Grateful

I am grateful for many things this year. 

First and foremost, my husband's health. He is doing absolutely great! We are so blessed.

And family. You know who you are. I love you all, near and far.

And Maria, my assistant. I've never really had an assistant before and I feel like she must certainly be raising the bar for assistants everywhere.

Beautiful card that StencilGirl received from Jean Marmo

And my Art.

 Which has brought me friends and students, all who share the love of art with me. 

Art has transformed me. I know I have been given the gift of ART for a reason. The chance to connect and share with so many of you. 

And for that I am forever grateful.

And finally. My company.  

StencilGirl Products exceeds my wildest expectations. I have the best business partners a girl could ever have, my hubby and my son in law. We have a team of amazing artists who knock us out with their designs. And the most talented creative team and guest artists I could ever imagine. 

We are very very lucky indeed.  

Grateful.

Thank You.

StencilGirl and Foam Board Express Blog Hop + a Giveaway!!

Welcome to the StencilGirl Foam Board Express Blog Hop.
I like Foam Board.
In fact, I *love* it and use it all the time.
How do I use it you might ask?
Well........for my doodling. I don't Zentangle per se, I just tend to doodle or draw, In fact I don't even consider it anything special except I enjoy doing it. It is definitely a Zen-like pursuit as I really kind of 'check out' when I am doing it and lose myself in the line work.

I like to keep it easy though (and small, as in easy to travel with) and the Foam Board helps me do that. Several years ago, a friend of mine showed me some Foam Board doodles that she had made and I was instantly smitten. Ran out and got some Foam Board that exact same day and trimmed it down to a 6x6 size using a fresh knife blade. I also bought the fantastic IDentipen.

I like this pen because it has two different ends which means you have two thicknesses of line. The simplicity pleases me. If I travel, I simply grab one board and one pen. Done! I am good to go.

And there is something about the black of that pen against the smooth glossy finish of the board that is really gorgeous. It looks more important than it is, you know what I mean?

Recently I have used stencils to help me create Doodle patterns. This is a project in my book, done either on a plain background or painted one.
In celebration of Foam Board Express, I would like to offer a GiveAway.......and it is a good one!
You get a copy of my latest book, Stencil Girl, which has the Doodle project in it. Plus you get the custom stencil that comes with the book. Plus I will personalize and sign the book to you. And you get the stencils I used in the project along with a couple boards and a pen to get you started (yes, you get a pen too, I forgot to put it in the picture).
Woo hoo!!!!

Anybody ready to DOODLE? Just leave me your name below and I will select the winner on 11/15. If you want to see where you can easily buy some Foam Board, click below. Easy peasy.....

Foam Board Express
To follow us on the blog hop, here is the order:

Blog Hop Order

StencilGirl Talk

Mary Beth Shaw (you are here)

Carolyn Dube

Julie Snidle

Janet Joehlin

Judy Shea

Linda Kittmer

Leslie Tucker Jenison

Jessica Sporn

Maria McGuire

Jane LaFazio Sweet Gum Balls!

When I think about Gratitude, nature is one of the first things that comes to mind. I am so grateful for the miracle of nature. Walks in the woods, gazing at clouds,  listening to birds - I love every aspect of the natural world. Nothing inspires my art more than nature. And yes, I realize I am an abstract painter, but seriously, nature is at the root (pun intended) of a lot of my art.
Jane LaFazio is a genius at her depictions of nature. I have long admired her lovely journal pages and her nature drawings.

Her stencils are beautiful representations of her work. I picked Sweet Gum Balls because it is one of my favorites (duh) and also because it is such a complex stencil. And cause they are circles.
In the stencil business, everything is based on time - that being 'time on the laser'. Many of the StencilGirl stencils are intricate and take a lot of time to cut. But Sweet Gum Balls is right up there at the top meaning it takes forever to cut. Thankfully it is well worth it.

Make sure you leave a comment below to be eligible to win the prize package from StencilGirl Products! ALL comments on ALL the blogs will be eligible. The more blogs you comment on, the more chances you have to be the lucky winner!!! One comment per blog please :)

Blog Hop Order

StencilGirl Talk

Jane LaFazio
Mary Beth Shaw  YOU ARE HERE

Linda Kittmer GO HERE NEXT

Jenny Lee Cochran

Kirsten Reed

Janet Joehlin

Corrine Gilman

Helen Shafer Garcia

Leslie Tucker Jenison

Ruth de Vos

Deborah Boschert

Julie Snidle

Mary C. Nasser

It is all Golden! Plus a contest!!

CONTEST IS OVER

JANE MARTIN is our Winner, WOO HOO!!!!!

The delinquent blogger has been having a lot of fun lately.
First of all, I was selected to attend training to become a Golden Artist Educator. You know, Golden Artist Colors!?! Oh be still my heart, this was truly a dream come true. From the moment I was first introduced to their paints 13 years ago, I have been smitten.  To experience this kind of in depth training was a 'pinch me' moment.
And the training did not disappoint.
Oh my, oh my.
The workshop was held in New Orleans and Patti Brady was our teacher. We worked hard, but also played a bit (ok, maybe more that 'a bit'). Fun, fun, fun, there is nothing quite like visiting a great city and viewing it through the collective eyes of other artists. I caught up with old friends, like Traci Bautista and met new friends, Joan Fullerton and Randall Hasson. We shared a table during the training so I feel an extra special bond with them, honestly we had so many laughs there were times I thought I might pee my pants. Here is a picture of all of us.

Joan Fullerton, Traci Bautista, Randall Hasson, me

My brain is possibly on overload (it's a good thing), I learned SO much, tons of ways to use the variety of paints, from High Flow to Fluids to Heavy Body to Open Acrylic, I fell in love with all of them for different reasons. And the mediums. Whew! I will be exploring for months to come, but suffice to say you can count on seeing a lot of new techniques in my workshops next year.

You will undoubtedly hear me talk more (and more and more) about this training as time passes because it was a huge event for me. Hard to put into words really - as a self trained artist, to be part of an endeavor such as this was B-I-G. I feel validated in a way that is new for me. And I know that my artistic path is moving into new uncharted territory, I can feel it in my bones. I really can't wait to share this with all of you.

More sites, plus me with Patti Brady and a gang of us in the back of Thomas Mann's cargo van, hehehe.

So, in honor of my brilliant teacher, Patti Brady, (I adored her, can you tell??) I would like to give away a copy of her book! I have owned this book since it came out and have read it cover to cover word for word which is unprecedented for me as I often simply look at the pictures. This is a book that needs to be in the library of any serious acrylic mixed media painter. It is really that good. She gave us each a copy at the end of training and it is this new copy that I will give away to one reader.
Leave me a comment below and I will draw a random name on 11/11/13.