Call to Art Auction for #bringbackourgirls and Girls Rising

 

 Be Brave... in your soul.  12x12 Mixed Media Acrylic, Ink, and Paper   In support of #bringbackourgirls -the 276 Nigerian girls who were kidnapped from their school.   I will be participating in an online Art Auction    On May 15th The auction that will benefit:  Girl Rising -It is a global campaign for girls’ education. They use the power of storytelling to share the simple truth that educating girls can transform societies. Girl Rising unites girls, women, boys and men who believe every girl has the right to go to school and the right to reach her full potential. You can find out more about girl rising as well as what you can do to take action   http://girlrising.com/nigeria-action/  

AUCTION! The Auction begins Thursday, May 15 Bidding starts at 7AM EST  and Ends 3PM on Saturday, May 17.     The Auction website is:  http://www.32auctions.com/bringbackourgirls  To bid you must create a login and place a bid. There are SO many beautiful pieces or art that are being auctioned by some AMAZING artists.    If you would like to find out more about the artists who are participating  please see their websites below.  

Jessica Sporn   http://jessicasporn.blogspot.com
Linda Kittmer  http://lindakittmer.blogspot.ca
Ronda Palazzari  http://rondapalazzari.typepad.com
Marjie Kemper   http://www.marjiekemper.com

Judy Shea   http://thekeytomyart.wordpress.com
Glenda Hoagland   http://pilgrimsthoughts.blogspot.com
Astrid Maclean  http://astridsartisticefforts.blogspot.com
Lisa Pace   http://lisapace.com
Jackie Neal   http://creatingwithoutcrayons-jackiepneal.com
Claudine Criner   http://claudinesartcorner.blogspot.com
France Papillon   http://www.france-papillon.com
Kristin Van Valkenburgh  http://TwinkleTwinkleLikeAStar.blogspot.com
Marcia Beckett  http://marciabeckett.blogspot.com
Ruth Levy   http://lerusho.wordpress.com/
Sally Lynn MacDonald   http://www.SallyLynnMacDonald.com
Renee Zarate   http://renee-boltonhouse.blogspot.com
Natasha May   http://natashamay.blogspot.com/
Carmen Whitehead   http://www.serendipitystudiobycw.blogspot.com/
Seth Apter   http://thealteredpage.blogspot.com/
Marybeth Shaw   http://mbshaw.blogspot.com/
Amy Ingardia-Walker  http://creativelyquirkyathome.blogspot.com/
Kelly Warren  http://happyshackdesigns.blogspot.com
Julie Bernier http://juliebernierphotography.zenfolio.com/
Adrienne Hoban  http://www.allure-decor.com/
Krista van Tol   http://craftylittlepigtails.blogspot.com
Cheryl Grigsby http://cherylspaperartz.blogspot.com
Jill Meyer www.jillmeyer.com
Lisa Flaherty http://mypeaceofpaper.blogspot.com
Kerry C. Mitchell http://kerrycmitchell.com
Lizabeth Harrington http://www.craicarts.blogspot.com; www.facebook.com/craicarts.com
Barbara Lanza www.barbaralanza.com

  Jamie Dougherty www.jamiedoughertydesigns.com   #BRINGBACKOURGIRLS     You can find more information about #bringbackourgirls and the importance of girls’ education at: http://www.unfpa.org/gender/empowerment2.htm; http://girlrising.com/about-us/index.html#why-girls; http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/11/opinion/sunday/kristof-whats-so-scary-about-smart-girls.html?_r=0    which has this great quote:  “Why are fanatics so terrified of girls’ education? Because there’s no force more powerful to transform a society. The greatest threat to extremism isn’t drones firing missiles, but girls reading books.”    HAPPY BIDDING!      

Art Abandonment Project.... sharing what I LOVE!

   What is Art Abandonment? Art Abandonment is a group of artists designed to encourage random acts of art Kindness, left in various locations around the globe. The idea is that folks can make something and leave it for a lucky unsuspecting person to find. This is where I think that the right person will be at the right place to receive the art that was intended for them as fate would have it! The project was started by Michael deMeng. You can read the whole story here: http://michaeldemeng.typepad.com/art_abandonment/   A few months ago I joined a very loving, supportive and creative facbook group for one of the mixed media e-courses I am taking. It is a e-course with the talented Kelly Rae Roberts!  What an AMAZING e-course this has turned out to be. It is called "Hello Soul, Hello Mantras!" Kelly shows you in these very in depth and awesome videos how to create some beautiful and meaningful works of art. It is a beautiful way to search your soul and  create a piece of art that speaks to you. :)   In this group I also learned of Art Abandonment from some of my fellow class mates. They said they had been leaving their art in random places for someone else to enjoy. I felt like this was such a great idea considering all my paintings I did for this course had such meaningful mantras I figured it would be a good way to send good thoughts and happiness into the world. 

