Fairy Houses and Summer Days by Leada Wood, Texas Artist

"Fairy's Gift" by Leada Wood, ©2015

 

 

Leada Wood, copyright 2015

Summertime and the living is easy...or so the song goes. Summertime at Dragonfly farm keeps us hopping! Between gardening, grandkids, work and daily life, our lives are full and blessed beyond measure.

 I have been wanting for the girls and I to make a fairy house ever since we had to cut our old walnut tree down. The day finally arrived! We took a big plant saucer and put beach sand from an earlier trip to Port A and covered it with pea gravel. I had a couple of bird houses in the studio so we converted those into fairy homes. I have seven grand daughters so we are taking turns making things for the little fairies. I thought you might enjoy seeing our fun and creativity at work!

 

Twice as nice when fun is shared!

The beginning of our fairy village...hopefully more girls and fun to come!

 

No Fairy home would be complete without an American flag and a Sunflower umbrella.

 

Or a Home Sweet Home sign and flowers.

Little Artist at work...she took her house home for the fairies that lived there.

I hope Pearl, the Tooth Fairy enjoys her new home!

"The Fairy's Gift" painting is now available at the Legacy Gallery, 1500 14th Street, Lubbock, Texas.

 

#leadawoodart #mixedmedia #watercolor
email: www.leada_w@hotmail

Leada  Wood

 Live Joyfully!

my website

galleries
Dutch Gallery, Dallas, TX
Legacy Gallery, Lubbock TX 

 

 

Mr. Raccoon, by Leada Wood, Texas Artist

Mr. Raccoon  ©Leada Wood 2015

Everything is brighter and more colorful in Texas according to our little 5 year old friend from Denmark. Rena Rose is a lover of animals and wanted to see specific ones when she visited us in June. We did see quite a few but Bootman could not catch Mr Raccoon that hangs around our farm. In honor of her visit I painted a very colorful, West Texas version of Mr. raccoon...I hope she likes it!

Happy 4th Of July America! by Leada Wood, Texas Artist

Happy 4th of July America!

 

 

 

Celebration, by Leada Wood

Fireworks and Freedom always come to my mind when I think about the 4th of July. Along with swimming, sunburns, watermelon, homemade ice cream, family, friends and cookouts. I guess I am about as traditional as it gets when it comes to holidays. Wishing you a happy 4th!



Sweet And Juicy, Peach Season In Texas, By Leada Wood, Texas Artist

"Sweet And Juicy" Copyright 2015 Leada Wood

Our showers of blessings in the form of rain has made Texas come alive with blooms of gorgeous wildflowers, fruits, gardens and of course weeds and mosquitoes! It has been a refreshing spring and summer has arrived! It lifts the spirits to see dry creeks run and lakes filling up...hope it keeps raining until they are all full. Eleven years of drought conditions begins to wear on you after a while. So nice to see everything green instead of brown and cracked. I have noticed more cows grazing in the tall, lush green grasses of the prairies, so happy they have plenty to eat. Feeling grateful and blessed!

The rain has brought on bumper crops of apricots, peaches and pears if they can just hang on through the high winds of the rainstorms. Our June peaches have already been picked, shared, eaten and placed in the freezer. I used one for a model and then ate it...delicious and juicy...yum...life is good.

Hope sweet things are in abundance in your life this summer.

Sketchbook Fun, Summer Dreams by Leada Wood, Texas Artist

Painting in my sketchbook is very entertaining especially when I am dreaming out loud. Beachy things beckon to me...mermaids, seashells, sea horses practically anything to do with the beach besides hurricanes. I am landlocked at present but I can feel the pull...maybe because I was born in the sign of water or could be the need to get away and relax. I think I need a vacation! How about you?

I don't see the beach in my immediate future but I can go there in my dreams and sketchbook. Hope you are having a wonderful summer wherever you are and maybe get a little beach time.

iHanna's DIY Postcard Swap by Leada Wood, Texas Artist

I received the final two postcards of my 10 postcards for the IHanna's Spring postcard exchange. Hanna lives in Sweden and arranges the swap, sending addresses to people all over the world. Pretty amazing, don't you think? "I'm Notorious"is from Karen in Illinois...very dramatic! I was so excited to receive 10 little works of art in the mail...what FUN!

