Caulk in Art Revisited - Yummy Texture and Dimension

Oh my goodness, where does the time go?  I'm really trying to post more consistently so my blog doesn't grow old and become stale.  I'm so honored to have so many followers and people who visit my blog, and I feel like I'm dropping the ball this year because my posting has been so intermittent.  On the other hand, when one is fighting the cancer battle, art becomes secondary or even further down on the priority list.

These pictures are not of new, recent art, and yes, they've all been posted on my blog before.  But they are three of my favorite works using caulk....which is a product I love to use, write about, and show and tell how it can be used.  I guess I just love promoting the use of caulk for great texture and dimension.  Some artists out there already know about it and have used it in their art, but there are also many artists who don't know about it and haven't used it.  Those are the ones I'm trying to reach and inspire to at least try using caulk.

I love the fact that it's so inexpensive (meaning cheap), so easily accessible, so easy to work with, and gives such great results.  What could be better than that?  It can be found at Family Dollar stores for a mere buckaroo ($1.00).  It's a little more expensive at the home improvement stores, ranging in price.  I buy the 5 ounce hard cylinders that need a caulk gun to extrude, but even caulk guns are cheap.  Or, you can buy it in the tubes that don't need a caulk gun.  I extrude it into a glass jar (the more shallow jars salsa comes in work great), and then put two layers of plastic wrap over the top, and then screw the lid on.  That helps keep the moisture in.  I've never had any caulk dry out on me, it can stay moist and usable for at least year, or even longer.

It can be colored with acrylic paint and liquid inks, and possibly even food coloring.  Or painted any color after it dries.  It can also be sanded after it dries.  It can be stamped or impressed into when it's wet, or frosted over stencils for a great but subtle dimensional effect.  It's a great adhesive and things can be embedded into it, or it can be used like glue to attach and adhere heavier items to a base or assemblage.  It can be applied to rubber stamps or any item with a make-up sponge, to get some dimension.  It can be diluted with water, or I suppose with any acrylic medium, to any consistency you desire.  You can put it in a plastic squeeze bottle to get the effect of dimension, or dilute it even thinner and use it more like gesso.  You can mix things with it when it's wet to get different textures, such as sand, cornmeal, tea grounds from used teabags, used coffee grounds, saw dust, small beads, torn paper, etc.  The sky is the limit as to what can be mixed in with it.  Oh yeah, and caulk can also be used on fabric and almost any surface.  If any of you have any more suggestions on how to use it, please share that information in a comment so all of us can learn about it.

What I've shared here so far are general tips on all the different ways to use caulk.  For more specific information on how I made certain art pieces using caulk, here is the link to all my caulk pieces.  So just scroll down that page.  And here's the link to my very first post on caulk, posted soon after I started my blog in February of 2008.

Regarding making some new art, I am actually working on an 11 X 14 canvas panel, a gift for my dear younger sister (and only sister) Jan, who requested an art work from me.  She has helped me so much and been so supportive during my battle with cancer.  And I love her and appreciate her so much.  I've managed to get the canvas panel painted in different shades of blue, green, and purple, and duh....I'm not liking it much at all.  Which is disconcerting to me.  No, more than that, it's bugging the heck out of me.  It doesn't happen very often that I dislike my art while in the process of creating it.  Occasionally, yes, but not that often.  Usually the more I do on a piece, the more I like it as it progresses.  And I consider this to be a very special and important piece, as a token of my love and appreciation for my sister.  

 The problem is, I'm really in a quandary as to where to go from here.  I suppose I could just gesso over it and start over again, even though I have many layers of paint on it, first with the credit card technic, then the sponge technic.  It has lots of paint on it, but I don't like the way it looks.  Even though it may sound crazy, I've never started over on a piece of art.  It shouldn't be a big deal, but it feels like a big deal.  I have so many ideas bouncing around in my head regarding what I want to do, I can't pick a direction to go in or focus on what to do next.  The ideas are: 

1.  to use caulk and/or wallboard joint compound for a very textural abstract piece.

