New Art -- A Collaboration

Yes indeed, this is another wonderful collaboration with my art friend Phyll. This is my third collab, and it's been awhile since I did the last one. I love doing collaborations, but it's a lot different and more challenging than making art alone. This one was especially challenging for me, because Phyll's background (the first picture) was made out of polymer clay and baked. She stamped into it with various items. The texture on it is so yummy.

I didn't quite know how to do my part due to the great texture on it. I love what she did, and considered it a stand-alone piece on its own. But I did have to finish it, and I was stumped as to what to do. I looked through some of my stashes and pulled out some things I thought would work on this piece, then I jumped in with both feet. This is not my typical art style, and I felt out of my comfort zone, because all I really did was glue on all these various pieces to embellish what Phyll had done. I loved her background and didn't want to cover up too much of it, I wanted it to shine through.

So, this is how it turned out, and I must admit I do like it a lot. I think it would look great in a nice frame, but that's up to Phyll. The work she did on my background is spectacular and I love it, but I haven't taken any pictures of it yet. When I do, I'll post that piece too.

I am so pleased to finally be able to post some new art. I felt so bad about neglecting my blog, but other than this, I didn't have any new art to post. When you're fighting cancer, other things become secondary. For me, that included art too.

I finished this over a month ago, but didn't get it sent to her until last week. I asked her to email me the pictures, since I hadn't taken any, so I could post it on my blog. The pictures came today, so here it is on my blog. I'm doing the happy dance.

The Cardinal

Oh my goodness, I finally got some new art posted on my blog.  I can't tell you how pleased I am about that.  This piece was started last November and finished in December.  I posted the background only on my blog on November 28 (you can scroll down to see that).  This was made as a gift for my older brother who lives in Michigan, in a beautiful log cabin home.  I thought this was rustic enough to look great hung in his home.  He really liked it and hung it up right away.  In fact, he took this picture for me to post.

In a way, this is a collaborative piece of art, because I used a picture he took of the bird.  His property is 40 acres, and lots of birds make use of it.  He's a great photographer, so he has a lot of beautiful bird pictures.  He has them posted on an online Picasa photo album, which I have a link to on the right side of my blog, in case you'd like to view them.  They really are great pictures of beautiful birds.  

So anyway, I picked out this cardinal to feature in my art piece.  I thought it would be cool to feature his photography in this piece.  Thankfully he appreciated that idea.  I printed the bird onto a transparency sheet, then adhered it to a green paint chip, then rounded the corners. I outlined it with black permanent marker.  The long rusted piece was found in Kuwait by a friend of mine in the Navy Reserves when she was on active duty there.  The rusted piece had some holes punched into it (I don't know what it was originally), so I decided to weave some yarn through them, the same color as the cardinal.  Then I pulled some bark off a log, and glued a rusted skeleton key onto that.  I kept it very simple except for the background.  I explained how I did that in my post.  This is framed with a neat wooden frame I got at the thrift store, for half price no less.

I definitely wanted to post the finished art piece on my blog.  But I never got a picture taken.  Then it occurred to me that my brother could do that part better than I could.  Soooo, here it is, all finished and hanging on his wall.  And the first time I've posted art since January 1st.  It's about high time.  I'm very pleased with this piece, and thrilled that my brother likes it and that it's hanging in his home!!!

Addendum:  Update on my health situation.  I was supposed to hear on March 16 about the Medicaid, but unfortunately, no word came.  I can't tell you how sad, afraid, and angry I am over that.  It totally sucks!  I can't have treatment until I'm accepted for Medicaid, so unfortunately I'm still hanging in limbo, and trying hard to stay positive.  Not easy at all, at this point.  Thanks again for all the love and support, the cards and emails and gifts, and especially for the prayers.  Please keep praying.

Ebony and Ivory -- textured caulk abstract

This is a piece I made recently.  One I really like and am proud of.  I didn't post it on my blog because I planned to enter it into a juried open show at a local art gallery.  I've never done that before, so I was excited about it....but also a bit fearful about how it would feel if this piece didn't get juried into the show.  I had no idea what to expect, although I was hopeful.  Sad to say, it did not get juried in, which I must admit hurt and wounded my art ego.  I was sad and upset for that day, after I got the email.  Well, for more than that day, to be honest.  But after a few days, I got over it and am okay now.  The theme of the show was "Abstract", which I felt was right up my alley.  So I made this piece especially for the show.  