This artist did a series of ten entitled "School Of Life" loved the idea and the card! Laurie said she created 30 tiny zentangle fish and cut them out and collaged them to different backgrounds. Can you see the tiny bubbles? I thank all of the artists who sent me a card...hope you had as much fun as I did. A special thank you to Hannna for hosting yet another awesome exchange! Can't wait for the next one!

iHanna's DIY Postcard Swap, by Leada Wood, Texas Artist

They say it is more blessed to give than receive...which is true and  I have been blessed twice! It was such fun to make my cards and so exciting for my mailbox to become a gallery for these tiny works of art. I am honored and excited to have received 8 of my ten. 

I hope my postcards made it to their destinations...no one has emailed me to let me know. That  is one of the rules. I am worried that they are lost in the bottom of the drop box where I put them. If by chance you received one of my cards kindly let me know :www.leada_w@hotmail.com to put my mind at ease. Soon I will go to the post office and ask them to open the back and search just to make sure they are not LOST!  Oh my....

Thank you to all the ladies across this great nation of ours for joining together and taking the time to create and Mail letters everywhere so that we can exchange art and ideas. Art Mail is the BEST! Each card is wonderful and so unique and they are all very special to me. Thanks for stopping by!

IHanna's Spring Post Card Swap by Leada Wood, Texas Artist

 

 

 

Heart Of Gold ©Leada Wood 2015


I am participating in IHanna's Spring Post Card Exchange. Artists around the world are creating post cards right now to exchange with one another. This is my second time to exchange. It is such a pleasure to make the cards but even more pleasant to receive them. During the winter exchange I was the recipient of 10 beautiful little gems. I felt so honored to receive them.

 

Kokopeli  ©Leada Wood 2015

 

Kokopeli is a Native American symbol for fertility and represents the Spirit of music. I used a Gelli print and painted negatively around the little deity.  You see I am finding ways to use my Gelli prints! I collaged Gelli prints onto all my postcards for a starting point. 

 

 

 

 

Dream Big ©Leada Wood 2015


I have more post cards to share with you but my wireless is really slow tonight so I am just posting a trio.  It's getting late... time to relax and rest after a good day in the studio. Thanks for stopping by!


 

 

 

#leadawoodart #mixedmedia #watercolor

Leada  Wood

 Live Joyfully!

my website

galleries



 

 



Gelli Printing by Leada Wood, Texas Artist

Gelli Fun In Studio Twenty

 

This is what a good afternoon at Studio Twenty looks like when Gelli Printing...piles of colorful, interesting papers waiting to be repurposed into a new work of art. This is also only what I consider keepers...the rest need working on.

My dear friend Sue and I had a great play day making Gelli prints. She had never made them before and thought they were a lot of work, but fun! I guess it is all a state of mind. I love making Gelli prints and go into my own creative space when doing so and before I know it is time to go home.

I have been doing a little printing on cloth. The one on the right is the original print and the one on the left is the ghost print. I made the material 9x11 so that if I want I can make prayer flags out of them.

 

This Gelli is on Watercolor paper.

 

This Gelli is done on brown Kraft paper.

 

 

These Gellies are on fabric.

I started by printing a solid color and letting it dry and then used stencils, stamps, masks and black paint to make the design. I also tried different surfaces than I normally use.  I discovered that if using Gellies for prayer flags you have to leave a little quiet space of color to incorporate your prayers.

 

These are the same piece of fabric, I zoomed in on the bottom one after I worked on it a little. I decided that the top one needed a little refining to discover some of the shapes. I used Sharpie markers to draw on the fabric...you can't hold it in place too long or it will bleed...unless that is the effect you are after.  I used a little alcohol on the Sharpie in the bottom right corner to make the color spread.

 

I hope you enjoyed seeing what I have been up to...thanks for stopping by!

 

 

copyright 2015

 

#leadawoodart #mixedmedia #watercolor

Leada  Wood

 Live Joyfully!

my website

galleries

 

 

Watercolor, Floral, Red Poppy by Leada Wood, Texas Artist

Happy May Day!

Happy May Day! by Leada Wood ©2015

I know I missed my chance yesterday to wish you happy May Day but I didn't want to miss out totally! May Day use to be a pleasant tradition as people would gather a bouquet of spring flowers put them in a basket and hang on your door knob. Some traditions should never die. May Day also brings to mind little girls in pretty dresses dancing around the May pole. Mind you, these haven't happened in my life time I have only experienced them through books...but I still think they sound nice. 

We have had the most pleasant spring I can ever remember in Texas. The winds have been mostly gentle breezes and lots of rain!  The earth has laughed and laughed in wild flowers...amazing beauty everywhere and green! Hope you are having a wonderful spring where ever you are...thanks for stopping by!