2.  to do a layered collage, which I haven't done in a long time

3.  to use fabric and lace on it, and maybe even some kind of transfer

4.  to do a nature piece

All of these ideas are competing in my head, and I'm even trying to figure out how I can do all of them in one piece.  That would be great if I could manage to do it.  Or would it be?  Maybe not.  I just don't know.  So right now I'm very stuck.  I wonder if I should start over on it or just set it aside for a while, until I can focus on where I want to go with it.  There's no time deadline or urgency to get it done, and yet I'm very impatient to get it done.  Not only for her sake, so she can hang it in her home, but for my sake, to prove to myself that yes, I can still make art that I like or love.  Because I am concerned about that since I've made only one piece of new art since January, when I found out about the cancer.  At this point, I'm afraid I've lost a lot of the confidence I used to have, regarding making art.  And that is not a fun place to be in.  Oh well, this isn't earth shattering, I'm sure I'll work through it.  But I'd like to be there already!!!  I really need to gain my confidence back.

Oh, one more tip.  When I go to thrift stores or yard sales, I always look for frames. Sometimes I find canvas panels of different sizes, either clean and unused, or already painted on.  This panel I'm working on was already painted on, it was a painting of flowers.  It was not a very good painting.  So I just gessoed over it, and voila it was like a new large canvas panel that I paid a buck for.  I've been able to accumulate six canvas panels so far. Sometimes I find wooden plaques that would make good, sturdy bases for a piece of art.  So keep your eyes open for any kind of base that would work for an art piece.

And if any of you have any great tips for anything regarding making art, please leave that info in a comment.  I think tips are always fun and interesting to read, and it's great when I haven't heard them before.   Tips can really inspire me, and I could use some inspiration right now.  So how about sharing your own tips?  Please do!!!  You'd be doing me a favor.  I have the rest of the day to work on art.  Here's to hoping I find my way out of this quandary today.

One more tip.  If you like using lace in your art, look for lace tablecloths at thrift stores and yard sales.  I bagged a large, mint condition white tablecloth at a thrift store on sale for $2.00 a few weeks ago.  It's the thicker cotton lace, which I prefer.  And cotton lace can be dyed.  All lace can be painted.  The easiest and fastest way to paint it is to use spray paint.  Painting it with a brush can be slow and tedious.  I figure this large tablecloth will last me a good, long time.  I won't be running out of lace anytime soon, that's for sure.                                                                                                                         

Linearity -- Caulk Squares and Rectangles

This is a new work, and a bit different for me, at least in some ways.  This piece is 4 x 9 inches, a size I've never worked on before.  The base is frozen pizza cardboard (FPC), nothing new there.   I've been using circles in my art for some time now, because I really love them.  But recently I've been inspired to play around with using squares and rectangles, with caulk applied with a small palette knife.  It was harder to make them that way than I expected, because it was the first time I tried it.  Hopefully, if I try it again I'll get better with some practice.

On this piece, I sanded the image side of the FPC and then covered it with white gesso.  Then glued down the netted fabric, then painted over it with Liquitex Majenta acrylic paint.  After that dried, I rubbed Liquitex Cadmium Yellow over it with my finger.  This is a color combination I love and have used at times.  Although the magenta looks more like a burgundy to me, and not true magenta at all.  I love burgundy and yellow used together.  

After that, I applied white acrylic caulk with a small palette knife.  I thought that part would be easy, but I was wrong.  It was rather difficult and required a lot of patience.  Once the caulk dried, I painted it with different shades of orange, then rubbed contrasting colors over the squares and rectangles with my finger to highlight the texture.

I liked it at that point, but felt it needed more and wasn't finished.  So I picked up the stems off my driveway and glued those down, then rubbed brown shoe polish over them.  And then pulled out my stash of skeleton leaves and found just the right size for this piece.  I didn't initially intend for this to end up being a nature piece, and yet it sort of is -- at least partially.  My squares and rectangles are far from perfect....but that's okay.  I kind of like them that way.  

If I do this again, I think I might try adding the paint directly into the caulk and mixing it in before applying it to the piece.  Just a thought anyway.  Or perhaps diluting the caulk a bit and see what happens with that.  Or maybe applying the caulk with a paintbrush instead of a palette knife.

So anyway, that's what I did on this piece.  I kind of like this size and format, at least for the linear effect.  It's nice to play around with new ideas.  Where they might lead....I have no idea!!!

Seed Flower -- Layered Nature Piece

I'm so glad I have some new art to post.  I mean very, very glad, since I haven't been making much new art in a while.  This is a small piece, a 5x5 inch art squared piece.  For a long time, that was the main format size I worked on and I was very comfortable with that.  Then I chose to start working on larger formats, which I enjoyed also.  And I must admit, it's a bit hard to come back to this smaller size, but it's a good thing, IMO, not to get too attached to any one size or format.  You know -- keep your options open, right?

