Making Progress ....Feeling better about myself!

My newest muse is Diane Salter ... http://dianesalter.blogspot.com/ ... the colors she uses just amaze and delight me.  And I love how she does gridline type work w/ squares of painted papers.  These two projects are the result of my attempt to emulate:

The houses are on a piece of scrap wood from my dad ... it's about 8 x 14 I guess ... looks a little plain to me (the sky?  the sun?  those stupid trees?)  It's time consuming to carefully measure the houses and the roofs, making sure the lines are straight ... and at the right angles.  But it was fun to do and I really tried to take my time on the details.  (yeah I'm not real good at that)

The 2nd one THRILLS me!  The picture does NOT do the colors justice.  They are vibrant and crisp.  It's a piece of thin MDF board (crazy cheap at Dick Blick)  Some is inspiration from Diane, and some from Lisa Kaus http://www.lisakaus.com/ ......  her colors and composition are amazing too!

So I feel like I'm coming along w/ this mixed media art thing.  I am easily frustrated when things don't turn out EVERY time I try.  But that's part of the learning process.  It's a flaw in my character (firstborn--we have a need to excel the FIRST attempt or we will quit fairly quickly) and I'm trying NOT to be discouraged and just press forward.  

I am my own worst critic ... just ask my husband.  LOL