There was only one juror, who has his own art gallery, which mostly features abstract art.  I wasn't able to find out why this piece was rejected, but the lady who was at the gallery when I went to pick it up, who's also an artist although she didn't enter the show, gave me some feedback.  She said she really liked this piece, but that perhaps it should've been framed, to give it a more professional look.  And that makes sense to me, although even if  it had been framed, who knows if it would've been accepted?  But I'm sure it would've looked better and more professional if I'd had it framed.

I used a cabinet card for the base of my art, and glued it onto a 12x16 inch canvas board.  Silly me, I thought that would be professional enough.  I mean hey, at least I didn't use frozen pizza box or chipboard, which I most often use.  But when it comes to submitting art to a real art gallery, I'm a total newbie and novice.  Hopefully I learned my lesson on that.

Anyway, I mounted the cabinet card vertically, which I thought was interesting and different.  On the top part, I spread a layer of caulk and impressed into it with a foam circle stamp, a soda bottle lid, a drinking straw, and the end of a paint brush.  I also used a circle cut out of a vinyl rug runner, that has swirls on one side of it.  My main theme was circles, which I've done a number of times before. My initial intention was to make this a black and white piece, so once the caulk dried I painted over it with black acrylic paint.  I planned to rub over that with white acrylic paint, but then the idea came to me to use metallic pearl white instead of regular white.  So I did that, and was rather surprised that it ended up looking more like silver than white.  At first that bothered me, but then I came to like it, so I left it that way.

On the bottom part I used micro beads in gel medium on the frame part for a different texture, and painted over it with black.  I used a sample piece of fabric wallpaper, with the white lines, inside the frame.  Then I found the cool twig in my yard, which was the perfect size to fit inside the frame.  I painted it black, then rubbed the metallic pearl over it with my finger.  Then I made a caulk circle (on frozen pizza box) with my vinyl rug runner stamp.  And painted it black and rubbed on the metallic pearl.

I wrapped thick black quilting thread around the canvas board before gluing down the cabinet card, to repeat the lines in the frame.  (That idea was suggested to me by someone in my local art group, Terry.  Thank you Terry, I think it was a great idea.)  Then I painted some flat, round wooden beads black, and glued those on to repeat the circle theme.

So that's how this piece came together.  I'm sad that it didn't get accepted into the show, but even so, I really like this piece a lot.  And yes, I think it would look better and more professional if I had it framed, which I may do at some point.  Right now, the cost of doing that is a problem, but it would look better and more finished if I had it framed.

 

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?

Solitary Leaf (another caulk-art piece)

As many of you may already know, I LOVE using caulk in my art.  And I must be on a caulk binge right now, which suits me just fine.  This is a special piece to me, one I'm very fond of, because I made it as a gift for a very special artist, person, and online friend,  Corinne Stubson, whom I admire a lot.  And I'm very happy with how this piece turned out.  The theme is a circle theme, one of my favorite themes for art, and one I keep going back to.

Normally, I explain how I make my art and the technics I use, and I so enjoy doing that.  However, I just spent 45 minutes typing up this post, then previewed it, then lost it.  It just disappeared.  Which made me want to tear my hair out.  So, I'm not going to redo all that again.  I've done other caulk circle pieces that I've explained, so if you're interested in this technic, you can find caulk and circles in my labels on the right side of my blog.  Those will pretty much explain my caulk technics.

Also, the leaf in this piece is a real leaf from a tree in my yard.  The dimensions of this piece are 5x7 inches, so it didn't take that long to make.  Enjoy.

Addendum:  I just remembered I explained how I made this piece on one of my yahoo groups,  the Collagecats group.  Here's the link to that group.  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Collagecats/  The number of the post that explains this piece is #56932, so if you're a member of that group you can read it there.  If you're not a member, you might want to join because it's a great altered art group.  There, now I feel better, having explained how I made this piece but just not on my blog.

Caulk for texture blowout-- a circle abstract piece

Well, once again it's been too long since I posted some new art.  My blog seems to be getting away from me, which definitely bothers me.  Lately, my blog hits have dwindled significantly, which hurts a lot.  Then again, I have to keep reminding myself that my blog, although it's very important to me, is only one part of my life.  A big part yes....but only one part.    The same thing with making art.

