Flood the Streets with Art VI - It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Flood the streets with Art and Bonnaroo are the two things I look forward to every year.

Like wish my life away kinda look forward to.

Here is a short blurb from Scott Wong the creator of FTSWA

The goal is simple: On BLACK FRIDAY  I want every artist, human being, man, woman & child on our planet to drop one piece art they've created on the streets of their community for a random stranger to find, pick up, take home & love. Yes, for FREE. 

OMG!! I am gonna drop art all over the place.

When I first started, I was dropping only jewelry, because that was my art. Over time, I have added paintings, crocheted hats and scarves and tie dye to my drops.

I love prepping my work, tagging it with a big ole - "I'M FREE" tag and then driving around in the wee hours of the morning on Black Friday and hiding little treasures around the area.

This year I dropped 5 paintings, 3 pairs of earrings and 2 necklaces, it was so cold!!!

I was very excited Friday morning, and when I was done, and home drinking coffee, a little disappointed it was over. Kinda like Christmas morning.

Now I sit back and wait, until June when it is time to go to Bonnaroo, and I do my art abandonment there.

It's the small things :)

Until then, thanks for stopping by and remember:

Be peaceful, be kind, it's important!


All of my jewelry creations are based on the metaphysical properties of the stones or the colors that are incorporated. Jewelry should be a window to our soul, a protector of our emotions and a companion to our spirit. All of my other creations come directly from my heart in hopes they touch yours as well. Celebrate yourself with healing jewelry, and other gift ideas made with love!

Textures with Acrylics - How not to use ALL of your paint!

When I started to experiment with painting, my brother, Jerry Piper, an awesome artist (jpiperart) filled my head with so much information due to his great excitement in me pursuing this medium. We would talk for hours, we would facetime and paint, skype and paint, he sent me videos, pictures and magazines. He started me off right out of the gate with textures, and it kinda ruined me :) 

Painting with acrylic is hard to achieve texture without adding something to your canvas. Not like oil, where you can build and build with the layers of paint. That being said, you can goop and goop acrylic paint onto a canvas to build up texture, it takes about a week to dry and it is lovely, but - you have used a lot of paint, and that can be expensive!

"Finger Painting Underwater" Tish McDermott 2014

Here are some ideas to experiment with, to add textures and visuals to your paintings. 

Joint compound. Use this in a thinish layer. As you knife it on, it will roll, and create ridges. Now go crazy! Get a fork, or a chop stick, or stencils, your fingers, anything with a pattern, and roll it around or mash it into the wet joint compound.  Play with it!

You have to take extra care with joint compound. It has to dry completely, about 24 hours, then you have to gesso over it, let it dry completely, then varnish it (clear coat) let it dry completely. So there is some prep time to your canvas. But it is so worth it!

Spackling. I will do a post on spackling soon to show you it as well. There is some FUN things you can do with it!!!

Here I have already prepped my board, with joint compound, made swirls, and applied gesso and varnished it. Added a bit of sheet music with mod podge. 

Tissue paper!! I crumble it up, and place it on the board in a wad. It will loosed up and flatten out as you mod podge it on. If you are going to use tissue paper, in this thickness you have to add extra drying time before painting.

It is hard to see, but there is the tissue paper over the joint compound.

I wanted these paintings to look, old, aged with patina, like a treasure map, so I added this bit of magazine with a turquoise necklace. 

Oh and where else to find treasure, but Santa Fe!

As you paint, choose your colors to accent the peaks and valleys of your designs. It makes a world of difference. You go into the painting with all the depth!

"Treasure Hunt" Tish McDermott 2016 - 14x18 mixed media $126

"Hidden Treasure" Tish McDermott 2016 - 11x14 mixed media $77

 "Frustrations" Tish McDermott 2016 - 14 x 18 mixed media $126

What will you use to texture your next creation?

And as always, Be peaceful, Be kind. 

Remember to explore, create, dream, imagine and discover!

Flooding the Streets with Art!!!! Friday, Nov 28, 2014 - The Entire World!

I have been getting my pieces together to drop this Friday, as I participate in,

Flood the Streets with Art.  

Flood the Streets with Art. 
Brain child of Scott Wong, that artists everywhere are helping to nurturer into a living, loving beautiful entity. It is a peaceful, giving movement to promote artists everywhere.



I have been working on my pieces to have them ready.

Acrylic - 18x24 stretched canvas

Heat treated agate, wrapped in copper with American Beauty turquoise accent - to promote harmony in communication

Fresh water pears wrapped in copper and accented with Swarovski crystals.  To promote charity and integrity

 Agate wrapped in copper and accented with moonstones. This pendant is to promote balance, harmony and bring hope.

Look in your streets on Friday,. there may be an artist dropping beautiful pieces for you to find :)

Before and After Acrylic Painting

I started this painting months ago. I wasn't for sure the direction I wanted to go. It reminded me of something, and felt unfinished. My daughter nailed it by saying it reminded her of the Miss Saigon playbill. YES! It does! Ok, I'll take that playbill as the inspiration, and maybe that was what guided my hand. It still felt unfinished. I put the painting away and put it out of my mind. The inspiration will come, I am not going to push it. This morning it hit, like a wall of water. I felt refreshed and ready to paint again. It didn't take long to see where I wanted to go. It felt good. It finally feels finished!!

My First Gallery Hanging - Litmus Gallery - Anything Goes 2013

I submitted three of my paintings to Litmus Gallery in Raleigh and then started to chew my nails. Submitting work is nerve wracking - it is the waiting. I am no stranger to submitting my work. I have submitted to several magazines with my jewelry, and have been published over 20 times - and the results are the same. I have no nails.

