First I applied gesso to my page so that all my paint doesn't soak into the paper. Canvases come pretreated with gesso so you save that step. 

Then you dry the gesso. The time it takes depends on how thick you apply it. Gesso takes longer than the paint to dry. I like to let it air dry because then the mixed media paper doesn't curl as bad.

First color is applied with brush and dried.

Second color is applied with fingers and dried.

 Then I apply third color with a wet wipe or fingers and dry.

Then stencil with more paint...

and dry.

Then stamping randomly with ink.

Then walla! Ready to create

This takes a lot of time. I should have timed it but forgot. Maybe next week.

That is my process for backgrounds. I think I will take one day a week and prep a week's worth of backgrounds. If none of the backgrounds are speaking to me on any given day I can always make another one. 

Do you prep your backgrounds  in advance? Let me know in the comments below. I like hearing how others create their artwork. 

Debbie

You can find my art for sale at:

https://www.artyah.com/seller/artbythesea

And https://fineartamerica.com/artists/deborah+halcomb

First Post "One Per Day"

This blog is about mixed media art. 

I would like to introduce myself first. My name is Debbie, I am also known as Daytona Damsel and I love creating. 

The purpose of this blog is to share my mixed media art journey and to have a place where my followers in my new ministry can come to get more info. My new ministry is to teach others to pray with art, specifically mixed media art. I am still in the process of setting this up so check back later for more info if you are interested. 

One Per Day

Two weeks ago I shared on Facebook that I was going to create one piece of art per day for a year. The first week I did well but as the days wore on I started running out of ideas. Some days it took most of the day just to decide on the colors of the background. LOL
When this would happen I would go online to get inspiration on Youtube and Pinterest. Today I stumbled upon a video for Dylusions Paint color mixing. I didn't care about what colors go together; I already know enough about color combining to be dangerous. What caught my interest was the fact that she was preparing nine background pages at one time for future use. Duh. Why didn't I think of this? 

Today I sat down and prepared eight pages with paint, stencil and stamps. Now I am ready for a week's worth of art. From now on I will take one day a week to prepare my back grounds, even if I have to spend a little more time one day a week in my studio painting. But spending more time painting is not really a problem because I love to paint and it was so much fun trying different paint combos.   

I could not figure out how to link the video from Youtube but the artist name is Umut Rados and the video is titled 9 Easy Backgrounds With Dylusions if you would like to watch it. Umut has some great color combos. 

Do you prep backgrounds ahead of times in groups? I would love to hear from you and I respond to every comment I receive.

Give Away

I will be giving away supplies in the future, sign up to follow me so you don't miss out. 


Have a Blessed Day
Debbie