I've been in a mini-slump lately, meaning I've worked on some art but not to the extent I wanted.  I've been in much worse slumps, so in comparison, this one hasn't been that bad or frustrating, or even guilt producing.  So....that being said, here is my latest work of art, started and completed yesterday.

Well, as I've written before, I do love using caulk as an art medium, especially for texture.  And since most of the time, I tend to put a lot of emphasis on texture, caulk is right up my alley.  I love it, because it works, it's easily accessible and available, and it's cheap and economical.  It can be bought an any home improvement store for just a few dollars.  It has also been available at Family Dollar stores for a buck for the kind of tube that needs a caulk gun.  That's where I've been buying it as long as they sell it there.  I hope they keep selling it there, but I've stocked up on it, just in case.

Referring to this art piece, I used a thick piece of chipboard for the base.  Well, a few months ago, I bought 75 pieces of this chipboard on ebay, and am so glad I did.  The price was great, the shipping was not so great, but the overall price was reasonable.  It works for me on this kind of piece, which is 8 1/2 x 11 inches.  I used a non-serrated vintage butter knife to spread the white acrylic caulk.  I tried to spread it fairly thin.  Then I used the knife to texturize it in a somewhat random way.  Then I used foam circle stamps, a larger one and a smaller one, to impress on the caulk and swirl it around and pull it up.  And also a drinking straw to make smaller circles, and  then a sharp awl to draw lines in it.  Once I was done with it, I was satisified.  So then I let it dry.

Then I painted it with coffee acrylic paint, and then rubbed over it with brown shoe polish.  I've done this many times before in my art, but not so much lately, since I've been more into using bold color.  After that, I used gold and coffee metallic paint diluted with water to roll down the piece in a random way, based on the texture.  And then painted it with Future Floor Finish (FFF) for a gloss effect, and used splattered copper and gold Pearl-Ex over that.  I wanted a random paint effect, which I think I achieved.

So anyway, this is the abstract texture piece I ended up with.  I like it a lot.  And it just reminds me how much I like using caulk, the poor man's molding paste.  I think, even if I could afford to spend money on the most artistic/expensive supplies and tools, I'd much prefer to use other things, cheaper things, for basically the same effect and result.   I'm a lot more about that approach, at least whenever I can be.  I love using things not purposed for art in my art.  I love pushing the envelope that way, and also saving money.  

But then again, I think there needs to be a balance regarding that.  Because some art supplies can't be easily substituted by something else.  However, as for me, I'm always game to try!!!

The rest of my heart postcards

Ahh yes, these are my last seven out of ten postcards, if you include the post below. I wasn't able to upload all seven photos in one post, so this is a "split post", so to speak. I've had hearts on my mind and brain for well over a month now, while making all these postcards. It was a fun swap and I love the heart theme. However, at this point I'm glad all my postcards are made and in the mail.

I won't go into detail on how I made these, for fairly obvious reasons. Suffice it to say I used a fabric background on all of them, which was my goal. On some the fabric is glued to frozen pizza cardboard (FPC), on the others I used the Mod Podge technic (explained in a previous post). They are all different, which was my plan.

Soon I'll be starting another collaborative effort with another online artist. Something I look forward to. And also working on my own fabric book, the first time ever. That is if I can get over my fear and intimidation of my new electronic Brother sewing machine. I totally love it, but am not familiar or comfortable with it yet.

The rest of my heart postcards

Read above post about these postcards.

Ahhh yes, another fabric heart postcard

Well, I'm involved in a heart postcard swap in a favorite yahoo group right now, and I have to make nine of them. So far I have five done, and four to go. Obviously I have hearts on the brain while I'm making these, and will be posting all or some of them on my blog. All the ones I've made so far are different, but I'm a bit worried about running out of original ideas for all nine of them. We'll see if my muse, Bonita, comes through for me, or if I end up duplicating some of them. The heart theme is right up my alley, because I love using hearts in my art, and have done it fairly often.

I used yellow fabric for the base of this piece, and frayed the edges. I often do that when I use fabric in my art. (I used the Mod Podge on plastic technic that I explained in my post of March 11th, so scroll down to read about that technic). Then I stamped with lavender and green acrylic paints, using my new harlequin stamp and a bottle lid for the green circles. Then I glued down the threads from fraying for great texture.

