Fairy in my garden

This is my garden and the fairy that lives in my garden. All of my summer flowers are starting to turn brown and are becoming dry and crumbly. The Black Eyed Susans seem to being doing very well though! Soon my garden will be gone because of the crazy cold Ohio winter!

Perfect Morning

Weekend mornings are the best. You have the whole day ahead of you. There are lots of possibilities on what you can do. My favorite type of mornings are in the summer and especially in the fall. The light is so luminous and makes everything look beautiful. I am trying not to be lame but I really think mornings have almost a magical quality about them. Everything is just so quiet and still and best of all...peaceful.

This morning I went on a run and when I came back I immediately went into my backyard. The leaves on the trees are already falling and my pine trees already have small clusters of pine cones. Fall is on its way! I took a ton of pictures to document the changes occurring in my backyard. I hope you enjoy them! My dog Jack Henry also tagged along to check everything out. He is excited for fall also!

Etsy

The Weepies: "The only steps that matter are the ones you take all by yourself"

I am obsessed with the musical group the Weepies. I just purchased their cd Hideaway and cannot stop playing it! The Weepies are made up of talented husband/wife team Deb Talen and Steve Tannen. Their music is very folksy and I think their lyrics are very thoughtful and insightful. Check out their website www.theweepies.com.



Well this week has been very crazy and stressful. The first week of school always seems to be. It is hard getting back into the swing of things. I was unable to work on any of my art because I was at school all day and then came home and worked on my masters class (I am working on a masters in educational technology through Cleveland State University...all online!) Today I was able to play around with some of my Art Trading Cards and was also able to collage some of my flower cutouts to a canvas I painted. When I finish the artworks I will post them on here.

I am so glad that this weekend is a long weekend! More time to work on art! I have been trying to draw in my sketchbook daily. I have been working on a face-a-day sketch. I really want to improve on some techniques and I know the only way to get better is to practice, practice, practice! I also am going to start posting a weekly sketch online. I am going to do it from observation and it will be narrative about what is going on in my life. I will to get it up as soon as I can so stay tuned.

Fall will be here before you know it and I am actually a little excited. I love summer but there is just something so wonderful about pumpkins, crisp apples, candy corn and new fall clothes that makes me so happy. I wonder how the fall will inspire my art? The summer really changed my art this year. I have been incorporating birds, flowers and trees into my art recently. Maybe I will focus more on the organic beauty of trees and fallen leaves in my art? Who knows. All I know is that I feel so inspired lately and I love it!

Well I am getting very tired and need to sleep! I will write soon. Cheers!

Artist Trading Cards

Well this weekend has been a whirlwind! I am back in the classroom starting tomorrow so I have been planning all weekend for school. I should probably be sleeping right now but I have so much going through my head it is hard to sleep. I am dreading organizing my whole classroom tomorrow but I am sure I will get through it!

Yesterday I did a fun little art series on some Artist Trading Cards. This whole idea of trading small works of art is pure genius if you ask me. This is what happens: On small pieces of paper/canvas you complete an artwork of your choice. The paper is usually playing card size (or smaller) Then you trade with another artist who has completed their own set of Artist Trading Cards. Each person in turn gets an original work of art! So cool! People are conducting these trades around the world! Almost as cool as the idea of making vending machine art. Old cigarette vending machines have been turned into places where individuals can get a small, original piece of art for $1. Don't worry I am enclosing links! Alright I am going to bed. I have a long day tomorrow. Here are the links: www.artomat.org and www.artist-trading-cards.ch/

I want a free wiki!

Found Art

Here is a picture of my found art artwork. I used collaged painted papers on a reply card that I found in a magazine. On the back is a little message to the one who finds it. I am thinking of leaving it in an art book at Joseph Beth's bookstore. At least the person who finds it will be interested in art!

Back from vacation

Today I got back from Michigan City, Indiana. It was a very relaxing trip and I have some new ideas for some artwork. Going someplace new, even a new coffee shop, can be used for some sort of inspiration. I need to some day (when I am rich...ha!) buy a cottage on the lake. It is so tranquil and relaxing. I felt so inspired just by looking out at the water. Cheesy I know...but so true. This week I plan on working on more artwork. I kind of took a break when I was on vacation. I also would like to leave my "found art" artwork somewhere for someone to find. This wonderful idea of leaving a work of art for an unsuspecting individual came from the artist Rosa Murillo. I have a link to her site on this blog. Check out her art, it is very cool! Well I am going to finish up my cup of Mango Green tea. I bought it at Le Gourmet Chef and it tastes almost as good as coffee! The tea is by Bentley's and comes in a pretty green tin. I'm sure I bought it for the tin...luckily it is good!

