creative jewish mom

A Mixed Media Peacock Painting For Purim!

When Purim is at the doorstep and there is so much to do, and yet this year with no crowd to host the pressure to do it all is somewhat reduced, so you paint a peacock, because it reminds you of royalty and castles and castle gardens, which certainly could be connected to Purim! Okay, that does not mean that there is not loads of bags of groceries and all kinds of preparations to do, but hey, when you are on a mission to be an artist, you know one that actually sells their art, well you have to show up and make art, lots of it, even when Purim is calling.....

And friends, this is clearly not a highly detailed 20 plus hour painting, I did this in a few hours or so.....and I already had the under-painting on hand, keep reading to see what it is!

Whimsical Bear Portraits Make Perfect Party Decor!

As you may realize, I have been delving into drawing and painting and sketchbooking and art journaling more than actual crafts this past year, but that does not mean that our house is suddenly lacking festive decorations, infact just the opposite. Because dear friends, brightly colored or whimsical paintings, whether on paper or in my case milk cartons and boxes make really wonderful party decor, come on by and take a look! These fun bear portraits are now part of my kitchen gallery shelves display, and I even taped a few to boxes so they can stand up. They would make amazing gift tags (they work up quickly, and the quicker the better!) or adorable greating cards, or once you get the hang of it, why not a huge portrait on your front door for Purim? Yes, Purim is coming up in a week, yikes, and a painting session to create some whimsical bears is certainly in order! Give your bears some added accessories, like the ones I've shown or maybe even a crown, or a birthday cake or a little bird? To give credit where credit is due, this idea is from Cottonwood Artistry, on instagram here, who actually posted an amazing how-to video on a private Facebook group, and I'm hoping she'll share it with the world, in which case I'll let you know! Okay, lets take a closer look......

Acrylic Paint Skin Leftovers Can Be Used In Crafting!

I've been meaning to share these amazing looking remnants of dried paint that I removed from my grided plastic paint palette for a good month, and since everything has its time, the day has arrived! As you may or may not be aware, paint can be expensive, and not great for your pipes or water supply when washed down the sink, so those who are concerned with the environment at the very least let their paint leftovers dry and then toss them in the garbage, hopefully. I never have left over paint because I use it to paint the next page in my sketchbook, or cover a milk carton or a box or anything that happens to be paintable, because why not? So how is is then that I have paint skins at all? Well one can't exactly lick the palette clean, so there are always some remains, and when they get layered over a few days the results can be thick enough to peel off, whether you are using a plastic palette, a plastic plate, or a piece of waxed paper or parchment paper.

And I'll let you in on a little secret, when you peel them off you get to see the glossy underside, which can also be amazing looking! So why am I telling you this? Because as you know, any opportunity to be creative is great, and when you realize that you can use acrylic paint skins in collage or as a part of an acrylic painting, well, a whole new realm of creativity may just unfold before your very eyes! It is true, that the paint pouring community has also come to realize that they can use left over paint to make sheets of acrylic paint skin, which is of course prefereable to waste, but that Isn't what I'm talking about. I'm talking about using the accidental mix of colors that happens as a result of your painting practice or recent craft with paint. And yes, these paint skins do have dimension, but that is fine and also perfectly archival assuming you adhere them to your acrylic painting with acrylic glue, such as matte medium or gel medium. And friends, you could even make a fun mosaic by cutting the paint skins with scissors, and some folks use particularly lovely little areas to make jewelry! So give it some thought, and in the mean time, have a closer look at my "modern art", now if only I had a dollhouse I could hang these in the entry, right?

Mini Graffiti Hearts Painting, Third Time Is A Charm!

If this looks a bit familiar to you, it is! I shared this painting a few weeks ago here, where I also described how it was painted. Honestly the colors just were not working in our home, so I decided to keep on painting tiny hearts, this time in colors that would work and phew, after another couple hundred or so hearts that covered up the previous hearts, a new pastel version of my original mini graffit hearts painting was born! So this technically is also a recycling craft, I just can't get away from them!

We don't have any holidays on the Jewish calendar that involve giving heart shaped cards and the like, but since a large part of the English speaking world does, all the heart items made for that holiday in China make it into our stores as well, and folks use the heart for birthdays, weddings, or just because. So, this heart painting is a "just because" and because I just couldn't resist painting a whole crowd of tiny hearts, one more time! I painted tiny hearts on a box, on milk cartons and in my journal, so actually painting on a canvas seemed like the next logical step. And who knows, maybe I'll have to give this as a gift to hang in a baby's room or maybe it will live in my kitchen shelves art gallery. Okay, lets take a look at the previous versions of this painting, just for fun, shall we?

Creative Process: How I Painted A Moroccan Gazebo With Lilacs

I am on a roll as far as working in my sketchbook, and this time I actually remembered to take a "before" photo, so introducing a behinds the scenes look at what exactly went into creating this sweet Moroccan style garden scene. I think you'll be quite surprised to see the evolution, which you can see if you keep on reading. It is true, I have been doing mostly botanicals and florals and landscapes cute animals in my sketchbook, so when the idea of making a Moroccan pergola came to mind I thought, what, architecture? okay, why not? The truth is, that I love creating in such a way that the facing pages in my sketchbook compliment one another or share a theme, but most importantly they just need to work together colorwise, composition wise etc. At this very moment I feel on the verge of a giant babble, so instead lets just cut to the chase and see the humble beginnings of this architectural garden sketch, done with multi media, namely acrylic paint, permanent markers and paint markers. Ready?