The cute bird is stamped onto a distressed paint chip (I've explained the distressed paint chip technic in a number of previous posts), and for the heart I glued lace fabric cut from a blouse onto paint chip, then painted it yellow, then rubbed over it with lavender paint. I also glued down a small skeleton leaf, and five seeds that I painted with my very cool three tip paint brush. I also used that brush on the edges for the lavender lines.

I'm proud of myself that I actually used some stamps on this piece. As I've said before, I have sooo many cool stamps and yet so seldom use them in my art. I'm not sure why that is, but it bothers me. Especially when I have so many great stamps, most of which I've never used even once. How sad/crazy is that??? And yet, I keep buying stamps, which makes it even crazier. In fact, I have to fess up that I bought some new stamp sets from Addicted to Rubber Stamps just a week ago, when they had their 31% off sale. They haven't arrived yet. I saved money on the sale, but the shipping cost was a big "ouch"! Due to the high shipping cost, a whopping $8.37, which totally made me wince, I only ended up saving a few dollars on the whole deal. I just can't believe the shipping was so high, when I know the unmounted stamps don't weigh that much.

I rarely buy things online for that very reason -- the outrageous shipping costs! But these are stamp sets I haven't seen at Hobby Lobby or Joann's, so I could only get them online. And now, I'm wondering (and fearing) how long it will take me to actually use them in my art. So anyway, I'm trying to make myself use my stamps more in my art. At least that's a goal of mine.

Another heart fabric postcard

Well, I seem to be in the mode right now of making fabric heart postcards. And actually, being in the mode and mood of making art, any art, whatever it is, is a good thing in my book....since I'm just recovering from being in a dreaded art slump/funk. I love using hearts in my art, and also using fabric. I have a wonderful stash of accumulated fabrics, many of them remnants bought at thrift stores, some at yard sales. Sometimes I buy clothes at yard sales, which tend to be very very cheap, for the purpose of cutting them up to use in my art. It's rare indeed that I actually buy new fabric to use in my art, except for quilting fat quarters (always on sale) occasionally, because I love the colors and patterns.

When I make art postcards, they are always 4x6 inches, the standard size for a postcard. Or as near to that as I can get. And most times, when I work with fabric in my art, it's hard for me to resist fraying the edges, especially with postcards. I love the way frayed edges look, and also love using the threads from fraying, glued down for great texture. Which is what I did on this piece, and then rubbed the threads with lavender acrylic paint for contrast.

I used the same Mod Podge technic on this piece as on my last post, to add strength and flexibility to the fabric. It just works so well, it's almost amazing. MP is also relatively inexpensive (still, after all these years), and I always use a 40% or 50% off coupon when I buy it. The fabric I used for the two squares is the same fabric I used for the pc base. The middle piece is cut out of a window blind sample I got at Lowe's, the same as in my last posted piece. (Lowe's has a wealth of great things to use in art.) The hearts were punched out of a paint chip. Last but not least, I chose to glue down (using gel medium) two small skeleton leaves.

I do like the colors on this, and experimenting with color combinations. Although I don't think I do that often enough in my art. I don't really know much about color, so I mostly just go with what colors I think look good together.

I'm submitting this to Saturday Surprise (http://saturdaychallenge.blogspot.com/) for their challenge this week.  The theme is Sewing Basket -- using anything that can be used for sewing in our art. 

Heart postcard for a swap

I'm so HAPPY to be posting again with some more new art, after a too long dry art slump. I worked on this piece yesterday, and had fun making it. Well actually, I started on it two days ago, because it had to dry overnight. I love using hearts in my art, which I do fairly often, so signing up for this swap in one of my favorite yahoo groups was right up my alley, so to speak.

I remembered I had done a certain technic on a postcard swap a few years ago that worked out well, so I chose to revisit that technic for this postcard. I cut out a piece of muslin fabric and frayed the edges and saved the threads. Then I put it on top of a plastic bag, and painted it with lots of matte Mod Podge, basically saturated it. That's why it had to dry overnight. Then I peeled it off the plastic. This technic is quite simple, and gives the fabric some strength and stiffness, and yet is totally flexible. It almost ends up feeling like a thick piece of plastic. It totally changes the feel of the fabric, but doesn't affect the look of it.

