Smiling through

Took quick trip to the touristy part of Lodi yesterday and came home with this full moon made of painted tin purchased at Country Living at their Haunted Hollow event.   They have one in the front window on the back of a rustic bench.    Looks really cool there.      Got him in plenty of time for Halloween and think he's so cool, he may stay up through other seasons as well.  Patti took this with her Iphone.

 He'll be celestial company for this guy that lives in my kitchen.   I've had him for several decades, purchased from a ceramic artist at the La Selva Beach Art Show one year.    He stands about 18 inches tall, and is an old favorite.      

Sleepy cat

 

I took this snapshot of the cat dozing on the rickety old deck/porch in Walnut Grove back in the 80s.    I decided to scan it today and consider it for a painting subject.


When I blew it up on the screen, I knew I'd have to paint it quick.    I grabbed my Pigma sepia tone brush pen and watercolor pad, and set to work.  Very quickly.    Then three colors of paints very loosely applied.     I have captured the essence of it.    Will do it again when I'm down in the studio.   Actually what I'm going  for is the look of a looser oil painting/sketch only with acrylics.  i would have preferred using a heavier bodied paint and a palette knife.   Maybe later.

I thought the Pigma pen was water soluble and was expecting the ink to bleed into the paint.     I see that it is a permanent ink so can't count on the blending of the lines with the paints.      Maybe I'll use a different pen and see how it works next time.    .   

Today it's 100 degrees outside so didn't want to be out there cooped up with the ac blasting, when I wanted to keep the house cool too.    This was a fun project, altogether I think it took less than and hour.     painting loosely is something I've been wanting to do.    Here's   the photo, the painting and then the painting with some photoshop diddling.   I got some of the lines back and better contrast.      I like it better this way, but that isn't what I set out to do.    LOL

Mail Art - evelope

I joined a group to swap art journal pages, but the group is a Face book group, and I just cannot maneuver around there.  But, I had already signed on to swap some ephemera, so wanted to get that commitment out of the way before bailing out.      Here is the envelope I sent the goodies in.     Using up scraps and stuff from messy work table.      BTW - it's cleaned off again.   LOL   

Off it went and in return, aen envelope full of ephemera arrived to my delight.      

An old technique revisited.

At art camp years ago, I taught shaving cream marbeling.     Later my friend Roberta taught us to marble with starch as a base and diluted paints.     I got interested again, as I was going through my stash of supplies and realized I could use some up with a little workshop in Lodi for the mixed media gals.     good ness knows I have inks.    But I did not have starch.   Thought I'd pop in the dollar store and pick some up - but starch is not a popular item now, and I had to go to pricey grocery store to get it for nearly $5.00 a jug.  It's a smaller jug thatn it used to come in - and it has gone the way the price of eggs has - up and up and up.       

Anyhow, armed with these supplies, lots of paper samples, trays, stirrers, etc. the mixed media gals had a fun day playing with it all.    At first we had very little success, in fact it was pretty dismal - but apparently the starch needs to sit for awhile.  I think it has to do with surface tension.     At first the paints just dropped to the bottom.  We needed it to float on the top and spread.     When we finally were cleaning up, we just started tossing paints into one batch of starch and all of a sudden it was floating and spreading just as we hoped.    Some of the gals tried different papers, including paper towels and napkins.     Wow, these were cool.    We got realty indiscriminate with colors and materials at this point in a rush to finish up.   These ended up being the best work of the day.   LOL  You just never know...... 
This first photo shows two pieces from the starch tray.   

 The next day was a scorcher, weather wise, so wanted to stay inside and play with art materials.    These next ones were done with shaving cream and old inks from stampin up reinkers.

 These were done in series, as I pulled maybe half a dozen from each tray.  The darker ones are from the first pull, then successively lighter until the colors all run together.    

Some of the gals are trying other methods and we will have another play day with these materials next week to see if we have learned anything.     The shaving cream is not as heavily scented as it was years ago. Some of those papers still retain a little of the scent.     

Online class - Nature's Art

On a whim a few weeks ago, before my life got turned upside down with moving things from the country to home - and thrift stores - I signed up for an online workshop "Nature's Art".   It is taught by a woman from South Africa, who picks up branches, twigs, driftwood and leaves that she uses as canvases.    I like to paint on leaves.   So, why not on branches and twigs?   Thinking I'd still  have the place in the country to retreat to and take long walks picking up things along the way.  

Well, that didn't work out.   Not going to the country for long walks often.   Rarely is more like it.   

 But at the beach the other day, in the backyard I found a little bit of a palm frond and thought I'd bring it home to paint on.    Here it is.   The natural fibers in the piece lent themselves perfectly to wind/water swept hair... 

The second is another little bit off the palm trees that line the main street in front of the house.        I've only watched a couple of the many videos available on the workshop so far, but have it available anytime.   Ms Bain does a lot of preparation on her pieces.  Filing, sanding, scraping, etc.     These did not require much except a stiff brushing and then some gesso.     It was kinda fun to do these.   She suggests leaving them in the woods or on the beach again so someone can find them.     I think I'll just put them out in my garden to watch them weather.    

 I wish I'd turned the second one sideways. Today it looks like a bird's head with open beak.    Hmmm...  I may paint over the girl and go for a bird yet.    

Soft Pockets for big bucks

I started constructing some little cloth book covers - but mid way, they decided they wanted to be book pockets.  Actually they fit a Kindle reader or my  Samsung tablet.     I sure like them on the table rather than looking at technology pieces strewn about.     I used some of my favorite background fabrics and did not embellish the backs.  Seems more practical to leave them plain.    Anyway I love to look at the fabric!   LOL    

These seem so simple, I thought I could throw them together in an hour or two, but it acturally took several days to work out what to put where.   One of the images was printed on cotton, the other two are printed on paper.  One is coated with gel medium, the other covered with tulle.    

I was thinking about selling them in the gallery but with the number of hours it took, I'd have to charge at least $100 for my time and effort.  And they'd never sell for that.    Sooooo.... I think they may be gifts for friends, or donation for a raffle prize at the gallery.    I'm quite happy with being able to donate raffle prizes, and they always bring in a lot of ticket money.  The gallery needs all the help it can get.   

Actually they were so much fun, I think I'll start a couple more.   it's a grey rainy day.     Well, a few drops count as rain don't they?     In the midst of a drought, any little bits of rain are good.    

I just felt like it

I'm heading off to the gallery to drop off this piece of art.   I just finished it the day before.   It was a good hair day so I snapped a pic.   How vain can you get?    






Here is the little felt landscape I've been working on.   It is being shown in the gallery now in the membership show.  This was done by hand with needles.   It started much smaller and grew and grew.    It measures about  6 x 6 inches.     most of it was done with a single needle.  I work on top of a foam piece to keep the needle from sticking into ME!    These are really sharp needles, just ask any felter.       Part of the background was done with a 5 needle tool which blends things together well, but for detail and sculpting, a single needle is necessary.      It is mounted on a pice of commercial felt, and shown in a shadow box with glass front.     I really enjoyed the whole process.   I carried it around in a little case with supplies and tools, and worked on it at the gallery while taking my turn as sitter.      I could visit with friends at the same time.  It's very relaxing.    While I cannot wear wool on my arms and wrists, it presented no problems with my  hands.  I think I'll start another one soon.