The Odd Whimsy

If you're looking at the title you're probably thinking to yourself "How is that even a thing?!" Well it is. I fell head over heels in love with Sennelier oil pastels last winter. So much so that I made a very large investment in buying the entire set of pastels. It came in this big, beautiful wooden box that held all 120 colors. It came and I would stare at the colors, and I would watch these videos of people making beautiful works of art with them.  I poked around with them a bit, but eventually they wound up sitting in their pretty box on a shelf. And that is where they have been since I bought them. Sitting on my shelf, collecting dust. Why you ask? Fear. Fear that my art wouldn't hold up to what I had seen created with them, fear that I wouldn't be able to handle the learning curve of oil pastels, fear that I wasn't good enough. What it boils down to is fear of myself and fear of failure more so then the art supply itself. Basically what I’...

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 Saturday!!! October was an incredibly busy month for me, which resulted in very little time to craft. I was about to go a bit stir crazy!!! Today I am sharing a custom order canvas, using the Precious Memories paper from Graphic 45. This paper is some of my favorite, and I have used before for one of my personal canvases.  I absolutely adore the way this one turned out!! Thanks for stopping by, and be sure to check out my Instagram, Amrtlj, to see behind the scenes photos and more of my art.  -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

Happy Friday!! Today I’m sharing an 8x8 Canvas I have done using some of the lovely Dylusions Sprays and Art Alchemy paints and waxes.  I knew I wanted to use a photo I had taken on my last visit with my best friend and beyond adorable niece (not at all biased right?) I chose to do the photo in black and white as I wanted to use warm tones for the canvas, and the colors in the photo would have clashed.  I started out with an 8x8 Canvas I got from Michaels. I went with one with the deep sides so I would have more room to play, and I love the depth it helps give to my art.  I then began using random items from my stash.  I built the piece up until I was happy with it.  Not gonna lie, it was quite hard to cover this up!! I may have to recreate it and leave it be next time.  Then I covered the piece in about three layers of white gesso.  Once the gesso was dry I began to spray it with Dylusions Spray inks in Cherry Pi...

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...