Word Love

A few weeks ago, Zinnia at Roses on my Table posted the journal prompt "Color" and of course I waited until the last minute because that's when  my muse works best. (Or is that an excuse for procrastinating? Hmmm...) Anyway, I was thinking "color" has such a wide interpretation when it hit me. Literally. This really trashy romance novel printed in LARGE print fell out of my shelf. I use it to cut out words for my art. I love words. Almost every piece of art has a word or two on it. So I was thinking how much I love words and especially colorful words. It took me about 3 minutes to find all these glorious and sublime words. But first I colored the background with layers and layers of color. I used a brayer, a paper towel, a paintbrush, my fingers. I used an empty cardboard tube left over from packaging tape to stamp the circles. Then it was time for those magnificent words. If you click on the picture it'll pop up bigger and you can read all those fabulous words.


Have a splendid weekend everyone!

On a roll...

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Well, I don't think two blog posts within a week is actually a roll yet... but baby steps, right? 


Today I wanted to feature some of the artwork I did when Tam at Willowing.ning so graciously offered a free course in Art, Heart, and Healing. What a fabulous turnout she had! And what a wonderful and informative and FUN course it was. Sure, she's a bit goofy (luv ya, Tam!) but the quality of videos she puts out are really excellent. It's very easy to follow along while watching. Week one was creating a front facing portrait. I really liked her style of using water soluble oil pastels and paint. I chose to reveal my sensitivity to words. Throughout my whole life I've let words hurt me. Here is my page: 

 Yep, that's me with blue hair. Just kidding.

The second week we worked on altering a board book. We were to make an image transfer of ourselves as a small child and tell our child what we wish for her as a grownup. 

 

Yeah, that's mini-me, all dressed up as a sheriff of the wild, wild west. I even played with guns. (Insert collective gasp!) I'm not a mushy gushy person and didn't think this exercise was a big deal, but when I saw myself as a small child and thought about what I wished for her... well, it was interesting to say the least. I found myself crying for what I didn't have and feeling sorry for mini-me because I haven't been able to giver her some of those things on my list.


Moving on... we learned how to make "Whimseys" those cute little big-headed characters. The page focused on healing childhood trauma. I don't remember a lot of my childhood, especially my elementary school days, before my best friend Carrie came into the picture in 3rd grade. I can remember wandering around the playground by myself because I had no one to play with. I also remember the older kids making fun of me because I had a big head in relation to my skinny body. (I suppose I looked like a Whimsey, hehe) My Whimseys show some girls reaching out to me and asking me if I want to play with them. (Carrie, do you recognize yourself in your fiery redheaded-ness? With Maria?)

We learned some really good background techniques. Like using a brayer. I had one but never used it with paint before. I love it now. As the layers of paint on my brayer show... I use it often and neglect to wash it before it dries :-)


The third week we made "Empathy Monsters".  I've made plenty of stuffies before so I had everything I needed. Except a zipper mouth of course, the key thing an Empathy Monster needs. The monster is our inner critic and we need to be able to zip its mouth when needed. Well, I figured I could use duct tape when needed. I named him Jude, after a character in a book who was a surfer-dude.

He has an eyebrow piercing, a hoop in his ear, a nice shell necklace, and endearingly crooked teeth.  Duuude. Best of all, he loves me unconditionally and tells me how wonderful I am. Of course I keep the duct tape nearby ;-) 

I am embarrassed to admit that I didn't finish the cover of my book or lesson four. I think life got in the way. But all the videos were downloadable so I can finish them whenever I am able.  I believe if you go to Willowing's site the free course is still up and the videos are still downloadable. It's worth it just to watch Tam work her magic. 


That's all for now. I'll be back in a few days, have a great week!

OHMYGOODNESS.

AAARRGGH. 
Hi, my name is Lisa and it's been over two months since my last post! I feel like I've been neglecting an old friend and I'm truly sorry. (Clap! Clap! Welcome Lisa! Start writing and get over it!)


Seriously. I can't believe I've let so much time slip. But things have been going on... very exciting things, I might add. Regarding Artistcellar.com, we hit the six month mark and had a good "think" about things. Where are we? Where do we want to go? How do we get there? The first six months have been an amazing learning experience (does it ever end?) Filled with ups and downs, excitement and frustration. All in a days work. Best part of it all is the amazing people we've met. But now what? Artistcellar has decided to expand its product line and offer some "most delicious" goodies in addition to paints and stencils and such. Sure, we could have bought other people's stuff wholesale and turned around to resell it, but that didn't feel right. We want control, bwaaahhaaa! So this is what we've been working on:

BEADS!! We made up some really awesome Bead Mixes in 10 different color schemes. And some really shiny little silver Heishi Beads and spacers. I'm working on finding a source for some great charms soon.

 

FIBERS!! I looked, I saw, I bought, cut, coordinated and packed. We found some cool recycled silk fibers (shown above). These guys are rough and nubby and twisted and skinny and fat, but mostly colorful! We also have smooth silk fibers that are super soft and well... silky. My daughter wove this out of the soft silk fibers:

Then we have my pride and joy, the fiber mixes. Oh boy did I have fun shopping for different fibers and putting them into coordinating groups. Smooth, furry, funky, twisty, knobby, hairy... What a job I have!