The base on this is frozen pizza cardboard (FPC), which I used so often in the past, but then lately worked more on chip board.  Well, I still have a great stash of FPC, and I'm glad I do.  It works quite well for smaller pieces.  I glued down some patterned sepia wallpaper from a sample book, and then etched random lines over it with a sharp awl, then rubbed over it with paste brown shoe polish.  Then I glued down some fine lace fabric over that, and rubbed it with the shoe polish.  Then I pulled a small textured fabric piece, from another sample book, and started fraying it to produce some nice fringe.  The threads were thick and great for some more texture, so I glued some down, then glued the fringe down.

On top of that I glued down the seed fronds from my yard.  For living in metro Denver, I'm happy to find great nature items in my yard.  One wouldn't necessarily expect that, living in a big city, but I do often find great items for art just in my own yard if I take the time to go looking for them.  I encourage you out there to try that too, and see what great finds are in your yards.   Then I sealed this with Acrylic Floor Finish (AFF) from the Family Dollar store, which gives a matte/satin finish, and flicked on Aztec Gold Pearl Ex while it was still wet. 

Then I raided my rusted found object stash for the rusted washer.  Oh my, I love my RFO stash for sure.  And also my stash of old vintage keys.  I think this rusted key is very cool.  I have no idea what kind of key it is or what it might open, but the small size was just right for this piece.  The seeds for the flower are squash seeds, which I always wash and save for my art.  The other seeds are smaller seeds from cantaloupe I think.  I pretty much save all seed for my art, never knowing when I'll want to use them.

I thought this piece was done at this point, but then I spotted a piece of netted fabric on my work table, and chose to add that at the very end.  I'm not sure if it helps or hinders the piece, because sometimes I don't know when to stop.  Then again, it adds more texture, a different kind of texture, so I think I'm glad I added that piece.  At any rate, I did, so it is what it is.

As with a lot of my art, I didn't plan this out at all.  The interesting thing to me is that this piece ended up being so layered, and yet I wasn't all that aware of layering while I was making it.  I was just playing around, adding this, adding that.  When I actually THINK about layering in my art, or plan it, then I get very nervous and choke up about it.  As in fearing how much to layer, and covering things up.  Whereas if it just happens innately, and comes natural as it did in this piece, without me thinking about it....I'm so much more okay with that.  It's like I don't realize how much layering I've done until the piece is finished, and then I stand back and think wow, did I do all that layering?  Ahhh, if making art could always be innate and natural,  just playing around and having fun and not THINKING about it.  Those times are when I enjoy making art the most!!!  Do you agree with your own art?

Another piece of Nature Art

;Ahhh yes, another piece of nature art.  I love making nature art, and keep coming back to it often.  Why, I'm not totally sure....except that it's so, well, natural.  I think when I do nature art, I go into a different art zone, a free and easy art zone, with no pain or angst or planning.  It just kind of happens easily and spontaneously.  Beyond that, which is totally great, I can pick up nature items from my yard and use them in my art.  As in, gee, I don't have to make a run to Hobby Lobby or Joann's and buy something to use in my art.  Now, don't get me wrong -- I love buying art tools and supplies, when I'm in the mood to do so.  But I think I love even more using nature items, or natural items found outdoors, to use in my art.

I made this piece a few weeks ago.  I was in the mood to make art, but had no clue what I wanted to make.  So I took a stroll through my yard, and picked up the leaf and the seed items.  I don't know what to call them, but found them in my yard.  And thought great, I like these, I'm going to use them in my art.  Then I pulled out a piece of chip board, and got busy on this piece.

I also used fabric and threads that were on my work table, just because they were there.    I guess I made this piece because I wanted to make some art, felt the need to make some art, and for no other reason.  I had no plan, and wanted to keep it simple and easy.  I also chose to use a cool stencil I bought online, of various sized circles.  I just love that stencil, and I love using circles in my art.  I frosted over it with caulk, which I also love to use in my art.  It's so simple and easy to do that, and yet it creates great texture.  And I'm always about texture in my art.  Sometimes I think that's my main focus, above and beyond anything else.  I hope I don't overdo it, but I can't seem to help myself, when it comes to texture.