Then I painted it with Sweetheart Blush acrylic paint, and then glued down the thread I'd saved from the fraying. I love using threads for texture, especially on fabric art. Once dry, I rubbed orange paint over them with my finger, to bring out the texture and the contrast. I used the same orange paint on the frayed edges, to frame the whole piece. The three strips on the right were cut from a window blind sample I got at Lowe's. I painted them with yellow paint first, then rubbed orange paint over them to bring out the great texture. Then used a paper punch to punch the three hearts out of a yellow paint chip. After I glued the hearts on, I used a triple tip brush to paint on the parallel lines. I love that brush, and bought it at Joann's a while back, but they no longer carry it at the Joann's I shop at. What a shame, it's a great way to paint on parallel lines. I take really good care of that brush!

The large heart was cut out of paint chip, and then I glued down printed fabric over it. The details of the pattern on the fabric don't show up very well on this scan, but it has a cool linear pattern, with just the right colors for this piece. After I glued that down, I pulled out some squash seeds I'd washed and saved, and glued those down around the heart. Then I painted them, and used the triple tip brush again to paint the lines on. I'm amazed at how those lines changed the whole look of the painted seeds. I sealed the whole piece with Future Floor Finish (FFF), which gives a glossy finish.

Regarding the colors I used, I love this color combination, it's one of my favorites. I've used it a few times in my art, but actually not that often. I was using brown so much in my art for so long, and I love it for sure, but felt I needed to get back to using more color in some of my art. Because I also love using bold color. I don't know, maybe I just go through certain phases at certain times, which never seem to be predictable.

I think it's fun to revisit certain technics that I forgot about. This is a great and simple technic, and I'm glad it came to my mind for this piece. I love the way it gives strength to lightweight fabric, and feels so different than gluing fabric to cardboard. I didn't "invent" this technic, I learned about it online, but forget the source. If I could remember, I'd include the link, but I simply don't remember.  I'd also like to say that although the Mod Podge easily penetrated to the back of this muslin piece, it doesn't penetrate the same way with all fabrics.  So if it doesn't penetrate through to the back of the piece, you may have to turn it over when it's dry and Mod Podge the backside, or Mod Podge both sides more than once, to get the strength and stiffness you want.  Basically you can play with this technic to get your own desired results.  

So that's how this piece was made, with no pain or angst or problems. Woohoo for that. Any questions??? Or suggestions??? It was so great to have fun making this piece, and I'm excited it's for a swap. I just hope the person I send it to likes it. That's always a consideration in a swap, isn't it?

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/

Green Lady

This was made today for entry into the Theme Thursday challenge. The theme this week was using the colors green and brown in a piece. A fairly simple theme, not hard to achieve. On this, I used the brown side of frozen pizza cardboard (FPC) for a 5x5 inch piece. First I painted it randomly in a few different colors of brown. Then I squeezed on some tan paint and put down Saran Wrap over the whole piece, and scrunched it up in places, to get a textural effect. I let that dry overnight before peeling off the Saran Wrap. I've only tried this technic one other time, and would've preferred more texture, but it worked pretty well. Next time I think I'd use more paint for more texture.

After that, I rubbed some green paint on randomly with my finger. Then I stamped with brown paint with some eraser domino stamps I made a few years ago. Due to the increased texture, it's a little hard to tell they are supposed to be dominos, but that's what they are. I used a stencil to trace the figure onto scrapbook paper, then cut that out and glued it down. Then I used my Hot Stamps tool and burned on the number three, the other marks, and the three question marks. Those may be a bit hard to see, you have to really look for them. Lastly, I sealed the piece with Future Floor Finish (FFF). Amazingly enough, I didn't use any brown shoe polish on this piece. I almost did, but decided otherwise.

New art -- just flying by the seat of my pants

This is something I made yesterday. I wanted to make some art, but as per usual, had no plans as to what to make. So I was basically playing around. Although I did pull out my Walnut Hollow Hot Stamps Alphabet tool, which I haven't used in ages. It's like a wood burning tool, with the alphabet and some cool stamps as nibs to screw into the heat wand. I'm glad I foraged around and pulled it out and used it. I used it to heat stamp ART and also for the circles. It's always nice to pull out tools/supplies one hasn't used in while, and put them to use again.

This is a 5x5 art squared piece on a frozen pizza cardboard base. I started out with using a dyed paper towel, something I've had for a long time, as the background. Then grabbed a paint chip and distressed it with sanding, a sharp awl, and a dress pattern tool. Which I've done before on previous art, and like doing and using in my art. After distressing the paint chip and the torn scrapbook paper, I rubbed brown paste shoe polish over them. On the bottom edge, I used a piece of scrap fabric, and frayed it. I used the frayed threads to glue down, rubbed with gold waxy stuff, and glued the key on top. So that's how I created this piece -- pretty much the way I do most of my art, or at least for some time now.

