Crystal Hearts & Cool Stencils

May 29, 2018July 24, 2018 | Sal Scheibe

I’ve been making stencil and background art lately and it’s been great fun! I even broke out the gelli plate last weekend! Quite the work out making gelli prints, lol. Anyway, above is a piece made using Strumpet Stencils’ Crystal Heart stencil. I think this stencil is one of my faves. I love a good crystal. Ok… I know it’s a little dark and weird but I like weird. If you’re interested, there is a full tutorial and walk-through over on the Strumpet Stencils blog. This one is for sale too. If you’re interested, send me a note!

What do you do with a Guy Fawkes stencil? You become an art rebel of course. My Rebel poster features the Strumpet Stencil Guy Fawkes stencil as well as some of the symbol stencils. And again, there’s a full tutorial and pictorial walk-through on the stencil blog. I always loved V for Vendetta so this stencil made me super happy. I’ll be using this one in more artwork for sure!

A deadly butterfly, with hat.

April 19, 2018 | Sal Scheibe

This is my first project as part of the Strumpet Stencils design team! And it was a fun one. I’ve had the ribs stencil from Sarah for a while now and I wasn’t sure how I was going to use it. I know that sounds ridiculous because ribs are ribs! But I didn’t want to do a regular skeleton / some sort of human zombie. And then it came to me – a pretty captured skeletor butterfly! I know, right? Exactly the sort of thing that pops into your mind when you see human ribs! I really do love pretty things and tons of colour as most of my regular blog visitors know but I also love things with a lot of weird, dark too. I think skeletor butterfly fits in there as good combo of both.

Here are a series of WIPs of the entire projects. I won’t rehash the tutorial here since it’s all available over at Strumpet Stencils for those who are interested in the full walk through. And if you want to purchase any of Sarah’s stencils, use this code (STRUMPETSAL) for a discount in her Etsy store.

We still have tons of snow here – big piles of it. It’s really sad. I can’t even cry anymore. It is what it is. But I was happy to see that we’re breaking into the double digits this weekend and that brings me great joy! I’m hoping for some sun too, just a bit will make me happy. I know I’m getting greedy here but it’s been a very looooooooooooooong winter.

I’m off to the pub tonight. Happy weekend everyone!

Want to win some Strumpet Stencils?

April 12, 2018July 24, 2018 | Sal Scheibe

I joined a design team! WOO! My friend, Sarah Trumpp, makes the most amazing and edgy stencils for art journalers and creatives. I’ll have a couple of tutorial style blog posts on her website each month featuring her super cool stencils. Want to win some amazing Strumpet Stencils? YES you do! TO ENTER, Leave a comment on the blog post in this link. If you share my post on Facebook, leave another comment (and friend me while you’re there!). Tweet it out? Leave another comment. Like the Strumpet Stencil’s facebook page? ONE MOAR COMMENT! And while we’re here, if you’d like a coupon for Strumpet Stencils (Sarah is super cool like that), use this coupon code (STRUMPETSAL) for 15% off at the Strumpet Stencils Etsy store.

These are so pretty!

The mixed media artwork at the top of the post is actually from 2012! I pull this one out every now and then when I have too much going on in my head. That’s what today feels like. Hopefully the weekend is calm and WARM! Happy weekend to all of my art friends!

Gimme a Rock Protest Art

April 5, 2018 | Sal Scheibe

Gimme a rock was painted a couple of weeks back, the day of the student marches in the US. I love those kids, standing up to the government and they have my full support. The painting is an allegory obviously (David and Goliath). I’m definitely not advocating people start throwing rocks but I sure do appreciate these “powerless” youngsters standing up to the NRA and their government with a peaceful protest. I hope they keep at it. I’m not a fan of guns under any circumstances, even hunting. And I cannot fathom being scared to go to school because someone might shoot me. I have a very hard time trying to understand why anyone is allowed to purchase an AR-15 assault rifle.

On a happier note, below is a batch of Artist Trading Cards I’ve made over the past couple of weeks. Lots of different themes and a wee bit of Esthetic Blood. That is seriously one of the swap themes. Many of us love a romantic vampire!