I mostly just glued various things down on this piece.  And the key  -- I love the key -- was a last minute thing -- I added it last.  I was on a vintage key quest for several months, wanting the old regular keys, the old unique flat keys, the old skeleton keys, and if they were rusted, the better.  So I bid on a number of ebay key lot auctions.  I learned that buying old key lots on ebay isn't cheap, and isn't easy to win.  I lost a lot of them, but also won a few of them.  And now, I have a fantastic stash of old vintage keys.  I mean now, I have over 100 of them, maybe over 200 of them, I lost count.  I've used them in my art before, on a number of pieces.  And then kind of forgot I had them, like duh!  So I remembered them when I made this piece, and chose to add one.

So anyway, this is what I ended up with, and I'm happy with it.  And I'm wondering, regarding art, what do YOU love making the most???  Do you have a special theme, dear to your heart, that you love making?  A theme you may keep coming back to, time and time again?  Do you love it when you make art spontaneously, with no real plan, or do you prefer to plan your art and stick to the plan?  And what is easier and more comfortable for you -- spontaneous art or planned art?  What kind of art causes you fear, pain, or angst, and what comes so naturally?  For me spontaneous unplanned art seems to come the easiest, and allow me the most enjoyment.  So what say all you artists out there?  Please chime in.

2nd Part of Big Reveal -- Heather's piece

I decided to post Heather Robinson's piece from our collaboration project on my blog. My piece, and my explanation of our project, are posted below. Heather sent me her beautiful background on stretched canvas. The colors were so yummy and soothing, it inspired me to do a nature theme on it.. I love doing nature themes. As you can see, our pieces ended up very different, but I think they are both beautiful. Our project was very successful.

Nature Art

This is a 4x6 inch piece I did over a year ago and posted on my blog way back then. I'm posting it again now because I want to enter it into the Saturday Surprise challenge, of which my good art friend Heather Robinson is hosting. The theme this week is Mother Nature. Also, when I first posted this piece my blog was very new and not that many people knew about it or visited. So this time around perhaps more people will view and hopefully enjoy it. If you want to know how I made this piece, here's the link to my first post, where I explained that. http://valsalteredheartjourney.blogspot.com/2008/02/ive-been-good-little-art-do-bee.html

Regarding nature art, I love it. It's one of my favorite themes. I mean, what could be better than using items from nature to create art? I used tea dyed cheese cloth to wrap this piece, kind of like a present I guess. I love using cheese cloth in my art, and love it even more if it's tea dyed. The idea to wrap it like this came at the very end, when I thought it was done. But it wasn't quite done yet, according to my muse, Bonita. Oh yes, I do love her....but sometimes she can be frustratingly contrary and unpredictable. However, on this piece she came through for me, and I think wrapping it with the cheese cloth was the exact right thing to do. Thank you Bonita!

Lately I've been involved in a heart postcard swap in one of my favorite yahoo groups. I've already posted two that I've made, and will be posting a few more in the near future. Oh, it's so good to be making art again, after a dreaded art slump. Making art rocks!!! And Bonita has been very supportive and cooperative lately, which makes my heart sing.

Bloom (where you are planted)

I've heard this saying before, and yes, it makes a lot of sense. However, it's easier said than done oftentimes. I realize it has to do with accepting one's circumstances, and making the best of them. But I must admit, at times, I've found that difficult to do. Have any of you found that too? Right now I'm going through a difficult and scary time, regarding my work situation, and I'm trying really hard to be calm about it and find the silver lining in what I'm going through. I won't go into any detail here, but suffice it to say that work-wise, things could be going a whole lot better.

So this is the new art I made in the past few days. I didn't plan it to turn out this way, but it did and for the most part, I'm happy with it. Perhaps my work situation is weighing more heavily on my mind and heart than I realized. This is a 5x7 inch piece on my old standby, frozen pizza cardboard (FPC). However, this is two pieces glued together. On the first piece, I ended up crumpling it up to get more texture, so it wasn't laying flat. Once I used gel medium to glue it to another piece of FPC, that solved the problem, as I knew it would.