Any questions? (tongue in cheek and just kidding). I guess I'm just a "fly by the seat of my pants kind of artist" most of the time. AS IN NO PLANS, NO RULES, NO FOUL! That's what reeled me in, regarding doing "altered art" in the first place. The idea there were no rules, so I could do whatever I wanted to do. If it hadn't been for that, I doubt I would've had the daring or courage to even try to do art, or see myself as an artist. That part of it was so appealing, and so freeing....it gave me "permission" to just jump in and play around. Not that I still don't have doubts and fears and angst, a lot of the time, when I approach doing art, and also posting it. And I wonder if that will ever change??? And if I didn't have a blog, and post my art on my blog in a public forum, if I'd feel differently about it.

Well, I do have a blog and do post my art, so it is what it is. And I'm happy it is what it is. Even though I keep waiting for it to become easier!!! Clock ticking, crickets chirping....waiting, waiting. It's still not easy, after all this time.

Art with a Vengeance

Oh my, did I really title this piece that? It sounds kind of dark and forboding. Yes I did, and for good reason, to my way of thinking. I fully think this is NOT one of my best artworks. But that doesn't matter to me, that's okay. What mattered, when I created this piece yesterday, was my frame of mind and the weird mode I was in. Because I really didn't care how this piece turned out, I was just desperate to make some art, compelled and obsessed with making some art. I had to, I needed to.

The frame of mind I was in was FRUSTRATION!!! At a number of things. Being in a major art slump, things going on in my life right now, and things going on in the world and my life in general. I was hot under the collar, and needed to make some art, and didn't really care how it turned out or even if I liked it. I suppose in a way, that's a certain amount of "artistic freedom", I'm not sure. I've never really felt compelled to convey a message in my art, but lately that seems to be the case, whether I like it or not.

I have to confess when I worked on this piece, I felt like I was in a frenzy. I pulled out a bag of scrap pieces I've been saving, most cut off the edges of my art. I just dipped into the bag, and pulled out various pieces, helter skelter and randomly. And madly (crazily) started gluing them down on this piece of frozen pizza cardboard, 5x7 inches in dimension. Well, first of all, I glued down a few pieces crumpled/uncrumpled yellow tissue paper, with matte Modge Podge. Then I rubbed over it with brown paste shoe polish. Then I madly started gluing down the scrap pieces with gel medium. Then painted over them with gel medium, or rather glopped it on thickly.

After it dried, I rubbed over it again with brown shoe polish. Then I used my finger to rub over it, on certain parts, with gold metallic glaze. Then I wrote the words on it with a gold metallic paint pen. But that didn't show up very well, so I wrote over them with a black permanent ink Sharpy. Then I sealed it with Acrylic Floor Finish, and flicked gold Pearl Ex over it while it was still wet from the AFF. The last thing I did was glue on the very cool old, vintage key, obtained from ebay.

Up close, the words on this piece are easily readable. But in the scan they aren't, and yet they are important to this piece. From top to bottom, the words read: Get it done! , Passion, ART, Fever, Do it. I added those quickly, based on my frame of mind at the time. I didn't stop to think about them, I just wrote what I was feeling. I really wish they showed up better in the scan, but they don't.

I don't think I've ever made art this way before, regarding how I felt and the frenzy I was in when I made it. And I'm wondering, is that good or bad? I mean like....making art is supposed to be fun and enjoyable, right? But in making this piece, I can't say I enjoyed it. It felt good, but not in the sense of enjoyment. I guess mostly in the sense of "glopping" it all together, with a "devil may care" attitude. Kind of like....take this, and take this, and oh yeah, here's some more"! It felt like a way to release tension and frustration, get it out on the table, and then heave a sigh of relief.

Wow, even as I'm writing this post, I'm not sure I want to actually post it. But I know I will anyway, and hope for the best. Hope that my artist buddies out there who read it can relate in some way. I love my online artist buddies, I really, really do. You all mean so much to me. I so, so appreciate the people who visit my blog, and leave comments, and connect with me regarding art. I LOVE YOU ALL!

