Varla Bishop Acrylic, Landscape, portrait, Wildlife

Spring is Coming

“Mama I’m Hungry”
9×12 acrylic on canvas

By the time March gets here I’m ready for spring. I’m thinking of flower beds, gardens and enjoying as much time as I can outside. I saw my first robin a few weeks ago which put me in the mood to paint birds. I did two. There is still snow on the ground but spring is coming. Just a few more winter storms and cold walks and then everything becomes new again.

I’ve got my list of projects just need to wait a few weeks more. ❤️

“Back Home”
6×6 acrylic on canvas (sold)

Varla Bishop Acrylic, Business Side of Painting, Landscape, Wildlife

Artscape 2022 – Eagle River

I’m pleased to post that for a second year one of my paintings will be on display in Eagle River, Wisconsin as part of their Artscape Program. What I like about this program is how easy it is to participate. I had to send a high quality digital photo of my painting or photograph to the coordinator. She then seeks sponsors who pay to have that image put onto a banner. That banner will hang on Main Street for the summer and will be auctioned off at a later date. All proceeds go to the community.

I love the concept of artists and photographers helping to make a community beautiful. We always need some beauty in our lives. People are dealing with some hard issues. The pandemic has not been easy for any of us. I am thankful that I’ve had a release in painting. While I paint I don’t have to think about all that saddens and worries me at the moment. I can take my brush, pick a color, and get lost for a couple of hours. I found my happy place.

Varla Bishop Acrylic, Fun and easy, Fun with Grand Kids, Landscape, Mixed media

Art in the Backyard

We noticed on Pinterest that pinecones can be turned into flowers! We thought this was a cool idea and we decided to try it. So off we went walking and gathering our supplies. We did need to make a pit stop at Michaels for some craft paint and now we have what we need.

Sometimes all you need is a spark of an idea. That described my granddaughter and I, we had a brilliant idea. We decided to make art from pieces that we found in the neighborhood. In her neighborhood there are a lot of pinecones, acorns, leaves and sticks. Surely we could make something creative with that. I know my granddaughter has a glue gun so anything is possible. We went hunting and gathering.

Painting and glueing was the fun and easy part. The challenge came when we started to cut the pinecones. We wanted to turn pinecones into flowers using only the bottom portion of the cone Has anyone ever tried to cut a pinecone? It isn’t too easy; in fact it’s almost impossible.

Here’s what we did and here’s what we learned: *craft scissors don’t work * mom’s scissors from the kitchen drawer doesn’t work and we knew we would be in BIG trouble if we used the sewing scissors* dad’s saw didn’t work but it did get the feeling you might actually be making progress-not *tried a saw with deep teeth which only scared us at the thought of losing a finger….*we then tried wire clippers which only cut the pinecone petals like toe nails which now were flying everywhere in the garage * finally we learned that clipping the petals and twisting the core with pliers finally got us a pinecone that looked like a flower!!!

We painted and glued and glued some more. In the end we liked what we created. Each backyard is full of possibilities so go and be creative. Make something that has never existed before and have fun.❤️