I started out on the brown side, and used a sharp awl to score diagonal lines in it, to create a harlequin design. For some reason, I've been into harlequins lately. Once that was done, I sanded over it and then rubbed brown shoe polish over it. Then I used Sweetheart Blush acrylic paint over it, one of my favorite colors, especially when it's used with yellow. After that dried, I rubbed yellow paint over it in parts with my finger. Then I stamped the Sweetheart Blush on with a new harlequin stamp, and then did that also with the yellow paint. Then I sealed with Acrylic Floor Finish (AFF) from the Family Dollar Store, which makes the color pop. At that point, I really liked the texture I achieved.

Then I pulled out a rusted washer, (a beautifully rusted washer I might add) from my rusted found object stash, to use as the center of the flower. Then I glued down all the seeds I saved from my yard, that fall from one of our trees. I don't know what kind of tree it is, but I sure love using the seeds in my art. (I don't, however, love them when they fall all over my car!!!) Oh, I forgot to mention that I glued down the burgundy skeleton leaves before I worked on the flower.
Then I sealed again with AFF, and was surprised to find that the color from the leaves started to run. I didn't know that would happen, but I didn't mind so much, it was kind of a happy accident.

The word "Bloom" was etched with an awl on a distressed paint chip. Which was sanded first, then etched, then rubbed with brown paste shoe polish. The key is a wonderfully rusted key from one of my ebay lots, and I glued it down over a piece of yellow fabric. On the real piece, the fabric is yellow, and looks good on this piece. Unfortunately, on the scan, the fabric doesn't look yellow, it looks washed out and much lighter than it is. I sealed it once again with AFF, which accounts for the burgundy on the bloom piece and the fabric.

I used some of my favorite things on this piece. Such as: rusted found object, seeds, distressed paint chip, an old rusted key, fabric, and skeleton leaves. And I'm really liking the effect of the harlequin design on the background. So, all in all, I'm pleased with this piece.

Regarding "Bloom where I'm planted"....well, I'm still working on that.

Starkness of Winter

This is another winter piece, and quite different in appearance from the last one. I wanted this one to look more real, more raw, more natural. I found a very weathered piece of corrugated cardboard behind our garage, distressed naturally by nature. That's what inspired me to do this piece. Then I pulled the rusted piece out of my rusted found objects (RFOs) stash. Oh yeah....this was a perfectly rusted piece! The leaf I picked up from my yard a while back, and stuck it in a book to flatten it, so I pulled that out too. Then I scavenged in my yard for just the right twig. And then I was ready to start on this piece.

The base on this is an 8x10 inch piece of frozen pizza cardboard (FPC). I probably should've used chip board, because there's some minor, minimal warping on this, but not bad enough to effect it much. The white background is white caulk spread on with a vintage, non-serrated butter knife. I texturized it as I spread it, then let it dry for about three hours. Then I sprinkled on some walnut ink crystals, spray misted it with water, and let the ink run down the piece randomly. Then I used double stick carpet tape to adhere the corrugated cardboard. I'm so glad I thought of using the tape on this, because using Matte Mod Podge or gel medium would've been much messier and more difficult, especially with a non-flat piece of corrugated cardboard.

After I adhered that, I glued down the leaf, the tea dyed cheese cloth, the rusted metal, and the twig. Then I sprinkled some more walnut ink crystals over those areas, spray misted with water, and just let it dry. The last thing I glued down was the feather, as kind of an after thought.

There are different colors and textures of winter, in my mind. After a fresh snowfall, there can be pristine beauty, eery stillness, even a peaceful feeling. But there can also be starkness, and the color of brown, rather than white, can dominate. I was trying to express starkness in this piece.

Winter in Color and Texture

Oh my gosh, I'm so pleased with this piece and how it turned out. Actually more than pleased....I'm somewhat shocked that this came from me, and that I made it. More so knowing that it was a very easy, simple piece to make. I don't know, perhaps sometimes the simplest pieces of art can turn out the best. I've never been a big believer in "less is more" with my art, but now I'm inclined to believe that can be true in some cases.

This is a piece I made two days ago. In the span of a few hours. No pain, no angst, no false starts. And no, I didn't fly by the seat of my pants on this one. This one was planned ahead of time for entry into an art contest on a cool art website I signed up on recently. The theme of this particular contest is "Let it Snow". I looked at all the entries so far just to get an idea of what was being entered, and discovered the theme is wide open in how it can be interpreted. I was happy to learn that. So I knew I wanted to enter this online contest, and just sat back and let some ideas percolate in my mind for a few days until I had an idea I could start with.