After joining the facebook group Art Abandonment I quickly began to paint several 5x7 canvas' to abandon while on vacation in Kauai.  I got such a great response from all my friends and family I decided to create a facebook page so they can follow along as I abandon my art as well as show all my recent artworks that I am working on in my studio. If you would like to follow my journey of abandoning art please follow my facbook page. I also plan to randomly select fans of the page to send artwork to as well.   Who doesn't LOVE a GIVEAWAY!  https://www.facebook.com/creativelyquirkyamy

 Abandoned in a Tree in Kauai!

Healing Stones Abandoned for someone at Michaels Craft store.

Hoping this will spread the LOVE and maybe you may want to do some random-acts-of-ART.  **Sounds like a good project for my girl scout troop to do!**

Take a Leap and be Daring!

    This past Christmas there wasn't much that I wanted but I knew I really wanted to start focusing more on my art so as my gift I asked for an awesome artistic experience... Daring Adventures in Paint & Life e-course with Mati Rose McDonough, and that is just what I got!  A complete daring adventure taking a journey for 6 weeks of learning various painting techniques and watching lovely artist interviews. I gained some confidence with the great group of classmates as well.   I discovered Mati Rose last year after I purchased a few mixed media art books one being from a talented Mixed Media Artists Mati Rose McDonough.  After that I subscribed to her blog and saw she was offering an e-course. I knew this was something I wanted to be a part of. I've tried e-courses in the past and had a hard time keeping on track with assignments due to everyday hustle and bustle but this one I really wanted to immerse myself in, and that is what I did.    Although I have my masters in Fine art I love the sense of creativity and free flowing nature this course had to offer. She will be having another e-course in April... If you are an avid painter, a beginner or someone who has never painting I highly recommend this e-course check it out!  http://daringadventuresinpaint.typepad.com/   Here are some of my paintings from the e-course. It was a great experience and I had a lot of fun being daring.   LUSH BACKGROUNDS

 

 Background above and finished painting below

 

Background above and finished painting below

Collage and Gold Leafing

And several others that I created....

 

I'm sending this one all the way to Texas to do a collaboration with a fellow e-course classmate. She created a background and will be sending it to me to finish and I will send this one for her to finish. 

 

My 7 year old is an amazing artist! She wanted to come learn some new techniques in my studio. She loves to paint and has even won two art contests... I'll post photos of those on another post. :)

 I am SOOO Thankful for this course it has gotten me painting again. I have created a studio in the garage and I'm loving it. I have really missed just playing with paint and experimenting with different techniques even if the painting doesn't come out so pretty :) Next e-course is with Kelly Rae Roberts. I will post all the paintings that I will create in that e-course. It starts Feb 24th... I'm so excited!

 

Girl Scout Pinewood Derby Rainbow Car

   

It was that time of year again..... Pinewood Derby! Emelia decided to go colorful this year as did a lot of other girl scouts. Here are images of our pinewood derby car and a few others.   Her car actually did really well! It won 3 out of the 4 races that it raced. She did not win over all, but She did win the Most Colorful Car Award. :)  

   

Daisy to Brownie Girl Scout Bridging Ceremony & Brownie KAPER Chart!

    WOOHOO! My girls have bridged to Brownies.    Our Bridging ceremony was so perfect! We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day as well as perfect ceremony. We were joined by all our Girl Scouts families.   Luckily our service unit had this AMAZING bridge! I decorated it with rainbow colored balloons.

 Brownies, Muffins and Rainbow colored cupcakes.

 We had Brownies come to talk to our girls about what to expect as Brownies.

They bridged the next day to Juniors.

 Little Gifts I put together for the girls. Personalized Brownie Necklaces by: Nana's Party Palace

 https://www.etsy.com/shop/NanasPartyPalace

 

YAY! We are now Brownies!

 

So the next step for me was to make a new Kaper Chart. 

I was so sad to replace our Daisy one, But I had tons of fun making this new one. :) 

I was able to use some of the elements from my old Kaper Chart.

KAPER DUTIES ARE:

1. Pledge and Promise
2. Attendance
3. Healthy Snack
4. Elf Keeper
5. Sharing Leader
6. Closing

     7.-Bucket down below is: Helpers

 

I also had a cute little Brownie Elf made for our Girl Scout Mascot. We use her in the sharing circle. 

Amber from Southern Gothica did such an amazing job on her. 

https://www.etsy.com/shop/SouthernGothica