Does time ever get away from you?  I couldn’t believe how this summer sped by- before I knew it was the the end of Rinda‘s scavenger hunt.  I didn’t find them all, but I found a few.  It was a ton of fun looking for these things- quite a rush when I found them! Thanks Rinda for putting this together! Be sure to stop over at her site and check out more scavenger hunt photos!

A church, chapel, cathedral, mosque or temple- this wedding chapel/bridal boutique is in the Mall of America, right next to Lens Crafters.  Never expected to find a a chapel in the mall.  On their website they claim over 5, 500 couples have been married in there.  Wow!

A pier- at Myrtle Beach

A border -driving home from Myrtle Beach

A roadside stand selling something- turns out it was only selling invisible produce- but every other photo was horribly blurry since these photos were taken from a moving vehicle…

A train- let me explain…while on a road trip with a friend we kept listening to Train’s 50 Ways to Say Goodbye so I thought the car’s music system would count…

A fountain

A horse- made out of Legos.

A shadow-the happy hour drink’s pineapple cast a shadow on this drink.  I don’t like alcohol but I wanted the fruity drink and the funny flamingo. Turns out only drinks with alcohol were included in the happy hour specials.  My friends had their cheap drinks and I didn’t want to pay full price- so I just asked for the alcohol on the side.  The waiter didn’t know how to answer he was so surprised.  Clearly, I got my drink!

A maze, labyrinth, or trail- the water trapped up on the beach one morning was just a labyrinth that captured my imagination.

A library- a library called Barnes and Noble.  It has a very expensive check out policy- you have to pay for the book.  A stretch I know!

A person playing with a ball.  Don’t know these people so I hope I didn’t scare them by taking their photo on the beach…

Someone dancing- 2 strangers at the computer store at the mall doing a dancing video game.

A bride- as the bride walked by at the hotel I jumped up and chased her to get this photo.  I snapped quickly to catch her before she headed into the reception.

An outdoor stairway

A swing hanging from a tree- it’s a strange feeling pulling up and taking a photo of someone’s front yard.  I was thrilled I found this on my drive to work!

Linking up to Inspire Me Monday and Creative Every Day.

As  a kid I wanted to be an archeologist.  The magic of unearthing history was so enticing to me until I learned about real archeology.  Any time I found a real dig to go on it involved potential snakes (South America), intense heat, bugs galore and sparse accommodations.  I wanted to do archeology in an air conditioned building with a 4 star  hotel to stay in and definitely no creepy crawlies.  Shockingly, I did not become an archeologist.

As I was painting I realized I have become a reverse archeologist with my art.  Each layer that I add to my painting is like adding a bit of history to it, more of the story for it to tell.  The more layers the more excitement for me.  And I get to stay inside, have running water, and there are no bugs!

Here’s the reverse archeology of this piece:

The blank canvas was having a stare down contest with me so I slapped on some decorative strips of paper that I have had a while.

Then a quick layer of white paint to begin to bury the papers.

Some inks smeared around while the paint was wet so it all blended together.

I was expecting flowers or butterflies after the last layer because I was seeing such soft and gentle spring colors.  But no- the magazine woman I cut out a while ago demanded to be a part of this.  When the art talks, I listen.

Using a bit of gel medium to adhere a thin magazine cut out to a very textured surface has its challenges…

I wanted more color but didn’t want to loose the detail of the woman so I turned to my Twinkling H2O’s.  They have a wonderful shimmer but I can easily control the opacity.  It gave me the color pops I wanted with the sheerness I needed too.

Turns out those flowers and butterflies did show up-

What attitude she has- “Of course I have flowers and butterflies on my head! Why wouldn’t I?”  Not sure if she is finished so I’ll just let her hang out on the wall for a while…

I have exciting news for October!  I am co-hosting a challenge called “Fall Fearless and Fly” over at Artists in Blogland with Jessica Sporn.  Every other week, there will be artistic prompts designed to get you thinking about setting intentions and shedding emotional baggage to step into 2013 as your bravest, most fearless self.  Have you ever done a juice cleanse?  Think of this as an art cleanse!  Any medium goes, and Aritsts In Blogland has great prizes and giveaways.  Each week, there will be a guest artist participating! I’ll be kicking off the art on October 1st.  Here is the line up of our guest artists: Rhonda Palazzari, Jane Davies, Maria McGuire, Marcia Beckett, Dina Wakley, and Joanne Sharpe!

While you are waiting for October 1st to roll around, check out the websites of these amazing artists & grab the blog button to help spread the word about all the fun we’re going to have!

Happy Paint Party Friday and Show and Tell Saturday and Creative Every Day!