The acceptance date had come and gone with no word from the gallery and I removed it from my mind and continued on to other adventures. Then the email came. Two of my paintings were accepted! I will be honest, I teared up, squealed, and maybe even pee'd my pants a bit.

I AM SO EXCITED!!!!

"Cosmic Chrysanthemums"11 1/2" x 14 1/2" acrylic on cherry wood cabinet door

"Meteoroid Showers on Sand" 11 1/2" x 14 1/2" acrylic on cherry wood panel

Tonite is the reception, and I couldn't be more proud and more nervous and more excited! I can't wait to see my work hanging in a gallery and to see all of the other submissions. I can barely focus on the day, I want to be at the gallery now :)

"Conversations with Zeus" Acrylic Painting

9x12 Acrylic on Canvas board.


Zeus - yes the same Zeus in the Because of Zeus Fund. He haunts me still, and most likely will for a long time. It isn't a bad haunt - although I will admit, sometimes when I fell asleep in my recliner, I did jump awake, I could feel him staring at me, with his big eyes wide open, and ready to pounce.

It is a good haunt, and we have invited him to do so in the house. I see a shadow run across my peripheral vision, and when I turn to look nothing is there. I respond with "Hi Zeus". Something will be moved from my work bench, and I KNOW right where I left it (especially if it was in a plastic baggie) and I will find the baggie on the floor, or in another room. I respond with "Damnit Zeus" so yeah, I invite his playfulness still.

It is a way of me working thru my grief even after a year of having him put to sleep due to his sickness.

I painted for him. A painting I will frame and keep for myself. An odd sized canvas, that I had no ideas I even had,  that no frame fits, and I have to have it custom framed. A bit of Zeus - you bet :)

It is in his colors, oranges, yellows, dark browns, creams and of course the crimsons.


I went round and round with myself while he was living in my house. Round and round with how do I deal with a feral cat? How do I deal with a cat who suffers from so much brain damage? How do I keep this cat in the house and trust him? Do I put him out and let him become feral again? Will that be what is best for him? All of that torture I wrestled with daily is represented by the circles.

I used water on the painting, causing it to run - representing my tears

Oh and the crimson, yes that is the blood that was shed so many times due to that cat, and his freak outs he would have. He would snap, like cats do, and go from zero to sixty in an instant .I was always in the way when that happened, and I always suffered from it.

I had made a promise to keep him safe, and I did, until the end.

I miss you buddy

Layers of an Acrylic Painting "De-Stressing Distress"

I am in awe of how artists can create a painting in one sitting.

Mine take days and days of layers and layers. Sometimes the suspense is overwhelming, I can't wait to see what it will look like.

I never know where I am going to go with the color or the texture. It changes with each layer.

Here is how I started

It is a lot to take in, it screams at you. It makes me feel like I am driving on the interstate, hell bent on getting to work, so much traffic, my knuckles are white on the wheel. I hate that feeling. There is A lot of color, A LOT of paint. So thick took 5 days to dry. In the thickness of the paint I scrawled in words and shapes. Kept it positive. I NEED that positive. Kinda like my mantra I guess.

Now it is dry, lets add more color!

I mixed three colors to get this one. Slapped it on, and then with a damp towel and a wet paint brush, removed color in patches. Removed that screaming - I was nearly deaf!

Let it dry.

How bout some more color!!

This was a bit much. I really scared myself. Thought I had went to far. The screaming started again. Same process, used a damp towel, wet brush, and A LOT of water to remove this paint in areas of the work area, and to lighten the over all color.

Finally I did a coat of white - (forgot to take a picture) the coat of white was really watered down. I had to stop the screaming. I applied it with a wet washcloth. It had a white wash look to it, made the painting very opaque. Didn't have the look I wanted yet. So I kept rubbing, and wetting, and rubbing. Even rubbed the paint off in one spot, but I liked the look of it and kept going. Finally - with the white wash just right, and still wet, I went over it with a high gloss glaze.

PERFECT!!! 

The glaze reacted with the white washing and gave a great look to the final painting. I am in love.

I have named it "De-Stressing Distress".

It reminds me of an old pair of blue jeans. Soft, and torn. When you pull them on, they button just right and  you sigh with comfort. You can trace your finger around the stains on the thigh and remember the party where you danced and danced, and spilled your drink. How about the rip in the knee. The memory of bending down to pick up your child at the park, and they ripped, and smile. The hole in the pocket where all your change drops thru, and you silently cuss, because you keep meaning to mend it. Deep in the threads of these jeans hold the secrets of your happiness and when you pull them on nothing else matters.

Like the painting, if you look, the words and shapes can be seen, words like love and passion, words that are so important to us, and we tend to forget in our busy lives.

I want you to get lost in this painting, and feel the comfort it gives.

From Christmas to Sunflowers - Acrylic Paining

I love the process.

I love the unknown of where I am going, just following my paint brush blindly knowing I will arrive somewhere fantastic.

This is how it started. Reminded me of somewhat of a dark Christmas. Christmas Eve, the family is over, someone had a bit too much to drink, and maybe pulled some family ghosts out of the closet and hung them right over the top of the dinning room table. The evening started beautiful, and then suddenly got dark.

You know that Christmas?

Then 6 months later, summer is in full bloom, and that same family is together, and the sun is shining, and the day is full of laughter, food, hugs and love.

Acrylic Painting - Twnkle Daycare

I really have a color pallet that I like to use when I paint. These rich colors really do move me. After adding layers and layers of color, I filled my brush with water and flung it on the painting. I love the trails of water, dragging the paint down with it. It had a very nebula look, a somewhere deep in the universe look. I watered down some white paint, loaded the brush, and flung it on the painting. Stars!!!!!!