And on an even happier note, I saw things sprouting in my garden today! I think some tulips are on the rise and this makes me ridiculously happy. Hope your weekend is happy. 🙂

Spring Flower Girl in Mixed Media

March 16, 2018March 16, 2018 | Sal Scheibe

Happy spring? I wish! It’s snowing here today and spring is on Tuesday. Grrrrrr. But in honour of the upcoming spring, I painted a pretty flower girl. I am anticipating the warm weather, spring rains and my garden. I can’t wait to get back to it. The girl above is painted in watercolours with coloured pencils over top. I used plenty of collage flower elements as well except the flowers I used I actually painted too. They’re all from my various clipart sets. I used acrylics and markers for the big flowers over top. Lots of media in this one! It’s for sale too. Send me a note if you’re interested. It’s 9″ x 12″ on watercolour paper.

I won’t be bikini ready (OMG, that will never EVER happen again) but I’m doing another fast this week and am hungry in my mind, lol. I know I’m not actually hungry. I switched to a ketogenic diet just over a year ago for health reasons and had been intermittent fasting as well but I hit a plateau over Christmas and stayed at the same weight for about three months. I thought I’d shake things up this month and add in fasting days again and it has totally dislodged that plateau. WOO! I don’t ever get hungry eating keto so it’s super easy to fast but overcoming the mind tricks is another thing. My mind wants a big spinach salad loaded with cheese but my tummy is like, “meh, I can wait.” I love keto. Seriously. Best thing I ever did for my health.

I have a lot of art on the go this weekend so hope to fill the blog with new stuff over the next few weeks. Hope you all have a happy weekend!

Stuff you put in art journals

February 22, 2018 | Sal Scheibe

I’m not much of a writer as my regular visitors will know. It’s usually a struggle to put together enough words for a blog post so you can imagine my distress when it comes to writing stuff in an art journal. I’m not exactly big on pouring my inner thoughts on a page either and this is usually why my art journals are mostly filled with pictures rather than pretty words and quotes. I just like to draw and an art journal is more like a bigger, better sketchbook to me than a diary. The text above isn’t even part of the journal image above. I added it in Photoshop. Maybe I’ll call it an enhanced painting book from now on rather than a journal. Anyway, here’s to lonely socks! This post is dedicated to them.

More journal art! This time with a few words! The art comes from the wonderful Moonshine program with Effy Wild. Lots of pagan, witchy art stuff if that’s your thing. If not, it’s a super fun course anyway. Effy is such a great teacher of technique and a wonderful source of art supply knowledge.

Hope the weather is being kind to everyone! Spring is almost here! Sort of!

Hand art! Featuring sloths and pandas!

February 9, 2018February 9, 2018 | Sal Scheibe

I don’t make a lot of animal art but I really enjoyed making these art hands for a trading buddy on one of my swap sites. Pandas and sloths are really my faves to draw because they’re both so ridiculously cute! The hands are my hands traced and that’s part of the joy of trading this sort of art. Not only is it wonderful art from friends, it’s literally their hands and I love that. I collect art on hands and once I have them displayed on my wall, I’ll take a pic and show everyone. These hands are watercolor and markers.

My second youngest daughter moved out this week and it was a little sad. Honestly, I’m not really the type to be upset at kids leaving home. I love them all dearly but I also totally love it when they move out and get on with their own lives and adventures. They love it too. Freedom! This daughter has her first apartment all on her own and it’s pretty exciting for her. It’s a cute little place and she has her adorable cat for company. She’s bringing her laundry round on the weekend though so some things haven’t changed much, LOL. Kids, right? I only have one kiddo left at home now though she’s only 11 so she’ll be here for a while. Yay! It’s getting to be a much quieter house now.

In other news, I have a new graphic set out – this one featuring pretty pink peonies and butterflies. It’s almost time for spring, right? I’ll probably end up using this set myself in some art. I love peonies so much but they’re a bit of a pain to paint!

Happy weekend, everyone!

