The Odd Whimsy

Hello all!! I realized today that I have been very MIA from the world of blogging. Since I last posted I have shifted my gears a bit in terms of what I have been working on.  While I am still very much doing altered art, I have been focusing on my drawing and painting skills. Learning new mediums, and reconnecting with old ones has also been something I have been working towards.  My goal this year is to keep a more active blog, as well as to begin filming more YouTube videos.  In the mean time if you wish to keep up with more of what I have been up to, please visit me on Instagram at Amrtlj or use the hashtag #theoddwhimsy to find me.  Thanks for stopping by! -Altina 

Happy New Year Everyone!! It is currently a lovely 25 degrees outside in Southwest Missouri. With a nice layer of snow on the ground, it’s the perfect time to be inside doing some crafting.  Between work and the holidays I haven’t had much time for anything more than sketching, so I was very excited yesterday to sit down at my art desk and do some scrapbooking.  My adorable niece, who has been featured in several of my layouts, turned a year old at the beginning of December. I went to see her for New Year’s and she had a unicorn themed first birthday party while I was there.  I knew immediately that I wanted to scrap my favorite photo from the party using Graphic 45 Faerie Dust. This is easily my new favorite collection. I love the colors and all the tiny details in the papers.  I started laying out for my page. For my Layout I also used some Milled lavender distress ink, Tim Holtz rub ons, Ivory Tags from Graphic 45, flowers from Prima, and some dried leaves I had f...

Hello everyone!!!! Today I’m sharing a steampunk inspired mixed media canvas. I started out with a 6x6 canvas that I covered in tissue paper and then painted with black gesso.  I then added several layers of Art Alchemy Wax. Added my found things and covered them in black gesso.  After the gesso dried I starting painting the items with different paints from the metallique line.  After I painted my found things I actually changed the color of the background from purple and pink to kind of a copper and gold. Once everything was dry I added some butterflies cut from Graphic 45’s Steampunk Debutante line.  For a final Touch I splattered black paint and added glitter to the butterflies.  Thanks for stopping by! -AR

Happy Friday!! I have some really exciting news today. You can now find my artwork in the relics antique mall in Springfield Missouri! I’m splitting the booth with an incredibly talented friend of mine and I’m so excited for everybody to go and see mine and her artwork. We are booth NN35.  If you’re looking for one of my pieces in particular, all the tags have my initials for my art pieces. Please be sure to check out my friends art as well, it is beautiful and so stunning. You find in the booth some of the pieces that you may have seen here on my blog or on my Instagram. So maybe a piece that you really loved is up for sale! Relics is located off of West Battlefield and Kansas Expressway, behind Grizzly in Springfield, MO.  Hours are 10-6, Monday-Saturday.  Thanks for stopping by!! -AR

Hello all!! Today I am featuring a mixed media box that I have been working on for a few days now.  I had this beautiful little Grpahic 45 book box sitting on my shelf for awhile. I finally decided to take it down and do something with it. I love mixed media and decided to use this box as my jumping point.  I started out with covering the sides of the box with Finnabair Art Basics modeling paste thru a Tim holtz Stencil. While that was drying I started throwing on all sorts of found things from my collection. What’s so great about mixed media is you can really use anything! After that was dry, I covered the whole box in black gesso from Art Basics. I followed that with dry brushing some Finnabair Metallique paint in Silver Spoon. I purposely left some black showing thru in places. This gave it an aged look.  After all that was dry I went to town with more of the Metallique paints, and some of the amazing waxes from Finnabair. Here is the finished r...