Mixed Media Lilacs Blooming In My Sketchbook!

Lilacs are blooming in my sketchbook, because in general I've been trying to fill the pages, and now, with my new instagram account, right here, (please follow me!) I've decided to do a few February challenges to help me create content and get my account noticed, hopefully. It has been a while since I've painted flowers, so the #28FebruaryFlowers challenge is going to be well, quite honestly, a challenge! If I miss a day, or need to do something really simple I will give myself a break, as I'm also hoping to participate in #28FeatheredFriends, which is yes, a bird challenge! So, over the next month, in addition to Purim crafts you may catch a glimpse of birds and flowers and even some combination of the two.

Wondering how I painted/drew these lilacs? Well it is really quite simple, you just have to not be afraid to layer and to keep at it until it works. This is not the kind of mixed media floral painting that had much of a plan, and while risky you might think, the results are I believe much more filled with life when the act of painting was an adventure unto itself! Okay, want to give it a try? Lets do it!

Trees In Bloom On A Milk Carton Craft!

Tonight is the wonderful Jewish holiday of Tu B'Shevat, so it is time to get crafting, either to create decor for the holiday, or as an activity to honor the holiday. After all, whimical paintings of trees in bloom gracing milk cartons is something one can certainly enjoy for a good few months? I just love painting on milk cartons because the results are ready to display and honestly it is just so darn cute, and unexpected, a great combination! Last week I shared milk carton row houses with heart graffiti, and now I'm sharing almond trees in bloom painted on the rejects from the previous project, which is a perfect way to go! And the truth is I started painting whimsical almond trees in bloom on paper, check it out here, and then I started to explore the topic further on milk cartons. In case you are wondering, this painting on milk carton trend is not likely to disappear any time soon, I'm already thinking about Purim, the next Jewish holiday! Okay, but first things first, lets take a look at how to go about painting blooming fruit trees on milk cartons!

Trees In Bloom Finger Paintings For All Ages!

Tonight is the wonderful Jewish holiday of Tu B'Shevat, the new year for fruit bearing trees, so what better time than to get the family together, or carve out some time for yourself, to paint some artful and whimsical almond trees in bloom! Okay, if you wish they can be cherry blossom trees, no problem! And best of all, you can choose to do this trees in bloom painting project without using any brushes at all, just fingers and a few q-tips, imagine that! That is right dear readers, finger painting isn't always for little kids, it can be great for any age!

The trees in bloom paintings that I'm sharing with you here were painted based on an online family friendly painting class by my friend Amanda Evanston, and the class is called Brushless Botanicals: Chagall Trees! Perfect, right? (Chagall was Jewish and includes many Jewish themes in his paintings, so get inspired by Chagal and paint anything floating in the sky!) There's a whole section about Chagall which is really interesting, in addition to several painting lessons to create trees inspired by Chagall. I took it one step further to create trees in bloom, and added some paint pen details as seen in the painting above, but you may choose to stick with just your fingers......there are no rules folks! Also, do take a look at Amanda Evanston's Facebook page every Wednesday, starting today, for some free mini classes, including one today (up for 24 hours) that uses spaghetti as a painting tool, don't miss it!

Okay, back to our Tu B'Shevat scheduling, lets paint some joyful trees in bloom, and I've even painted some on milk cartons, which together with these paintings are this year's holiday decorations! Okay let's take a closer look......

Milk Carton Houses With Graffiti Hearts!

I really can't count the times I've planned to make milk carton houses, nor how many milk cartons I have packed away in the basement for those dream projects, but I can report to have taken one tiny step forward with these milk carton heart graffiti wall houses! I realize it sounds like I've never made milk carton houses, silly me, I certainly have, twice, milk carton house planter, and doodled millk carton houses. I've been all about hearts lately, and while the hearts I've been painting haven't exactly been graffiti hearts, lets just pretend they are, and certainly when painted on a milk carton house they can be! And of course there are many leaves shaped like hearts, so cover a milk carton with green hearts and you've got a wall of ivy or a garden. Add a few small house details and a whole row of houses is born! This is such a fun project for any age, and I recommend painting a bunch of milk cartons to have on hand, as in general painting on 3D objects is great for developing a creative eye, and for adding something fresh to your crafting or creative practice!  Ah yes, and with the Jewish new year for the trees coming next week, include a few almond blooms, or a blooming fruit tree and include this in your holiday decor. Either way, it feels like Spring, so it works for Tu B'Shevat! Okay, lets get started, shall we? I almost forgot, check out all of my milk carton crafts for lots more inspiration, and to plan ahead, meaning batch prepare some milk cartons for future crafts!

A Peek In My Sketchbook: Mini Hearts Galore

It is true the mini painted hearts are taking over and who can complain? While working on my mini painted hearts painting, I also started experimenting in my sketchbook as well, as while it may seem that just painting hearts has its limitations, there are in fact so many ways to go! While I did labor for hours to get the mini hearts painting just so, when things started to look not so great in my sketchbook I opted to use the hearts pattern as a background, and thus the pear of hearts was born! I have now filled an additional four pages with all kinds of hearts, so let me tell you, it is addictive, but certainly not harmful unless it takes you into the wee hours on the morning, who me? Okay, keep on reading to see a bit more.....