I thought well, I should have some white in this piece, but it doesn't have to be all white or only white. It mainly has to evoke the idea of winter in some way. Then I thought, what evokes winter but bare trees? Trees with no leaves on them. So I cut some twigs off a tree in my yard. Then I thought I should paint them white. Regarding the background, I thought of using caulk, since it's white to start with, and I wanted lots of texture on this piece. (Well like duh....when do I not want lots of texture in my art?)

I always get excited when I use caulk in my art. It's one of my favorite media to use. So I spread wonderful caulk over this 5x7 inch piece with abandon. The base here is chip board. I used a vintage butter knife (with no serrations) to spread the caulk to get the kind of texture I wanted. That was easy enough and only took a few minutes to accomplish. The hard part was waiting for the caulk to dry, which I helped along with my hair dryer. I waited a few hours, and then proceeded.

Then I thought about painting it, and the colors I wanted to use. My first thought was using blue (acrylic) paint, because to me, blue is a winter color. Then it occurred to me to dilute the paint with water, to make it thin enough to run over the textured caulk in a totally random manner. It was fun to watch it run down this piece, to see the effect of randomness. I liked the way it looked with just the blue and white at that point. I had some cheese cloth dyed blue, so I glued that over the piece on which the twigs are glued. After I glued down the cheese cloth, I painted Matte Mod Podge on and sprinkled with very, very fine purple glitter. I wanted even more texture on the base piece, so I glued down some white and blue synthetic fibers I had. They were in a package I had bought a long time ago, and totally forgot about, but happened upon for this piece.

I liked it, but felt it needed another color, and purple is one of my favorite colors. I also felt it needed more white, but chose to use metallic platinum instead, and also metallic purple. I diluted those with glaze, and once again let them run down the piece. With the fibers on there, the diluted paint ran even more randomly. Then I glued on the twig piece, and outlined it with permanent blue marker. And voila, it was done and finished.

A part of me started thinking maybe I could add something more, but my muse adamantly put her foot down, and said NO, this piece is done!!! I had to agree with her, because I wanted this piece to be simple and organic. And I felt adding anything more would be too much, and ruin the organic effect. And I'm so glad I listened to my muse, and didn't argue. I'm not always that cooperative with my muse.

I haven't used caulk in my art for quite a while, and now I realize I've missed using it. It provides such fantastic texture, and is so easy to use, and what makes it even better is how cheap and accessible it is!!!

So in closing, I'm VERY happy with how this piece turned out, it's like how I pictured it in my mind when I started. And believe me, not much of my art turns out how I envision it when I start. Which is fine and okay, different approaches at different times to different pieces of art is okay, it's the "artist's way" I believe. For most of my art, I have no plans and fly by the seat of my pants. But sometimes, I settle down with a plan, and actually make it happen. I like making art both ways, and don't necessarily think one way is better than the other.

As an addendum here, I'm submitting this piece to the Mixed Media Monday (MMM) challenge. Here's the link. http://mixedmediamonday.wordpress.com/

Nature in Threes

This is some new art I made today. I guess I can say I recently took a brief sabbatical from making art. Don't ask me why, I'm not sure....maybe I just needed a break. It really felt good to make art today though.

I didn't have anything specific in mind when I started this piece. This is 5 x 7 inches, the base is frozen pizza cardboard. I used wallpaper from a sample book for the background. Then I distressed three green paint chips, by sanding them and using a sharp awl on them, then rubbing brown show polish all over them. The leaf on the middle paint chip was made by spreading gel medium on the back of a real leaf, and then stamping with it. When it dried, I rubbed brown show polish over it. I used a punch for the grasshoppers. The middle grasshopper was punched out of the leaf I used to stamp with.

The other two leaves are real, glued on with gel medium, then coated on top with gel medium, so as to preserve them. When dry, I rubbed them with brown shoe polish also. Then I glued tea dyed cheese cloth on the top and bottom corners, then rubbed it with....guess what? Yep, the brown shoe polish. The "three" is stamped caulk, painted with Gold Lumiere paint when dry. I outlined the middle paint chip with a gold paint pen. The seeds at the upper corner are from my yard.

And the key is one I got on ebay, that came in a large lot of cool, vintage keys. I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE those old keys, and should have enough now to last me a while.