Shapes and Texture -- an abstract art piece

Here is my newest and latest art work. And geez -- I'm thinkin' it's about darn time!!! I've been out of the "art loop" for far too long, much to my surprise. I was on a roll there for awhile, and feeling really good about that. And then....the bottom dropped out, and I dropped out, which totally blind-sided me. I guess that brought me up short, and taught me that as it goes with life in general, it can go with life as an artist. What bothers me the most is that I've let my blog go, and have hardly posted in almost two months. Yes indeed, that really bothers me. I feel badly about that, and just hope those of you who visit my blog can forgive me.

Okay, so now, onto the present, and this new piece. When I sat down today to make art, I felt lost and unfocused, not having any remote idea what I wanted to do or make. Sooo, I just jumped in, somewhat half-heartedly, not expecting much at all. And ended up trying something new, regarding the theme of "SHAPES", what I consider very abstract. Not that I don't do abstract art, or at least to some extent, but today I was so bereft of any specific ideas or direction, it seems all I could do was pull out a few of my paper punches and my old standby, frozen pizza cardboard.

This piece, by the way, is an 8x10. The base is also frozen pizza cardboard, and this size format is new to me, a larger format for me. Most of my work has been done on 5x5 art squared, or else 4x6 postcard size. Recently, I ventured out of my comfort zone and worked on 5x7 format a few times. Which gave me courage to expand beyond that, to this 8x10 format. Perhaps the size of the format doesn't matter that much, I don't know for sure. Then again, I think it's good to try new and different things and ways of doing art. I think I felt, with this larger format, I could include more on this piece. And since I had no idea what I wanted to include, or do artwise, it gave me more latitude and flexibility.

I also want to mention that this time around, with a larger format with the base being frozen pizza cardboard, I chose to glue, (with gel medium) two pieces of pizza cardboard together for a sturdier base, hoping that it wouldn't warp. And thankfully, that was a good idea and it didn't warp.

Okay, so I punched out various shapes from pizza cardboard, and glued them down onto the base with glue stick. Ahh yes, trusty ol' glue stick, which is a great adhesive. Sometimes I forget how well it works, and that it never warps. After that, I used fuschia tissue paper, crumpled up and glued down with matte Mod Podge. Another old standby of mine, that I use quite often. Then I crumpled up some yellow tissue paper, and tore it, and glued that down with matte MP. Then I pulled out my brown shoe polish, and rubbed that over the whole piece. To accentuate the texture, and tone down the tissue paper, and give it more of a "vintage" effect. The brown shoe polish is something I use a lot, more and more recently, in my art.

Then I painted on gel medium, rather thickly, in different directions, for more texture. When that dried, I rubbed brown shoe polish over the whole piece again. And then I rubbed gold art wax over the whole piece. Then wrote the text on with a black permanent marker pen. Then I sealed the piece with Acrylic Floor Finish (AFF), which can be bought at Family Dollar stores. It has a satin (not gloss) finish effect, as opposed to Future Floor Finish (FFF), which does have a gloss finish effect.

I scanned this on my computer, and unfortunately the color isn't totally true. In the real piece the gold and the texture shows up much better. I am happy with how the shapes showed up in this piece, on the scan. And I'm also very happy that I made some new art today, and tried something new, and just played around with a new idea. On days like today, when I desire to make art, feel compelled to make art, and yet feel lost and unable to focus or decide what to do, I generally tend to do something new and different, or at least somewhat different.

So anyway, that's what I did today, and so here it is. Regarding "abstract" art, it does appeal to me, I must admit. I'm not sure if that's a cop out, or a good thing, or whatever. Some days, just making any art at all is difficult, and a challenge. On those days, if I can accomplish making art, I feel good.

Oh my gosh, I've been remiss.

Gee, I cannot believe that I haven't posted on my blog in three weeks, and I feel bad about that. Good grief, this is the first time this has happened. I don't quite know what to say, except that time got away from me and I haven't made any new art lately to post. Nothing major or bad happened in my life, I just took some time off from making art. So for now, I'm posting these art pieces, that I made a while back and never posted on my blog, except for being in the slide show on the side. The first two were for swaps, and are no longer in my personal collection. Which is a good thing, because my personal collection of my own art is getting quite large. Thankfully most of them are small pieces so I still have space for them.

Hopefully, soon enough, I'll be posting new art. And hopefully, I won't go this long between posts again.

I've been busy making art -- woohoo!