Rainbow horns and bees

January 4, 2018January 4, 2018 | Sal Scheibe

I have a thing for a lot of colour. Some of you may have noticed that. So rainbow horns is totally my thing and I can’t wait to do another one of these mixed media paintings. The more colour, the better. I think I’ll be filling my next few journal pages with rainbow horned ladies and men just because I love bold colour. And rainbow horns. And smiling people. That is my new journal adventure this month – extreme colour!

I started a new art journal for 2018 and already I’m wracking my brain trying to come up with a theme to paint that doesn’t make me feel like a Stuart Smalley affirmation. I’m not especially into themes like “dream” or “thankful.” Not that there’s anything wrong with themes like that. They’re meaningful and pretty to many people. I get it! I just have a stupid sense of humour and if someone gives me a theme like “dream” you know I’m going to paint a surreal half nightmare featuring Chuckie dancing with cute forest fairies. I should consult my own list and give one a whirl. I have a long list of art prompts and themes here on my blog if you’re ever stuck for a journal theme. Be warned though – some of the themes are utterly ridiculous, some light, some educational and some really dark. I think I might go with “What’s at the end of my rainbow?” for my next spread. It’s fitting my colour love this week.

I made an art trade recently with Jennifer McLean from justaddwatersilly.com and just received her package a few days ago. WOWZA! She sent me the most brilliant cherry painting! If you’ve ever seen Jennifer’s art, then you know what a master she is with the watercolours. MASTER. I love the painting and am going to frame it and hang in my kitchen! I forgot to ask her permission to post it here but I’m sure it will appear on her blog at some point. She hasn’t received my art yet so I can’t post it. But such a fun trade!

Reading: Oathbringer (The Stormlight Archive, #3) by Brandon Sanderson
Watching: Just finished La Mante, a French myster thriller on Netflix. Creepy!
Learning: I’m still working my way through LifeBook 2017. So many lessons!
Loving: My new set of Golden Fluid Acrylics! I was a heavy body girl. WAS.

I borrowed the above blog bit from Jennifer. I like seeing personal info on other blogs so I’m going to add it to mine too! It’s a bit of fun. 🙂

Happy weekend everyone! Linking to PPF and Art Journal Journey for my new adventures in ridiculous colour spread. LOL.

RBG and a bunch of other art!

December 8, 2017December 8, 2017 | Sal Scheibe

RBG, you have to love her. Except if you’re a republican… probably. LOL. Maybe most people find her as wonderful as I do? I love her even though I’m Canadian. This is the notorious Ruth Bader Ginsburg, mixed media style. I’ve been painting an awful lot lately but most of it has been sent off to friends for Santa gifts and can’t be shown here yet. And I still have some more Santa paintings to make and the odd trade or two still happening. Thankfully, business is quiet this December and I’m just happy to plod along and paint things.

This weekend is another Art-A-Thon over at IllustratedATCs.com so I’ve been drawing and colouring batches of ATCsn to trade. If you’re a member, please come by and trade with me! Here are some of the cards I’ve done for it.

The Art Bundle for Good is here! Have you signed up for this yet? I think there are only two days left! It is truly amazing! Please, please check it out and don’t miss it! There are about 75 online courses and a batch of PDF art books. Well worth the money and the best thing is that 25% of the proceeds go to charity. I’ve signed up and can confirm it’s a fabulous deal filled with awesome things for all artists and styles.

Happy weekend !

Born to be wild, but only a little bit

November 10, 2017 | Sal Scheibe

This is me to a T. You should see me on pub night. LOL.

Actually, I’m a night owl in real life. I stay up late making art or playing Dragon Age but the wild part only happens when we’re actually out doing something and then only until the sun sets. Then I’m done! I used to be out every weekend until 2 or 3 am in my youth but I think that might kill me now. Middle age. Wow.

The artwork above was done as part of LifeBook 2017. Such a fun workshop!

Below is a quickie for last week’s Illustration Friday. The theme was Women (I’m the one with the martini). I’m clearly a slack poster. I have no idea what the theme is this week.