Nature Art with a Twist

I finished this piece today. Yippee, I finally got some new art done I can post. I used my usual for the base - frozen pizza cardboard, of course. Then for the background, I used crumpled, then uncrumpled, glossy magazine page. I can't remember if I glued it down, or used double sided tape, because I did that part about a month ago. I think it could be done either way. It's the first time I've ever tried this technic, using magazine page. It gives really great texture.

Although I can't take credit for this technic, I didn't come up with it myself. I found it online at the Trish Bee Design Studio website. Here's the link to her website: http://www.trishbee.co.uk/techniqueszone/ . It's a wonderful website with a wealth of tutorials for many different technics. I was thrilled when I found it. Thank you Trish for your wonderful site and all the great tutorials. I'm sure I can learn a lot from your site. It's oh so inspiring!!!

Now, back to my piece. I punched the shapes out of entree cardboard, then frosted them with caulk (the poor man's modeling paste). On the larger circle, I stamped into it for the design. I used the underside of a vinyl carpet runner for the stamp, which has a swirl pattern.
On the other shapes, I frosted the texture onto them. For the painting, I used black acrylic paint, and then rubbed Lumiere gold over the textured parts with my finger. I love the look of black and gold, it looks so elegant and rich to to me.

Now for the leaf. It's a real leaf from my yard. I preserved it with gel medium on both sides and let that dry. Then I used a paint brush to paint caulk onto it. After it set up a few minutes, I used a toothpick to make the leaf veins. After it was dry, I painted with Lumiere gold, let that dry, then rubbed on Lumiere rust with my finger over the textured parts. After that, I used my finger to rub on some black, to get more contrast. To finish it, I sealed the whole piece with Future Floor Finish (FFF).

I had all the shapes done and ready to glue on, when the idea came to me to use the leaf. I've used real leaves before in some of my art, and love them. And gee, they are free from my yard and so accessible, now that spring is finally here. But this is the first time it occurred to me to use caulk on the leaf, to give it more texture. That's why this is titled Nature Art with a Twist. The leaf is totally natural, but putting caulk on it isn't. But even so, I like the way it turned out. I keep sayin' I LOVE that caulk!!!

I've been a good little "art do-bee"! Remember Romper Room?

Yes I have! What is a "do-bee"? Does anyone remember the TV show Romper Room from the 1950's? Remember Miss Gloria, the show's host? It was on here in Denver, I'm not sure if it was just a local show or not. Anyway, a "do-bee" was a good little kid, who got things done. Good things.

So I've been a good "do-bee" today, regarding my art. And getting a new art work done. Beyond that, doing something totally different from what I normally do. It's been on my mind lately, call it an urge, to do something with wallboard joint compound (JC), which is somewhat similar to spackle. Don't know why that "urge" cropped up out of nowhere, but it did. So today, I followed it. Beyond that, I didn't have a clue what I wanted to make.

But I was out in my yard, so I started picking up "nature" items, thinking I could use those in my art today. And so I did. I also used cheese cloth that I recently tea dyed. And I used walnut ink crystals in the JC, to dye it brown or sepia, because I didn't want to have to paint the JC.
That worked out well, although maybe I should've added more, to make the JC darker. Because once it dried, it came out lighter than I expected. I also sprinkled some walnut ink crystals on my piece, to make some areas darker.

And once I started on this piece, with the natural items to inspire me, my muse jumped in and things moved right along. The idea to add the cheese cloth to the back, and then wrap the piece with it, came at the end, out of nowhere. I do love using cheese cloth in my art though, and even more so now that I started tea dying it. Today I also put some in walnut ink, to see how that comes out. Hopefully, it will come out a little darker brown, whereas the tea dyed cheese cloth comes out a sepia color. But until recently, it never occurred to me to dye cheese cloth. However, I read a tutorial on the net that included doing that, so I tried it.
Sorry, I don't recall where I read the tutorial, or I'd give credit to that artist.

Anyway, as one idea leads to another, and one idea can inspire other ideas, this is where I ended up today. I chose a small piece for today, but hope to use this conglomeration of technics on a larger piece soon.

Regarding the Romper Room thing, as an aside here, I actually got to meet Miss Gloria when I was in my 20's. It turned out that a new girlfriend I made was her daughter. And so she took me to meet her mother. I have to say, it was a thrill to meet Miss Gloria, 20 years after I used to watch her on TV. And practice being a good "do-bee"!!! And never being a "don't-bee". (Like yea, right. I'm sure my own mother would have something to say about that!) Ahhh, the memories from childhood.