My Relocated Art Studio in Tennessee

Well I'm all set up now to start creating finally. Whew! Been a long time it seems since I've seriously worked at my art.  The little house we bought, is about 1/3 the size of my home we sold in Washington state, but I said I wanted to downsize, and so I did. A lot! Anyway, my craft room - it's smaller than my last one sort of. The other craft room had a whole wall which was just a sliding closet and to me that's just a waste of valuable wall space. This one has a big walk in closet, but with a regular door, and it's tucked into the corner of the room. Way better.

First thing I did with this new room is paint it my favorite Tuscan gold-yellow color. Just love it. So warm and welcoming. Then I pulled out the old carpet and bought some Allure vinyl plank flooring in Country Pine, which looks like old barn wood. Loved how it turned out! Next, I bought a bunch of bookcases (can't believe how hard those were to find here! No Ikea's anywhere to be found.) Once those were built and set up, I got to unpack all my craft boxes and start to organize.

I'm pretty pleased with it overall. The window in the room looks out onto my back pasture so I can see my wonderful horses grazing back there and can keep an eye on them. It's just so peaceful and inspiring to see them and nature all around.

So far I've done a couple of small paintings and am working on a sculpture as well. On top of that, I'm trying to find a full time job and work on home improvement as well, so there's a lot to keep me busy these days.

My best friend Ellen, (Bag II) of Macabre Webs, and I get together to craft about once a week or so. She does amazing Sculpy pieces and paints as well, so we get together and hoot it up and just have a blast! The other day we had a "Craftabagamania" as we call them. Two old bags getting together to craft and eat and shop! So fun!! She's been a huge help giving me a kick in the hiney to get creating.  I feel very creative in my new space and I see a lot of new By Way of Salem art ahead!

Oh Dem Bones, Them Jumpin' Bones!

Did you know that this fun Halloween-time childrens' song is actually an old traditional spiritual song, written by African-American author and songwriter James Weldon Johnson? Well hells bells, neither did I!  And even more interesting, the lyrics are based out of a chapter in the Bible; Ezekiel 37:1-14, where the prophet visits the Valley of the Dry Bones and prophesises that they will come alive by God's command. Wellllllll doggies, I just had no idea! And that concludes our bible study for today........

"....the toe bones connected to the foot bone, the foot bones connected to the ankle bone...." makes me giddy for Halloween!

So on to my Skelly paintings... I created these spooky little characters on 4x5 stretched artist canvas, painted in acrylics and embellished with German Glass glitter, rubber stamping and other ephemera. The details were done with pen and ink which adds that special finishing touch. 

See them on my Etsy store!

Painting a little bit of Winter

These are my latest little creations. I say little because these are petite canvases of 4 x 5. They are done in acrylics, then embellished with decorative papers and distressed letters. I was so charmed by them when they were finished, I didn't want to sell them!

I'm working on a few more right now. I know, it's close to Christmas and I'm a bit behind in my seasonal creations, but I can't create by the season. I have to feel it, or it doesn't happen. I could paint snowmen all year long, even in Summer. Right now, I'm feeling a bit candy cane-ish, so we'll see what I might come up with! Ho Ho Ho!