Our goal was to have the new items on the website by January first. My webmaster and husband worked through his winter school break redesigning the website to make room for the new goodies. I think he did an awesome job, and I'm not just saying that because I have to live with him. 

What else have I been working on? I have a lot of new work to share but I don't want to make this a super long post. (Baby steps, remember?) I've been working on Willowing's ArtHeartandHealing Class, Roses on my Table journal prompts, ATC swaps, and RAIL projects, Suzi Blu's Mermaid Class, The Sketchbook Challenge, Strathmore Visual Journaling with Pam Carriker, among other projects. I will leave you today with a journal page I did based on a prompt from Zinnia over at Roses On My Table. The prompt was "Favorite Instrument" I was stumped for a long time since I'm pretty much tone deaf, can't sing, and can't play an instrument. But then it hit me... the reason I pick the music I listen to is because of the VOICE and what it says. Enjoy.

Fairy Adventure Camp

BZZZZZZZZZZZZ! That's me being a busy little bee. I'm in the middle of so many projects, I'm thrilled to just know I finished one! This is my very first Accordion book I made through a class taught by Zinnia over at Roses on my Table ning group.  I have to tell you guys, this group is fantastic! Zinnia offers several different paid workshops, like Stone Tile Art, and Mixed Media Bottles. There's a free journaling group with a new prompt twice a month, swap groups, and this totally awesome group called R.A.I.L. (Roses Art Information Library) It's a yearly subscription group, every month Zinnia comes up with a cool new project to teach that includes LOTS of video time (you can download and keep the videos!) and instructions. She's always available in the groups to answer questions and encourage students. Currently, we're doing a workshop on altering dominoes. So it's like I've taken two classes in the past month... and get this... the yearly subscription for this RAIL group is ONLY $35 a year! (Yes I said a year. Not a month) Let's do the math here... that's 12 workshops a year for $35.00.  That comes out to about $2.92 a workshop! How crazy is that? Geez, do I sound like a commercial? Sorry. I'm just in love with the group and want to share :-)


The Accordion book was the project that was up when I joined last month. I have tons of images of cute little vintage children from Lisa's Altered Art and Collage Visions. I wanted to use what I had so I went with a fairy theme. It evolved into a class or yearbook of sorts. I imagined the personalities of all these little fairies, all together at Fairy Camp. There were 15 sides to make plus a title page so I decided to make a slide show. Enjoy! 

Hopefully I'll finish up something else soon! For those of you who plan on celebrating Halloween, have fun and be safe! 

GPP Street Team Crusade #44

I've always loved Michelle Ward's art and fondly peruse her "Street Team" blog and the monthly "Crusades" or challenges she posts there. Well this month, my hands were itching to do something different and this looked too cool to pass up. The challenge this month is "In a Scrape" -make a painting but NO brushes allowed! She shows tutorials and examples to help everyone along.


I started with a gessoed canvas (gesso applied with a palette knife of course!) to add a bit of texture to the base, then I just started scraping layers on. I grabbed my little bottles of Stewart Gill Colourise paints at first, to add matte base layers, then I came in after it was dry with my Byzantia colors to add a little shimmer. Then I took my palette knife and scraped a little bit of Black Soot Crackle paint by Ranger. After it cracked I came in as a last layer and added Metamica Silver to highlight some areas. It still didn't look "finished" (I doubt it ever will!) so I took an old credit card and with the edge made some lines. I can't say it's a "pretty" picture, LOL. It's grungy, and peeling and has so many layers I think it may have a personality disorder.  But you know what? I like it. And I actually completed my first challenge at GPP. I think after I post it to the group and it sits for awhile I might give it a focal point by adding some big stenciled numbers on it, spray paint style, to commemorate Crusade #44. 


Happy Autumn Equinox everyone! The Chicago area celebrated fall with 90 degree weather! BLECH.

When to hold 'em and when to fold 'em.

I'm not a poker player but this came to mind. What to do with this 100/100 project? I'm having a really hard time keeping up. Actually I'm not keeping up. I'm about 15 days behind. Between taking care of the business and taking care of prior art commitments, I'm just wiped out. And of course that's all on top of taking care of the family and house... sigh. It seemed so easy at the beginning. Just a little index card a day. Doesn't take a lot of time. I think I'm making things too complicated. Well, I'm not giving up yet, but I'm thinking about it... do I need the stress? Maybe this is a lesson in letting go. Learning to say "no" or "I can't". Or can I? Originally I challenged myself to use products from Stewart Gill/Artistcellar.com on each card. Most of my cards follow that rule but I decided I'm not going to beat myself up about it anymore. If it happens, it happens.


Well, I have a few more to show you anyway. Who knows what'll happen in the next 50 days? Here's number 10, done on canvas, graffiti style with different colors of Stewart Gill True Colour paints.

 Number 11 is also SG paint on canvas but I used the Mini Cosmic Bubbles Stencil to make the pattern. 

