An Enchanted Evening

I wasn't sure if I was going to get around to doing a piece for Mixed Media Monday this week, with enchantment being the challenge.  Our household has been overwhelmed with sickness.  My husband has been sick for close to 2 weeks with an upper respiratory infection.   My son Fischer ended up at the hospital this past week needing IV fluids for dehydration from nonstop throwing up for over 24 hours.  When that cleared up he started with a fever and now has what my husband has.  During all of this Amelia decided she should also have a fever and cough.  Myself?  Well,  so far so good, but I'm not feeling top notch, so I'm loading up on the Elderberry Elixir that a friend of mine makes.  It's packed with Vitamin C and will help me give a good fight.   I was able to find a little bit of time between all of this sickness for a painting.  We're definitely not feeling much for enchantment in our household right now!

Architecture

The challenge at The Three Muses this week is architecture.  I wish we had another week for this challenge because I have a few more paintings I want to do for this theme, so many ideas, so much fun.  I really wanted to do a barn for this challenge.  As a kid growing up in Wisconsin I didn't really think much about all the barns here, besides that there were a  lot of them.  We moved back to Wisconsin this past year from Idaho, after being gone for 8 years.  I now have a new appreciation for all the beautiful barns here.   Big, little, red, white, round, old, yellow, green, brick, I love looking at them all.  The first piece I did started out as a barn, there are at least 2 paintings underneath, but nothing was working for me.    Here is my remodeled barn that became a house.  It still might need some remodeling!

Since I still haven't figured out how I want to do a barn, my second painting is a house.  I live in a small rural town and we have a lot of cute old houses around, many of which look very much like the one in my painting.   I usually steer clear of drawing buildings, but I had a lot of fun with this and plan on doing a few more.  Now if I could just figure out that darn barn!

Laughter

I came up pretty short on ideas for this weeks challenge at Mixed Media Monday, giggles and laughter.  A laughing hyena  was the only thing I could think of, so here it is.  My 5 y/o  likes the hyena, but thinks it would be better if there were really sharp teeth showing!  Maybe next time.

Nature

 Nature, what a wide open challenge for this week at The Three Muses!  Sooo many possibilities, I couldn't decide.  I finally decided on doing a piece with a killdeer and its camouflaged eggs.  After finishing it though, I decided I didn't really care for it.  (Partly for the eggs being hard to see!)  Oh well.  My little boy asked if he could hang it in his room, at least he likes it.
Since I wasn't happy with the killdeer piece, I decided to do another one.  This time a robin with her beautiful blue eggs which stand out against everything!  I can't wait for the day to see our first robin, which means spring is here.  Wisconsin winters get kind of long and I shouldn't be thinking about spring yet, but I just can't help it.

Mardi Gras

 Mixed Media Monday's  theme this week is Mardi Gras.   I've never been to Mardi Gras, but I have been in Brazil during Carnival.  We stayed clear of Rio, but did go to  parades in some other cities.  It was definitely a site to see.  Very outrageous costumes, incredible dancing, and lots of loud music. 
I went with a simple Mardi Gras mask for my piece.  This was a kind of fun challenge because I never would have done a piece like this otherwise.

Altered envelopes

 The challenge this week at The Three Muses was to make a piece using postal stamps, altered envelopes, or mail art of some sort.   Well, I really went for the altered envelope.  This collage was made all from envelopes.   Since we do online checking now, I have a lot of unused business envelopes.  There are so many different patterns. The background and most of the teapots are made from the inside of these business envelopes, while a few of the teapots  have the postage stamp on them.  (now I'm going to go enjoy a cup of tea!)

Romance

 Romance is the challenge this week at Mixed Media Monday.  I'm not a romantic at all, so this wasn't easy for me.   I had to look at my great grandmother's old Valentine's to find some inspiration.  So here is my sugary sweet romantic piece.  
"I never knew before How sweet "true love" could be, And now forever more, Will I be true to thee."
(from the back of an old Valentine card)

Birds of a Feather

Here's my entry this week for The Three Muses. Thankfully we are out of January.  It has been so dreary around here.  It's hard to find much color outside.  I'm drawn to the sumac plant any time of the year, but especially now.  It's deep red hues stand out against the snowy landscape.  The beautiful cardinals are always a treat for the eyes.