On Vacation

Right now I am on vacation in Michigan City, Indiana. It has been a beautiful weekend and Monday and I cannot wait to go to the beach! Over the weekend I went to the Michigan City Art fair in Washington Park. I bought a really cute wall hanging from an artist named Nicole Moore. She owns a cool shop called Art and Soul in Winona Lake, Indiana. She specializes in watercolor drawings with fun little quotes. Love it! I bought a wall plaque that says:
Make Art
Buy ARt
Live Art

The saying is hammered into a copper plate...so fun! If you get a chance check out her etsy shop at www.artandsoulshop.etsy.com. Well I am off to the beach, will blog later!

Happy Daisy Day!

The End of Summer

The beginning of school signals the end of summer. School starts for me on August 25th, back to the old routine! I have been busy working on more art and making more art videos for the website www.canvasdoor.com. My husband and I finally got the format down for making movies. Imovie for mac computers is amazing and makes it so easy. On Friday I am going on a vacation with my family to Michigan City, Indiana. I am hoping for some inspiration plus some beach time. Michigan City is right on Lake Michigan. It has beautiful sandy beaches and wonderful outlet shopping.

Oh...another thing I have started is a little shop on Etsy.com. Please look for my shop michellebrunner. Thanks!

Phoenix Coffee Shop

Here is a picture of my art studio..or the summer kitchen of our house. Art studio is way better. I love summer, everything is so lush and green and beautiful. It really stinks to think that in 3 months there could be snow. Gross. Anyways here is my day.......

Today I went to the Phoenix Coffee Shop that is next to Rob's store. I ordered the hummus plate and iced peach green tea. The guy working the counter told me he was really excited to make my hummus plate. Nobody ever orders them and he has only done 3 before. When it came out it looked very nice, he really took his job in making my hummus plate very seriously. Anyways I worked on rubrics and stuff for school. Not that much fun. I came home and worked on some more collages with all of the art supplies I bought at Prizm Art store on Mayfield Rd. I got like a million canvases and more matte medium and gloss medium to varnish my artworks. Such a difference! Anyways I was super productive today and my birthday is tomorrow so I am going to relax! My husband got me a new ipod (its green!) and the nike ipod thing that tracks how far you run. It is so amazing! If you like to run randomly around the neighborhood like I do, this is the thing for you...it tells you how far you go, calories burned and there is a voice that comes over the music to tell you when you have ran each mile. I am in love. Ok well I am going to try to upload a video I made on drawing a mouth. If it works let me know what you think.

Jack Henry

Here is Jack Henry, the craziest dog ever. I think I want to do a painting series on him. He is so comical....and insane.

Crazy Monday

Well today has been an interesting Monday. My husband and I worked on my new and improved CanvasDoor website that will be out soon. I am going to be including video demonstrations on basic art techniques such as shading a sphere, drawing facial features, etc. I spent 2 hours today making these videos using my video camera on my Mac only to have Rob come home and watch them and tell me that we need to change the format of them. Blah. Oh well they were fun to do and got me excited again about teaching. School starts soon...which is good and bad. The bad part is getting up at 5 Am. The good part is being back to a schedule. Don't get me wrong...I LOVE summer. After 3 months of feeling guilty if I don' t do something every minute it is nice to feel really productive!

Anyways....tomorrow I think I am going to go back to this great art store I found down the street from where I live. They have tons of canvas in interesting dimensions and great supplies for very reasonable prices. I am going to do more of my collage mixed media artworks. I have changed my style a little and I am having a lot of fun with it! I am posting some of these new artworks. These artworks were inspired by Eric Carle and the finch that lives in my backyard. I had so much fun working on them so I am hoping to do a ton more. Well gotta go and sleep. I will write more.

music to paint to

Music to Paint to

I am creating this section for other artists like me that welcome inspiration from music.

By clicking on the play button of each volume you will hear an eclectic playlist of songs.