Yes indeed, I've had more time to make art lately, and have devoted it to that end. Which pleases me because I don't always accomplish that. This top piece is a layered collage postcard, 4x6 inches. I used dress pattern tissue paper, gold wrapping paper, napkins, and paint sample. I used the paint sample distress technic for the shapes, which I explained in my August 20th post. I've only used napkins a few times before in my art, and I think I need to get them out and use them more often. They aren't doing me any good stuck away in a drawer.

I used light spackle on the second piece. Since it has very little moisture, and is harder to work with than caulk or wallboard joint compound, I chose to add some water to it with a spray bottle. I didn't add a lot of water, but enough to mix in with it and make it spreadable. Then I spread, or frosted it on with a plastic pallet knife on one area, but not all over the whole piece. Then I stamped into part of it with a heart stamp, cut from vinyl carpet runner. I bought it at a yard sale, and it has swirls on the under side, so I cut it into different shapes for stamps that work great for stamping into caulk, joint compound, and spackle. I also used a swirl stamp with paint on the left upper side.

The small heart in the center of the swirl heart just happened when I pulled the stamp up. (When stamping into caulk, jc, or spackle, you have to use a release agent. I use Armor All protectant, which works well and has no odor to it.) It looked like the shape of a heart, so I outlined it with a brown marker. I embedded the key into the spackle, but it didn't adhere when dry, so I had to glue it on. I used brown acrylic paint, brown shoe polish, and gold Lumiere paint on the piece. I also used an awl to distress parts of it, the parts without the spackle. I used tea dyed cheese cloth on the lower left corner. I'm happy with the texture on this, but not so thrilled with how the colors came out, especially on the scan. The parts that look almost peach are actually gold. I suppose I could repaint it, but don't know if I will.

I have a new needle felt piece posted below, that I made a few weeks ago. So yes, I've been working on art more than usual, because I've had more time to do it. I'm happy about that.

Strawberry and Lemonade layered collage

Wow, I can't believe it's been so long since I posted. Well, it hasn't been waaay long, but longer than I intended. I started out so well, for the first several months after I started my blog, by consistently posting twice a week. Then it kind of got away from me. Well, my work schedule has also changed several times, which has had an effect on my free time and time to do art, so that's been a factor. At any rate, I got some new art done yesterday and today, so I have something new to post. Yippee! It always makes me happy to get new art done, and to post it on my blog.

On my last post, I posted a layered collage, and confessed I didn't intend for it to be a layered collage when I started out. However with this piece, I did intend for it to be a layered collage. Which hopefully means that I'm gaining more confidence in doing this kind of work, and overcoming my fears, or at least some of them, related to layered collage. Although you can't tell from the photo, this piece is smaller than the last one, and is a 5x5 art squared piece.

I glued the background, a page from a wallpaper sample book, onto my old standby, frozen pizza cardboard. This sample is fabric wallpaper. Cool, huh? That gives it a lot of texture, right off the bat. Then I glued down some hand written text, some music paper, and some dress pattern tissue paper. Also some torn strips of gold wrapping paper. At the bottom right, I cut out the image from the envelope of a dress pattern, and glued that down. I also used some netted fabric, fiber paper, screening, and obviously the small key.

Once again, as I did on my last collage, I rubbed brown shoe polish over the whole piece. Then I sprayed with Memory Mists in Mango Lemonade and Strawberry Daiquiri. I LOVE those two colors together. I finished it off by sealing with Acrylic Floor Finish, the Family Dollar brand. One last thing. The key and the screening look silver-ish in the photo, but they are more of a bronze color on the actual piece, and look a lot better than in the photo. It bugs me that they look that way in the photo, but I don't know how to fix that.

Regarding the key, I won two auctions on ebay for a number of old keys. For skeleton keys, and other interesting keys. I lost several auctions before I finally scored. And was amazed at what most old key lots are selling for on ebay. Considering that, I did pretty well on my two auctions, bidding at the last second. Now, I'm the proud owner of 17 very cool old/antique skeleton keys of different sizes. I hope to use some of them on assemblages, if I ever get around to making an assemblage. I was excited to use this tiny key on this piece. I think maybe it's a jewelry box key.

So that's how this piece came together, and I'm feeling better about attempting layered collages. Thanks so much for your encouragement in comments on my last layered collage, it encouraged me, motivated me, and inspired me to make this one. I'm trying to face my fears and overcome them.