Another painted canvas base for number 12 but this time I used a brass tree stencil over the SG painted background. I bought the stencil at the CHA craft supershow. I used dimensional glue and glitter to glitz it up. Yes, those blobs are really sparkly!

I was feeling good when I made number 13. I was caught up and decided to tell the world! Painted canvas background but I used another brass stencil with Stewart Gill Galactica glitter paint for the design. These really don't photograph well. It's really pretty and sparkly, I promise!

I went back to paper with number 14. I think I was working on a Marie Antoinette project at the time and had some leftover scrap paper. I dribbled Fresco Flakes on the background.

Number 15 has NOTHING to do with using my store products. My friend Arlene was drawing all these fabulous faces and I was inspired to try to draw a face from a picture. This is what happened. Drawing faces is not a strength of mine. It's an act of desperation to actually use this as a page and show you. A prize goes out to the person who can tell me who this is supposed to be a picture of! 

Numbers 16 and 17 are experiments in felting. My daughter got bit by the wool felting bug and showed me how to do it. Number 16 is an under the sea theme, I used some Glitterati fibers in there, and some hand beading. Number 17 is an abstract. 

I found a foam kitty stamp at the resale shop and tested it out for number 18. I normally don't do "cute" but I was feeling fond of "Skitters" the neighbors kitten that came to visit and catch gophers. I think the background is a wash of Pearlise paint while the cat is stamped with Byzantia.

For number 19 I wanted to try something different. I started out with a Byzantia, which is shimmery and wanted to drip some matte True Colour paint over it to get some visual texture.  I like the way it turned out.

Numbers 20 and 21 are simple collages using magazine images. Backgrounds are painted with my SG piants. I love the fish image. Number 21's background I used an old security envelope painted with a wash of color. You know those envelopes with the interesting patterns inside? I figured there must be a use for those somewhere!

That's enough for now. I've got about 10 more done but have to add numbers to some of them. But by the time I actually get around to photographing them and posting them I might have another 30 done and be completely caught up. Or maybe not. Only time will tell.

100 Pages Experiment

Once again, these dog days of summer have me neglecting my blog. The days are winding down though and soon it will be back to school and the colors of fall will emerge. Soon I hope. This summer has been miserable. Between the super hot Chicago temperatures, the nearly daily rain storms, the suffocating humidity and the blood sucking mosquitoes swarming us, we have pretty much locked ourselves in our air conditioned house and we're all going stir crazy. Even the dog is miserable. I pay homage to the beautiful dragonfly that sat still long enough to allow me a photograph. They eat mosquitoes you know. That's why I love dragonflies.


I have been busy with the business, trying the products, experimenting some. I needed some motivation to do something on a regular basis so I joined a challenge hosted by Leilani Pierson over at the Cloth Paper Scissors forum. We make 100 little pieces of art in 100 days. We can skip a few days and make up for it, but we can't work ahead. Most people are using 3 1/2" x 5" index cards.  I've decided to stick to that size, but I'm using a variety of "canvases" including watercolor paper, fabric, canvas, felt, etc. In addition to that, I've challenged myself to use at least one Stewart Gill product (or anything from the Artistcellar store) on every card. I'm up to day 20 and I think there's only 3 cards where I did NOT use a SG product. I've photographed days 1-9 so far so I'll start with those. Each card also has the number incorporated in it in some way.

When I started the 100/100 project I hadn't challenged myself to use the Stewart Gill products yet so I went back and added some Galactica Glitter paint to the peach and an Alchemy wash over Page No. 1. Can't really see it in the picture! Below is the back of No. 1, I used Pearlise paint for the background.

Page No. 2 I used scrapbook paper and stamped the Fleur de Lis on with Illuminata Byzantia paint.

Page No. 3 above is a painted dryer sheet base with Bijoux Blends Stone chips flowing across the bottom. The polymer clay heart is painted with Byzantia paints in Seraphym and glued over a nest of loose threads.

For page No. 4 I got out the iron and played with the Glitterati Fibers and Angelina Film. I was heating the film and happened to melt a hole the shape of a heart. Serendipity? Page No. 5 below uses handmade papers and scrapbook papers. The flower was overpainted with Byzantia Excelsius.

I tore into a vintage children's reader for page No. 6. I believe it was a Colourise glaze (rust?) I washed over the picture. The numbers at the bottom are stamped with a cardboard tube using True Colour Opaque White. Opaque even went over the dark orange color. Fabulous! Page No. 7 uses the same color scheme (I was getting rid of excess paint on my brush!) and painted the background the same orangey color and wiped the opaque white over it with chopsticks. I captured some loose fibers under black netting and stapled it closed. This was an ultra quickie!

Page No. 8 was collaged and then painted over with a Colourise Chocolate Glaze, smooshed around for depth and texture and laid on thick at the edges. A piece of canvas was attached with a brad and a secret message underneath. 

And finally, page No. 9. The base is a handmade paper with little leaves occluded within and I stamped the leaf with a foam stamp and True Colour Lime. Simple.


I'm going to try to photograph the rest of my pages until I'm caught up. If you don't hear from me in a few days, the blood sucking vampire mosquitoes probably got me.