Keys4Art 2013 Part II

PROJECTS, Continued

 

 

Last year Pat and I attended a class with the very talented Dina Wakley, where we learned to paint birds.  Actually, the technique can be used to paint anything, but we all love birds.  If you can take a class with Dina, I encourage you to do so.  If not, she has a wonderful new book out called Art Journal Freedom, which has, in addition to lots of tips and techniques, 10 complete and detailed lessons, including the one on bird painting.  I got my copy at Amazon.  My artsy friends did some fabulous paintings:

 

 

 

Pat did a class in stamp carving and that was such great fun.  These are the three simple stamps I carved.

 

 

 

 

I love the way the two small designs look when stamped repeatedly.  In the following, I used black ink to stamp them over two of my gelli plate prints.

 

 

 

Teri taught us how to make a little origami book, which involved some nice paper and a few clever folds.  First, how it looks closed, and then the magic.....how it looks when fully opened.  (That's my NYC stamp on the cover, stamped over a bit of a gelli plate print.  I love how we were able to use things we made in one class in another project).

 

 

 

Pat is a master card maker (that's not all she is, of course, but she really is so skilled at turning out great cards), and she shared a few techniques with us.  These are not fully realized cards, mind you, just practice pieces I did after her demo.  First, faux layering.  This looks like torn paper was used to embellish the card, but it was all done with ink.,

 







 

 

Next up, a seasonal easel card.  Clever use of the grass to hold the card open.

 

 

 

And lastly, my favorite, the fluttering butterfly.  If I had a clue how to make a video I would, because you need to see this guy's wings move to fully appreciate it.

 

 

 

I thought I could do the whole retreat in two posts, but there's still more, and I'm tired!  To be continued.....













What To Do.......

......with all those gelli plate prints?  In my last post I shared the results of a weekend spent churning out prints on deli wrap.  Then comes the question of what to do with all those papers piling up around the studio.  The first thing I thought of was a wonderful journal I made last year in Michelle Ward's Debris Journal class at CREATE NJ.  I never did anything with the covers, so decided to put some of my gelli prints to good use.

I started by selecting a few sheets and randomly ripping them into pieces.

I used Ranger's Glue N Seal to adhere them, (also randomly, and with a lot of overlapping) and also applied a top coat to seal and protect the cover.  I generally use the matte finish, but this time I opted for the gloss.  It's not really all that glossy, more of a satin or semi-gloss, and I do like it a lot.

BTW, the journal was constructed of 6x12" pieces of corrugated cardboard, and the only way I could even semi successfully photograph the cover was to lean the book up against something and try my best to eliminate glare.  Like I said, semi successful.

 

After the top coat dried I added some more stenciling and the silhouette on the bottom right.  That is a Dina Wakley stamp, applied to yet another gelli print and cut out.  I added the white dots, red heart, and the arrow and word BE afterwards.  Here's a close up of that.

 

 

 

The arrow and word are actually a little rubber stamp I carved myself....stamped with black archival ink and outlined with a white Sharpie poster paint marker (water based).

 

Oh, by the way, the print the silhouette is on was done on the gelli plate using the new Tim Holtz distress paints.  They react very differently on the plate than other acrylics and result in interesting prints without even adding stencils or other designs.  Hard to describe, but if you have any of the paints give it a try.

 

Not my favorite holiday, but I do realize that it is February 14, and therefore Valentine's Day, so here is a sweet vintage image I found on The Graphics Fairy.

 

 

 

Whether you're a romantic who embraces V-Day, or a non-believer who ignores it, have a wonderful February 14th.









The Sketchbook Project, 2013 Edition

This is my third year of submitting a book to the Sketchbook Project, and it was a close call. Life really got in the way and I wasn't sure I'd get it in the mail on time, but I did. And I got the confirmation email that it was received and catalogued. I look forward to visiting the library in the spring with my also participating friends to see as many books as possible. I have many online art friends I may never get to meet, but every year I do get to enjoy their sketchbooks.

I had chosen the theme "Travelog" because I envisioned doing sketches and watercolors wherever I went. Trouble is, I really didn't go many places and didn't do too much sketching. However, I did take a lot of classes, go on several retreats, and made a lot of art. So I transformed my book into a travelog of my projects.

My original cover (no picture) was of passport stamps but I covered that with a collage made of scraps from many of the things I did.

 

 

 

The inside of the front cover lists key words in my artistic journey:

 

 

My travels were more mental and emotional than physical (I didn't get much further than NJ and CT), but travels they were.

This was a crayon resist experiment that could have gone better, but it taught me something, so not a failure at all.

 

 

A class with Dina Wakley inspired me to do more bird paintings at home.  (This should really be the last photo, but since blogger has been giving me fits for two days, I'm leaving well enough alone, and it can stay where it landed.)

 

 

 Learning a bit about zentangling was something I very much enjoyed.

 

 Making stamps from a variety of materials, including this foamy type stuff:

 

 I did try to sketch an everyday object now and then:

 

Lettering classes with Joanne Sharpe, both in person and online really did improve my writing: 



I took a wonderful class with Doreen Kassel.  We made animal ornaments by covering plain glass ones with polymer clay, adding features, baking them, then painting them with oils.  Since I couldn't include one in the sketchbook, I did my best to draw one that I did.  I LOVE this little bird!

 

 



 

The workshops I've taken with Lynne Perrella and Ann Bagby have been a great influence.  I am mad for stencils! 

 

What I learned from Julie Fei-Fan Balzer is how a very simple hand carved stamp can be used in many ways on different surfaces:

 

 

An example of how I've learned to incorporate scraps from projects into a new piece, and how stenciling is one way to blend them into a cohesive work.

 

These pages are just a sampling of what I've been doing this year, but I didn't have time to include every class, every project, every experiment.  Or every wonderful teacher!  Seth Apter, Laurie Mika, Leighanna Light, Michelle Ward, Michael DeMeng, Sandra Koterba, Dyan Reaveley, Ingrid Dijkers, and Dawn DeVries Sokol all taught me so much, and I wish I had had the time to do pages in my sketchbook to prove that point.

 

 

 

Blended Stains

Blended stains:  not a weird laundry problem, but this week's technique featured in Linda's Compendium of Curiosities 2 challenge.  Turn to page 45 in Tim's C of C 2 book and try it yourself.  It's easy, and it results in a very pretty background.  And this week all entries are eligible for a $25 gift certificate from the lovely peeps at Simon Says Stamp.

Although I did follow Tim's directions, I added one of the new metallic stains to the mix (antiqued bronze), and love the bit of shimmer it gives.  I'm not sure just how much of the background you can see once I finished embellishing it with stamps, rub-ons and flowers, but here is my piece, a 4x4 card for the birthday club I'm in:

 

 

The main image is one of my new purchases, a Dina Wakley stamp called Grungy Silhouette, stamped in black archival ink.  On the left, in sepia archival ink, the blueprint stamp from Tim's steampunk set.  On the right, stamped vertically, also in sepia,  bits of an old French script Stampin' Up stamp.

 

Both the stitching and the birthday greeting are rub-ons from K&Company.

 

The flowers, leaves and stem are Prima, and I added the tiny pearls around the head and the somewhat larger ones in the center of the bouquet for a little bling.  It felt like something was missing, and that's how the brown lace made an appearance.